Judit Polgár didn’t just climb the rankings — she left behind a trail of scalps that reads like a who’s who of chess history. Over her career she beat eleven players who held the World Championship at some point, and she did it with the kind of sharp, attacking chess that fills highlight reels. Here are a few of her most celebrated games, told in plain English so you can enjoy the story even if you don’t want to move the pieces yourself.
Polgár vs. Kasparov, Moscow 2002 — the barrier falls
This is the game most people mean when they talk about Judit Polgár. In September 2002, at the Russia vs. the Rest of the World rapid match in Moscow, Polgár sat down with the white pieces against Garry Kasparov — the reigning world No. 1 and, for many, the greatest player alive. What happened next made history.
Kasparov defended with the Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez, and Polgár steered the game into a line Kasparov himself had used. She got the better of the opening, kept his king stuck in the center, and used her rooks to rip the position open. When Kasparov found himself two pawns down with no way to untangle, he resigned.
It was the first time in history that a woman had beaten the world’s No. 1 player in a serious game. The result even helped the World team edge the match. Kasparov had, years earlier, publicly doubted whether women could compete at the very top — so there was a poetic edge to losing this particular game to this particular opponent.
Polgár vs. Anand, Dos Hermanas 1999 — her own favorite
Ask Judit Polgár for her best game ever, and she points to this one: a win over Viswanathan Anand — a future World Champion and one of the finest attacking players of his generation — at Dos Hermanas in Spain in 1999.
Playing White out of a Najdorf Sicilian, Polgár did something almost unthinkable against a player of Anand’s caliber: she sacrificed a knight early in the opening, and then gave up a second knight shortly after. For a stretch she was two pieces down, staring at a material deficit that would make most players resign on the spot. But her compensation was Anand’s stranded, uncastled king and a swarm of attacking pieces. She kept the initiative, wove the mating net tighter, and Anand — still with equal material on the board at the finish — was forced to resign. It’s the purest possible showcase of what made her dangerous: fearless calculation in service of a direct attack on the king.
Polgár vs. Karpov, Wijk aan Zee 2003 — a novelty over the board
Beating one all-time-great attacker is impressive; beating the ultimate defensive genius is another skill entirely. In 2003 at the elite Wijk aan Zee tournament, Polgár faced former World Champion Anatoly Karpov — famous for his smooth, prophylactic, almost impossible-to-crack style.
Rather than lean on memorized theory, Polgár invented a new idea right at the board, springing a home-brewed novelty on the opening. The game stayed sharp, and she gradually turned her initiative into something concrete: after just 33 moves, Karpov was two pawns down with an exposed king and nothing to show for it. Beating Karpov in his own patient, positional territory — while improvising the key idea over the board — is exactly the kind of result that explains why Polgár belongs in every conversation about the game’s greats. You can read more about her famous opponent on Anatoly Karpov’s profile.
And yes — she beat Carlsen too
Polgár’s list of victims stretches across generations. She notched wins over Magnus Carlsen, the player who would go on to dominate the 2010s and 2020s, catching even his famously sharp eye off guard in faster time controls. Add Carlsen to a roll call that already included Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, and Veselin Topalov, and you get a sense of the sheer span of her career: she was beating the best in the world across three or four different chess eras.
Why these games matter
Put together, these games capture the whole Polgár experience: the history-maker who broke the ultimate barrier against Kasparov, the fearless attacker who sacrificed two knights against Anand and made it work, and the creative fighter who out-improvised Karpov. There’s no quiet grinding here — just initiative, sacrifice, and the hunt for the enemy king, played out against the strongest opposition on earth.
Want to see how these ideas fit into her overall approach? Read about Polgár’s playing style, explore the openings she used to set up attacks like these, or head back to the main Judit Polgár profile.
FAQ
What is Judit Polgár’s most famous game? Her 2002 win over Garry Kasparov in the Russia vs. Rest of the World rapid match — the first time a woman beat the reigning world No. 1 in competitive play.
What did Judit Polgár call her best game ever? Her 1999 win over Viswanathan Anand at Dos Hermanas, where she sacrificed two knights out of a Najdorf Sicilian to trap his king in the center.
Which World Champions did Judit Polgár beat? Eleven current or former World Champions in total, including Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Kramnik, Spassky, Smyslov, Topalov, and Carlsen.
Keep exploring
More Polgár: her playing style · her openings · her rating history · fun facts & records · or the full Judit Polgár profile.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, the Polgár–Kasparov 2002 game record, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.