Women and Chess

by Bill Wall

For Women's History

Month (March 2018),
here is a list of women
involved in chess and
their accomplishments.

Zhansaya Abdumalik
(2000- ) is a
Kazakhstani Woman
Grandmaster (2014)
and International
Master (2017). She Bill Wall
twice won the World
Youth Chess
Championships in her
age and gender
category.
Your only task in the
Vera Menchik Anupama Abhyankar- opening is to reach a
1906-1944 Gokhale (1969- ) is a playable middlegame. —
chess master from Portisch
India. She was awarded
the Women's
International Master
(WIM) title in 1985
after taking 1st place in
the Asian Junior Girls'
championship. She won
the Indian Women's
Championship five
times. She won the
Asian Women's
Championship twice.
She married chess
master Raghunandan
Gokhale, chairman of
the Mumbai Chess
Association and
Anupama's coach. She
works for a petroleum
company.

Tatev Abrahamyan
(1988- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (2011)
who was born in
Yerevan, Armenia. She
started playing chess at
8 after her father took
her to the Chess
Olympiad games in
1996 and met Judit
Polgar. She moved to
the United States in
2001. In 2004, she tied
for 1st in the U.S.
Women's Chess
Championship, but lost
the play-off match to
Rusudan Goletiani. In
2006, she won the Pan
American
Championship for Girls
Under 18 with a perfect
score. Abrahamyan has
represented the USA in
the Women's Chess
Olympiads since 2008.
She lives in Glendale,
California. Her coach is
IM Armen
Ambartsoumian. She
graduated in 2011 from
California State
University Long Beach,
double majoring in
psychology and
political science. Her
peak FIDE rating was
2396 in 2014.

Naira Agababean
(1951- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (1998)
from Moldova. She is a
former Armenian
woman chess
champion, winning it 8
times. She represented
Moldavia in the 1992
and 2003 Women's
European Chess Team
Championship. Her
daughter is Woman
Grandmaster Almira
Skripchenko (1976- ).

Nelly Aginian (1981- )

was born on August 4,
1981 in Armenia. In
2005, she was awarded
the Woman
Grandmaster title. Her
highest FIDE rating
was 2380. She is the
third player from
Armenia, after Elina
Danielian and Lilit
Mkrtchian, to gain the
Woman Grandmaster
title. Her peak rating
was 2380 in 2005.

Elena Akhmilovskaya
(1957-2012) was born
in Leningrad. In 1977,
she was awarded the
Woman Grandmaster
title. In 1986, she was
the challenger in the
Women's World
Championship, but lost.
She represented the
USSR in three Women
Chess Olympiads. She
lived in Tbilisi, Georgia
until 1988, when she
abruptly defected and
eloped with American
International Master
John Donaldson to
Seattle, Washington. At
the time, she was
representing the USSR
in the Women's Chess
Olympiad. She returned
to the Soviet Union
almost a year later to
get her 7-year-old
daughter. It took three
weeks to secure their
exit visas. Her mother,
Lydia Akhmilovskaya,
qualified several times
for the USSR Women's
Championship and was
a top-ranked
correspondence player.
She took 1st place in
three U.S. Women's
Chess Championships.
She represented the
USA in four Women's
Chess Olympiads. She
was once married to IM
John Donaldson, and
later married IM Georgi
Orlov. On November
18, 2012, WGM Elena
Akhmilovskaya
Donaldson died of
brain cancer. She was
only 55.

Anna Markovna
Akhsharumova (1957- )
is a Woman
Grandmaster (1978),
married to GM Boris
Gulko. She was the
USSR Women's
Champion in 1976 and
1984. By all rights, she
should have won the
1983 Soviet Women's
title played in Tallinn
when she defeated her
main competitor, Nana
Ioseliani after she won
by time forfeit. It would
have given her 12
points to Nana's 11
points. The next day,
Ioseliani filed a protest
alleging a malfunction
in the clock. Anna
refused to play. The
result of her game was
arbitrarily reversed by
the All-Union Board of
Referees in Moscow,
thereby forfeiting her
title and ending up in
3rd place. She and her
husband immigrated to
the United States in
1986. She won the U.S.
Women's championship
in 1987 with a perfect
9-0 score. In 1990, she
tied for 5th-6th place in
the Genting Women's
Interzonal.

Maria Albulet-
Pogorevici (1932-2005)
was a Romanian chess
master. She won the
Romanian Women's
Chess Championship 3
times. In 1957, she was
awarded the title of
Woman International
Master. In 1985, she
was awarded the title of
Woman Grandmaster
(emeritus). She was
known as the grand
lady of Romanian
chess. She was a
medical doctor. He
daughter, Marina
Makropulu, is a Greek
Woman Grandmaster.

Natalia Vladimirovna
Alekhina (1954- ) is a
Russian chessplayer. In
1970, she won the
USSR girls'
championship. She won
the Russian women's
championship in 1977
and 1982. She was
awarded the Woman
Grandmaster title in
1990. In 1997, she won
the Moscow
championship. She was
the only female player
in the event. She is
married to GM Sergey
Archipov.

Grace Wishard
Alekhine (1876-1956)
was Alexander
Alekhine's fourth wife.
She was born Grace
Wishard on October 26,
1876 in New Jersey.
Her parents were Emile
Bernard Wishard
(Jewish) and Marie Ida
Smith. She later
married Archibald
Freeman, a British tea-
planter in Ceylon. He
died in the early 1930s.
She took up chess and
played Alexander
Alekhine in a
simultaneous exhibition
in Tokyo in 1933. The
two started a
relationship shortly
thereafter. They were
married in March 1934
at Villefranche-sur-
Mer, near Nice, France.
The marriage certificate
says her maiden name
was Wishaar. She was
16 years older than
Alekhine. It was his 4th
marriage and may have
been her 4th marriage
as well. She owned a
chateau in Saint Aubin-
le-Cauf, a few miles
southwest of Dieppe in
Normandy, France. In
1936/37, she
participated in a minor
tournament at Hastings.
Alexander Alekhine
won the premier section
and she took 3rd place
in her section. He won
15 pounds for 1st place
and she won 1 pound
for 3rd place. She
played in several
Women's French chess
championships. In
1944, she was the
women's champion of
Paris. During World
War II, the Nazis took
over their chateau and
looted it. She moved to
Paris. Alekhine was
free to travel, but no
exit visa was given to
Grace. After World
War II, she sold her
chateau under
American Embassy
protection. She was in
failing health and in her
70s. She spent her final
years in her studio in
Paris, but visited St.
Ives, Cornwall, where
she was a member of
the local chess club.
She later led the effort
to get Alekhine's body
transferred to the
Cimetiere de
Montparnasse in Paris.
The USSR and French
Chess Federation paid
to transfer the remains
from Portugal to Paris.
She died in March
1956. Her grave spells
her maiden name as
Wishar. After she died,
the notes in Alekhine's
handwriting were
allegedly found in her
effects to prove he
wrote the Nazi articles.

Nana Georgievna
Alexandria (1949- ) is a
Woman Grandmaster
(1976) from Soviet
Georgia. She was the
USSR Women's
Champion in 1966 (the
youngest ever), 1968,
and 1969. She was
Women's World
Championship
Challenger in 1975
(against
Gaprindashvili) and
1981 (against
Chiburdanidze). She is
now an administrator to
the World Chess
Federation (FIDE). She
was chairperson of the
FIDE Women's
Committee from 1986
to 2001. Her peak
rating was 2415 in
1988.

Olga Alexandrova
(1978) is a Ukrainian-
born Spanish
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 2004,
she won the women's
Ukrainian
championship. In 2013,
she won the women's
Spanish championship.
She is married to
Spanish GM Miguel
Illescas.

Claudia Noemi Amura

(1970- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (1998)
from Argentina. She is
the first Latin American
woman to earn the male
International Master
title. She won 5
Women's Argentine
Championships. She is
married to GM Gilberto
Hernandez of Mexico.
Her peak rating was
2372.
Gertrude Alison
Anderson (nee Field)
(1875-1924) won the
British Women's Chess
Championship in 1909,
1912, and 1921.

Meri Arabidze (1994- )

is a Georgian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster.

Ketevan Arakhamia-
Grant (1968- ) is a
Georgian Grandmaster
(2009) who now plays
for Scotland. She was
the Georgian Ladies
Champion in 1983,
1984 and 1990. In
1985, she was the
World Women's Under-
16 Champion. She won
the Women's Soviet
Chess Championship in
1990. She won the
1995 Women's
Interzonal at Kishinev.
In 2003, she tied for 1st
place (with Paul
Motwani) in the
Scottish championship,
the first ever woman to
achieve the honor. Her
husband, Jonathan
Grant, won it in 2006,
making them the first
husband-wife pair to
win a full national
championship. In 2011,
she won the Scottish
Championship outright.
She has won the British
Ladies' Championship 4
times. She is the #1
ranked woman in
Scotland. Her peak
rating was 2506 in
2009.

Eva Aronson (1908-

1999) was born in
Linkoping, Sweden. In
1967, she took place in
the World Women's
Championship
Candidates tournament
in Subotica, but took
last place (1 win, 4
draws, 12 losses). In
1969, she won the
women's championship
in the 70th US Open in
Lincoln, Nebraska. In
1972, she tied for 1st
place with Marilyn
Koput in the US
Women's
Championship. In 1972,
she was awarded the
Woman International
Master title. She lived it
St Petersburg, Florida.

Venka Asenova (1930-

1986) was a Woman
International Master
(1965) from Bulgaria.
In 1986, she was
awarded the Woman
Grandmaster title
(emeritus). In 1967, she
participated in the
World Chess
Championship for
Women Candidates
tournament in Subotica.
She won the Bulgarian
Women's championship
9 times.

Ekaterina Atalik, nee

Polovnikova, (1982- )
is a Russian-Turkish
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 2008
and 2016, she won the
Turkish women's
championship. She is
married to GM Suat
Atalik.

Helga Ursula Axt

(1937- ) is a Woman
International Master
(1961) from Germany.
She won the Women's
West German
championship in 1957,
1958, and 1961. His
peak rating was 2668 in
2009. She is a physical
training teacher by
profession.

Lauren Bacall (1924-

2014), who was born
Betty Joan Perske, was
an amateur chess
player. She was married
to Humphrey Bogart
from 1945 to 1957 (his
death). They often
played chess together.
In 1945, she appeared
on the cover of the
June-July issue of
Chess Review with her
husband, Humphrey
Bogart. Bogart was
playing a game with
Charles Boyer as
Lauren Bacall looked
on.

Camilla Baginskaite
(1967- ) is an
American-Lithuanian
Woman Grandmaster
(2002). In 1987, she
won the World under-
20 Girls Chess
Championship. In 1992,
she won the Lithuanian
Women's
Championship. In 2000,
she won the U.S.
Women's
Championship. She has
a master's degree in
history of art. She is
married to GM Alex
Yermolinsky.

Mary Weiser Bain

(1904-1972) was born
in the Magyar State of
the Austro-Hungarian
Empire which we now
call Hungary. She and
her sisters had to flee to
Budapest to avoid
capture during World
War I. On the ship,
coming to America, she
defeated the ship's
captain. He presented
her with a loving cup. It
was her first chess
prize. She was the 1937
and 1952 challenger to
the World's Women
Championship. She
won titles in Cuba,
Sweden, Finland, and
the United States. She
was U.S. women's
champion from 1951 to
1953. She was a pupil
of Frank Marshall and
Geza Maroczy. She was
a Bridge expert and
operated a duplicate-
bridge club in New
York. She was the first
American woman to
represent the United
States in an organized
chess competition. In
1963, she played for the
United States in the
Women's Olympiad. In
1952, she was awarded
the Woman
International Master
title. She married Leslie
Balogh Bain, a
newspaper columnist,
war correspondent and
author, in 1925. He
would later become a
cameraman and motion
picture director in Los
Angeles. Her hobby
was duplicate bridge,
and she owned and
operated a duplicate-
bridge club in New
York City. She died at
her home in New York
City at age 68.

Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
(1986- ) is a Mongolian
Woman Grandmaster
(2009) and an
International Master
(2014). In 2011 and
2016, she won the
Mongolian Women's
Chess Championship.

Nino Batsiashvili
(1987- ) is a Georgian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. In 2015, she
won the Women's
Georgian Chess
Championship.

Gertrude Baumstark
(1941- ) is a Romanian-
German Woman
International Master. In
1967 and 1981, she
won the Romanian
women's
championship.

In December 1882,
Frideswide Beechey-
Rowland (1843-1919)
became the first woman
to write a chess
column. In 1883, she
wrote Chess Blossoms:
A Selection from
Compositions. In 1884,
she wrote Chess Fruits.

Anjelina Belakovskaia
(1969- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (1993).
She was born in the
Ukraine and won the
Women's
Championship of the
Soviet Union and the
Ukraine. She graduated
from Odessa University
of Agriculture with a
Bachelor's in
economics and
accounting. She has a
Master's Degree in
Mathematics in
Finance. She came to
the USA in 1991. Her
first job in the United
States was slicing
watermelons and
winning money from
the chess hustlers at
Washington Square
Park. "Two, five and
ten dollars per game"
were the first English
words she learned in
the U.S. She won $35
the first day, and soon
the hustlers would no
longer play her because
they had lost too much
money from her. In
1993, she had a bit role
in the movie Searching
for Bobby Fischer. She
played on the US
women's team in the
Chess Olympiads in
1994, 1996, and 1998.
She was U.S. Women's
Chess Champion in
1995 (with Sharon
Burtman), 1996, and
1999. In 2013, she
became an honors
professor at the Eller
College of Management
at the University of
Arizona, adding the
"Chess, Leadership and
Business Strategy"
course.
Liudmila Belavenets
(1940- ) is a Russian
Woman International
Master (1977),
International Master in
Correspondence Chess
(1979), and now
Grandmaster of
Correspondence Chess.
In 1975, she won the
Women's Soviet Chess
Championship. She
won the 4th Women's
World Correspondence
Chess Championship
(1984-1992). She is the
daughter of Sergey
Belavents (1910-
1942).

Jana Malypetrova
Hartston Miles Bellin
(1947- ) is a Woman
GM (1982). She is the
granddaughter of thrice
Prime Minister of
Czechoslovakia, Jan
Malypetr (1873-1947).
She won the Czech
Women's
Championship in 1965
and 1967. She has won
the British Woman's
Chess Championship 8
times. She has played
in 15 Chess Olympiads.
She was formerly
married to Bill Hartston
and Tony Miles, top
British chessplayers.
She is a medical doctor
specializing in
anesthesiology. She
works at the Sandwell
General Hospital in
England. She is
Chairman of the FIDE
Medical Commission,
which supervises drug
testing of chessplayers.

Clare Benedict (1870-

1961) was an American
writer and probably the
first woman chess
patron. She made
possible the Clare
Benedict Cup, and
annual West European
team tournament,
which was held from
1953 to 1979, when
funds ran out. There
were 23 Clare Benedict
Cup tournaments. She
also sponsored the
Zurich 1954
tournament. Her great-
grandmother was
Fennimore Cooper's
sister.

Clarice Benini (1905-

1976) was an Italian
Woman International
Master (1950). In 1937,
she took 2nd in the
Women's World Chess
Championship, behind
Vera Menchik. She
won the Italian
women's championship
in 1938 and 1939.

Maria Berea de
Montero (1914-1983)
was a Woman
International Master
(1952) from Brazil. In
1939, she was the
Women's World
Championship
Challenger. In 1952,
she took 15th place in
the World Women's
Chess Championship
Candidates Tournament
in Moscow.

Irina Berezina (1965- )

is an Australian
International Master
(1999). She is a 5-time
Oceania women's chess
champion. In 1999, she
won the Australian
Women's
Championship. She is
married to IM Vladimir
Feldman.

Polly Bergen (1930-

2014) played chess. A
photo on the Internet
shows her playing
Gregory Peck on a
small magnetic chess
set in 1962. It was
taken on the set of Cape
Fear. She said that
Gregory Peck taught
her chess between
scenes when they both
starred in Cape Fear.

In 1886, the French

actress Sarah Bernhardt
(1844-1923), the first
international stage star,
played chess against the
chess automaton Ajeeb.
She loved chess and
lived at the Hotel
Chelsea from 1886 to
1900. Ajeeb was
located at the Eden
Musee, a block away
from her hotel. She also
played Ajeeb in 1900
and perhaps many
times between 1886
and 1900 (losing every
time). When asked how
she spent her time on
long sea voyages, she
said she played chess.

Anna Katarina Beskow

(1867-1937) was a
Swedish chess master.
In 1912, she founded
the first Swedish chess
club for women, the
Stockholms kvinnliga
schackklubb. She was a
4-time Women's World
Chess Championship
challenger. In 1927, she
took 2nd, behind Vera
Menchik, at the first
Women's World Chess
Championship, held in
London.

Katarina Blagojevic,
nee Jovanovic, (1943- )
is a Serbian Woman
International Master
(1964). She has won
the Yugoslav women's
championship 3 times.

Anastasia Bodnaruk
(1992- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master.

Natasa Bojkovic (1971-

) is a Serbian
International Master. In
1991, she won the
Girls' World Junior
Championship. She
won the Women's
Yugoslav Chess
Championship 4 times.

Valentina Borisenko
(1920-1993) was a
Woman Grandmaster
(1978). In 1945, 1955,
1957, 1960, and 1962,
she won the USSR
women's championship.
She was the Women's
World Championship
Challenger in 1949-50.
In 1968, he won the
Uzbekistan women's
championship. She was
married to Georgi
Borisenko.

Angela Borsuk (1967- )

is an Israeli
International Master
(1997) and Woman
Grandmaster (2008). In
1999, she won the
Israeli National Chess
Championship.

Tea Bosboom-
Lanchava (1974- ) is an
International Master
(2004) and Woman
Grandmaster (2001). In
1988, she won the Girls
World under-14
championship. In 1990,
she won the Girls
World under-16
championship. In 2012,
she won the Dutch
Women's Chess
Championship.

Anna-Maria Botsari
(1972- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (1993)
from Greece. She has
won the Greek
Women's
Championship 7 times.
She has played in 15
Chess Olympiads. She
once held the record of
most opponents in
consecutive chess
games. In 2002, she
played 1,102
consecutive games
against different
opponents, with 1,094
wins, 7 draws, and no
losses. The event has at
Kalavryta, Greece. In
2004, she tied for 1st in
the Greek Women's
championship. She was
once married to Serbian
GM Igor Miladinovic.
Her peak rating was
2394 in 2003.

Anneliese Brandler
(1904-1970) was a
German woman chess
master. In 1962, she
won the West Germany
Women's
Championship.
Rowena Mary Bruce
(1919-1999) is the only
player to have played
two world champions
in a tournament on the
same day. In the
Plymouth 1938
tournament she played
world woman
champion Vera
Menchik in the
morning and world
champion Alexander
Alekhine in the
afternoon for rounds 2
and 3. She has won the
British Ladies'
Championship 11
times, from 1937 to
1969. She was the
World Girls' Champion
in the 1920s (Rowena
Dew).

Agnieszka Brustman
(1962- ) is a Polish
Woman International
Master (1982) and
Woman Grandmaster
(1985). In 1980, she
won the European
Girls' Junior Chess
Championship. In 1982,
she won the first World
World Girls Under-20
Championship. She
won the Women's
Polish Chess
Championship 4 times.

Nataliya Buksa (1996- )

is a Ukrainian Woman
Grandmaster (2015). In
2015, she won the
Girls' World Junior
Chess Championship.

Irina Bulmaga (1993- )

is a Moldovan-born
Romanian Woman
Grandmaster (2012)
and International
Master (2013).

Sharon Ellen Burtman

(1968- ) is an American
Woman International
Master (1989). In 1995,
she tied for 1st with
Anjelina Belakovskaia
in the U.S. women's
championship.

In September 1953,
Elisabeth Bykova
(1913-1989) defeated
current women's world
champion Lyudmila
Rudenko for the
Women's World Chess
Championship, scoring
7 wins, 5 losses, and 2
draws. The event was
held in Moscow.
Bykova was awarded
the title of International
Master (IM). She
became the third
Women's World
Champion. She was
Women's World
Champion from 1953 to
1956, and from 1958 to
1962. From 1956 to
1958 she lost her title to
Olga Rubtsova. In
1962, she lost her title
to Nona Gaprindashvili.
She was USSR
Women's champion in
1947, 1948, and 1950.
She earned the
Women's Grandmaster
title in 1976.

Teresa Candela-
Gimenez (1959- ) is a
Spanish Woman
International Master
(1987). She won the
Catalona women's
championship 6 times.
She played for Spain in
5 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Arianne Caoli (1986- )

is a Filipino-Australian
Woman International
Master. In 2000, she
won the Asian girls
under-16 chess
championship. In 2009,
she won the Oceania
women's chess
championship and the
London Classic
Women's Invitational
tournament. She played
for the Philippines in 2
Chess Olympiads. She
played for Australia in
5 Chess Olympiads.
She married GM Levon
Aronian in 2017. She
works as a consultant
for a global consultancy
firm.

Ruth Volgl Cardoso

(1934-2000) was born
in Salvador, Brazil on
February 9, 1934. She
held the title of Woman
International Master
(WIM) from FIDE. She
won the South
American Women's
Championship in 1966,
1969, and 1972. She
won the Brazilian
Women's
Championship eight
times in a row. She
played four time in the
Woman's Interzonal
Championship. She
played in five World
Chess Olympiads,
playing first board for
the Brazilian team each
time. She died on Feb
11, 2000.

Berna Carrasco-Araya
(1914-2013) was a
Chilean Woman
International Master
(1954). In 1939, she
took 3rd in the
Women's World
Championship. She was
the only woman to play
in the 17th Chess
Olympiad, held at
Havana in 1966 out of
300 men. She was the
only player to have
finished without
scoring a single point or
half point. She lost all 4
of her games.

Daria Charochkina
(1990- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster.
Chantal Chaude de
Silans (1919-2004) was
a French chessplayer
and countess. In 1934,
at the age of 15, she
won the ladies
championship of
France. In 1949-50, she
was a Women's World
Championship
Challenger. In 1950,
she was awarded the
Women's International
Master title. She was
the first female to play
in a men's Olympiad.
She played on the men's
French team in 1950 at
Dubrovnik. She won 1
game, drew 1 game,
and lost 4 games. She
managed the Caissa
chess club in Paris for
many years.

Jussara Chaves (1959- )

is a Brazilian Woman
International Master
(1982). She won the
Brazilian women's
championship 4 times.
She has played in 8
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Maya Chiburdanidze
(1961- ) was six-time
World's women
champion for 13 years,
from 1978 until her
defeat by Xie Jun of
China in 1991. Her
coach had been Eduard
Gufeld. She was USSR
women's champion at
15, won the women's
Interzonal at 16,
defeated three of the
best women in the
world (Alexandria,
Akhmilovskaya, and
Kusnir) in matches at
17, and world
champion (defeating
Gaprindashvili) at age
17, the youngest of any
world champion in
chess. She was awarded
the title of International
Woman Master in 1974
at the age of 13, making
her the youngest title
holder in the history of
chess up to that time.
She didn't even have a
FIDE rating. In 1978,
Maya Chiburdanidze
defeated Nona
Gaprindashvili in the
Women's World
Championship Match,
scoring 8.5-6.5 (4 wins,
9 draws, and 2 losses).
The event was held in
Tbilisi, Georgia. She
became the 7th
women's world
champion, and, at age
17, the youngest world
chess champion up to
that time. Her peak
rating was 2560 in
1988.

Pavlina Chilingirova
(1955- ) is a Bulgarian
Woman International
Master (1982). In 1993,
she won the Bulgarian
women's championship.
In 2007, she won the
Open Women
Bulgarian
Championship. She has
played for Bulgaria in 8
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Dagne Ciuksyte (1977-

) is a Lithuanian-
English International
Master (1995) and
Woman Grandmaster
(2002).

Viktorija ?milyt?
(1983- ) is a member of
the Lithuanian
parliament. She was
twice Lithuanian
champion and is a
Grandmaster (2010). In
2011, she was
European Women's
Champion, Her peak
rating was 2542 in
2017. She is perhaps
the strongest chess-
playing politician ever.
She was married to GM
Alexei Shirov from
2001 to 2007. In 2013,
she married GM Peter
Heine Nielsen.

Silvia Collas, nee

Aleksieva, (1974- ) is a
Bulgarian-French
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 2007,
she won the French
women's
championship.

In 1860, H. I. Cooke
wrote a book called The
ABC of Chess by "A
Lady." It was the first
chess book written by a
woman and went into
10 editions.

Deimante Cornette, nee

Daulyte, (1989- ) is a
Lithuanian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. She won
the women's Lithuanian
Chess Championship 5
times. She is married to
GM Matthieu Cornette.

Charlotte Helene
Cotton-Meirchin ( -
1929) was a British
female master. In 1924,
a tournament was held
in Meran in 1924 and
was advertised as the
unofficial European
women's championship.
Miss Charlotte Cotton
and Miss Holloway,
both from England, tied
for first place.

Pia Ann Rosa-Della

Cramling (1963- ) is a
Grandmaster (1992)
from Sweden. From
1983 to 1985 she was
the world number one
female chessplayer. Her
brother, Dan, is a
former Swedish
national champion. She
won the Women's
Chess Oscar in 1983.
She was awarded the
WGM title in 1982, the
IM title in 1983, and
the GM title in 1992.
Her peak rating was
2550 in 2008. She is
married to Spanish GM
Juan Bellon.

Rachel Crotto (1958- )

is a Woman
International Master
(1978). She played in
the U.S. Women's chess
championship at the
age of 13. She was U.S.
Women's Chess
Champion from 1977
(age 17) to 1979. She
took 12th-13th place at
the 1979 Rio de Janeiro
Women's Interzonal.
She took last place in
the 1982 Bad Kissingen
Interzonal for the
Women's World Chess
Championship. She
gave up the game in
1986.

