Can Everyone Become Talented? – Story of the Polgar Sisters (animated)
Can Everyone Become Talented? – Story of the Polgar Sisters (animated)
Lazslo Polgar, 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.
He realized that the only way to prove his theory was to test it on his own future children. So he found a young Ukrainian woman named Klara, who found his arguments irresistible and ended up taking part in his bold experiment.
In 1969, Klara gave birth to their first daughter, Susan.
Laszlo needed Susan’s achievements to be so dramatic, that nobody could question their authenticity. That was the only way to convince people, that their ideas about innate talent were all wrong. And then it struck him: Chess.
In 1974, Klara gave birth to a second daughter, Sofia. Then in 1976, to a third daughter, Judit.
By the time they had reached adolescence, all three sisters had accumulated well over ten thousand hours of specialized practice in chess. All three sisters would win many championships and set new world records.
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.
So here’s a question for you:
Does everyone have the capacity to become a talented individual?
Great video, thanks for sharing!
How can Judit be the #1 female player in the world? Susan is older and older sisters never let younger sisters win.
Imagine if every parent did this with their kid
Obsession breeds monsters
This is probably my favorite piece of history and I’m sad not more people have tried to replicate this process. I, too, believe children are capable of so much more than we think and we need to radically alter the way we teach them and what we teach them. I’m sad it seems all the people in the comment section are completely ignoring how valuable this experiment could be towards furthering human society. Regardless of the reason those girls were born is irrelevent. People have kids they don’t want, or are incapable of taking care of, all the time. At least the father wanted the kids and actually carefully considered how he should raise them, something the majority of parents don’t do. The mother willingly volunteered and the girls seem to have turned out fine (looking at Judit’s and Susan’s TedTalks), so there’s no problem.
We are a product of our environment, sometimes we can break free if it’s bad but if it’s stimulating then why should we?
thank you
Some of us feel sorry because they were born to prove a point, but they have achieved something most of us will never come close
But is dedication genetic?
I find the polgar sisters storie very inspiring…
– I agree with the hard work theory BUT.., this is chees.. everyone who play consistently since 4 years old at some point in life achieved something.. now let’s say… football.. in this case, im sorry only hard work could not be enough. For example Cristiano Ronaldo, he is a beast, he is committed he is responsible he is focussed and the work work work a lot since he was a little kid in Madeira Island, he achieved to the top of football bcoz he of his hard work, but he was talented, if he don’t work so much, he could be a top player in portuguese league, maybe he could do a good 2 3 seasons European level, but no.. he wanted more and he work for that, it work bcoz he have talent too.. so its not so simple like it says in the video, i don’t think its ok to teach a child he could do whatever he want IF he work for that… no! its not like that, its important to teach him to work hard for his dreams, but teach him there are, or could have, limitations and those can be external or can be related with his limitations. Teaching when to stop, teaching to admit our own limitations, teaching how we evaluate ourselves, is one important lessons we can teach..
I think the dad was just autistic and his obsessive behavior is genetic and passed onto the children. Also the woman would have to be pretty dedicated to agree to this arrangement as well
I don’t think 3 people from one gene pool entering one particular branch could actually prove anything and let us expand this theory the every domain and everyone…
Judit Polgar had an IQ of 170. Ironically, even if she were to be exceptional at chess, which she is, it’s still not proof of her father’s theory.
So that means you have to start very young…..but I am 19 now….sigh
This is the most amazing story about hardwork and talent I’ve heard! I know Judit Polgar but didn’t know about this story.
Geniuses are born, not made.
Just kidding, go practice! #lingling40hours
Damn credits of atomic habits
The 375 dislikes are from people who believed she only had talent 😂
What was said here about people not respecting hard work,that to achieve a great goal you had to have some kind of specialized talent is very true. Take the Stradivarius violin for instance. Till this day people are arguing about the trees, the chemicals in the varnish, or some other innocuous factor. A great luthier named Jimmy D’Aquisto set to an interviewer once, "why is it that you guys (regular folks) look for every other factor except for the individual that put in the hard work, why can’t it just be that you work hard at something and was able to achieve it (building great violins)". There is something to say about 10,000 hours of hard work, but you should see what happens after 20,000 hours.
