17th April, 2003

WHILE the chess world may be perceived to still be a 'man's world', this
is certainly not the case when you have a tournament that has Hungary's
Judit Polgar among the field.

Judit, 26, is certainly striking a major blow for sexual equality at the
Hunguest Hotels tournament in her hometown of Budapest. After four
rounds, the world's top female player of all-time has proved to be in
virtual "maneater" form and leads the field with a remarkable unbeaten
score of 3.5/4.

Polgar got off to the best possible start in the tournament with three
successive victories (over Korchnoi, Acs and Almasi) before her superb
winning run was halted in round four by German's Christopher Lutz.
Polgar's rich vein of form has also overshadowed Nigel Short's superb
start, and the former world championship challenger has to be content
with second place on 3 behind Polgar.

Judit, the youngest and best of the famed Polgar Sisters, first came to
prominence at 13, when she captured the world's under-14 crown for boys.
She then the headlines in 1991 after breaking a 30-year record of Bobby
Fischer's by becoming, at 15, the world's youngest grandmaster. Unlike
her two sisters Susan and Sofia, Judit deliberately shunned women-only
events in preference for tournament's that would allow her to compete on
equal terms with the world's top male players. She was at one point
ranked 7th in the world, and she came close to winning the FIDE (world)
men's championship a few years ago.

Standings after round 4: 1 J Polgar (Hungary) 3.5/4; 2 N Short (England)
3; 3-5 P Leko (Hungary), B Gelfand (Israel), S Movsesian (Slovakia) 2;
6-8 C Lutz (Germany), V Korchnoi (Switzerland), Z Almasi (Hungary) 1.5;
9-10 F Berkes (Hungary), P Acs (Hungary) 1.

P Acs - J Polgar
Hunguest Hotels, (2)
Sicilian Najdorf
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f3 Qb6 7 Nb3 e6 8 g4
Nc6 9 g5 Nd7 10 h4 Qc7 11 Be3 b5 12 h5 Bb7 13 Rh3 Nb6 14 Qd2 Ne5 15 Qf2
Nec4 16 Bd4 b4 17 Nd1 d5 18 e5 Nd7 19 f4 Be7 20 Ne3 a5 21 Nd2 Nxd2 22
Qxd2 Nc5 23 g6 hxg6 24 hxg6 Rxh3 25 Bxh3 Bh4+ 26 Kf1 Ne4 27 Qd1 Bf2 28
Qg4 Bxe3 29 Bxe3 d4 30 gxf7+ Kf8 31 Qh4 Qc4+ 32 Kg1 dxe3 33 Bg4 e2 0-1

JOHN B HENDERSON