Anna Rudolf
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Anna Rudolf (born 12 November 1987) is a Hungarian
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
player, chess commentator,
livestreamer An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could uplo ...
, and
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
who holds the titles of
International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(IM) and
Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(WGM). She is a three-time Hungarian women's national chess champion and has represented Hungary at the
Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
and the
European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...
. She has a peak
FIDE rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...
of 2393 and a career-best ranking of No. 71 in the world among women. Rudolf began playing chess with her younger sister Kata when she was four years old. They had success at a young age, both qualifying for the
World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...
s, where Rudolf finished in the top 10 of the under-12 girls' division in 1999. In Hungary, she became a three-time girls' national champion, once each at the under-12 and under-16 youth levels and the under-20 junior level. At the senior level, Rudolf qualified for the Woman Grandmaster title in 2007 when she reached a rating of 2300 and earned three WGM norms, including a double norm at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, all at age 19. Rudolf did not qualify for the International Master title until seven years later in 2014, having earned her three IM norms years apart in 2007, 2010, and 2014, and briefly reaching the rating threshold of 2400 in 2010. One of her best tournament results came at the 2007 Vandœuvre Open where she had a career-best
performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...
of 2541 and earned both her last WGM norm and first IM norm. In her career, she has defeated two Grandmasters (GM) rated above 2600,
Yaroslav Zherebukh Yaroslav Volodymyrovych Zherebukh (; born July 14, 1993) is a Ukrainian-American chess Grandmaster (2009). Zherebukh was born in Lviv, Ukraine. Career In 2006, he was a Ukrainian national youth team member, which won the U-16 Chess Olympiad i ...
and
Christian Bauer Christian Bauer (born 11 January 1977) is a French chess grandmaster and author. He is a three-time French Chess Champion (1996, 2012, 2015). In 2005 he won the 2nd Calvia Chess Festival. In 2009, came first at Vicente Bonil ahead of 21 GMs an ...
, who had ratings of 2642 and 2634 at the time of their games. Outside of her playing career, Rudolf is a regular chess commentator at high-profile tournaments, having worked with both
Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. One of the largest chess platforms in the world, the site operates on a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available via subscription ...
and
chess24 chess24.com was an Internet chess server in English and ten other languages, established in 2014 by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson and Enrique Guzman. Chess24 also provided live coverage of major international chess tournaments, and hosted th ...
. She was the official commentator for the 2018 World Chess Championship together with her childhood idol
Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...
. She had started producing instructional videos for chess24 in 2013, and has co-hosted a series with fellow IM
Sopiko Guramishvili Sopiko Guramishvili ( ka, სოფიკო გურამიშვილი; born 1 January 1991) is a Georgian and Dutch chess player, author, and commentator who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Ha ...
where they are known respectively as ''Miss Strategy'' and ''Miss Tactics''. Since 2017, Rudolf has not played any competitive chess tournaments and focused primarily on her broadcasting career. She launched her own Twitch channel in 2018 and also runs her own YouTube channel.


