Last Thursday the Russian website Crestbook published a new Q&A session in their series of KC-Conferences. In earlier editions players like Aronian, Khalifman, Krasenkow, Grischuk, Shirov and Svidler answered questions and this time the subject is the best female chess player ever, Judit Polgar. Some quotes:

Washington Luiz dos Santos

- I would like to know if you, or any other chess player you know, links the chess aptitudes (thinking, planning, absolute patience and the pursuit of victory) to another part of their lives on the rest days. For me, they match perfectly with videogames, where the instincts of chess blitz suit so well… (CiT)

The way I grew up chess has been the main part of my life. I use my chess thinking when I do other things in life. I use my logical thinking maybe more often than I should, because life isn’t logical :) I use my calculation skills and creativity when I’m cooking or playing with my kids. It taught me to deal with victories and defeats! I don’t play computer games :)

Jonathan Ramirez:

- We all know that at the time you gave birth to your baby you stopped playing tournaments and when you came back you found you weren’t as good at first, but then you rapidly rebounded and today we have the pleasure of seeing you again above 2700 Elo. Was it difficult for you to accept that you were in bad shape after the time you'd spent as a mother, and that you returned without the results you expect? (AdE)

It was very difficult to accept that I had worse results than before but what was much more painful was that I was playing horribly for a certain period of time. I had to find the balance in my life again – how to train and get back the motivation and ambition for chess. It’s very hard to accept for a top sports person that you fall beneath your level. But I know that in my life family is top of my list of priorities, and because chess gives me happiness and pleasure I’m still ready to compete!

The full interview, with some excellent photos, can be found here.