Susan Polgar returned to St. Louis on Thursday, March 13, and while it’s been years since she called the city home, it was clear that her legacy here is still strong.

Speaking at a packed event at the St. Louis County Library, co-sponsored by the World Chess Hall of Fame, Polgar reflected on the battles that shaped her career—the ones on the chessboard and the ones against an establishment that tried to keep her out.

Her new memoir, “Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny and the Making of a Grandmaster,” isn’t just about chess—it’s about fighting back, standing firm and rewriting the rules.

“It was never just about me,” Polgar said during our conversation after the event. “I knew if I walked away, it wouldn’t just be my career ending—it would be an excuse to keep women from ever getting a fair chance in chess.”

Coming back to a city she helped shape

Polgar first moved to St. Louis in 2007, drawn in by Webster University’s vision for a chess powerhouse. For over a decade, she led SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) and helped turn St. Louis into the chess capital of the U.S.

“I never imagined I’d be part of a city that would change the chess world,” she said. “But when I saw what was being built—the Chess Club and Scholastic Center, the World Chess Hall of Fame—it was unlike anything in the U.S. I knew I had to be a part of it.”

Now based in Lake Mary, Florida, Polgar doesn’t make it back to St. Louis often, but she says the city still holds a special place in her story.

“So much of what I fought for—opportunities for women, real investment in chess, breaking barriers—St. Louis became the place where it all took root,” she said.

The rules kept changing, so she changed the game

Polgar’s journey wasn’t just about winning matches—it was about winning the right to compete in the first place.

At 15, she became the world’s top-ranked female player, but instead of celebrating, chess officials changed the rules to keep her out.

“In 1986, I achieved something no woman had ever done before,” she said. “And just like that, they found a way to make sure I couldn’t compete.”

Her memoir details the behind-the-scenes efforts to block her from tournaments, the politics that made her an outcast, and the personal toll of being a pioneer.

“There were times I wanted to quit,” she admitted. “But then I thought about my grandmother.”

A moment that changed everything

As Polgar shared with the audience on Thursday, the moment she nearly walked away from chess came down to a conversation with her grandmother—an Auschwitz survivor who understood resilience better than anyone.

“You think this is tough?” she told me. “You don’t know what tough is.”

“I lost over 300 members of my extended family in the Holocaust,” Polgar said. “They didn’t have a chance to fight. Nothing I ever had to face can compare to what they had to suffer through… so I had to find the strength to continue my fight, also for their memory.”

That strength pushed her forward, past the barriers, the discrimination and even physical threats, until she made history as the first woman to earn the Men’s Grandmaster title by norms and rating in 1991.

Has chess really changed?

Polgar spent decades forcing the chess world to acknowledge that women deserved a place at the highest level. Some doors have opened, but she’s not about to call it a finished job.

“Indeed, we came a long way,” she said. “In my early days, I was often the only female in tournaments, or I wasn’t allowed to compete in the World Championship cycle—even though I had qualified from our national championship. Today, women have a lot more opportunities and they can compete for much better prizes.”

But barriers still remain.

“Female chess players still face sexism, even if in a lesser degree than in my competitive days,” she said. “I am dreaming of a benefactor for women’s chess who would leave a large sum as an endowment which could support training of talented girls in chess in perpetuity. Without proper training, there will never be equality.”

What’s next?

Polgar isn’t done making moves.

“I am not quite sure yet what the future will bring,” she said. “But at this point, I am planning on writing more books, focusing on the mission of the Susan Polgar Foundation, and through my book’s story to inspire future generations with the message ‘nothing is impossible.’ If I could do it, anyone can.”

And there may be an even bigger move ahead.

“My dream is to reach even wider audiences with a feature movie based on my memoir ‘Rebel Queen,’” she said.

Which, if history tells us anything, means she’ll probably make that happen too.

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