Judit Polgar vs The World
Hungarian Pavilion of Dubai Expo 2020 in collaboration with Judit Polgar brings to you a unique event where you get an opportunity to challenge Judit in a simul alongside your favourite chess streamers and influencers. The simul will take place virtually on 20th March 2022 at 17:00 GST (18:30 IST). There are 11 boards in total in the simul, out of which 10 boards will be played by the influencers and their teams and the remaining 1 board will be against the world (registered viewers). Judit will play everyone virtually from the Hungarian Pavilion’s Dome. Photo: Judit Polgar's twitter
First Global Interactive Community Chess Simul
This is the tagline of the event. During the pandemic, chess has boomed all over the world thanks to multiple chess streamers on YouTube and Twitch, and many online chess tournaments. Huge number of people have actively started playing chess and following different channels, broadcasts, events. This has led to the growth of many new communities in chess clubs and in channels of many chess streamers.
The event will try to bring all the chess enthusiasts, fans and communities across the globe together on the chess board. The influences with their communities on the 10 boards which together is around 6 million will try their best to defeat the strongest female player ever in the history of chess. Among 2 of these 10 boards, Judit will be challenged by a children’s community and a women’s community in line with FIDE’s initiative “2022 – Year of Women’s Chess”.
The “World Team” will have all the registered members who will vote their moves on a dedicated platform, and the move which will be voted the most will get played on the 11th board.
Participants
Agadmator – Antonio Radic (Croatia)
“My special ability is repeatedly messing up squares and names of the pieces!”
Antonio is one of the most famous chess personalities who has a huge following on his YT channel “Agadmator” where he reports chess games. He has shown more than 2500 chess games on his channel. He recently even conducted a huge event “Christmas Arena” on Lichess where many top chess players participated including the world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Anna Cramling (Sweden)
“In chess, I'm best at tactics! I love trying to find creative solutions in positions.”
Anna is one of the youngest participants who started streaming chess in the pandemic. She comes from a chess family where both of her parents are professional chess players. Her mother GM Pia Cramling is a legend who has been in the top of women chess for decades.
Anna Rudolf (Hungary)
“My lipstick is said to have magical powers and makes me play really well!”
Anna has played alongside Judit for the Olympic team of Hungary. She was a professional commentator before the pandemic, she has even done commentary with Judit in the 2018 World Championship Match in London. She has become a full-time streamer during the pandemic.
Jennifer Shahade + US Chess Girls Club (USA)
“Judit has been my inspiration since I was a little girl; Open Sicilian all day!”
Two-times US Women Champion and US Chess Women’s Director Jennifer Shahade will captain the US Chess Girls Club team. She has been one of the biggest promotors of chess among women. She is also an author, a commentator and a poker player.
Keti Tsatsalashvili
"I would like everyone to enjoy every bit of their work, as much as I do, and always have a big smile and positive vibes whatever they do."
A very popular commentator from Georgia, WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili has also started streaming during the pandemic on twitch. She along with her community will try to beat Judit in the game of chess.
Magnus Chess Academy (USA)
“Making chess fun for students of all ages and levels - we've taught 100,000 kids!”
Formerly known as “Silver Knights”, the children's community club will be one of the boards challenging Judit.
GM Pepe Cuenca (Spain)
“Our informal and funny broadcasts attracted a lot of people from different countries!”
Pepe is one of the commentators of Chess24/ES (Spanish Channel). He is a strong GM and a very popular personality among Spanish speaking community. He was also part of Spanish commentary team for 2021 World Championship Match in Dubai.
Rey Enigma (Spain)
“My community is known as "Jaquetones" and our motto is: "a "jaquetón" never gives up!”
Another very popular Spanish chess personality and streamer whose real name and face is unknown to us.
Samay Raina (India)
“Chess should be mandatory in schools, so kids could learn how to lose everything in 2 wrong moves”
Stand-up Comedian turned Chess streamer, Samay Raina is one of the biggest names in Indian chess community. A very funny comedian who started streaming chess with his friends during the pandemic has popularised chess to a wider audience with his fun streams and tournaments.
Samay has even played Judit once with his friends in a stream on his channel in the series “Comedians vs Grandmaster”. He lost the game brutally.
Prizes
Prizes will be drawn in every hour of the show on the ChessConnectsUs Twitch channel stream for the viewers. Prizes include a variety of goodies from Chess24.
How can you Participate?
You can help your favourite streamer with moves on their respective streams. You can also register yourself online here, and get to play via a vote chess platform where your move is recorded and all the votes are summarized. The remotely controlled board will make the most popular move. You can stand a chance to win amazing gifts, collectibles and prizes.
Comments from FIDE website
Arkady Dvorkovich, the FIDE President acknowledges: “This event can be regarded as a milestone in the global promotion of chess, offering a unique experience to a record number of participants thanks to its innovative and brand new format. I am curious of the final result, but even more so eager to enjoy the sportive tension and excitement that will be in the air while the world will be challenging the legendary chess queen Judit.”
Judit Polgar said “I am extremely excited for this challenge and inclusive social event as Chess Connects Us in the virtual universe.”
Judit will also be making comments and share her thoughts over the games on the broadcast. So you can join to have some fun and learn some chess from one of the legends.