Madyar's protégé declined to lead Hungary
Hungarian chess player Judit Polgár has declined Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s offer to become president of Hungary. Polgár stated that she would not accept the position.
The legendary Hungarian grandmaster noted that it was a great honor for her to receive the offer to serve as president of Hungary.
“I greatly appreciate the prime minister’s gesture; despite his party’s significant influence in parliament, he nominated an independent candidate for president who stands above party politics. At the same time, I do not feel I have the strength to take on the historic responsibility of uniting a divided nation, so I cannot accept this offer,” she wrote.
According to Polgár, she will do everything possible to “support the new, independent, and respected President of the Republic in achieving these goals.”
Mátyás previously noted that the 49-year-old Polgár could embody the unity of the nation.
Judit Polgár and her two sisters—Zsuzsa (Susan) and Jófia (Sofia)—along with Ildikó Madl, led the Hungarian women’s national team to victory at the 1988 Chess Olympiad.
Judit Polgár competed in tournaments against men and became one of the best players in this male-dominated sport. She is considered the most talented woman to ever play chess and the only woman to have surpassed the 2700 rating threshold, which many regard as the mark of a “super grandmaster.”
Polgár wrote about this on her Facebook page.
The decision is not yet final. The day before, Forsthöffer submitted an application to be appointed to this position as deputy to Chairwoman Anikó Nád. The National Commission will decide on this on July 20.
Earlier, Hungary restored access to a number of Ukrainian news sites that had been blocked in response to reciprocal restrictions imposed by Kyiv. The decision marked a step toward partially unblocking the flow of information between the countries following a media conflict.
Hungary pushed to remove language regarding Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU from the final declaration of the European Union summit.
