Judit Polgar - The Queen of Chess
source: chessbase.com
The Queen of Chess currently on Netflix. It's a documentary film that tells the story of Judit Polgar, a Hungarian chess grandmaster who is the strongest female chess player in history. She was a child prodigy trained along with her older sisters under a unique educational experiment by her dad. She broke into the world’s elite at an early age. In 1991, at just 15 years old, she became the youngest female grandmaster in history at the time, surpassing Bobby Fischer's record. Unlike most top female players, she competed primarily in open tournaments rather than women tournaments. She faced and beat the world’s best male players. She defeated multiple world champions, including Gary Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen and reached a peak ranking of World No. 8.
In 1999, she beat future World Champion Vishwanathan Anand in a beautiful game. At the time, Anand was one of the top players in the world and a candidate of becoming World Champion. Beating him in a sharp Najdorf Sicilian was a major achievement.
The game started with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6
The Najdorf Sicilian, one of the most combative responses to White's e4 6. Be3 e6 7. g4
Judit is known as an aggressive player and she shows it even against an elite like Anand. g4 is the Keres Attack, intending to storm Black's King side early. 7. ...e5 8. Nf5 g6 9. g5 gxf5 10. exf5
Sacrificing a piece in the opening in exchange for a direct attack on Anand's King. 10. ...d5 11. Qf3 d4 12. O-O-O Nbd7
Judit didn't recapture the Knight on f6 but focused on development. Meanwhile, Anand's King is still stuck in the center. 13. Bd2 dxc3 14. Bxc3
Giving up another piece! 14. ...Bg7 15. Rg1 O-O
Anand opted to castle rather than save his Knight via the g8 square. But Judit's attack is still on fire. 16. gxf6 Qxf6 17. Qe3 Kh8 18. f4
Pressure on the a1-h8 diagonal along with the g file. Although Anand is up a piece, Judit has the initiative. 18. ...Qb6 19. Qg3 Qh6 20. Rd6
Judit's pieces are active and coordinating in the attack. Anand's are still in the back rank. 20. ...f6 21. Bd2 e4 22. Bc4 b5 23. Be6 Ra7 24. Rc6
Not easy for Black to untangle himself from this position. In spite of the piece deficit, White is already winning. 24. ...a5 25. Be3 Rb7 26. Bd5 Rb8 27. Rc7 b4 28. b3 Rb5 29. Bc6 Rxf5
Now White can recover her material while keeping the advantages in her position. Black will be left with an exposed King. 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 31. Bxd7 Rcc5 32. Bxf5 Rxf5 33. Rd1 Kg8 34. Qg2 1-0
Judit was threatening to attack Black's exposed King. At this point Anand has had enough and threw the towel.
Game link: https://lichess.org/d9l464mF#0
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