Interviewed in 1993, Polgár was described by William Hartston as resembling "a disgruntled garden gnome" who replied to questions "in a musical voice, with an evangelical tone and a tendency to stare into space." Hartston said that Polgár wore "the scars of weariness after decades of battling against Hungarian chess organisers who wanted his daughters to play in women's tournaments rather than competing against men, and educational authorities who sent an armed policeman to drag Zsuzsa off to school." Polgár’s "formula for happiness," wrote Hartston, "is 'work, love, freedom and luck'.