I was expecting at least one of the kids to show no interest or aptitude for chess, but instead to be interested in pursuing something else, perhaps even to the extent of rebelling against the family’s great emphasis on chess because she felt "different".
I don’t think the nature/nurture question can ever be truly solved. Both always play a role. Emotional and relationship issues always factor in too, especially in family dynamics like this one.
And apart from that, what if one of the girls had been born with a genetic condition that limited or enhanced her abilities in certain areas? Genetics do indeed play a role, just maybe not the one most people might expect.
Addendum: there are a plethora of instances where children have rebelled against being molded into what their parents want them to be. This guy’s kids are the exception rather than the rule.
Also shows the importance of good parents spending time with their children.
My mom’s example shows if you have talent is nothing if you don’t not put work in it. She considered as gifted violinist, but she didn’t like it, neither practice. My grandparents not the best parents, didn’t supported her either, just told her she is lazy, etc. She never received support or motivation from them, like Laszlo did with his daughters. My mom was an unwanted child, so is explains a lot. So, I think first of all the parent matters a lot, and their attitude and support, also need to become genius. But if a child doesn’t motivated or dedicated enough, it not possible. Like my mom, if she was practiced a lot and she was dedicated, got enough support from my grandparents, I am sure she had the possibility to become one of greatest violinist in the world.
As she says, she always gave up before the finish line and lost interested and that’s the biggest mistake.
Great work! Well.done
The "experiment" shows that hard work leads to massive improvement but it doesn’t help with determining peak human performance due to a very small sample size.
Judits games are master pieces
Everybody is gangsta until they meet they meet the Norwegian lvl.99 boss
Based on my own experiences and observations, I would say that talent is just hard work. No one is born with an innate ability to dance or play football. But once they play, grow passionate and practice for hours on end, they get the skill and that is when the world refers to it at talent.
It’s all about environment and proper guidance which engineers neurons in a certain way.
Wow so inspiring! Thanks!
Astonishing results!
Guy married a completely random women and had children with her just for the sake of a research, I’ve never heard of a more dedicated person
as a hungarian, I greatly appreciate this content!
LEGEND
The belief of being born with simple talent is just an excuse for those who don’t try
Wrong. Geniuses are born, not created.
Geniuses are made not born 🙂
All those who feel like they can never be good enough you need to work like a prodigy. This is the truth. Please don’t think that you can never be a genius or be smart. You can be anything you want with resources and hard work.
At the same time, Judit and Susana have 170+ IQs.
What about soft skills??? Some are naturally talented at it .. while others not
Hey baby, want to prove a theory?
Better than yesterday what about Issac Newton
Mirror mirror on the wall who’s the best of Polgar’s sister them all?
Your videos should be part of school education
Ramanujan…
Who came here after reading ‘atomic habits’ by james clear
If result is not reproducible, it doesn’t mean much. Children may have been naturally gifted, all of them, given that IQ can be inherited.
The information in this video at 2:05 conflicts directly with Susan Polgar’s own account. In her version, she says she only found out about the existence of chess when she was 4 already. She says she found some pretty pieces in the cabinet and asked her mom, and her mom told her it was a game, and that her father would teach her when he got home. Yet, this video says Laszlo Polgar taught her for many hours even before she was 4 years old. So who is lying? :-/ Susan’s TED talk where she explains her origins in chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c956hc2TdjY
A factual error at 3:43, Susan Polgar wasn’t the world’s first female grandmaster, she was the youngest female grandmaster. The first female to ever reach the grandmaster title (in 1978) was the Georgian (then part of the USSR) Nona Gaprindashvili.
https://news.trust.org/item/20201130170326-owkh6
To get to top 10 in chess (or any other discipline) you need an exceptional talent. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.
As talent is a matter of proper practice, I’m going to work as hard as I can on my projects (I’m still noob now).
I’ll UPDATE this comment every 3 months! let’s see what changes happen
thank you !