The Queen of Chess – An Exclusive Evening with Judit Polgár

Judit Polgár is widely regarded as the strongest female chess player of all time and the only woman to have broken into the world’s top 10, reaching a peak ranking of No. 8 and a rating above 2700. A former child prodigy and the youngest grandmaster in history at the time, she defeated numerous world champions including Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen. Renowned for her fearless, attackoriented style, Polgár exemplifies calculated risktaking, strategic foresight, and decisionmaking under uncertainty.

Dániel Mayer joined Morgan Stanley in 2008. He has been a member of the Budapest Risk Management team since its inception, starting as a Credit Analyst. Dániel helped build out the team over the last 13 years by performing various functional and leadership roles. Currently he is managing the Market Risk team in Budapest as well as being the Deputy Head of Budapest Risk since April, 2021. In this capacity Dániel has focused on strategic initiatives to help the firm execute its location strategy as he provides local oversight and leadership for the department. He has a background in cross-risk projects, regulatory initiatives, and infrastructure development. Dániel was the recipient of the 2019 Morgan Stanley Leadership Award in Budapest. 

Dániel holds a masters degree in International Economics and Political Economy from Budapest Corvinus University. During his studies, he spent a semester in Rome as an exchange student learning Economic Sciences in Italian. During his Morgan Stanley career, Dániel spent time in the London and New York offices on short-term-assignments.

Péter Ács is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and former World Junior Chess Champion, who reached a peak world ranking of No. 72 and an Elo rating above 2600. Known for his deep analytical approach and strive for precision, he has represented Hungary in multiple Chess Olympiads and top international tournaments. Beyond chess, Péter worked for several years at Morgan Stanley in Risk Management, starting within the Data Strategy followed by the Stress Testing & Portfolio Risk teams, where his chess driven skills in scenario analysis, and long-term risk control proved highly relevant to the risk management profession.