Tunde Csonkics (1958-

) is a Hungarian
Woman Grandmaster
(1990). In 1981, she
won the Hungarian
women's championship.
She played for Hungary
in 4 Women's Chess
Olympiads.
Elina Danielian (1978-
) is an Armenian
Grandmaster (2010).
She has won the
Armenian women's
championship 6 times.
She has played for
Armenia in 12 Chess
Olympiads. In 1992,
she won the World
under-14 Girls
Championship. In 1993,
she won the World
uner-16 Girls
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2521 in
2011.

Linda Darnell (1921-

1965) played chess. She
appeared in the October
1945 issue of Chess
Review in connection
with the August 1945
Pan-American Chess
Congress, held in
Hollywood. She was
crowned Queen of
Ceremonies at the Pan-
Am tournament. She
played several off-hand
games, including one
with actress Roseanne
Murray.

Bette Davis (1908-

1989) played chess. In
1932, she married
musician Harmon
Oscar Nelson, who was
also a chess addict.
Bette Davis,
determined not to be a
chess widow, learned
the game during the
filming of Kid Galahad
in 1937. She played
chess in two of her
films, The Private Lives
of Elizabeth and Essex
(1939), and The
Scapegoat (1959).

Viola Davis (1965- ),

the actress, plays chess.
In 2014, she donated
$30,000 to the chess
club at Central Falls
High School in Rhode
Island. Davis' sister is
teacher at that school
and Viola attend that
school in the 1980s.

Sandra Dee (1942-

2005) played chess.
There is a photo on the
Internet of her playing
chess with Rock
Hudson in Rome in
1960 on the set of
Come September. She
was married to Bobby
Darin from 1960 to
1967. Darin was a
chess fanatic and the
two of them played
chess together.

Yelena Dembo (1983-

), Russian-born, is a
Greek Woman
Grandmaster (2001)
and an International
Master (2003). She
became a Woman GM
when she was 17. She
likes to jog, play table
tennis, make candles,
and listen to music. Her
peak rating was 2482 in
2009.

Marlene Dietrich
(1904-1992) played
chess. A photo on the
Internet shows her
playing on a peg chess
set with John Wayne in
1942. It was taken on
set of the movie
Pittsburgh. In 1945, she
was a spectator at the
Pan-American Chess
Congress. She always
carried a tine chess set
and played chess during
plane flights.

In February 2017, an
18-year-old Iranian
Woman Grandmaster
(2016) and
International Master
(2016), Dorsa
Derakhshani (1998- ),
was kicked off the
Iranian national chess
team after competing in
an international chess
tournament (Tradewise
Gibraltar Chess
Festival) without a
hijab (headscarf). She
has been prohibited
from competing in
national tournaments,
and from joining the
Iranian national chess
team. Following the
ban, Derakhshani
accepted a place at
Saint Louis University
to study biology,
winning a scholarship
to play in the St Louis
University Chess
Team.

Antonina Dragasevic,
nee Georgieva, (1948- )
is a Bulgarian-Serbian
Woman International
Master (1972). She won
the Bulgarian Women's
Championship 4 times.
She played in 5
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Eliza Dushku (1980- )

who starred in Buffy
the Vampire Slayer,
plays chess. She said
she picked up the
hobby while in Los
Angeles shooting the
TV show Dollhouse in
2009. She was on the
Howard Stern show in
February 2009. Howard
asked Eliza if chess
played chess. She said
that she does. She
wrote in Twitter in June
2009, "Yes, I'm a chess
nerd too."

Joanna Dworakowska
(1978- ) is a Polish
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. She won
the Polish women's
championship 3 times.
Nana Dzagnidze (1987-
) is a Georgian
Grandmaster (2008). In
2017, she won the
European Women's
Championship and the
Women's World Blitz
Championship in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Her peak rating was
2573 in 2015 when she
was ranked #3 woman
in the world.

Esther Epstein (1954- )

is a systems manager
for the Bio-Molecular
Engineering Research
Center (BMERC) at
Boston University. She
is a Woman
International Master
(1972) and won the
U.S. Women's chess
championship in 1991
and 1997. She is
married to GM Alex
Ivanov.

Hanna Erenska-Barlo
(1946- ) is the first
Polish Woman
Grandmaster (1981).
She won the Polish
women's championship
5 times. She played for
Poland in 8 Women's
Chess Olympiads. In
2007, she won the 17th
World Women's Senior
Chess Championship.

Kv?ta Eretova, nee

Jenistova, (1926- ) is a
Czech Woman
Grandmaster (1986).
She won the
Czechoslovak Women's
Chess Championship
10 times. She played
for Czechoslovakia in 5
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Louisa Matilda Fagan

(1850-1931) was the
winner of a chess
tournament in Bombay,
India in which 12 men
took part. She won all
her games. She was
disqualified because
she was a woman
playing in a club whose
membership was
confined to men. She
appealed this decision
in court and won. In
1897, she took 2nd
place (behind Mary
Rudge) in the Ladies'
International
tournament in London.
She became an
emancipation activist.

Moran Fairchild (1950-

) plays chess. She
hosted a charity chess
event in Mexico in
1988 and was a
spectator at the 1988
World Action Chess
Championship in
Mazatlan, Mexico.

Mia Farrow (1945- )

plays chess and took
chess lessons in 1981.
Woody Allen and Mia
Farrow have played
chess together.

In 1933 Miss Fatima

(1914- ?) won the
British women's chess
championship in 1933.
She was a servant to
maharaja Sir Umar
Hayat Khan. Also in
1933, the British men's
champion was Mir
Sultan Khan, also a
servant of Sir Umar
Khan.

Pepita Ferrer-Lucas
(1938-1993) was a
Spanish Woman
International Master
(1974). She was the
first Spanish chess
player to receive this
title. She won the
Spanish women's
championship 8 times.

Martha Lorena Fierro-

Baquero (1977- ) is an
Ecuadorian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. She is a
vice president of FIDE
and a chairperson for
the FIDE Commission
for Women's Chess.

In 1904, the first British

Women's Chess
Championship was held
at Hastings, organized
by the Ladies' Chess
Club in London and the
newly formed British
Chess Federation. It
was won by Kate
Belinda Finn (1864-
1932). She won 10 and
drew one game. She
won it again in 1905.

Gisela Fischdick (1955-

) is a German Woman
Grandmaster (2006).

Cristina Adela Foisor,

nee Badulescu, (1967-
2017) was a Romanian
Woman Grandmaster
(1991) and an
International Master
(1997). She won the
Romanian women's
championship 5 times.

Sabina-Francesca
Foisor (1989- ) is a
Romanian-American
Woman Grandmaster
(2007). In 2017, she
won the U.S. women's
championship. Both her
parents are
International Masters.

Jane Fonda (1937- )

plays chess. When she
was 21, Jane Fonda
(1937- ) played chess
with Susan Strasberg
on the beach in Malibu.
It was during these
chess games that Jane
was encouraged to take
acting lessons and
become an actress. Jane
Fonda encourages chess
playing among children
and teenagers at risk.
She has been involved
with chess programs for
inner-city youth. Jane
played chess with her
ex-husband, Roger
Vadim (1928-2000) in
the 1960s.

Eliza Campbell Foot

(1851-1914) was the
first president of the
Women's Chess Club of
New York, the only
women's chess club in
America in the 19th
century. It was
organized in January,
1894 with 30 members
(including Mrs.
Showalter and Harriet
Worrall). In 1909 she
advertised her
availability to give
chess lessons and
issued chess puzzles
(making her the first
American woman chess
author). She was a
cousin to William
Steinitz. She was one of
the first to promote
chess for women. She
was killed by a hit and
run driver in New York
City on December 6,
1914.

Jennie Frenklakh, born

in 1980 near
Chernobyl, was a
USCF master at 16. In
1991 she won the
California Elementary
Scholastic
Championship. She
won the US Junior
Championship for
players under 13 in
1993. She represented
the United States in
four World under-12,
under-14, and under-20
championships. She has
represented the U.S. six
time at the World
Junior Chess
Championships,
finishing 2nd in 1997.
She is a Woman FIDE
Master.

In May 1906, the first

American Women's
Chess Congress was
held at the Hotel
Martha Washington in
New York. It was won
by Mrs. Charles P. Frey
(Mary Grace Rogers) of
Newark, New Jersey.

In 1924, Marie Jeanne

Frigard won the first
Women's French Chess
Championship, held in
Paris.

In 1949, when Zsa Zsa

Gabor (born in 1917)
married the actor
George Sanders (1906-
1972), her third
husband, they played
chess "incessantly" on
their honeymoon.
George wrote in his
autobiography that the
two of them played
chess nearly every
night on their
honeymoon.

Alisa Galliamova
(1972- ) is a Russian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 1988,
she won the World
Junior Girls
Championship. She
won the Russian
women's championship
3 times.

Lilit Galojan (1983- ),

is an Armenian Woman
Grandmaster (2009)
and International
Master (2010). She has
won the Armenian
Women's
Championship twice.

Inna Gaponenko (1976-

) is a Ukrainian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 1994,
she won the world
under-18 girls'
championship. In 2008,
she won the Ukrainian
women's
championship.

Nona Gaprindashvili
(1941- ) is a Russian
Grandmaster (1978). In
September-October
1962, Nona
Gaprindashvili defeated
Elisabeth Bykova in the
Women's World Chess
Championship, scoring
9-2 (7 wins, 4 draws,
and no losses). She thus
became the fifth
women's world chess
champion, and, at age
21, the youngest up to
that time. The event
was held in Moscow. In
1975, she had a
perfume named after
her. A Tbilis perfume
factory manufactured a
new scent, called Nona,
which was sold in a
bottle shaped like a
chess queen. In 1978,
Nona became the first
woman to be awarded
the Grandmaster title.
She was the first
woman to achieve the
men's International
Grandmaster title, in
1978. She became the
first woman to win a
"men's" chess
tournament when she
tied for first place at
Lone Pine in 1977. She
has had a perfume
named after her in
Russia. A Tbilisi
perfume factory sold
the perfume in a bottle
shaped like a chess
Queen. She maintained
her maiden name after
marrying her husband
Chichikadze. She was
the Women's World
Chess Champion for 16
years, from 1962 to
1978. In 1962 she won
the title by defeating
Elizaveta Bykova with
a score of 9-2. In 1978
she lost to Maya
Chiburdanidze, who as
17. She has won the
Women's Senior
Championship 5 times.
Her peak rating was
2495 in 1987.

Anita Gara (1983- ) is a

Hungarian International
Master (2009) and
Woman Grandmaster.
She has won the
Hungarian women's
championship 5 times.

Maria del Pino Garcia-

Padron (1961- ) is a
Spanish woman chess
master. In 1980 and
1983, she won the
Spanish women's
championship. She
played for Spain in 5
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Nieves Garcia-Vicente
(1955- ) is a Spanish
Woman International
Master (1978). She won
the Spanish women's
championship 11 times.
She played for Spain in
15 Women's Chess
Olympiads, mostly on
first board.

Ava Gardner (1922-

1990) played chess.
Here is a nice photo on
the Internet of her
playing chess in 1947.
It was on the set of
Singapore. She married
Artie Shaw in 1945 and
they played chess
together. Later, Shaw
hired a Russian chess
master to tutor her in
chess. After a few
months of lessons, she
started beating him at
chess. He never asked
her to play chess again.

Regina Gerlecka (1913-

1983) was a Polish
chess master. In 1935,
she won the first Polish
Women's
Championship. She
won it again in 1937. In
1935, she took 2nd in
the 5th Women's World
Chess Championship.

In 1879, Ellen E.
Gilbert (nee Strong)
(1837-1900) of the
USA won an
international
correspondence chess
match. She played first
board for the USA in an
1879 correspondence
chess match against
England, winning all 4
games against
England's top board,
George Gossip. She
was known as "The
Queen of Chess."

Jessie Gilbert (1987-

2006) was a British
Woman FIDE Master.
In 1999, at the age of
12, she won the
Women's World
Amateur Chess
Championship. On July
26, 2006, Jessie Gilbert
fell from the 8th floor
of her hotel while
playing in the Czech
Open in the Czech
Republic. It was a
possible suicide. A few
days later, it was
revealed that her father,
Ian Gilbert, a director at
the Royal Bank of
Scotland, had been
previously charged with
rape, with Jessica
Gilbert as one of the
victims, but he was
found not guilty. Hours
after the acquittal,
Angela Gilbert, the
mother of Jessie, was
arrested on suspicion of
threatening to kill her
ex-husband over claims
she hired a hitman to
murder her ex-husband.
She was later released
and lawyers decided
not to proceed with the
case.

Mary Gilchrist (1882-

1947) was a Scottish
female chess player. In
1929 and 1934, she
won the British
women's
championship.

Rumiana Bojadjieva-
Gocheva (1957- ) is a
Bulgarian Woman
International Master
(1981). She has won
the Bulgarian women's
championship 6 times.
She has played for
Bulgaria in 5 Chess
Olympiads.