Early life

Rudolf was born in
Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...
, which was then in the
Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Hungary, Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed Communist_state# ...
, on 12 November 1987. She grew up in
Bátaszék Bátaszék (, ) is a town in Tolna County, Hungary. The majority residents are Hungarians, with a significant minority of Germans. "The oldest tree of Bátaszék" won the title of European Tree of the Year 2016. The Roman Catholic writer Mikló ...
and has a younger sister named Kata. Her father, László Rudolf, is an experienced chess player with a peak
FIDE rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...
of 2185. He has also been a world champion of
hexagonal chess Hexagonal chess is a group of chess variants played on boards composed of hexagon . The best known is Gliński's variant, played on a symmetric 91-cell hexagonal board. Since each hexagonal cell not on a board edge has six neighbor cells, there ...
. Rudolf learned how to play chess at the age of four with her sister through the ''
Battle Chess ''Battle Chess'' is a video game version of chess with 2.5D graphics and fighting animations showing the result of one piece moving onto the square of another. It was developed and released by Interplay Entertainment for the Amiga in 1988 and po ...
'' computer game, which follows the same rules as chess while also animating moves and captures anthropomorphically. At nine years old, she drew media attention for defeating Hungarian Grandmaster (GM)
Lajos Portisch Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve c ...
as a participant in a
simultaneous exhibition A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition (commonly chess or Go) in which one player (typically of high rank, such as a grandmaster or dan-level player) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other pl ...
. While growing up, Rudolf was coached by Béla Molnár. She won the under-12 girls' division of an international youth chess tournament in Visegrád in 1998, while her sister won the under-10 girls' division. They had both finished runner-up one age group lower a year earlier. Rudolf won the under-12 girls' division of the Hungarian national championship in 1999, the same year her sister won the under-10 girls' division. With these victories, they both qualified for the European Youth and
World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...
s. Rudolf finished in equal ninth place out of 66 competitors in the under-12 girls' division at the 1999 World Youth Chess Championship with a score of , three behind the winner
Nana Dzagnidze Nana Dzagnidze ( ka, ნანა ძაგნიძე; born 1 January 1987) is a Georgian chess player. She was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2008. Dzagnidze was a member of the gold medal-winning Georgian team in the Women's Che ...
. She later studied Russian and English at the
University of Pécs The University of Pécs ( , PTE; ) is one of the largest higher education institutions in Hungary. The history of the university began in the Middle Ages, when in 1367, at the request of Louis I of Hungary, King Louis I the Great, Pope Urban V gr ...
. Rudolf's childhood idol was her compatriot
Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...
, who is widely acknowledged as the greatest female chess player of all time. She had the opportunity to play against Polgár at age 11 when she traveled to
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
to participate in a simultaneous exhibition given by Polgár. She later became good friends with Polgár, helping to promote the annual Global Chess Festival started by Polgár, and the two commentated on the 2018 World Chess Championship together.


Chess career


2000–03: Under-16 girls' national champion

Rudolf first reached a FIDE rating above 2000 in January 2000 at the age of 12, having been rated 2087 on that list. She rose to a rating of 2100 in the middle of 2002 at age 14 mainly from two second-place finishes at the First Saturday FM B tournament in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
and the under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship in
Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna (county), Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian Paks Nuclear Pow ...
. She scored 4/8 in Budapest in a field of six competitors. She scored 6/9 in Paks, only behind Lili Tóth. Although she only scored 3½/8 against her rated opponents at the
Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
Open in Croatia the next month, she also gained 25 rating points there as well. Rudolf rose another 100 points again the following year, reaching 2200 in July 2003 at age 15. Her best performance during this span came at the
Zalakaros Zalakaros is a town in Zala County, Hungary. Zalakaros is famous for its thermal spring baths. It gained its fame in 1962, when prospective oil drilling struck a nearly 96 °C (205 °F) source at a depth of 1000 metres. Twin towns ...
Cup Open in May, where she scored 5½/9 against opponents with a much-higher average rating of 2304 to gain 45 rating points. In the second half of the year, Rudolf had one of her best results in both national and international competitions. First, she won the under-16 Hungarian girls' national championship with an unbeaten 5½/6, which was 1½ points ahead of second place. Several months later, she entered the under-16 girls' division at the World Youth Championship in
Kallithea Kallithea (Greek language, Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a suburb in Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration and a municipality in South Athens (regional unit), south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth larges ...
in Greece and finished equal fourth with a score of 7½/11, one point behind the leaders.


