This isn’t fan appreciation because she’s a woman. This is fan appreciation because her game against Gelfand puts to rest the ridiculous ideas that today’s GM’s foist on us. That chess can’t be played “the way it used to”; that chess is now relegated to “play the same openings repetitively until innovations come on move 30”; that there is no such thing anymore as sharp chess"; that we all must play like Kramnik. No offense to Mr. Kramnik. Styles like his, Karpov’s, Petrosians have their own beauty. But there is still a place for sharp chess, AND it can be successful!
Furthermore, just because you can put Polgar's game into Fritz 11, and find that had Gelfand seen ahead 20 moves at one point he could have one, doesn't lessen Judit's successful game anymore than computers can lessen Tal's legacy. Chess at the board is not strictly a theoretical battle; it is a practical competition, played under a clock, with no computers.
I for one am tired of hearing that such chess can no longer be played. I'm just waiting for the next Kasparov to come along and prove it wrong. The computer itself has proved that such games can be played (witness the computer's fantastic Re3 in the Sicilian against Kramnik), and if a computer can do it, than the humans can strive for it.
Kudos to players like Polgar and Morozovich, who at least try. I hope Judit continues to attempt to steer the games into sharp lines. Perhaps there should be a cash prize for "sharpest style in a tourney", maybe that would cut down on draws too!