Rory Kennedy's new Netflix documentary Queen of Chess explores chess prodigy Judit Polgar's rivalry with Garry Kasparov but largely ignores her Jewish heritage. The film highlights the Polgar sisters' upbringing as part of a social experiment in Soviet-era Hungary. Critics note this omission overlooks key aspects of their family's Holocaust survival and antisemitic challenges.
Rory Kennedy's documentary Queen of Chess, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and set to debut on Netflix on February 6, 2026, centers on Judit Polgar, the top-ranked female chess player who broke into the men's top 10 rankings and defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in 2001.
Polgar, now 49, and her sisters Susan and Sofia were raised in Budapest by their father, László Polgar, an educational psychologist who homeschooled them in chess from age 5 as part of an experiment to nurture geniuses. Their mother, Klára, explained the choice: “Very simple. The chess board, it’s easy to have it and very cheap.” The family lived in a ramshackle house in a poor, Soviet-era Hungary marked by high suicide rates.
The film portrays László as a demanding figure, but omits crucial context: born in 1946 to Auschwitz survivors, he drew motivation from his Jewish identity. As he told the Jerusalem Post in 2017, “being a Jew gave me extra motivation to succeed.” Sofia Polgar attributed her fighting spirit to their grandparents' survival, noting a lingering fear of train tracks. Susan Polgar's 2025 memoir recounts antisemitic threats, including a letter with violent remarks and a photo of their father with eyes cut out. The family faced travel bans and police intimidation, seen as not 'real' Hungarians.
Their breakthrough came at the 1988 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, where the sisters helped defeat the Soviet women's team, returning as heroes. Judit became the youngest grandmaster at 15 years and 4 months, surpassing Bobby Fischer's record, and first faced Kasparov in Linares in 1994 at age 17.
Younger players in the film cite Polgar as an inspiration, though Kasparov remarked, “one of the typical weaknesses of many female players is that they are panicking if there’s a threat.” Kennedy acknowledged the obstacles: “The odds were staggering. They were poor. They were Jewish. They were girls.”
Jewish elements persist in the family's lives: in 2024, Judit and Sofia played exhibition matches in Berlin's parliament for Israeli hostages; Sofia made aliyah in 1999. Judit reflected, “I never felt myself being a genius... that was definitely like 95% of my work and dedication. And this came from my parents.” Susan Polgar confirmed Jewish history was discussed in interviews but cut, suggesting a miniseries might better capture it. A 2014 Israeli film, The Polgar Variant, covers this angle more fully.
