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Netflix’s ‘Queen of Chess’ tracks the rise of Judit Polgar — but leaves her Jewishness out of it

JL;DR SUMMARY Rory Kennedy's documentary "Queen of Chess" chronicles the rise of Judit Polgar, the first and only woman to break into the top 10 overall world chess rankings and her notable victory over world champion Garry Kasparov. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustJewish IdentityDocumentaryChessSundance Film FestivalRory KennedyKasparovSusan PolgarJudit PolgarThe Polgar Variant

Places mentioned

Budapest, Hungary
"The Polgars lived in a ramshackle house with wet walls in the workers district of Budapest."
Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece
"Polgars were allowed to leave the Eastern Bloc for the 1988 Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece."
Linares, Jaén, Spain
"faced world champion Garry Kasparov for the first time in Linares in 1994."
Berlin, Germany
"In 2024, Judit and Sofia played matches in Berlins parliament in honor of Israeli hostages."

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Cairo Item ID 73972
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-01-31 05:31:04 UTC
Curated 2026-01-31 08:31:43 UTC