Rusudan Goletiani
(1980- ) is an
International Master
(2009) and a Woman
Grandmaster (1999).
She was the winner of
the World Chess
Championship for Girls
Under 14 (1994), Under
16 (1995), and Under
18 (1997). She was
born in Soviet Georgia
and won the Soviet
Junior Championship
for Girls Under 12 in
1990 at the age of 9.
She was awarded the
International Woman's
Grandmaster (WGM)
title when she was 17.
She immigrated to the
United States in 2000.
She won the US
Women's
Championship in 2004
and $12,500 when she
beat WFM Tatev
Abrahamyan in their
playoff. She was the
winner of the 18th
annual Frank P.
Samford chess
fellowship in 2004. Her
peak rating was 2403 in
2006.

Sonja Graf-Stevenson
(1914-1965) was
learned the game of
chess at age four and
was a pupil of Dr.
Siegbert Tarrasch. She
was the winner of four
U.S. Women's Opens
and two Closed
Championships (1957
— tied with Gresser,
1964). She was woman
champion of her native
Germany until the
outbreak of World War
II. She traveled to
Buenos Aires to play on
the German team in the
8th Chess Olympiad.
She was prevented
from playing on the
German team by a Nazi
edict for her outspoken
defiance of Hitler's
government, and was
taken off the list of
Olympiad participants.
She then decided to
play in the Women's
World Chess
Championship, held at
the same time in
Buenos Aires. She went
on to play at large
under the banner of
"Liberty." The
Argentines made her a
flag with the word
"Libra" written on it.
She played the entire
tournament, winning 16
games and losing 3,
taking 2nd place,
behind world champion
Vera Menchik. After
the Olympiad, she
refused to return to
Germany and stayed in
Argentina. She married
a merchant mariner,
Vernon Stevenson, and
moved to Hollywood in
1947. In the 1930s she
was considered the
second-best woman
chessplayer in the
world, after Vera
Menchik. Both Vera
Menchik and Sonja
Graf married a
chessplayer named
Stevenson. In 1957, she
won the California
Women's Chess
Championship.

Gisela Gresser (1906-

2000) was the winner
of the U.S. Women's
Championship 9 times
(1944, 1948, 1955,
1957, 1962, 1965,
1966, 1967, and 1969).
She won the 1969 U.S.
Women's
Championship at the
age of 63. Second place
went to 55-year-old
Mona Karff (6 times
former Champion). She
was the first woman in
the U.S. to achieve a
master's rating. She
learned how to play
chess after she
borrowed a chess book
while on a cruise from
France to New York in
1937. She became
interested in chess
tournaments as a
spectator at the 1938
U.S. Women's
Championship at the
Rockefeller Center in
New York. She played
in her first U.S.
Women's
Championship in 1940.
She was born Gisela
Kahn. She was awarded
the International
Woman Master title in
1950. She was an
expert in hieroglyphics.
In 1937, she won a
fellowship at Harvard
for Greek archeological
research.

Elina Groberman
(1983- ), born in
Moldova, is an
American chess player.
In 2000, she tied for 1st
with Camilla
Bagimskaite in the U.S.
women's championship.
At the time, she was a
freshman at the
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. She
became a trader for
Deutsche Bank.

Maria Grosch (1954- )

is a Hungarian Woman
International Master
(1984). In 1986, she
tied for 1st in the
Hungarian women's
championship, but lost
to Maria Ivanka in the
play-off. She is married
to GM Zoltan Ribli.

Lina Grumette (1908-

1988) was a popular
West Coast chess
organizer who ran The
Chess Set chess club in
her Hollywood home.
She competed in the US
Women's championship
of the 1940s and was
one of the strongest
females in the United
States. It may have
been her influence that
Bobby Fischer
continued his world
championship match in
Iceland in 1972.

Valentina Gunina
(1989- ) is a Russian
Grandmaster (2013)
and Woman
Grandmaster (2010).
She won the Russian
Women's
Championship 3 times.
In 2012, she won the
Women's World Blitz
Championship. In 2014,
she won the Russian
Women's Rapid
Championship. In 2015,
she won the Moscow
Women's Blitz
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2548 in
2015.

Guo Qi is a Chinese
Woman Grandmaster
(2011) and an
International Master
(2014). In 2012, she
won the World Junior
Girls Chess
Championship.

Sopiko Guramishvili
(1991- ) is a Georgian
Woman Grandmaster
(2009) and an
International Master
(2012). In 2006, she
won the girls under-16
section of the World
Youth Chess
Championship. She is
married to GM Anish
Giri.

Nino Gurieli (1961- ) is

an International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. In 1976,
she won the Georgian
women's chess
championship. She is
married to GM Zurab
Sturua.

Sopio Gvetadze (1983-

) is a Georgian Woman
Grandmaster.
Anna Hahn (1976- ),
born in Latvia, is a
Women's International
Master (1995). She won
the Latvian's Women's
Championship in 1992.
She tied for 2nd place
in the World Girls'
Championship in 1993.
She was Women's US
Champion for 2003.
She won a playoff
match between Irina
Krush and Jennifer
Shahade. She includes
kick boxing as one of
her hobbies. She works
as a trader for D. E.
Shaw & Co. in New
York City.

Sandagdorj Handsuren
(1940- ) is a Mongolian
Woman International
Master (1972). In 1968,
she won the Mongolian
women's
championship.

Harika Dronavalli
(1991- ) is an Indian
Grandmaster (2011)
and a Woman
Grandmaster (2004).
Her peak rating was
2543 in 2016.

Ruth Haring (1955- ) is

a Woman International
Master. She was
president of the US
Chess Federation for 5
years. She is married to
GM Peter Biyiasas.
Gisela Harum (1903-
1995) was an Austrian
chess master. She
played in 4 Women's
World Championships.

Alfreda Hausner (1927-

) is an Austrian woman
chess master. In 1953
and 1976, she won the
Austrian women's
championship. She
played for Austria in 8
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Fenny Heemskerk
(1919-2007) was a
Dutch Woman
Grandmaster (1977).
She won the Dutch
women's championship
10 times.

Katharine Hepburn
(1909-2003) played
chess. A photo on the
Internet shows her
playing chess with
Humphrey Bogart. She
and her brother, Tom,
played chess growing
up. She took chess
lessons from Herman
Steiner in the 1940s.

Dr. Roza Herman

(1902-1995) was a
Polish Woman
International Master
(1950). She won the
Polish women's
championship twice.
She was a medical
doctor. She died at the
age of 93.

Hoang Thanh Trang

(1980- ) is a
Vietnamese-born
Hungarian Grandmaster
(2007). In 1998, she
won the World Girls
under-20
Championship. In 2000,
she won the Asian
women's championship.
In 2013, she won the
European women's
championship. Her
peak rating was 2511 in
2013. She has a degree
in Economics.

In 1919, Edith
Holloway (1868-1956)
was the winner of the
first post-World War I
Women's British
championship. In 1924,
Edith Holloway played
for England in the first
unofficial Chess
Olympiad, held in
Paris. She was the first
woman to play in a
Chess Olympiad.

Krystyna Holuj-
Radzikowska (1931-
2006) was a Polish
Woman Grandmaster
(1984). She won the
Polish women's
championship 9 times.
She played for Poland
in 5 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Karolyne Honfi (1933-

2010) was a Hungarian
International Master
(1969). In 1961, she
won the Hungarian
women's
championship.

Iren Honsch (1932- ) is

a Hungarian female
chess master. She has
won the Hungarian
women's championship
3 times (1957, 1959,
and 1960).

Hou Yifan (1994- )

learned chess at the age
of three. She started
taking chess lessons at
the age of five. At age
9, she became a
Woman FIDE master.
At age 11, she qualified
for the World Women's
Chess Championship.
At age 13, she became
China's youngest ever
women's national
champion. She became
a GM at the age of 14
years, 6 months, the
youngest ever. She
became the women's
world champion at 16.
In October 2005, at the
age of 11, Hou Yifan
qualified for the World
Women's Chess
Championship after
winning the Chinese
Women's Zonal
tournament. Her
performance rating in
that event was 2526. In
May 2016, Hou
dropped out of the
current Women's World
Championship cycle.
She objected to the
format of a knockout
tournament and then a
match. She compared
the 64-player knockout
system to a lottery. She
was Women's World
Champion in 2010-
2012, 2013-2015, and
2016-2017. In the final
round of the Tradewise
Gibralter Chess
Festival, she appeared
to throw her game
against Indian
Grandmaster Lalith
Babu, playing a
ridiculous opening and
resigning after 5 moves.
She later explained that
she was upset about
being paired against
other female players in
7 of her 9 previous
games of a Swiss
system tournament,
however tournament
organizer Brian
Callaghan said the
pairings were simply
the result of a computer
program. She declined
to defend her title at the
Women's World Chess
Championship 2017,
and as a result forfeited
her title. Her peak
rating was 2686 in
2015.

Mary Mills Houlding

(1850-1940) was an
Australian-British
chessplayer. In the late
19th century, she was
recognized as the lady
chess champion of
Australia. In 1908, she
defeated Emanuel
Lasker in one of his
simultaneous
exhibitions in Newport,
England. It was his
only loss. She won the
British Ladies'
Championship in 1910,
1911, and 1914 (at age
64). In 1922, she won
the Newport Chess
Club Chess
Championship in
England. In 1928, she
won the Newport Chess
Club Chess
Championship at the
age of 78. She played in
her last Women's
British Championship
in 1932, at the age of
82. She was a
superintendent of the
North Street Mission, a
religious charity for
helping the poor. She
died of a brain
hemorrhage at the age
of 89.

Jovanka Houska is an
English International
Master and Woman
Grandmaster. She has
won the British
Women's Chess
Championship 6 times.
In 2006, she was voted
English Chess
Federation Player of the
Year. She was the first
woman to receive this
accolade since its
inception in 1984. She
has a law degree.

Barbara Hund (1959- )

is West Germany's first
woman Grandmaster
(1982). She was born
13 days after her
mother, Juliane, played
in the German
Women's Chess
Championship. She
won the German
Women's
Championship in 1978.
She won the Women's
Swiss Chess
Championship in 1993.
She now lives in
Switzerland.

Dr. Harriet Hunt (1978-

) is an English
International Master
(2000) and Woman
Grandmaster (1999).
She has won the British
Ladies' Championship 4
times. She is a
researcher in
archaeogenetics at the
University of
Cambridge.
Nana Mikhailovna
Ioseliani (1961- ) is a
former World Women's
Championship
challenger. She is a
Woman Grandmaster
(1980) and
International Master
(1993) from the
Republic of Georgia
and was once ranked
no. 2 in the world for
women chessplayers.
She has won the
Women's Soviet Chess
Championship 4 times.
She is now an
entrepreneur in Prague.
Her peak rating was
2520 in 1997.

Maria Ivanka (1950- )

is a Hungarian Woman
Grandmaster (1978).
She won the Hungarian
women's championship
9 times. She won the
Texan chess
championship 3 times.

Antonia Ivanova (1930-

2004) was a Bulgarian
Woman Grandmaster
(1983). She won the
Bulgarian women's
championship 6 times.
She was married to GM
Milko Bobotsov.

Inna Izrailov (1964- ) is

an American Woman
International Master
(WIM) from Brooklyn.
In 1986, she won the
U.S. Women's Chess
Championship.

Kate Jackson (1949- )

plays chess. In 1982, on
the Tonight Show, she
mentioned that she
played chess with a
chess computer. She
said she would rather
play with her Sargon
chess computer than
watch TV.

Sheila Jackson (1957- )

is an English Woman
Grandmaster (1988).
She won the British
women's championship
4 times. She played for
England in 10 Women's
Chess Olympiads.

In 1989 Carol Jarecki

(1935- ) became the
first woman to serve as
chief arbiter for any
world chess
championship cycle
match (1989 Karpov-
Hjartarson world
championship
quarterfinals). She is an
international Arbiter
and has directed dozens
of large chess
tournaments. She is a
former anesthesiologist
and avid aircraft pilot.
She remains an active
pilot, having flown her
Cessna 210 throughout
the United States, to
Alaska and to many
destinations in the
Caribbean as far as St.
Lucia, West Indies.

Lela Javakhishvili
(1984- ) is a Georgian
International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. She has
won the Georgian
women's championship
twice.

Hannelore Jorger-
Weichert (1942) is a
German woman chess
master. In 1966, she
won the Bavarian
women's championship.

Ju Wenun (1991- ) is a
Chinese Grandmaster
(2014). She won the
Women's Chinese
Championship in 2010
and 2014. In 2017, she
won the Women's
World Rapid Chess
Championship in
Riyadh. She is the
challenger in the 2018
Women's World Chess
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2604 in
2017.

Anna Jurczynska
(1926-2009) was a
Polish Woman
International Master
(1981). She won the
Polish women's
championship 5 times.
Dr. Gabriele Just, nee
Ortlepp (1936- ), is a
German woman chess
master. She won the
East German women's
championship 3 times.
In 1996, she won the
German Open Senior
Women's Chess
Championship. She is a
physician in Leipzig by
profession.

Ketino Kachiani-
Gersinka (1971- ) is a
Georgian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
1987, she won the
Georgian women's
championship. In 1989
and 1990, she won the
World Junior Chess
Championship.

Jana Kackova (1982- )

is a Czech International
Master and Woman
Grandmaster.

