Chess Meets The Cube: RubikSakk Unveiled at Global Sport Festival

RubikSakk will make its debut at the 11th Judit Polgár Global Chess Festival, set to take place on September 30 at the Hungarian National Gallery.

“The World Chess Festival is always a special experience for me. I am personally involved in creating and organizing the programs every year. This year, I am especially looking forward to the community simultaneous exhibition, where I will play six boards at once—each against a different community,” said Judit Polgár, the event’s founder and chief organizer, at a press conference on Tuesday.

She added that Spanish and Hungarian teams will participate, a former chess boxing world champion will attend, and the world’s largest online chess platforms will also join the competition.

Visitors will have the chance to try out the world’s first AI-powered chess robot, while members of the Momentán Társulat troupe will engage the audience with interactive improvisational games. “Every element of our program represents value, and our goal is to deliver these experiences in an engaging way for all age groups. I believe that play and thinking together inspire creativity, and we want to pass on that inspiration throughout the festival,” said Judit Polgár, widely regarded as the greatest female chess player of all time.

Judit Polgár and Norbert Fogarasi, Managing Director, Head of Budapest Office at Morgan Stanley, Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka

A highlight of this year’s festival is RubikSakk, a mixed doubles team game that combines the strategic elements of chess with the logical challenges of the Rubik’s Cube. For the first time ever, a RubikSakk tournament featuring 50 teams will be held, with spots filling up rapidly after the announcement.

In this unique competition format, one partner plays on the chessboard while the other solves a Rubik’s Cube puzzle. The puzzle solver’s performance directly influences the course of the chess game according to specific rules.

Fact

The Rubik’s Cube is a 3D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. An internal pivot mechanism enables each layer to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to having only one color.

“Chess perfectly exemplifies how a game can become a source of deep thinking, strategy, and innovation. That is why it is so important to us—and a great honor—that we have supported the Judit Polgár World Chess Festival for seven years, an inspiring event that showcases the power of play to a broad audience,” said Norbert Fogarasi, representing Morgan Stanley, the festival’s main sponsor.

This year’s festival motto is: chess is not just a sport, but a mindset, a creative adventure, and a community experience.

Attendance is free of charge. Interested participants can find the full program on the official website of the event.

Fact

Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the strongest female chess player of all time. She is the only woman to be ranked in the world top 10 (and one of only three to make the top 100), the only woman to achieve a rating of over 2700, and the only woman to compete in the final stage of a World Chess Championship.

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