It was fitting that the camp we ran during the occasion of Judit Polgar‘s 50th birthday attracted the strongest female players we taught this summer. Emily, who had a spectacular week, would have won the camp championship had she won her final game on Friday.
That she came up short in that game against Alex, the winner of all nine tournament games he played this week, was not a letdown. This was a week about integrity and hard work, and how those two concepts combine to make chess fun.
During the week, we discussed how these character traits define Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in history. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar recently offered Polgar the Presidency of her country. She declined this high and prestigious honor, understanding that her life as a chess professional did not give her the qualifications to unite a divided nation.
It is not enough to be honest; chess players learn the value of integrity. Evaluating a position accurately requires accepting that every player makes mistakes and must find ways of adapting to unfavorable circumstances as well as finding ways to exploit advantages that opponents sometimes provide.
Thinking through positions often is difficult. Students such as Emily found great pleasure in figuring out hard things. Having fun by working hard makes a student successful, and we take immense satisfaction in watching great young people mature into leaders.