Paula Kalmar-Wolf
(1880-1931) was
Austria's first chess
master. She learned
how to play chess in
her early 30s. She was
Women's World
Championship
Challenger 3 times. In
1930 and 1931, she
took 2nd place in the
Women's World
championship, behind
Vera Menchik. She
died of complications
for diabetes. In 2017,
she was inducted into
the World Chess Hall
of Fame.

Eva Karakas, nee Furst,

(1922-1995) was a
Hungarian Woman
Grandmaster. She won
the Hungarian women's
championship 5 times.
In 1991, 1992, and
1994, she won the
Women's World Senior
Chess Championship.

Eesha Karavade (1987-

) is an Indian Woman
Grandmaster (2005)
and an International
Master (2010).

Mona May Karff

(1914-1998) played in
18 U.S. Women's
championships,
winning 7 times, from
1938 to 1974. She
spoke 8 languages
fluently and became a
millionaire playing the
stock market. She
married her cousin, but
later divorced and was
romantically linked
with Dr. Edward
Lasker. In 1937, she
played in the women's
world chess
championship in
Stockholm representing
Palestine. She took 6th
place. In the 1939
women's world
championship in
Buenos Aires, she
represented the United
States and took 5th
place. She played in 3
women's world
championships.

Irmgard Karner (1927-

2014) was a German
woman chess master. In
1964, she won the West
German women's chess
championship. In 2000,
she won the German
Women's Senior
Championship. She
died at the age of 87.

Rita Kas (1956- ) is a

Hungarian-German
Woman International
Master (1984). In 1988,
she won the Federal
Republic of Germany
Women's Chess
Championship.

Alina Kashlinskaya
(1993- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
2013, she won the
Russian under-20 girls
championship.

Carmen Kass (1978- )

is an Estonian super
model, former political
candidate, and woman
chessplayer. In 2002,
she was the second-
highest-paid model in
the world. She was
President of the
Estonian Chess
Federation from 2004
to 2011. From 2004
until 2014, she was in a
relationship with GM
Eric Lobron of
Germany. Her father is
chess teacher.

Dr. Ingeborg Kattinger

(1910-2003) was an
Austrian woman chess
master. She won the
Austrian women's
championship 4 times.
She won the Vienna
Women's
Championship 8 times.
She was an Honorary
President of the
Austrian Chess
Federation. She had a
doctorate in
psychology. She died at
the age of 92.

Edith Keller-Hermann
(1921-2010) was a
German Woman
Grandmaster (1977). In
1942, she won the
second German
women's championship.
She won the German
women's championship
11 times.

Lucille Kellner (1904-

1964) was an American
chess player from
Detroit. In 1962, she
took 6th in the US
women's championship,
won by Gisela Kahn
Gresser.

Grace Kelly (1929-

1982) played chess. She
played chess with
Alfred Hitchcock. A
photo on the Internet
shows her taking
interest in a chess game
between Jimmy Stewart
and Wendel Corey in
1954. It was taken on
the set of Rear
Window.

Sarasadat
Khademalsharich
(1997- ) is an Iranian
Woman Grandmaster
(2013) and an
International Master
(2015). In 2016, she
won the Iranian
women's
championship.

Bela Khotenashvili
(1988- ) is a Georgian
Grandmaster (2013)
and a Woman
Grandmaster (2007). In
2004, she won the
World Girls under-16
Championship. She has
won the Georgian
Women's
Championship twice.
Her peak rating was
2531 in June 2013.

Sopiko Khukhashvili
(1985- ) is a Georgian
Woman Grandmaster
(2005) and
International Master
(2007). In 1999 and
2000, she won the
under-16 section of the
World Youth Chess
Championship.

Nino Khurtsidze (1976-

) is a Georgian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master
(1999). She has won
the women's Georgian
championship 5 times.

Henrijeta
Konarkowska-Sokolov
(1938- ) is a Polish-
Serbian Woman
Grandmaster (1986).
She won the Polish
women's championship
4 times and the
Yugoslav women's
championship 2 times.

Humpy Koneru (1987-

) started playing chess
at the age of five. She
has won four World
Championships,
including the World
Girls Under-10, Under-
12, Under-14, and the
World Girls Junior
championships. At the
age of 14, she won the
British Ladies'
championship. At 14,
she won the World
Junior Girls Chess
Championship. She
became a GM at the
age of 15 years, 1
month and 27 days, the
youngest female to
become a GM up to
that time. From 2002
through 2008, she was
the youngest women
ever to become a
grandmaster. At 22, she
was the 2nd highest
rated woman in the
world, behind Judit
Polgar. She won the
British Women's
Championship in 2000
and 2002. In 2003, she
won the Indian
Women's
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2623 in
2009.

Tatiana Kononenko
(1978- ) is a Ukrainian
Woman Grandmaster
(1998) and
International Master
(2006).

Marilyn M. Koput
Simmons (1948-2018)
was an American
Woman International
Master who lived in
Milwaukee. In 1972,
she tied for 1st with
Eva Aronson in the
U.S. Women's
Championship. She
died of cancer.

Ekaterina Korbut
(1985- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. In 2004, she
won the Girls World
Junior Chess
Championship. In 2006,
she won the Russian
women's
championship.

Nadezhda Kosintseva
(1985- ) is a Russian
Grandmaster (2011). In
1998, she won the
World Girls under-14
Championship. In 2005,
she tied fors 1st in the
European Women's
Championship. In 2008,
she won the Russian
Women's
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2576 in
2010.

Tatiana Kosintseva
(1986- ) is a Russian
Grandmaster (2009).
She has won the
European women's
championship twice
and the Russian
women's championship
3 times. Her peak rating
was 2581 in 2010.

Alexandra Kosteniuk
(1984- ) learned to play
chess at five after being
taught be her father.
She became a women's
grandmaster (WGM) at
age 14. She was an
International Master at
16. She was the
Challenger in the
World Women's
Championship when
she was 17. At 20, she
was awarded the GM
title. At 21, she was the
Russian Women's
Champion. At 22, she
was the Chess960
Women's World
Champion. At 24, she
was women's world
champion. She won the
Women's Russian
Chess Championship in
2005 and 2016. In
2004, she won the
Women's European
Championship and was
world champion from
2008 to 2010. In 2006,
she became the first
Chess960 women's
world champion. She
won it again 2008. In
2013, she became the
first woman to win the
men's Swiss Chess
Championship. She
also won the women's
Swiss champion title.
Her peak rating was
2557 in 2016. In 2015,
she married Russian
GM Pavel Tregubov.

Ekaterina
Kovalevskaya (1974- )
is a Russian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
1994 and 2000, she
won the Russian
Women's
Championship.

Valentina Kozlovskaya
(1938- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster.
In 1965, she won the
Women's Soviet
Championship. In 1996,
she won the Senior
Women's World Chess
Championship. She is a
biochemist by
profession. She was
married to GM Igor
Bondarevsky.

Ljuba Kristol (1944- )

is a Russian-born
Israeli Woman
International Master
and Correspondence
Grandmaster. She won
the 3rd women's world
correspondence
championship (1978-
1984) and the 5th
women's world
correspondence
championship (1993-
1998). She has won the
Israeli women's
championship 4 times.

Gyulane Krizsan-Bilek
(1938- ) is a Hungarian
Woman International
Master (1965). In 1958,
she won the Hungarian
women's championship.
She was married to GM
Istvan Bilek.

Irina Krush (1983- ) is

a Ukrainian-born
American Grandmaster
(2013). She learned
chess at age 5. At the
age of 9, she beat her
first chess master. She
played in the US
Women's championship
at the age of 11. At age
12, she became a
master. At age 13, she
tied for 1st in the World
Junior championship
for girls. At age 14, she
won the US Women's
championship, the
youngest ever. At 16,
she was awarded the
International Master
title. She has won the
US women's
championship 7 times.
Her peak rating was
2502 in 2013. She was
formerly married to
Canadian GM Pascal
Charbonneau. In 2006,
she graduated from
New York University
with a degree in
International Relations.

Alla Kushnir (1941-

2013) was one of the
top women's
chessplayers in the
1960s and 1970s. At
one time she was the
second-best woman in
the world (behind
Gprindashvili). She left
the Soviet Union and
settled in Israel in 1974.
She was awarded the
Women's Grandmaster
title in 1976. She was
Women's World
Championship
Challenger in 1965,
1969, and 1972. She
was USSR Women's
Champion in 1970.

Alini l'Ami, nee Motoc,

(1985- ) is a Romanian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. Shei graduated
cum laude in
Psychology from the
Alexandru Ioan Cuza
University. She is
married to Dutch GM
Erwin l'Ami.

Anni Laakmann (1937-

) is a German Woman
FIDE Master (1983).
She won the West
German women's
championship 4 times.
She played for West
Germany in 6 Women's
Chess Olympiads.

Kateryna
Oleksandrivna Lahno
(Lagno) (1989- ) is a
Ukrainian-born Russian
Grandmaster (2007)
and Woman
Grandmaster (2002). In
1998, she was the
world girls' under-10
champion. In 2002, at
the age of 12 years, 4
months and 2 days, she
became both the
European Girls' under-
14 Champion and the
world's youngest
Woman Grandmaster in
history. In 2005, she
won the European
Individual Women's
Chess Championship.
In 2010, she was the
women's world blitz
chess champion. In
2014, she was the
women's world rapid
chess champion. Her
peak rating was 2557 in
2012. She is married to
French GM Robert
Fontaine.

Lisa Lane Hickey

(1938- ) was born in
Philadelphia. She is a
former U.S. women's
champion (1959-62,
1966). In 1960 she
appeared on "What's
My Line" and was
featured in Look
magazine. In 1961, she
was on the cover of
Sports Illustrated. She
and Bobby Fischer are
the only chessplayers to
have been on the cover
of Sports Illustrated. In
1961, she took 12th-
14th place at the
Women'sCandidates
Tournament in
Vrnjacka Banja. She
played four games in
the Hastings Reserve
tournament in 1961-62,
and then withdrew after
one draw, two losses,
and an adjourned game.
She said she could not
concentrate because she
was "homesick and in
love." In 1963 she
opened up her own
chess club, Queen's
Pawn Chess Emporium,
in New York. In 1964,
she took 12th place at
the Women's
Candidates Tournament
in Sukhumi. In 1966,
she tied for 1st place
with Gisela Gresser in
the U.S. Women's
Chess Championship.
She married Neil
Hickey, editor-at-large
of the Columbia
Journalism Review,
who was a friend of
Bobby Fischer and
assisted Bobby Fischer
in some chess articles.
Lisa owns a natural
food business, Amber
Waves of Grain, in
New York.

Susan Lalic, nee

Walker, (1965- ) is an
English Woman
Grandmaster (1985)
and International
Master (1996). She has
won the British
Women's championship
5 times. In the past, she
has been married to
Keith Arkell and then t
Bogdan Lalic. She is
currently married to IM
Graeme Buckley.

Tea Bosboom
Lanchava (1974- ) is a
Georgian Woman
Grandmaster (2001)
and International
Master (2004). In 1988,
she won the World
under-14 girls
championship. In 1990,
she won the World
under-16 girls
championship. In 2012,
she won the women's
Dutch championship.

Diana Lanni (1955- )

qualified for the U.S.
Women's
Championship and used
chess to beat a drug
addiction problem and
suicidal tendencies. In
1982, she represented
the USA in the
Women's Olympiad in
Lucerne. She now
teaches chess to kids.

Ingrid Larsen (1909-

1990) was Women's
World Championship
Challenger in 1937,
1939, and 1949-50. She
was awarded the
Women's International
Master title in 1950.
She won the Danish
Women's National
Championship 17 times
(1936, 1937, 1938,
1939, 1943, 1944,
1945, 1946, 1948,
1949, 1953, 1956,
1957, 1960, 1965,
1969, and 1983).

Milda Lauberte (1918-

2009) was a Latvian
female chess master.
She played in 2
Women's World Chess
Championships.

Milunka Lazarevic
(1932- ) is a Serbian
Woman Grandmaster
(1976). She won the
Yugoslav women's
championship 11
times.

Lei Tingjie (1997- ) is a

Chinese Grandmaster
(2017) and Woman
Grandmaster (2014). In
2017, she won the
Women's Chinese
Chess Championship.

Vivien Leigh (1913-

1967) played chess. A
photo shows her
playing chess with
Lawrence Olivier in
1941. It was taken
during the filming of
Forty Ninth Parallel.
She listed chess as one
of her favorite games.

Tatiana Lemachko
(1948- ) is a Russian-
born Bulgarian-Swiss
Woman Grandmaster
(1977). She won the
Bulgarian Women's
Championship in 1972
and the Swiss Women's
Championship in 1983.
She played for Bulgaria
in four Chess
Olympiads. She tied for
first place (with
Akhmilovskaya) at the
1979 Alicante Women's
Interzonal Tournament.
She defected from the
Bulgarian Women's
team on the eve of the
last round of the
Lucerne Chess
Olympiad in 1982 and
remained in
Switzerland. She
played for Switzerland
in ten Chess
Olympiads. Her peak
rating was 2370 in
1988.

Irina Levitina (1954- )

is a 4-time USSR
Women's Champion
who was not allowed to
play in the 1979
Women's Interzonal in
Buenos Aires and for
the World Women's
Championship because
her brother immigrated
(legally) to Israel. She
is also a world class
bridge player and now a
professional bridge
player. She has played
on 3 chess Olympiads
and 1 bridge Olympiad.
She became a Woman
Grandmaster in 1976.
In 1984, she was the
challenger and lost to
Chiburdanidze with 2
wins, 7 draws, and 5
losses in the Women's
World Championship.
She gave up serious
chess and became a
professional bridge
player. In contract
bridge, she has been
World champion six
times. Levitina is the
only person in the
world to win world
championships in both
chess and bridge. She is
currently the top US
player in the World
Bridge Federation
(WBF) Masterpoint
rankings.

Teresa Leyva (1965- )

is a Colombian Woman
FIDE master. In 1976
and 1982, she won the
Colombian women's
championship. She
played for Colombia in
3 Women's Chess
Olympiads, winning an
individual gold medal
in 1982 at first reserve
board.

Li Ruofan (1978- ) is a
Chinese Woman
Grandmaster (2002)
and an International
Master (2009). She is
married to GM Zhang
Zhong.

Ursula Liebert, nee

Horoldt, (1933-1998)
was a German female
chess master. In 1954
and 1967, she won the
East Germany Women's
Chess Championship.
She had a degree in
mathematics. She was
married to IM Heinz
Liebert.

Miroslawa
Litmanowicz, nee
Kalecka, (1928-2017)
was a Polish Woman
International Master
(1967). In 1968, she
won the Polish
women's championship.
In 1974, she ended her
active chess player
career and devoted
herself to literary work.
Her best-known books
are chess manuals for
children and young
people.

Maia Lomineishvili
(1977- ) is an
International Master.
She has won the
Women's Georgian
championship 5 times.

Alice Loranth (1930-

1998) was the long-
time head of the Fine
Arts and Special
Collections Department
of the Cleveland Public
Library. She presided
over one of the largest
chess collections in the
world, the John G.
White Collection, for
30 years.

Sophia Loren (1934- )

plays chess. She used
intermissions, while
shooting films, to play
a game of chess. In
1966, she played chess
with Marlon Brando.
Sophia Loren appeared
with Marlon Brando
sitting behind a chess
board, observed by
Charlie Chaplin, in a
Life magazine article.
Another photo has
Charlie Chaplin looking
over the game between
Brando and Loren.

Myrna Loy (1905-

1993) played chess. She
said that she became
interested in chess after
watching Reginald
Owen and Frank
Morgan (Wizard of Oz)
play chess. She was a
member of Herman
Steiner's chess club.

Carolina Lujan is an
Argentine Woman
Grandmaster (2005)
and International
Master (2007). She has
won the Argentine
Women's championship
5 times.

Ildiko Madl (1969- ) is

a Hungarian Woman
Grandmaster (1986)
and International
Master (1992). In 1986,
she won the World
Under-20 Girls
Championship. She
won the Hungarian
Women's
Championship 4 times.

Madonna (1958- ), born

Madonna Louise
Ciccone, plays chess.
She plays chess in a
couple of her musical
videos. She plays chess
on the Internet Chess
Club. In 2001, Alan
Norris, former Scottish
chess champion,
tutored Madonna in
chess. In the video of
her song "The Power of
Good-Bye," she plays
chess with Croatian
actor Goran Visnjic.

Zsuzsa Makai (1945-

1987) was a Romanian-
Hungarian Woman
International Master
(1970). In 1980, she
won the Hungarian
women's
championship.

Marina Makropoulou,
nee Pogorevici, (1960-
) is a Romanian-Greek
Woman Grandmaster
(1982). She is the
daughter of Romanian
Women's Chess
Champion Maria
Albule?, nee
Pogorevici. In 1982,
Marina was the first
Romanian chess player
to be awarded the
Woman Grandmaster
title. In 1984, she won
the Romanian women's
chess championship.
She won the Greek
women's championship
9 times. She has played
in 14 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Gulnar Mammadova
(1991- ) is an
Azerbaijani Woman
Grandmaster (2012)
and International
Master (2017). In the
2016 Women's Chess
Olympiad, she won the
individual gold medal
for the best
performance on board
3.

Alisa Maric (1970- ) is

the twin sister of
Mirjana Maric. She is a
Serbian women's
grandmaster (1988) and
an International Master
(1993). Alisa and
Mirjana are the only
twin grandmasters in
history. At age 12, she
was Belgrade women's
champion. In 1985, she
was the World's under-
16 Women's Champion.
In 1986, she was
Yugoslavia Women's
Champion. In 1991, she
was the world women's
championship
challenger, but lost to
Xie Jun. She is the
mother of twins. She as
a PhD in Economics.

Mirjana Mari? (1970- )

is the twin sister of
Alisa Maric. She is a
Serbian women's
grandmaster (1991) and
former Cadet World
Champion (1985).
Mirjana and Alisa are
the only twin
grandmasters in history.
She has a degree in
mathematics from
Belgrade University.
She is married to IM
Zoran Stamenkovic.

Marie de France (1130-

1190) is the earliest
known French female
writer and the first
woman writer to allude
to chess. In her
romance work Eliduc,
she wrote: "The King,
rising from high table,
went to his daughter's
chambers to play at his
beloved chess with an
invited foreign guest.
His daughter, sitting
next to him, was eager
to learn chess. When
Eliduc came in, the
King stopped play."

Beatriz MacArthur
Marinello (1964- )
became a National
Women's Champion of
Chile when she was 16
years old. In 1985, she
was awarded the
Women's International
Master title. She was
President of the US
Chess Federation from
2003 to 2005.

Abby Marshall (1991- )

is a Woman FIDE
Master. In 2009, she
won the Denker
Tournament of High
School Champions, the
first female ever to
have attained the title.

In 1934, Caroline
Marshall, husband of
Frank Marshall,
organized women's
events at the Marshall
Chess Club.

Ana Matnadze (1983- )

is Georgian-Spanish
Woman Grandmaster
(2002) and
International Master
(2006). She has won
the Catalan Women's
Championship 5 times.

Svetlana Matveeva
(1969- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. She won the
Soviet Women's
Championship in 1984
and 1991.

Stepanka Mayer, nee

Vokralova, (1949- ) is a
Czech-German Woman
International Master
(1970). She won the
Czechoslovak women's
championship 5 times.

Mitzi Mayfair (1915-

1976) played chess. A
photo of her playing
chess at the Pan-
American Chess
Congress in 1945
appeared in the October
issue of Chess Review.
In August 1945, she
played in the Ladies'
tournament under her
married name, Mrs.
Charles Henderson, or
Lyn Henderson. She
had been playing chess
for a little over a year.
She won one game and
lost 7 games. She later
took up postal chess.

Alisa Melekhina (1991-

) is a Woman
International Master
and FIDE master
(2011). She is a
classically trained
ballerina and graduated
from the University of
Pennsylvania Law
School at the age of 22.
She is the first female
Pennsylvania State
Champion.
Salome Melia (1987- )
is a Georgian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
2008 and 2010, she
won the Women's
Georgian Chess
Championship.

Olga Menchik (1907-

1944) was a Czech-
British female chess
master. She was the
sister of Vera
Menchik.

Vera Francevna
Menchik Stevenson
(1906-1944) was born
to English and Czech
parents, in Moscow.
Her family settled in
England in 1921. She
took chess lessons from
Maroczy in her teenage
years. In 1927, Vera
won the London ladies
championship, and her
sister, Olga, took 2nd
place. In 1937, she
married R.H.S.
Stevenson, secretary of
the British Chess
Federation. In June
1944, Vera Menchik
Stevenson, women's
world chess champion
since 1927, was killed
when a V-1 rocket
bombing raid hit her
home (47 Gauden
Road, Clapham) in
South London. Her
younger sister, Olga
Menchik Rubery, and
mother also died in the
air raid. Their bomb
shelter, a few yards
away, was undamaged.
Today, the address is an
apartment complex.
She was World's
Women Champion
from 1927 until her
death on June 26, 1944.
She has been the
longest reigning
Women's World Chess
Champion (17 years).
She would have
extended it longer if she
had not been killed. At
the time of her death,
she was serving on the
editorial staff of Chess
as games editor.

Edith Michell (1872-

1951) was an English
female chess master.
She won the British
women's championship
3 times.

Sylvia Miles (1932- )

was once a competitive
chess player. She
played in New York
chess tournaments in
the early 1960s. She
was a member of the
Manhattan Chess Club
in the 1960s. She said
she took up
backgammon to distract
herself from chess. She
said she had become
too much of a chess
bum. She claims she
played chess with
Bobby Fischer. She was
an Academy-award
Best Supporting actress
nominee for Midnight
Cowboy in 1969

Sophie Milliet (1983- )

is a French Woman
Grandmaster (2003)
and International
Master (2009). She has
won the French
women's championship
6 times.

Lilit Mkrtchian (1982- )

is an Armenian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master.
She has won the
Armenian women's
championship 4 times.

Nisha Mohota (1980- )

is an Indian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master.
She became the then
youngest Woman
International Master
(WIM) in April 1995 at
the age of 14 years, 6
months and 13 days on
April 26, 1995. In
2005, she won the
women's championship
of India.

Maria Teresa Mora-

Iturralde (1902-1980)
was a Cuban
International Master
(1950) who, at age 14,
was the only person
known to have studied
chess under
Capablanca. In 1915,
she won the school
chess championship of
Cuba. In 1922, she won
the Dewar Cup (named
after Sir John Dewar)
of the Havana Chess
Club, which at the time
was considered
equivalent to the Cuban
National Chess
Championship. She was
the only woman to have
ever won the Cuban
championship and was
Cuban Woman's
Champion from 1938
until she retired from
competitive play in
1960. She worked for
the Cuban Ministry of
Education.

Eva Moser (1982- ) is

an Austrian Woman
Grandmaster (2003)
and International
Master (2004). In 2006,
she won the absolute
Austrian Chess
Championship (men
and women), becoming
the first woman to do
so. In 2010 and 2011,
she won the Austrian
women's championship.
She has a degree in
Business
Administration.
Marion Mott-McGrath
(1940- ) is an
Australian chess player.
In 1966, she won the
first Australian
Women's Chess
Championship. She
also won it in 1969,
1976, and 1980. She
played for Australia in
6 Chess Olympiads.

Batkhuyagiin
Munguntuul (1987- ) is
a Mongolian Woman
Grandmaster (2003)
and International
Master (2010).

Margareta Muresan
(1950- ) is a Romanian
woman chess master.
She won the Romanian
women's championship
3 times.

Anna Muzychuk (1990-

) is a Ukrainian-
Slovene Grandmaster
(2012). In 2003, she
won the Ukrainian
Women's
Championship. In 2014
and 2016, she won the
Women's World Blitz
Chess Championship.
In 2016, she won the
Women's Rapid Chess
Championship. In 2017,
she finished 2nd in the
Women's World
Championship. In
November 2017, she
announced she would
boycott the 2017
Women's World Speed
Chess Championship,
to be held in Saudi
Arabia, due to Saudi
Arabia's rules regarding
women. Her peak rating
was 2606 in 2012,
when she was ranked
the #2 woman in the
world.

Marilyn Olegivna
Muzychuk (1992- ) is a
Ukrainian Grandmaster
(2015). She was
Women's World
Champion from 2015 to
2016. In 2012 and
2013, she was women's
champion of Ukraine.
Her peak rating was
2563 in 2016.

Yvette Nagel (1964- )

is a Dutch Woman
FIDE Master. She is the
wife of Yasser
Seirawan.

Marina Nechaeva
(1986- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster
(2006) and
International Master
(2009).

Verica Nedeljkovic,
nee Jovanovic, (1929- )
is a Serbian Woman
Grandmaster (1978).
She won the Yugoslav
women's championship
6 times. She was a ship
engineer by profession
and was a lecturer at
the University of
Belgrade.

Elizabeth Ann "Liz"

Neely (1968- ) is an
American Woman
International Master
(1986). In 1986, she
took 2nd in the U.S.
women's chess
championship.

Katy van der Mije-

Nicolau (1940-2013)
was a Dutch-Romanian
Woman Grandmaster
(1976). She won the
Romanian women's
championship 6 times.
She was the Dutch
women's championship
3 times. She died from
cardiac arrest at the age
of 73.

Nomin-Erdene
Davaademberel (2000-
) is a Mongolian chess
player. In 2010, she
won the Girls' under-10
World Youth
Championship.

Waltraud Nowarra, nee

Schameitat, (1940-
2007) was a German
Woman Grandmaster
(1966). She won the
East German women's
championship 7 times.

Lea Nudelman (1955- )

is a Soviet-Israeli
woman chess master.
She played for Israel in
3 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Daniela Nutu-Gajic
(1957- ) is a Romanian-
Australian Woman
Grandmaster (1986).
She won the Romanian
women's championship
3 times. In 1989, she
won the Yugoslav
women's championship.
In 1995, she won the
Australian women's
championship. She is
Australia's only Woman
Grandmaster. She
works in the
Information
Technology (IT)
industry.

Gabriela Olarasu
(1964- ) is a Romanian
Woman Grandmaster
(1997). She won the
Romanian women's
championship 6 times.
She played for
Romania in 8 Women's
Chess Olympiads.

