In September 2011, Polgár competed in the Chess World Cup, a 128-player tournament with a large prize fund and qualification to the top three for the World Championship cycle. Polgár made it to the final 8 players before she was eliminated by Peter Svidler. A highlight for Polgár was her elimination of the tournament's No. 1 seed and world's fifth highest rated player, Sergey Karjakin. In October 2011, Polgár took part in the Unive 2011 competition. She finished last in the elite four-player Crown group, losing games to Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri.