Hungarian Jewish chess grandmaster Judit Polgar declined an offer Monday to serve as the country's interim president, following Prime Minister Peter Magyar's public request made the previous day. Magyar had put forth the proposal shortly after President Tamas Sulyok, whom Magyar had characterized as a puppet of former prime minister Viktor Orban, was forced from office.
In a Facebook post, Polgar, widely regarded as the greatest female chess player in history, expressed gratitude for the offer but said she lacked the strength to take on the historic responsibility of uniting a divided nation and therefore could not accept.
Polgar was born in Communist-run Budapest to a Hungarian Jewish family. Both of her grandmothers survived the Holocaust, while her grandfathers were sent to forced labor camps. She and her family have maintained a strong connection to their heritage and she holds joint Israeli citizenship, according to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.