2004–07: Junior national champion, WIM and WGM titles

Rudolf maintained a steady rating of around 2200 for a three-year period from mid-2003 until mid-2006. At the 2004 under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship, she finished in third place for the second consecutive year. She played the under-18 the following year in 2005, and also finished in third place. During 2005, Rudolf was awarded the
Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(WIM) title. She resumed rising in rating in large part from another strong performance in Zalakaros, where she scored an even 4½/9 against opponents with a much-higher average rating of 2387 to gain 32 rating points. Rudolf closed out the year with a good performance at the
World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...
in
Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...
in Armenia, scoring 8½/13 in the girls' division to finish in equal fifth, just a ½ point behind the leaders. She finished 2006 with a rating of 2279, having just turned 19 years old. During 2007, Rudolf fulfilled both her
norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...
and rating requirements for the
Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(WGM) title. At the beginning of the year, Rudolf won the under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship, scoring 1½ points ahead of second place with 8/9 and gaining enough rating to cross 2300, the threshold for the WGM title. In April, she earned her first two WGM norms as a double norm at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, scoring 6½/11. After a poor performance at the World Junior Chess Championship in Yerevan where she lost 51 rating points with 5/11, Rudolf produced the best result of her career by
performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...
at the 2007 Vandœuvre Open in late December. She won the first four rounds of the event, including victories over
Christian Bauer Christian Bauer (born 11 January 1977) is a French chess grandmaster and author. He is a three-time French Chess Champion (1996, 2012, 2015). In 2005 he won the 2nd Calvia Chess Festival. In 2009, came first at Vicente Bonil ahead of 21 GMs an ...
and Cyril Marzolo, the former of which was the top seed and a GM rated 2634, and the latter was an IM rated 2478. After a loss to the eventual tournament winner Thorsten-Michael Haub, she won a fifth game against Vera Nebolsina and finished in ninth place with 6/9. She faced the most difficult opposition in the tournament with her opponents having an average rating of 2421. She squandered an opportunity to finish equal first by losing her last game, which she had needed to win, against
Ilmārs Starostīts Ilmārs Starostīts (born May 30, 1979, in Rēzekne) is a Latvian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (2010). Career Ilmārs Starostīts participated in various Junior World Championships from 1993 to 1999. In 2001 he achieve ...
. The tournament became enshrouded in controversy when three Latvian players (Starostīts,
Oleg Krivonosov Oleg Valerevich Krivonosov (, ; born 11 May 1961, Daugavpils, Latvia) is a Soviet/Latvian chess player. He was awarded the International Master title in 1993. Biography Krivonosov began playing at age 11 and quickly became one of the best player ...
, and Vladimir Lazarev) falsely accused Rudolf of cheating by hiding a computer in her
lip balm Lip balm or lip salve is a wax-like substance applied to the lips to moisturize and relieve chapped or dry lips, angular cheilitis, stomatitis, or cold sores. Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, par ...
. Starostīts in particular asked the arbiter to confiscate her belongings and refused to shake her hand before their game, an action which could have been penalized. Marie Boyarchenko, another player at the event, believed these actions were key factors in Rudolf losing that last-round game. Overall, Rudolf compiled a performance rating of 2541, second only to the winner Haub and sufficient for both her final WGM norm as well as her first IM norm. She was officially awarded the WGM title in 2008.


2008–11: Three-time national champion, second IM norm, 2400 rating

Over the next four years, Rudolf won the Hungarian women's national championship three times in 2008, 2010, and 2011. Her first national championship in the 2008 event came in a knockout tournament in which she won the final against Veronika Schneider. After the tournament switched to a 10-player round robin, she won the 2010 event easily by 1½ points over Tóth and Melinda Göcző with a score of 7½/9. The 2011 event was more competitive, ending with three players tied for first with 6/9 and Rudolf winning over Schneider and Ticia Gara on the tiebreak criteria. Overall, Rudolf maintained a rating near 2300 for about three years from when she first achieved it through March 2010. She reached a new career-best rating of 2337 in the middle of 2008 by following up her excellent performance at the Vandœuvre Open with good results at the Open International de Cappelle in February, the Kaupthing Open A in May, and the Hungarian Team Championship Final that was played twice a month from October through May. Rudolf's last major rating climb occurred in the middle of 2010. In February, she participated in the Talent and Courage IM tournament in
Szentgotthárd Szentgotthárd () is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border. History The town took its name from, and grew up round, the Cistercian Szentgotthárd Abbey, founded here in 1183. In 1664, it was ...
in her home country, a ten-player round robin for talented young players that was held in conjunction with a GM tournament. As only the seventh-highest rated player, she won the event with a score of 6½/9, a ½ point ahead of Attila Gergacz, who with a rating of 2421 was the highest-rated player participating. She was undefeated at the tournament, and won her games against both the second and third-place finishers. With a performance rating of 2499, she also earned her second IM norm. This helped her reach another career-best rating at 2344 in May 2010. In the next list for July 2010, Rudolf rose to a rating of 2393, the highest published rating of her career and putting her among the top 100 women's players at No. 71 in the world. This climb of nearly 50 points was primarily from winning her second national championship as well as another good performance in the half-year-long Hungarian Team Championship Final. She entered her first tournament of the next rating period, the Heart Of Finland, needing seven rating points to reach 2400. After a last-round win against
Mikael Agopov Mikael Agopov (born 5 March 1978) is a Finnish-Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title of International master in 1999. His highest Elo rating was 2465 (in June 2015) and as of July 2021, he is ranked Finland's 5th best active player. He ...
, a Finnish IM rated 2436, she reached an unpublished rating of 2397.80, having gained 4.80 points at the event. She then began her next event, the Open Internacional Hotel Avenida de Canarias in Spain, with two wins against much lower-rated players. As a result, Rudolf reached an overall career-best unpublished rating of 2401.25, passing the 2400 threshold required for the IM title, and only needed one more IM norm to qualify for the title. Nonetheless, she did not finish that tournament well and ended up keeping a rating of around 2350 through the end of 2011.


