Strategic move by Hungary’s Magyar as he picks chess prodigy for president

Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, has announced plans to ask Judit Polgár, widely considered the greatest female chess player of all time, to take on the largely ceremonial role of president.

Magyar said he would meet Polgár on Monday to discuss the matter. “Our country needs unity, peace and a president that all Hungarians can be proud of,” he wrote on social media. “Judit Polgár’s name has been synonymous with talent and perseverance for decades.”

The announcement by Magyar follows a months-long standoff between the newly elected leader and Tamás Sulyok, the president appointed during former leader Viktor Orbán’s time in power.

Since his landslide victory in April, Magyar has repeatedly called on Sulyok to step down, accusing him of being an Orbán “puppet” who had failed to stand up for the country as Orbán’s rightwing, nationalist Fidesz party was criticised for weakening democratic institutions and undermining the rule of law.

Last week Hungary’s parliament – where Magyar’s Tisza party holds a two-thirds majority – voted to back a constitutional amendment that included an immediate end to Sulyok’s term. From there, Sulyok had five days to sign off on the amendment.

Judit Polgár aged 12. She was the top-ranked female player for 25 years. Photograph: Yves Forestier/Sygma/Getty

The manoeuvre was criticised by several rights groups in Hungary, including Human Rights Watch, who warned that the rushed constitutional changes to oust the president were “reminiscent of [the] Fidesz era”. Magyar, however, has insisted that the changes are needed as part of a wider push to loosen Orbán’s lingering grip on the nation.

As news emerged that Sulyok had signed the legislation, bringing an end to his time in office, Magyar proposed nominating Polgár as his replacement. The idea was first floated in an open letter signed by 16 prominent Hungarians, including Ernő Rubik, theinventor of the Rubik’s Cube.

Born in Budapest, Polgár, who will turn 50 in a few days, was the top-ranked female player for 25 years when she retired in 2014. At the age of 15, she became the youngest grandmaster in the world, breaking the record set in 1958 by Bobby Fischer.

Her rise in the male-dominated world of chess – which included victories against several male world champions, including Garry Kasparov in 2002 – was captured in the 2026 Netflix documentary Queen of Chess.

Magyar said he would ask her to serve in the new role until a new constitution was passed. The appointment, which must be voted on by parliament but is expected to pass easily given Tisza’s majority, carries a maximum term of five years.

Since being swept into power on the promise of “regime change”, Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party have moved swiftly to dismantle the bastions of Orbán’s 16 years in power, from suspending news broadcasts by public media outlets with ties to the former prime minister to abolishing the sovereignty protection office, which had allowed intelligence services to access information on individuals and organisations without judicial oversight.