BUDAPEST: A few months after Peter Magyar defeated Viktor Orban in the Hungarian elections, the Prime Minister nominated Judit Polgar for the role of President of the country. Polgar, one of the greatest chess players of all time, had rejected that nomination.
"I," she had explained in an elaborate social media post in July, "do not feel enough strength within me to take on the historic responsibility of uniting a divided nation, so I am unable to accept the request."
Magyar's nomination of Polgar had brought one of Hungary's biggest sporting legends front and centre. "Our country needs unity, peace and a president that all Hungarians can be proud of," Magyar had stated when he was nominating Polgar. "Judit Polgar's name has been synonymous with talent and perseverance for decades."
It also shone a light on chess. For a period of time, Hungary, a country with a population of around 10 million in the early 1990s, used to figure in almost every prominent chess conversation. Sure, Judit and the two other Polgar sisters — Susan and Sofia — were remarkable for what they did in the world of chess (Judit is the only woman to have been ranked inside the world's top 10). Even otherwise, Budapest was a prominent chess city.
There was Lajos Portisch, widely regarded as one of Hungary's greatest chess players. Ranked as high as No. 3 in the 1970s, Portisch had qualified for the Candidates over five times across a barely believable 20-year cycle of dominance. Before Portisch, they had swept home the first couple of Olympiad gold apart from a raft of other medals. Portisch himself played a big role in handing the Soviet Union an upset defeat at the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1978, at a time when Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky were part of that legendary all-conquering USSR outfit.
They tasted the last of those glory days in 2014, when a side featuring Peter Leko, Judit and a young Richard Rapport won silver at the Tromso Olympiad.
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Leko is an immensely respected figure in the world of chess. The 47-year-old Hungarian GM, who is usually inside the commentary box whenever any event of note is taking place, yearns for the glory days to return.
"It means a lot," Leko, who faced off against Vladimir Kramnik in the 2004 World Championship, says. Part of the guest list at the Total Chess World Championship, happening in his backyard, he has only good things to say. "It's so nice to see such an incredible event in Budapest because it was missing for so many years. I can tell you that I'm super happy and proud. I would have enjoyed so much playing at home. I did have the privilege of playing in Budapest, and those were incredible scenes. There were 1500 chess players and it was insane."
At a time when the rest of the world has overtaken Europe in terms of the absolute elite — 19 of the world's Super GMs are non-Europeans (players rated above 2700) — Hungary is also going through a lull phase. A lack of institutional support hurt them but the game also disappeared from media coverage. Here's Leko. "Chess kind of disappeared from the media for over the last 20 years." At the pilot edition of Total Chess, what Leko says is clear. There are more Indian journalists than local reporters.
"It didn't get the attention; kind of sad that there was no real money involved and the decline hurts. I hope that this event will bring a big boost. Hungary has to do something."
The socialist system till 1989 and the subsequent change has also not helped with respect to chess. "Hungary," Leko says, "till 1989 was under the socialist system. When there was a change, it remained in the mindset that chess was of the socialist times. When the change happened, people automatically moved to other directions."
Is it possible for that tide to change anytime soon? In 2024, Hungary hosted the Olympiad, with Leko playing on Board 2. On Board 1, they had Rapport, who was back featuring for the country of his birth after playing for the Romanian federation for a couple of years.
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The venue, the Anantara New York Palace, and its cafe, Cafe New York, have a longstanding cultural association with the city. The place served as a meeting point for the city's most famous poets, artists and journalists. If and when Judit walks into the playing hall over the next week, the hotel will have hosted one of the country's greatest.
And, at least for a brief moment, Budapest will feel like the global chess capital.