The 13th World Champion, Garry Kasparov, shared his thoughts on Judit Polgar’s achievements in an interview on the Russian-language YouTube channel. Kasparov noted Polgar’s unique abilities and mentioned their rivalry in the 1990s.

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

13th World Champion

“Yes, I lost one rapid game to her. Well, that happens. Overall, our score is 9:1 in my favor, and by the way, it’s better than my score against a number of other players.”

Indeed, Judit Polgar is an absolutely unique chess player. She is the only woman to have reached the Top-10 in the World. I always considered her a serious opponent.

Judit was never really close to the World Champion Title — she never made the Top-5, and at most, she ranked around 8th or 9th. But chess has proven that a woman can enter the elite of chess. It’s impossible in tennis, or in other physical sports, even in golf. But in chess — it is possible.”

13th World Champion Garry Kasparov leads Judit Polgar 9-1 in Classic and Rapid chess. During her career, Judit has defeated 15th champion Viswanathan Anand three times, but the Hungarian GM has never defeated 14th champion Vladimir Kramnik, losing 23 games.

The documentary “Queen of Chess” about Hungarian GM Judit Polgar will be avaible on Netflix on February 7. The project features interviews with Polgar, Garry Kasparov, and family members.

Credit: Michal Walusza