Judit Polgar

I had some superstitions when I was little. And a winning pen is always a good thing to have.

I started playing chess in the Eighties, but it is only recently that people have begun to appreciate the importance of physical exercise for chess players. You really need to be in good condition to be able to sit for four to six hours and still maintain your concentration.

I do hope in Ireland children in schools can experience the richness of chess and it's positive effects.

I'm convinced that if my goal hadn't been to be in the absolute best category I can, I would not have been able to be for 26 years the number one in the ladies' category.

I had a gold medal in olympics at 12. At 14 or 15 I had my career set before me. Because I started so early, I had this daily training. It developed a focus. It became so natural that it was like a native language for me to play chess. That's why I didn't feel pressure.

I have no problem with other women, but if I had played against ladies there would be a huge gap between the two of us.

I started when I was five, and grew up playing against adults and against men most of the time.

I don't think I could ever say that I will never play again, because even if I felt I could never play in top-class tournaments again because I don't have time for the preparation, after a while you might one day think: 'maybe, maybe, maybe... why not?'

And maybe some people do it too much, are too selfish and concentrated on chess. But I think that in all professions you can find a lot of people like that.

Chess can open up a kid's brain, and develop it in a playful creative way. They can learn playfully about creative, strategic, and logical thinking, and quick problem-solving.

Of course I got angry when I lost and maybe would cry in my hotel room afterwards. But I would never show it. I didn't want the men's pity. I didn't want to share my pain with them.

If you are in a tournament, you have to think of yourself - you can't think of your wife or children - only about yourself. Otherwise, you wake up, eat, prepare, do everything you can to be in good shape.

I started to become internationally successful starting at the age of 9.

I met Bobby Fischer in 1993 when he moved to Europe. I have mixed feelings about it. He was an idol, but not a healthy minded man.

I was very successful from a very young age... there was never a bad period.

When I was 15, I became the youngest grandmaster in the world, breaking the record set by Bobby Fischer more than three decades earlier.

There are two ways to have educational chess in schools, either through after school programs or using chess as a tool in classrooms to improve children's thinking.

You see, in chess we have styles - like in any other field. There are also fashions in the kinds of systems that people play. So I'm trying to know my opponent as much as possible.

When I get back home, I want to spend as much time with my family as I can. I love just being at home and not having to rush off anywhere so on Saturday morning I might make a big breakfast with freshly-squeezed orange juice, yoghurt, eggs and bacon.

My sister Susan, who was the first one, was pretty good in mathematics and then chess, and my father chose chess because it was easier to measure the results.