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Both Hungarian players performed at the competition roughly according to their seeding: Julianna, who was 20^th seed, came up 22^nd, while Zsuzsanna finished at the exact same position as her seeding: 34^th. Julianna and Zsuzsanna being 20, this was their final and most important competition as juniors (under 20 years of age). The World Championship title was won by Kazakhstan’s Abdumalik Zhansaya.

Julianna has commented that while her results are commendable, she admits there is still work to do before she can join the elite of international chess. She believes that in order to improve, she needs to focus on gaining experience against strong international players, work on her psychological composure and, last but not least, exercise regularly: somewhat surprisingly, top-level chess players usually prepare for their games with hours of physical exercise as it helps crucially with concentration. Julianna’s current goal is to attain the FIDE Woman International Master title (which requires a rating of 2300; Julianna’s current rating is 2263) and to become a fixture of the Hungarian national team, in which she made her debut this September at Mitropa Cup, an annual tournament for Middle European national teams.

Her sentiments are echoed by Zsuzsanna, who believes that maintaining concentration throughout lengthy games is an area she needs to work on. Her goal is to attain the FIDE Woman International Master title within two years at most and is currently making her training more serious and organized.

The sisters’ coach, Adam Radnai believes that a “level up” is up next in terms of moving up into true professionalism, which he describes as a return to the spirit of 1990’s Olympics-winning Hungarian women’s chess. According to the coach, “an amateur player’s schedule is measured by hours, while a professional’s schedule is measured by minutes”. He, Julianna and Zsuzsanna founded the “talent center” Polyhistor Academy, whose mission is to bring high-level chess education to talented children from an early age, with a special focus on children in need or in more remote areas.

Julianna is currently preparing for the European Rapid Chess Championship in Katowice, Poland on December 14^th, then is set to compete at the Zurich Christmas Open between December 26 and 30.