2012–17: International Master title

Rudolf was unable to match her success in the Hungarian women's national championship the remaining times she participated. As the two-time defending champion in 2012, she finished in joint fourth with a score of 5/9, 1½ points behind the winner Petra Papp. The following year, she finished in third place with 5½/9, but two points behind the winner Anita Gara. Rudolf kept a steady rating in the low 2300s and high 2200s for about four years from mid-2012 through mid-2016, having fallen slightly from her peak in 2010. At the 2012 Open International de Cappelle, Rudolf won a game against
Yaroslav Zherebukh Yaroslav Volodymyrovych Zherebukh (; born July 14, 1993) is a Ukrainian-American chess Grandmaster (2009). Zherebukh was born in Lviv, Ukraine. Career In 2006, he was a Ukrainian national youth team member, which won the U-16 Chess Olympiad i ...
, a GM who with a rating of 2642 was the highest-rated player she ever defeated. In the middle of 2014, Rudolf earned her final IM norm in the Master Open at the
Biel Chess Festival The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. It consists of two events, the Grandmaster Tournament, held with the round-robin system, and the Master Open Tournament (MTO), held w ...
in Switzerland. She scored 6/11 and was able to count her performance of 5½/9 in the first nine rounds towards a norm. She was awarded the International Master title in 2015. In the middle of 2016, Rudolf had her first significant longterm drop in rating in years. After only scoring 4/11 at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, highlighted by losses against lower-rated players in the last three rounds, she lost 54 rating points. Because she only participated in a few tournaments thereafter, she kept a rating near 2250 for a little over a year. Nonetheless, Rudolf was able to regain that lost rating and more in the last two events of her career in late 2017. At her penultimate tournament, she scored 5½/7 at the CE Division de Honor in Spain, a team club competition. Although she and her teammate
Yuriy Kuzubov Yuriy Kuzubov (; his first name is sometimes spelled "Yuri" or "Yury"; born 26 January 1990 in Sychyovka, Smolensk Oblast)
were among three players who tied for the highest individual score among all participants, her team did not perform well. For her last event, Rudolf played the Isle of Man International Masters, one of the world's leading open tournaments. She scored 4½/9 against opponents with an average rating of 2466, a performance above the level needed for IM norms. Her three wins included one against
Harika Dronavalli Harika Dronavalli (born 12 January 1991) is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's ...
, a GM who is one of the leading women's players. Between these last two events, Rudolf gained 65 rating points to finish her competitive playing career with a rating of 2325.


National representation


Chess Olympiad

Rudolf was a member of the Hungary
Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
women's team from 2008 to 2012. She made her debut at the 2008 Dresden Olympiad on the fourth board, playing behind
Hoang Thanh Trang Hoàng Thanh Trang (born 25 April 1980) is a Vietnamese-born Hungarian chess grandmaster. She was Asian women's champion in 2000 and European women's champion in 2013. Hoang competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2000, 2001, 2004 ...
,
Szidonia Vajda Szidónia Lázárné Vajda (née Vajda; born 20 January 1979) is a Romanian- Hungarian chess player with the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She won the women's Hungarian Chess Championship in 2004 and 2015 ...
, and
Ildikó Mádl Ildikó Mádl (born 5 November 1969 in Tapolca) is a Hungary, Hungarian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Madl learned to play chess from her father. In 1978 she became a pupil of ...
. She had an average performance, scoring 5/9 as Hungary finished in 14th place out of 112 teams with a team score of 14 points (–3=2). Rudolf was again on the fourth board at the 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad behind the same three teammates, with Mádl swapping boards with Vajda. As a team, Hungary produced a near-identical result with the exact same team score and a 15th-place finish. Rudolf did not have as good of a performance, scoring 2½/5 and being substituted for reserve player Ticia Gara in the other six rounds. Rudolf made her last Olympiad appearance at the 2012 Istanbul Olympiad, this time on the third board behind Hoang and Ticia Gara and ahead of Anita Gara as well as Papp, who was given a significant number of games as a reserve. Hungary again had the exact same team score, this time putting them in 17th place. Rudolf scored better than her other Olympiads with 5/8, but still performed slightly below expectation based on her rating.


European Team Chess Championship

Rudolf also represented Hungary in the women's division at the
European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...
from 2009 to 2015, an event that is held every two years like the Chess Olympiad. At her first event, she played the second board behind Szidonia and ahead of the Gara sisters. She had a good performance, scoring 4/7 and gaining 10 rating points. Hungary finished in 10th place out of 28 teams with 10 points (+4–3=2). Rudolf's best performance at the event came in 2013. Although she was the reserve player, she had the opportunity to play all but one round and scored 6½/8, compiling a performance rating of 2395 and gaining 20 rating points. Hungary also produced their best result in the years Rudolf participated, finishing in sixth place with 11 points (+4–2=3).


Playing style

Rudolf primarily plays 1.e4 (the
King's Pawn Game The King's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: : 1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 It is the most popular opening move in chess, followed by 1.d4, the Queen's Pawn Game. Principles White opens with the most popular of the ...
) compared to 1.d4 (the
Queen's Pawn Game The Queen's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: : 1. d4 It is the second-most popular opening move after 1.e4 (King's Pawn Game). Terminology The term "Queen's Pawn Game" is usually used to describe openings beginning wit ...
) or other first moves. When playing against 1.e4, she prefers to respond with the
French Defence The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e6 This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5. Black usually plays ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...
(1.e4 e6), which she often continues with the Tarrasch Morozevich variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7). When facing 1.d4, she commonly defends with the
Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...
(1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6).


Broadcasting career

Rudolf began her online instructional career by creating a video series for
chess24 chess24.com was an Internet chess server in English and ten other languages, established in 2014 by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson and Enrique Guzman. Chess24 also provided live coverage of major international chess tournaments, and hosted th ...
in 2013. The following year, she teamed up with fellow International Master
Sopiko Guramishvili Sopiko Guramishvili ( ka, სოფიკო გურამიშვილი; born 1 January 1991) is a Georgian and Dutch chess player, author, and commentator who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Ha ...
to launch the long-running ''Miss Strategy and Miss Tactics'' video series on chess24 in which they aim to combine strategical and tactical approaches to chess with Rudolf as ''Miss Strategy'' and Guramishvili as ''Miss Tactics''. Rudolf had already begun to combine teaching chess with her playing career when she moved to Spain and resided in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 2010. On chess24, she presents content both in English and in Spanish. She has also released several online training courses, including one titled the Anna Rudolf Method and another via the Chessable course website on attacking strategies in chess. Rudolf is one of the leading chess commentators. Alongside
Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...
, she co-hosted the official coverage of the 2018 World Chess Championship match between
Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
and
Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...
. She has also commentated on the
Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments in which players compete for multiple prize pools. The tournaments, which vary from year to year, have included Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. Histo ...
. In addition to over-the-board events, she is also a regular commentator for online events hosted on
Chess.com Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. One of the largest chess platforms in the world, the site operates on a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available via subscription ...
such as the
PRO Chess League The Professional Rapid Online Chess League (PRO Chess League and abbreviated PCL) was an online rapid chess league operated by Chess.com. It was preceded by the United States Chess League, which announced in 2016 that it would be renamed, reforma ...
finals that feature professional chess players and the
Pogchamps PogChamps is a series of online amateur chess tournaments hosted by Chess.com. Players in the tournament are internet personalities, primarily Twitch streamers. The first four PogChamps tournaments took place over the course of two weeks, whi ...
tournaments that feature popular streamers relatively new to chess. Rudolf launched her own YouTube channel in 2016, and began streaming on her own Twitch channel in 2018. She complements her focus on chess on her YouTube and Twitch channels with variety content as well.


