Kriti Mehrotra
In the early 1970s, chess coach and educational psychologist László Polgár decided to test his theory that geniuses are not born but made by experimenting on his own daughters. Therefore, as explored in Netflix’s ‘Queen of Chess,’ he and his wife Klára Polgár homeschooled their three girls and trained them in chess as a specialist subject, mainly from the tender age of 5. They had no idea that their efforts would be incredibly successful as Susan Polgár and Judit Polgár evolved into renowned Grandmasters while Sofia Polgár became a notable International Master.
Susan Polgár is a Family Woman Still Deeply Involved in the World of Chess
As the eldest of the Polgár daughters, Susan (also known as Zsuzsanna or Zsuzsa) began her journey with chess at such a young age that she was competing in tournaments by the time she was 4. Since her homeland of Hungary was under an authoritarian regime back then, she faced many restrictions on which international events she could participate in, yet she still managed to reach the top. She was 15 when she became the top-rated female chess player in the world, earned the title of Grandmaster at the age of 21, and was the Women’s World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999.
As if that’s not enough, Susan even earned 11 medals at the Women’s Chess Olympiad – 4 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze – before she started moving away from competing to focus more on training. She established the Polgar Chess Center in New York in 1997 to help children develop their chess skills before launching the Susan Polgár Foundation with a similar mission at a global level. It was in 2002 that she founded the latter organization, the same year she changed her national federation representation from Hungary to the US — she changed it back in 2019.
In 2007, Susan subsequently established the Susan Polgár Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) at Texas Tech University and was appointed head coach of the Knight Raiders chess team. She served there until 2012, until she relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, to helm her Institute at Webster University — their team went on to win the President’s Cup every year from 2013 to 2017. Furthermore, she has been heavily involved with the International Chess Federation and the US Chess Federation since the mid-2000s, even serving as the Chairperson or Co-Chair of the former’s Commission for Women’s Chess from 2008 until late 2018.
Susan is also a proud writer, having penned at least 11 educational chess books, a memoir, and columns for renowned publications such as Chess Life, ChessCafe, Empire Chess, and School Mates, among others. Today, the US and World Chess Hall of Fame inductee, as well as SPICE Director, remains heavily involved in the world of chess as a writer, trainer, and promoter. On a more personal level, the 56-year-old Missouri resident is an animal lover, a travel enthusiast, and a happily married family woman. From what we can tell, she is surrounded by the love of her business manager-turned-husband, Paul Truong, and two adult sons, Tom Shutzman and Leeam Shutzman, from a previous union.
Sofia Polgár is a Multifaceted Individual Who Deeply Values Time With Loved Ones
Born on November 2, 1974, as Zsófia Polgár, Sofia Polgár is the middle sister, and like her two siblings, she developed a genuine interest in the game of chess after her parents introduced her to it. In fact, she became so deeply involved that she enjoyed participating in tournaments and was proud to have placed second in the World Under-14 Championship in 1986, which made her the World Under-14 Girls Champion. She then continued to prove her mettle by conquering several other events, becoming an International Master as well as a Woman Grandmaster in 1990, and earning a total of 4 medals at the Chess Olympiad – 3 gold and 1 bronze. However, by the early 2000s, she knew it was time to gradually step away from the game as a competitive athlete so as to focus on her personal life.
It was on February 7, 1999, when Sofia tied the knot with Israeli Grandmaster Yona Kosashvili, following which they happily settled down in Tel Aviv, Israel, and soon started a family. They welcomed two adorable sons into the world, Alon Kosashvili and Yoav Kosashvili, before moving to Toronto, Canada, for a while so that the Grandmaster could pursue his studies in the field of medicine. From what we can tell, they returned to Israel in 2012 and have settled down in Tel Aviv, where they are surrounded by not only loved ones in the form of their friends but also both their parents.
Since then, it appears that Sofia has evolved into a teacher, chess educator, and artist specializing in illustrations and paintings, with her dedication to these fields equal to her past commitment to chess. In fact, she was the illustrator behind her younger sister, Judit Polgár’s, ‘Chess Palace’ book series, which even earned her the Best European Learning Materials Award in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2015. She also co-wrote ‘My First Chess Club’ in 2020 and penned her autobiography ‘Amazing Artist – Dangerous Tactician’ in 2023. Whenever she is not working, though, she devotes herself to spending quality time with loved ones, traveling to different parts of the world, and taking a stand for her beliefs on her public platforms.
Read More: Where is Judit Polgár Now? Update on the Chess Grandmaster