Iulija Osmak (1998- ) is

a Ukrainian Woman
Grandmaster (2016)
and International
Master (2017). In 2012,
she won the Girls
under-12 world youth
chess championship.
Evgenija Ovod (1982- )
is a Russian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master.

Elisabeth Pahtz (1985-

) is a German Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
1999, she won the
German women's
championship. In 2005,
she won the World
Junior Girls
Championship.

Nazi Paikidze (1993- )

is a Georgian-American
Woman Grandmaster
(2010) and
International Master
(2012). In 2016, she
won the U.S. women's
championship.

In 1884, the Sussex

Chess Association in
England sponsored the
first women's chess
tournament. It was won
by Miss Parvess on
tiebreak over Mrs.
Dunhill.

In 1857, Amalie
Paulsen Lellmann
(1831-1869) defeated
Judge Alexander Meek
in an unofficial game
during the first
American Chess
Congress. She was the
sister of Wilfred and
Louis Paulsen, chess
masters.

Peng Zhaoqin (1968- )

is a Chinese-born
Dutch Grandmaster
(2004). She has won
the Chinese Women's
Championship 3 times.
She has won the Dutch
Women's
Championship 13
times. In 2004, she tied
for 1st in the European
Women's
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2472 in
2002.

Corina Peptan (1978- )

is a Romanian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master.

Irina Perevertkina
(1967- ) is a Russian
Correspondence
Grandmaster (2011).
She won the 9th world
women's
correspondence
championship (2011-
2014) and the 10th
world women's
correspondence
championship (2014-
2017).

Margareta Perevoznic,
nee Covali, (1936- )
was a Romanian
Woman International
Master (1967). In 1962,
she won the Romanian
women's
championship.

Dr. Barbara Pernici

(1956- ) is an Italian
Woman FIDE master.
She won the Italian
women's championship
5 times. She has a
doctorate degree in
computer science from
Stanford University.
She is a professor at the
Polytechnic University
of Milan.

Sona Pertlova (1988-

2011) was a Czech
Woman International
Master (2008). She died
of cancer.

Svetlana Petrenko
(1974- ) is a Moldovan
Woman Grandmaster
(2001) and
International Master
(2004). She has won
the Moldovan women's
championship 10 times.
In 2005, she won the
men's chess
championship of
Moldova.

Phan Le Thao Nguyen

(1987- ) is a
Vietnamese Woman
Grandmaster.

Jacqueline Rothschild
Piatigorsky (1911-
1991) was married to
Gregor Piatigorsky and
woman chessplayer and
patron. She played in
several U.S. Women's
Championships. In
1961, she sponsored a
chess match between
Fischer and Reshevsky.
She asked Fischer to
rearrange his schedule
and play his match
game earlier so she
could attend the match
and her husband's
concert later that
evening. Fischer
refused to play earlier
and was forfeited.

Olga Podrazhanskaya
(1948- ) is an Israeli
Woman International
Master (1982). She has
won the Israeli
women's championship
3 times. She played for
Israel in 5 Women's
Chess Olympiads.

Natalia Andreevna
Pogonina (1985- ) is a
Russian Woman
Grandmaster (2004). In
1998, she won the
Russian under-14 Girls
Chess Championship.
In 2012, she won the
Women's Russian
Chess Championship.
In 2015, she was the
runner-up of the
Women's World Chess
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2508 in
2014. She lists her
hobbies as flamenco,
music, photography,
travelling, sports,
literature and poetry.

Elisabeta Polihroniade,
nee Ionescu, (1935-
2016) was a Romanian
Woman Grandmaster
(1982). She won the
Romanian women's
championship 7 times.
She was a journalist
and broadcaster, with
her own daily radio
program on
contemporary culture.
She was the editor of
Gambit, the Romanian
chess magazine, and
wrote many books.

Judit Polgar (1976- )

was playing blindfold
chess at the age of five.
She was playing in
chess tournament at the
age of 6. At age 9, she
was rated 2080. She
beat her first
International Master at
age 10. She beat her
first Grandmaster at age
11. She became a GM
at age 15. She is
considered the strongest
female chessplayer in
history. She was once
ranked #8 in the world
and was #1 ranked
woman in the world for
over 20 years. Her peak
rating was 2735 in
2005. She announced
her retirement from
competitive chess in
2014. She also plays
ping pong and tennis.
She said her hobbies
were animals, skiing,
and going to the
theatre.

Sofia Polgar (1974- ) is

a strong International
Master (1990) and a
Woman Grandmaster
(1988). In 1986, she
was World under-14
Girls Champion. In
1989 Sofia (Zsofia)
Polgar achieved the
highest performance
rating ever recorded
when she scored 8.5 out
of 9 at an international
tournament in Rome.
Her performance rating
was over 2900. She was
a two-time Gold
medalist with the
Hungarian national
women's team in 1988
and 1990. In 1994, she
took 2nd place at the
World Junior Chess
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2505 in
1998. She lives in Israel
and has worked as a
chess teacher and artist.
She is married to Israeli
GM Dr. Yuna
Kosashvili.

In 1982, at the age of

12, Susan Polgar (1969-
) won the first World
Under-16 (Girls)
Championship, held in
Le Havre, France. In
1984, at age 15, she
was the top-rated
female chessplayer in
the world. In 1986,
Susan Polgar became
the first woman in
history to qualify for
the "men's" World
Chess Championship.
In 1986, Susan Polgar
was banned from the
men's world chess
championship after
qualifying, forcing
FIDE to change the
rules and allow women
to compete against
men. In January 1991,
she became the first
woman to earn the
Grandmaster title in the
conventional way of
achieving three
Grandmaster norms and
an Elo rating over
2500. In 2009,
Grandmaster Susan
Polgar and her husband
were banned from the
USCF after being
accused of posting
nasty remarks on the
Internet in the name of
another chessplayer.
She has coached
Webster University to 5
Pan-American
intercollegiate
championships in a
row. Her peak rating
was 2577 in 2005.
Maria Porubszky-
Angyalosine (1945- ) is
a Hungarian Woman
International Master
(1971). In 1979, she
won the Hungarian
women's chess
championship. She
played for Hungary in 3
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Edith Charlotte Price

(1872-1956) was five-
time British Ladies'
Champion (1922, 1923,
1924, 1928, 1948). She
first played in the
British Ladies
Championship in 1912,
finishing 2nd. She won
it in 1948 at the age of
76, the oldest player
ever to win a national
championship. She was
the woman's world
chess championship
challenger in 1927 and
1933. She founded the
Gambit Chess Rooms
in Budge Row for men
only (except for
waitresses), which was
still active until 1958.
This chess club was
opened every day of its
existence but for two
days. It was closed for
two days in September
1940 because it was
bombed during a Nazi
raid.

Iweta Rajlich (1981- )

is a Polish International
Master and Woman
Grandmaster. She has
won the Polish
Women's championship
multiple times. She is
married to Vasik
Rajlich.

Olita Rause (1962- ) is

a Latvian Woman
Grandmaster (1993),
International Master
(1995) and
Correspondence
Grandmaster (1998).
She as a Master of
Philology degree.

Birdie Reeve Kay

(1907-1996) was
considered the world's
cleverest girl of her
age. She was able to
play 10 chess games
simultaneously and was
considered one of the
best women
chessplayers in
America. She later
became an American
champion typist who
could type over 200
words, or 800 letters,
per minute. She was
billed as the "World
Fastest Typist." She
died of a heart attack at
the age of 89.

Salome Reischer (1899-

1980) was an Austrian
Woman International
Master (1952). She won
the Women's Austrian
Championship 3 times.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola
(1981- ) is the Minister
of Finance of the
Republic of Latvia. She
is also a Woman
Grandmaster (2001).
She has won the
Women's Latvian Chess
Championship 4 times.
She won the European
Girls under-18
Championship in 1998
and 1999. She played
for Latvia in the 2016
Chess Olympiad in
Baku, beating world
champion Hou Yifan in
the final round. She has
played for Latvia in 8
Chess Olympiads. Her
peak rating was 2355 in
1999.

In 1804, Madame de
Remusat (1780-1824)
played chess with
Napoleon Bonaparte at
the Malmaison Castle.
The occasion was
immortalized by several
paintings.

Eva Repkova (1975- )

is a Slovak Woman
Grandmaster (1995)
and International
Master (2007). In 1991,
she won the
Czechoslovakian
Women's
Championship. In 2003,
2010, and 2013, she
won the Slovak
Women's
Championship.

Alessandra Riegler
(1961- ) is an Italian
Correspondence Chess
Grandmaster. She won
the 6th Women's
Correspondence
Championship (2000-
2005). She won the
Italian Women's
championship 4 times.

Friedl Rinder (nee

Benzinger) (1905-
2001) was German
Woman International
Master (1957). In 1939,
she won the first
Women's German
Chess Championship.
She won the Women's
West German
championship 4 times
(1949, 1955, 1956, and
1959). She played for
West Germany in 3
Chess Olympiads.

In 1937, the first U.S.

Women's Chess
Championship was held
at the Marshall Chess
Club in New York. It
was won by Belgian-
born Adele Rivero
(1908-1992), scoring 8
wins and 1 draw. She
won it again in 1940.

Julia Roberts (1967- )

plays chess. She always
asks for a chess set in
her trailer during the
making of her movies.
She played chess in
Pretty Woman.

Paula Andrea
Rodriguez-Rueda
(1996- ) is a Colombian
Woman International
Master. In 2013, she
won the Women's
Colombian Chess
Championship.

Katerina Rohonyan
(1984- ) is a Ukrainian-
American Woman
Grandmaster (2004). In
2000, she won the
Ukrainian women's
chess championship.

Catharina Roodzant
(1896-1999) was a
Dutch chess master.
She won the Dutch
Women's
Championship 3 times.

Celine Roos (1953- ) is

a French-Canadian
Woman International
Master (1985). Her
father, Michel, was
French champion in
1964. Her brother,
Louis, was French
champion in 1977. Her
mother, Jacqueline, was
a Correspondence
Chess Grandmaster.
She played for Canada
in 4 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

In July 1955, Nancy

Roos (1905-1957) was
in a car accident just
before the U.S.
women's championship
and had spinal injuries.
She recovered to win
the women's
championship a few
months later.

Dr. Alexey Wilhelmina

Root (1965- ) is a
chessplayer, teacher,
and writer. In 1989, she
won the US Women's
Chess Championship.
She earned a PhD in
education from UCLA
in 1999. She is Senior
Lecturer in
Interdisciplinary
Studies at the
University of Texas at
Dallas, and has written
six books on the
relationship between
chess and education.
She is married to
Internation Master
(1988) Doug Root.

Salme Rootare (1913-

1987) was an Estonian
International Master
(1957). She won the
Estonian Women's
championship 15 times.
She was marred to
Vidrik Rootare.
Dr. Christine Rosenfeld
(1936- ) was the first
US correspondence
International Woman
Master (1990). She is a
medical doctor.

Laura Ross (1988- ) is

an American Woman
FIDE Master.

Padmini Rout (1994- )

is an Indian Woman
Grandmaster (2007)
and International
Master (2015). In 2014
and 2015, she won the
women's championship
of India. She had a
degree in Commerce.

Vesna Rozic (1987-

2013) was a Slovenian
Woman International
Master. She won the
Slovenian women's
championship in 2007
and 2010. She died
from peritoneal cancer
at the age of 26.

Ilze Rubene (1958-

2002) was a Latvian
Woman International
Master. In 1976 and
1995, she won the
Latvian women's
championship. She died
in a car accident.

In 1963 Mrs. Edvige

Rubinstein of Milan,
Italy was the first
woman to divorce her
husband because he
played chess. The court
ruled that she was
entitled to the divorce
and custody of the
children because her
husband was so
obsessed with chess
that he refused to work
and support their two
children.

In 1927, Olga Rubtsova

(1909-1994), at the age
of 17, won the first
Soviet Women's Chess
Championship, held in
Moscow. She also won
it in 1931, 1937, and
1948. In September
1956, Olga Rubtsova
won the Women's
World Chess
Championship after
finishing ahead of
Elisaveta Bykova and
Lyudmila Rudenko. in
a match-tournament,
held in Moscow. Each
played an 8-game
match with each other.
Rubtsova scored 10
points, followed by
Bykova with 9.5 points,
and Rudenko with 4.5
points. She became the
fourth Women's World
Chess Champion. She
is the only person to
become World
Champion in both over-
the-board and
correspondence chess.
Ludmilla Vladmirovna
Rudenko (1904-1986)
was an International
woman grandmaster
(1976) from Leningrad.
In 1928, she became
women's champion of
Moscow. She was the
first Soviet woman to
capture the World
Women's
Championship. In
January 1950,
Lyudmila Rudenko
(1904-1986) won the
8th Women's Chess
Championship, scoring
11.5 points out of 15 (9
wins, 1 loss, and 5
draws). Her only loss
was the American
player Gisela Kahn
Gresser (1906-2000).
The event was a 16-
player round robin. The
16 players were from
12 different countries,
with the four Soviet
players taking the top
four spots. After the
tournament, she was
awarded the
International Master
(IM) and Woman
International Master
(WIM) titles. She was
the first woman
awarded the IM title.
She was USSR
Women's champion in
1952. She lost the
World Women's
Championship in 1953
to Elizaveta Bykova
(+4-7=2). Her
occupation was an
economic planner.

