I don't entirely like the parade of endless men in the 'Lessons from...' series, so here's one from the other half of humanity, and a fine Appendix to the list of guys that ever joined the 'Vera Menchik Club'.
Judit Polgar was strongest woman chess player ever. She never became World Champion, and was never interested in becoming World Women’s World Chess Champion ( a title held by her two sisters, Susan and Sofia). She was in the world top ten and improving when she retired.
Opening
[Event "Buenos Aires Sicilian"] [Site "Buenos Aires ARG"] [Date "1994.10.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "8"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Alexey Shirov"] [Black "Judit Polgar"] [ECO "B45"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "58"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 a6 7.Be3 Nge7 8.Nb3 b5 9.f4 Bb7 10.Qf3 g5! {breaking up the pawn wave and securing e5} 11.fxg5 Ne5 12.Qg2 b4 13.Ne2 h5 14.gxh5 Nf5 15.Bf2 Qxg5 16.Na5 Ne3 17.Qg3 Qxg3 18.Nxg3 Nxc2+ 19.Kd1 Nxa1 20.Nxb7 b3 21.axb3 Nxb3 22.Kc2 Nc5 23.Nxc5 dxc5 24.Be1 Nf3 25.Bc3 Nd4+ 26.Kd3 Bd6 27.Bg2 Be5 28.Kc4 Ke7 29.Ra1 Nc6 0-1In 2003, Polgár scored one of her best results: an undefeated clear second place in the Category 19 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, just a half-point behind future World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and a full point ahead of then-world champion Vladimir Kramnik. She devised this TN over the board.
[Event "Corus"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2003.01.15"] [EventDate "2003.01.11"] [Round "4"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Anatoly Karpov"] [Black "Judit Polgar"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2688"] [BlackElo "2700"] [PlyCount "66"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8. Qxc3 h6 9. e3 Nd7 10. b4 Be7 11. Bb2 O-O 12. Rd1 a5! {TN} 13. b5 Rc8 14. Qb3 c6 15. bxc6 Bxc6 16. Bb5 Bb4+ 17. axb4 Bxb5 18. bxa5 Bc4 19. Qa3 bxa5 20. Qd6 Bb5 21. d5 Rc2 22. Rd2 Qc8 23. Qa3 Rxd2 24. Kxd2 Nb6 25. Qc3 Nc4+ 26. Kc2 e5 27. Kb1 Qg4 28. Rc1 Rb8 29. Rc2 f6 30. d6 Qxg2 31. Nd2 Qh1+ 32. Ka2 Nxd6 33. Qc5 Rc8 0-1
[Event "Chess Olympiad (Women)"] [Site "Thessaloniki GRE"] [Date "1988.11.23"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "10"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Pavlina Chilingirova"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "33"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.c3 e5 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Nxd4 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.e5 Ne7 10.Bg5 O-O 11.Qxd4 Nc6 12.Qh4 Qb6 13.Nc3 Bxe5 14.Rae1 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Qxb5 16.Qh6 Qf5 17.Qxf8+ 1-0
Middlegame
For Polgar, chess is the attack, so I've shown some of her best and best-known, but her imposition of a classic good-N-bad-B on Anand is very classy, with a glorious finish.[Event "7th Essent"] [Site "Hoogeveen NED"] [Date "2003.10.12"] [EventDate "2003.10.12"] [Round "1"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Anatoly Karpov"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2693"] [PlyCount "51"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. a3 Nc6 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Qd6 14. Rb1 b6 15. Re1 Be6 16. Bd3 Rae8 17. Rb5! Na5 18. Rbe5 Nc6 19. R5e2 (19.Rxe6!?) 19...Bd7 20. d5 Na5 21. Ne5 Bf6 22. Bf4 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 Qxa3 24. Re3 Qc5 25. Bxh7+ Kxh7 26. Qh5+ 1-0
[Event "Hunguest Hotels Super Chess Tournament"] [Site "Budapest HUN"] [Date "2003.04.18"] [EventDate "2003.04.11"] [Round "7"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Ferenc Berkes"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2715"] [BlackElo "2578"] [PlyCount "47"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Bd3 b6 11. Neg5 h6 12. Bh7+ Kh8 13. Be4 hxg5?! 14. g4!! Rb8 15. h4 g6 16. hxg5+ Kg7 17. Qf4 Bb7 18. Rh7+ Kxh7 19. Qh2+ Kg8 20. Rh1 Bxg5+ 21. Nxg5 Qxg5+ 22. f4 Qxf4+ 23. Qxf4 Bxe4 24. Qxe4 1-0The trapper trapped!
Someone commented on this next one, it's like exchange chess: no time to count the pieces, the initiative is everything!
