Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian educational psychologist, was one of the earliest advocates that great performers are made, not born. He had argued, that dedicated practice in any chosen field, could transform any healthy child into a genius. "Children have extraordinary potential, and it is up to society to unlock it", he says.
"The problem is that people for some reason, do not believe it. " "They seem to think that excellence is only open to others, not themselves. " Back in 1960s, when Polgar was contemplating his experiment, his idea about talent was considered so absurd, that a local government official told him to see a psychiatrist to get rid of his delusions.
But Laszlo could not be stopped that easily. He realized that the only way to prove his theory was to test it on his own future children. So he started exchanging letters with a number of young ladies, in search of a wife.
He found a young Ukrainian woman named Klara. Like many at the time, she thought he was crazy, but they agreed to meet. Amazingly enough, she found his arguments irresistible and ended up taking part in his bold experiment.
In 1969, Klara gave birth to their first daughter, Susan. Laszlo spent hours trying to decide on the specific area in which Susan would be groomed for excellence. He needed Susan's achievements to be so dramatic, that nobody could question their authenticity.
This was the only way to convince people, that their ideas about innate talent were all wrong. And then it struck him: Chess. Polgar said it was chosen because it was objective.
If his child had been trained as an artist or novelist, people could have argued about whether she was really world class or not. But chess has an objective rating based on performance, so there is no possibility of an argument. Although Laszlo was only a hobby player, he read as much as he could on the method of teaching chess.
He schooled Susan at home, devoting many hours a day to chess even before her fourth birthday. He did it playfully, making great drama of the game, and over time Susan became hooked. By her fifth birthday she had accumulated hundreds of hours of dedicated practice.
A few months later, Laszlo entered Susan in a local competition. Almost all the girls qualified were twice her age or older. But she won game after game, her final score being being 10 to 0.
The fact that such a young girl won the championship was already a sensation, but winning all the games added to people's amazement. They thought she was born with natural talent for chess. Now, this is where the story only begins.
In 1974, Klara gave birth to a second daughter, Sofia. Then in 1976, to a third daughter, Judit. Both Sofia and Judit watched their older sister Susan being trained by their father and wanted to get involved, but Laszlo did not want them to start too early.
Only when they turned five did he start their training. The girls were not forced to play, so it didn't feel like a chore for them. They were actually fascinated by chess and wanted to play.
By the time they had reached adolescence, all three sisters had accumulated well over ten thousand hours of specialized practice. Let's take a look at how they performed: At the age of twelve, Susan became a world champion for girls under sixteen. Less than two years later, she became the top rated female player in the world.
In 1991 she became the first woman player in history to reach the status of grandmaster. The highest title you can reach in chess. By the end of her career she had won the world championship for women on four occasions and five chess Olympiads and was the first person in history to win the chess Triple Crown.
Sofia won the girls under fourteen championship. And like her sister, she would win many gold medals from chess Olympiads and other prestigious championships aswell. But her most extraordinary achievement is now known as the "Sack of Rome".
She stunned the chess world by winning eight straight games against many of the best grandmasters. She was just 14 at the time. Her performance at that tournament was rated as the fifth greatest in chess history.
After many record breaking victories in her early teens, Judit became the youngest grandmaster ever - male of female - in history, at the age of fifteen. She has been the number one female chess player in the world for well over a decade. Over the course of her career, she had victories over almost every top player in the world and is universally considered to be the greatest female player of all time.
The story of the Polgar sisters provides evidence for Laszlo's theory of dedicated practice. But the public was sure that, the sisters' success, was a consequence of unique talent. Susan was even described by the local newspaper as a child prodigy.
But this is an iceberg illusion. We only see the fruits of labor, but not the hard work behind the curtains. As Laszlo puts it: "If they had seen the painfully slow progress, the inch by inch improvements, they would not have been so quick to call Susan a prodigy.
" Also neither Laszlo nor Klara could have passed on any innate chess ability to their daughters. Laszlo was only a mediocre player, and Klara had demonstrated no chess ability at all. The sisters' success resulted only from their years of intensive work.
At the same time, it must be noted that the sisters did not achieve equal levels of success. The middle sister, Sophia, did not reach the heights of her two sisters and everyone seems to agree that she was the least committed. Although she did become the sixth ranked woman in the world.
Even Susan said that Sophia "was lazy". And Sophia herself agreed, that she would give up easier than Judit and never worked as hard as she did. Likewise, everyone seems to agree that Judit, who rose highest, worked hardest and practiced the most.
So here's a question for you: Does everyone have the capacity to become a talented individual? The sisters would say that yes, any healthy person can become an expert in their own domain, if they put in enough dedicated practice. Their own stories have convinced them that their father was right about talent.
As Susan put it: "My father believes that innate talent is nothing, that success is 99 percent hard work. " "I agree with him. " Thanks for watching till the very end.
I hope you found the story of the Polgar sisters as fascinating as I did. If you enjoyed the video, don't forget to press that like button. And if you're new to the channel, make sure to subscribe.
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