László Polgár

László Polgár (born 11 May 1946) is a Hungarian educational psychologist and chess instructor best known for devising and implementing an intensive training regimen for his three daughters—Susan, Sofia, and Judit—to demonstrate through empirical application that exceptional cognitive abilities in specialized fields can be cultivated via deliberate, early, and sustained practice rather than relying solely on innate talent.

Polgár, who earned degrees in psychology and philology, rejected prevailing views on genetic determinism for genius by homeschooling his daughters with a curriculum centered on chess from age four, incorporating thousands of hours of tactical puzzles, game analysis, and competition, which yielded measurable outcomes: all three attained the grandmaster title, with Susan winning the Women's World Chess Championship in 1996, Sofia securing the women's world junior title, and Judit peaking at world number eight overall, defeating multiple world champions including Garry Kasparov.

Of Jewish descent, he grew up in the post-World War II era as Hungary transitioned from wartime devastation to Soviet-dominated communist rule established in 1949, a period characterized by political purges, nationalization of industry, and suppression of individual initiative.