[Event "Dos Hermanas"] [Site "Dos Hermanas ESP"] [Date "1999.04.06"] [EventDate "1999.04.06"] [Round "1"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Viswanathan Anand"] [ECO "B81"] [WhiteElo "2677"] [BlackElo "2781"] [PlyCount "67"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 e5 8. Nf5 g6 9. g5 gxf5 10. exf5 d5 11. Qf3 d4 12. O-O-O Nbd7 13. Bd2 dxc3 14. Bxc3 Bg7 15. Rg1 O-O 16. gxf6 Qxf6 17. Qe3 Kh8 18. f4 Qb6 19. Qg3 Qh6 20. Rd6 f6 21. Bd2 e4 22. Bc4 b5 23. Be6 Ra7 24. Rc6 a5 25. Be3 Rb7 26. Bd5 Rb8 27. Rc7 b4 28. b3 Rb5 29. Bc6 Rxf5 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 31. Bxd7 Rcc5 32. Bxf5 Rxf5 33. Rd1 Kg8 34. Qg2 1-0
[Event "Hoogovens Group A"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "1998.01.22"] [Round "6"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Viswanathan Anand"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "1998.01.16"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Qe2 b5 11. Bb3 Bxb3 12. axb3 Nbd7 13. Rfd1 Qc7 14. Bg5 Rfc8 15. Ne1 Qb7 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. Rxd5 Rc5 19. Rad1 Rxd5 20. Rxd5 Rc8 21. c3 b4 22. c4 g6 23. g3 Rc5 24. Rd1 a5 25. Nc2 Kg7 26. Qd3 Rc6 27. Ne3 Qc8 28. Kg2 Qe6 29. Qe2 Bd8 30. Nd5 Rc5 31. Qe3 Be7 32. Rd3 Bd8 33. Qd2 Rc6 34. Qd1 Kg8 35. h4 Kg7 36. h5 Bg5 37. Qf3 Rc8 38. Rd1 Rc6 39. Qe2 Rc8 40. Rh1 Kg8 41. f3 Rb8 42. Qf2 Rb7 43. hxg6 fxg6 44. c5 dxc5 45. Qxc5 Bd8 46. Rc1 Kf7 47. Qe3 Kg7 48. Rc4 Rd7 49. Qc1 h5 50. Rc6 Rd6 51. Rc8 Qd7 52. Qc5 Kh6 53. Rb8 Bf6 54. Qe3+ Bg5 55. f4 exf4 56. Rh8+ (56. Rh8+ Kg7 57. Qd4+ Bf6 (57... Kf7 58. Rh7+) 58. Qxf6+ Rxf6 59. Rh7+ Kxh7 60. Nxf6+ Kh6 61. Nxd7) 1-0
Endgame
Like all top GMs, the endgame is a strength of Polgar, but may not be noticed among the maulings...This is just about space, but in a position with just one pair of pieces, and you could argue that White has the worse Bishop!
[Event "12th European Individual Championship"] [Site "Aix-les-Bains FRA"] [Date "2011.03.30"] [EventDate "2011.03.22"] [Round "8"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Gadir Guseinov"] [ECO "B36"] [WhiteElo "2686"] [BlackElo "2584"] [PlyCount "123"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8. Be2 Bg7 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Rc1 Qa5 12. f3 Rfc8 13. b3 a6 14. Rc2 b5 15. Nd5 Qxd2+ 16. Kxd2 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Rxc2+ 18. Kxc2 Rc8+ 19. Kb1 f6 20. Be3 Bd7 21. Rc1 Rxc1+ 22. Kxc1 Kf7 23. Kc2 f5 24. Bd3 fxe4 25. Bxe4 Be5 26. h3 Bf6 27. g4 Be8 28. Kd3 Bd7 29. Bd2 Bg7 30. Bg5 Bf6 31. Bh6 Bg7 32. Bxg7 Kxg7 33. h4 h6 34. g5 hxg5 35. hxg5 Kf7 36. a3 a5 37. Kd4 Kg7 38. Bd3 Kf7 39. f4 Kg7 40. Kc3 Kf7 41. b4 a4 42. Kd4 Kg7 43. Ke3 Kf7 44. Kf3 Kg7 45. Kg3 Kf7 46. Be2 Kg7 47. Bg4 Bf5 48. Be2 Bd7 49. Bf1 Kf7 50. Bd3 Kg7 51. Kh4 Be8 52. Be2 Kf8 53. Bg4 Bf7 54. Be6 Be8 55. Kg4 Kg7 56. Kf3 Kf8 57. Ke4 Kg7 58. Bc8 Kf7 59. Kd4 Kf8 60. Bb7 Bd7 61. Bc6 Ke8 62. f5 1-0PS "She has fantastic chess talent, but she is, after all, a woman. It all comes down to the imperfections of the feminine psyche. No woman can sustain a prolonged battle." Garry KASPAROV
PPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r#Kasparov_touch-move_cont...
PPPS
[Event "Russia - The Rest of the World"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2002.09.09"] [EventDate "2002.09.08"] [Round "5"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Judit Polgar"] [Black "Garry Kasparov"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2681"] [BlackElo "2838"] [PlyCount "84"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. h3 Be7 12. Ne2 Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14. Be3 Bf5 15. Nd4 Bh7 16. g4 Be7 17. Kg2 h5 18. Nf5 Bf8 19. Kf3 Bg6 20. Rd2 hxg4+ 21. hxg4 Rh3+ 22. Kg2 Rh7 23. Kg3 f6 24. Bf4 Bxf5 25. gxf5 fxe5 26. Re1 Bd6 27. Bxe5 Kd7 28. c4 c5 29. Bxd6 cxd6 30. Re6 Rah8 31. Rexd6+ Kc8 32. R2d5 Rh3+ 33. Kg2 Rh2+ 34. Kf3 R2h3+ 35. Ke4 b6 36. Rc6+ Kb8 37. Rd7 Rh2 38. Ke3 Rf8 39. Rcc7 Rxf5 40. Rb7+ Kc8 41. Rdc7+ Kd8 42. Rxg7 Kc8 1-0That was the first time a woman had beaten the best player in the world, although in 2006 she took Topalov outside a couple of times and filled him in, when he was the top-rated player and FIDE champion.