Personal life

Rudolf has been in a relationship with Irish
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
Kevin O’Reilly, better known as CallMeKevin, since 2019. They were introduced to each other by YouTuber Daniel Condren, better known as RTGame, earlier that year. In early 2020, she began living with O'Reilly in his home city of
Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...
. In July 2021, the couple moved to Spain. Rudolf later revealed that she had never "officially" left Spain, and was actually visiting O'Reilly in Ireland when
COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...
prevented her from leaving. In 2025, Rudolf revealed that she has been diagnosed with autism.


Awards and honours

In 2017, Rudolf was named "Outstanding Athlete of the City" in her hometown of Bátaszék during its 875th anniversary celebration.


Notable games

* Christian Bauer (2634) – Anna Rudolf (2293), 2007 Vandœuvre Open: Round 2; Polish opening, . Dylan Loeb McClain, a
FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(FM), provided some comments on the game in an article he published in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Some of these comments are included below. ::1. b4 '"the Polish, also called the Orangutan or the Sokolsky. It does not have a good reputation because White does little to fight for the center."''e5 2. a3 d5 3. Bb2 Nd7 4. e3 Bd6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Ngf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qc2 b6 9. d3 Bb7 10. Nbd2 a6 11. O-O b5 12. Bb3 Rc8 13. d4 exd4 14. exd4 Bd5 15. Bxd5 Nxd5 16. Ne4 N7b6 17. Rad1 c6 18. Nc5 Ra8 19. Rfe1 Qc7 20. g3 h6 21. Nh4 Rfd8 22. Bc1 Bf8 23. Nf5 a5 24. bxa5 Rxa5 25. Qe2 Raa8 26. Qg4 Kh8 27. Qh4 Re8 28. Kg2 Qd8 29. Rxe8 Qxe8 30. Qg4 Nf6 31. Qf3 Nbd5 32. g4 Bxc5 33. dxc5 Qe4 34. h3 Kg8 35. Qxe4 Nxe4 36. Bb2 '"Bauer's critical error was 36 Bb2, which left his bishop on an exposed square. Instead, after 36 Nd4 Rd8 (36 ... Rc8 fails to 37 Nb5) 37 Be3 Nxe3+ 38 fxe3 Rc8 39 Rc1, White is fine."''f6 37. Nd4 Nxc5 38. Nxc6 Nf4+ 39. Kf3 Nfd3 40. Bd4 Rxa3 41. Be3 b4 42. Rb1 b3 43. Nb4 b2 44. Nc2 Rc3 45. Nd4 Kf7 46. Ke2 Na4 47. Kd1 Rc4 48. Ne2 Ke6 49. Kd2 Nb4 50. Kd1 Kd5 51. f3 Na2 52. Bd2 Rc7 53. h4 Kc4 54. Kc2 Nb4+ 55. Kd1 Kb3 56. Nc1+ Rxc1+ 57. Rxc1 bxc1=Q+ 58. Kxc1 Nc3 59. Be3 Ncd5 60. Bd2 Kc4 61. g5 hxg5 62. hxg5 f5 63. Kd1 Kd3 64. Bc1 Nc2 65. Bb2 g6 0–1


Notes


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolf, Anna 1987 births Living people 21st-century Hungarian sportswomen Autistic sportspeople Chess International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors Chess Woman Grandmasters Hungarian chess players Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Hungarian female chess players Hungarian people of German descent Hungarian Twitch (service) streamers Hungarian YouTubers Sportspeople from Miskolc