Hungarian chess legend Judit Polgar said on Monday that she would not accept the nomination to become the country’s next president, one day after Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced plans to ask her to take on the largely ceremonial role.
In a Facebook post, Polgar thanked Magyar for the nomination but said she did not feel capable of assuming what she described as the responsibility of bringing together a politically divided nation.
“However, I do not feel enough strength within me to take on the historic responsibility of uniting a divided nation, so I am unable to accept the request,” she wrote.
Magyar had proposed Polgar as interim president as part of a broader effort to reshape Hungary’s political institutions following his landslide election victory in April, which ended the 16-year rule of former prime minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party.
The appointment of a new president and the drafting of a new constitution are among the key elements of Magyar’s reform agenda.
On Saturday, former president Tamás Sulyok signed a constitutional amendment adopted by Magyar’s ruling Tisza party that brought his term as head of state to an end.
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Speaking in parliament on Monday, Magyar said the country’s next president should embody national unity and uphold Hungary’s constitutional order.
“The president of the republic must be a person who guards the unity of the nation and constitutionality,” he said.
Under current plans, parliament will elect a new president who will remain in office until a new constitution comes into force or for a maximum term of five years.
Polgar, who was the world’s highest-ranked female player for many years, is widely regarded as the greatest woman in the history of chess. She remains the only female player to have reached the overall top 10 in the world rankings and the only woman to surpass the 2,700 Elo rating, a benchmark often associated with the game’s elite grandmasters.
Earlier this year, Polgar was the subject of the documentary “Queen of Chess,” which chronicles her career and achievements.