Mary Rudge (1842-

1919) was winner of
the first Women's
International
tournament, held at the
Ladies' Club in London
in 1897. She was 55
and the oldest of the 20
players. She won the
event with 18 wins and
1 draw (she won 60
pounds). She was the
first woman member of
the Bristol Chess Club,
which did not allow
women to be members
of the club until she
joined in 1872. In 1889,
she became the first
woman in the world to
give simultaneous chess
exhibitions. In her first
exhibition, she took on
6 opponents at once and
won all her games. By
the end if 1889, she was
being hailed as the
leading lady
chessplayer in the
world. In 1898, she
played against world
champion Emanuel
Lasker in a
simultaneous display in
London. Lasker was
unable to finish the
game with her in the
time available, and
conceded defeat
because he would be
lost with best play.

Anna Rudolf (1987- ) is

an International Master
and Woman
Grandmaster. She won
the Hungarian Women's
Championship in 2008,
2010, and 2011. In
December 2007, Anna
Rudolf, a Hungarian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master, was accused of
cheating by some of the
male players in the
Vandoeuvre Open
chess tournament in
France. She was
allegedly receiving
transmissions of chess
moves through her
container of lip gloss.
One of the male players
even refused to shake
hands with her in the
final game and
demanded that the
arbiter take further
actions against her. At
the time, Rudolf was
leading the tournament
by half a point. She was
so shocked by the
accusations that she lost
the final round and
ended up in 9th place.

Tania Sachdev (1986- )

is an Indian Woman
Grandmaster (2005)
and International
Master (2008). In 2002,
she won the Asian
Junior Girls
Championship. She is a
trained Indian classical
dancer.

Dinara Saduakassova
(1996- ) is a
Kazakhstani Woman
Grandmaster (2012)
and International
Master (2017). In 2016,
she won the World
Junior Girls
Championship.

Jill St. John (1940 - )

plays chess. She has
played chess with
Henry Kissinger.

Danuta Samolewicz-
Owczarek (1929-2006)
was a Polish woman
master.

Elaine Zelia Saunders

(1926-2012) was a
child prodigy. She won
the World Junior
Women's championship
at the age of 10, and
repeated it at age 11.
She won the British
Ladies Champion
(1939, 1946, 1956,
1965) and World
under-21 Ladies
Champion at age 13.
She was the youngest
person to win the
British Ladies'
Championship at age
13 years and 6 months
until 2000, when
Humpy Koneru won it
at the age of 13 years
and 4 months. In 1952,
she married the chess
writer David Brine
Pritchard and was
known as Mrs. Elaine
Pritchard. She died on
her 86th birthday. She
was a University
Lecturer in Classics at
Oxford University.

Diane Savereide (1954-

) is an International
Woman Master (1975)
and six-time winner of
the US Women's Chess
Championship. She
won in 1975 and 1976.
In 1977 and 1978 she
shared the
championship with
Rachel Crotto. She won
it again in 1981 and
1984. In 1982 she was
ranked number 10 on
the list of the world's
top women. She lost the
title in 1986 to Inna
Izrailov. She was the
top woman player in
the 1976 US Open. She
works as a software
developer in Los
Angeles. She began
playing chess at 17.

Anastasia Savina
(1992- ) is a Russian
Woman Grandmaster.

Stefka Savova (1958- )

is a Bulgarian Woman
International Master
(1983). In 1986, she
won the Bulgarian
women's championship.
She played for Bulgaria
in 3 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Paulette Schwartzmann
(1894-1953?) was a
Latvian-French-
Argentine chess player.
She won the Women's
French Championship 7
times. She won the
Womens's Argentine
Championship 4 times.

Marie Rachel Sebag

(1986- ) is a French
Grandmaster (2008).
She has won the French
Women's Chess
Championship twice.
Her peak rating was
2537 in 2013.

Elena Sedina (1968- ) is

a Ukrainian-Italian
Woman Grandmaster
(1996) and
International Master
(1999). In 1988 and
1990, she won the
Ukrainian Women's
Chess Championship.
In 1990, she graduated
from the University of
Kiev with a degree in
Economics.

Agnes Mary Selenski

(1906-1967) was an
American chess player
from Philadelphia. In
1962, she tied for 8th-
9th in the US women's
chess championship.

Lidia Semenova (1951-

) is a Ukrainian Woman
Grandmaster (1982). In
1978, she won the
Women's Soviet Chess
Championship. In 1981,
she tied for 1st in the
Leningrad zonal
tournament. In 1984, at
the 26th Chess
Olympiad in
Thessaloniki, Greece,
she scored 9.5 out of
19, winning the gold
medal for top Reserve
board.

Jennifer Shahade
(1980- ) is a Woman
Grandmaster (2005)
and a two-time U.S.
Women's Champion
(2002 and 2004). She is
the author of Chess
Bitch (2005). In 1998,
she became the first and
only female to win the
U.S. Junior Open. She
has a degree in
comparative literature
at New York
University. She is also
a professional poker
player.

Elizabeth Shaughnessy
(1937- ) is an Irish-
American chess player.
She is a former Irish
Women's Chess
Champion. She is an
architect by profession.

In 1934, the first U.S.

Women's Open Chess
Championship was held
in Chicago. It was won
by Virginia Sheffield.

Shen Yang (1989- ) is a

Chinese Woman
Grandmaster (2006)
and International
Master (2013). In 2006,
she won the Girls'
World Junior
Championship. In 2009,
she won the Chinese
Women's
Championship.

Brooke Shields (1965- )

plays chess. She was a
member of the 1990
World chess
Championship
organizing committee
that was held in New
York.

Katherine "Kate"
Sillars Gasser (1947- )
is an American chess
player. She was only 14
when she qualified for
the 1962 US women's
chess championship.
She tied for 8th-9th in
the 1962 US women's
championship, held in
New York. She won the
Illinois women's
championship in 1964.
Almira Skripchenko
(1976- ) is a French
Woman Grandmaster.
In 1992, she won the
World Under-16 girls
championship. In 2001,
she won the second
European Women's
Individual Chess
Championship.

Monika So?ko (nee

Bobrowska) (1978- ) is
a Polish grandmaster
(2008). She won the
Polish women's
championship 8 times.
In the 2008 Women's
World Championship,
she was involved in a
game which resulted in
a dispute about the
interpretation of the
FIDE rules of chess. In
an armageddon game
she needed a win to
advance to the next
round. The position got
down to each player
having only a king and
a knight in which a
checkmate position is
possible but cannot be
forced. Her opponent,
Sabina-Francesca
Foisor, ran out of time
under the time control.
Since checkmate cannot
be forced with this
material, the arbiter
initially ruled that the
game was a draw,
therefore her opponent
advanced to the next
round. So?ko appealed,
pointing out that the
rules state that what
matters is not whether
or not checkmate can
be forced, but rather it
is possible. The arbiter
compared the possible
checkmate position to a
helpmate, in which the
defender has to
cooperate in order to
get to the checkmate.
So?ko won the appeal
and advanced to the
next round. She is
married to Polish GM
Bartosz Socko.

Ana Srebrnic (1984- )

is a Slovene Woman
Grandmaster. She won
the Slovenia women's
championship in 2008
and 2012.

Tereza Stadler, nee

Jovanovic, (1936-2001)
was a Yugoslavian
Woman Grandmaster
(1977). In 1964, she
won the Yugoslav
women's
championship.

Nava Starr, nee

Shterenberg (1949- ),
born in Latvia, is a
Canadian Woman
International Master.
She has won the
Canadian women's
chess championship 8
times. She has played
for Canada in 13 Chess
Olympiads. She has
played in 6 Women's
World Chess
Championships. In
1976, she won the gold
medal on board 2 at the
Women's Chess
Olympiad in Haifa,
Israel. She has played
147 games in Chess
Olympiads, more than
any other Canadian
player, men or women.

Patricia Anne Sunnucks

Mothersill (1927- ) is
an English Woman
International Master
(1954). She was British
Women's champion in
1957, 1958, and 1964.
She was a major in the
Women's Royal Army
Corps and was not
allowed to travel to the
USSR.

Antoaneta Stefanova
(1979- ) is a Bulgarian
grandmaster (2002). In
1989, she won the Girls
under-10 World
Championship. In 1995,
she won the Bulgarian
women's championship.
She was the 10th
women's world
champion (2004-2006).
She won the title in
2004 in a 64-player
knockout tournament
held in Elista,
Kalmykia. Her peak
rating was 2560 in 2003
when she was ranked
#2 in the world for
women. In 2012, she
was the runner-up in
the Women's World
Chess Championship.

On August 20, 1935,

Agnes Bradley
Stevenson (nee
Lawson) (1873-1935)
was killed by a
propeller of an airplane.
She was four-time
British Ladies'
Champion (1920, 1925,
1926, and 1930) and
was married to Rufus
Stevenson, the editor of
the British Chess
Magazine. She was on
her way to the Women's
World Championship
from Berlin to Warsaw
by plane. The aircraft
stopped in Pozen (now
known as Poznan),
Poland and she left the
aircraft to have her
passport checked.
Thinking the plane was
leaving, she ran for it,
but approached the
front of the plane
instead of the cabin.
The propellers, which
had been started, hit her
in the head and killed
her instantly.

Ottilie Stibaner (1908-

1972) was a German
woman chess master. In
1965, she won the West
German Women's
Chess Championship.

Florence Hutchison
Stirling (1858-1948)
was a Scottish female
chessplayer. She was a
member of the
Edinburgh Ladies'
Chess Club. She won
the Scottish women's
championship 5 times.
In 1913, she tied for 1st
in the British Ladies'
Chess Championship,
but lost the play-off to
Mrs. Moseley. In 1927,
she took 8th place in
the first Women's
World Chess
Championship, held in
London.

Zuzana Stockova
(1977- ) is a Slovak
Woman Grandmaster
(1998) and
International Master
(2002). In 1993, she
won the Slovak Girls
under-16
championship.

Irine Kharisma
Sukandar (1992- ) is an
Indonesian Woman
Grandmaster (2009)
and an International
Master (2014). She has
won the Asian women's
championship twice.
She has won the
Indonesian Women's
Chess Championship 4
times. She is the first
Indonesian to play in a
Women's World
Championship
tournament.

Olga Sukhareva (1963-

) is a Russian Woman
Correspondence
Grandmaster. She won
the 7th women's world
correspondence
championship (2002-
2006) and the 8th
women's world
correspondence
championship (2007-
2010).

Patricia Anne Sunnucks

Mothersill (1927- ) is
an English Woman
International Master
(1954). She was British
Women's champion in
1957, 1958, and 1964.
She was a major in the
Women's Royal Army
Corps and was not
allowed to travel to the
USSR.

Karina Szczepkowska-
Horowska (1987- ) is a
Polish Woman
Grandmaster (2010)
and International
Master (2016).

Grazyna Szmacinska
(1953- ) is a Polish
Woman International
Master (1978). She won
the Polish women's
championship 6 times.
She played for Poland
in 6 Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Elena Tairova (1991-

2010) was a Belarusian
Woman Grandmaster
(2006) and
International Master
(2007). In 2005, she
won the World under-
14 Girls Championship.
She died at the age of
18.

Tan Zhongyi is a
Chinese Grandmaster
(2017). She won the
World Youth Under-10
Girls Championship
twice. In 2002, she won
the World Youth
Under-12 Girls
Championship. In 2015,
she won the Chinese
Women's Chess
Championship. In 2017,
she won the Women's
World Chess
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2518 in
2016.

Margareta Teodorescu
(1932-2013) was a
Romanian Woman
Grandmaster (1985).
She won the Romanian
women's championship
4 times. She played for
Romania in 3 Women's
Chess Olympiads.

In 1887, Miss Eliza

Mary Thorold won the
Ladies Challenge Cup
at Stamford, England,
sponsored by the
Counties Chess
Association. She won a
silver cup from
Reverend Arthur
Skipworth.

Hendrika Timmer
(1926-1994) was a
Dutch woman master.
She won the Dutch
women's championship
twice (1971 and 1972).
On February 7, 1994,
she suffered a heart
attack during a chess
match in Apeldoorn,
Netherlands. She died
in a hospital 3 days
later.

Paunka Todorova
(1930- ) is a Bulgarian
woman chess master.
She won the Bulgarian
women's chess
championship twice.

Alice Tonini was an

Italian female chess
master. She was an
Italian citizein who
lived in France. She
won the Women's
French Chess
Championship in Paris
in 1932, 1933, and
1934. However, since
she was not French, the
title went to Jeanne
D'Autremont, Paulette
Schwartzmann, and
Maud Flandin in that
order.

Eileen Tranmer (1910-

1983) was a British
chessplayer who won
the British Ladies'
Championship with a
perfect 11-0 in 1949.
She won the British
Ladies' Championship
four times (1947, 1949,
1953, 1961). She took
5th-7th place in the
World Championship
for Women in 1949-
1950. She took 7th
place at the 1952
Women's Candidates
Tournament. She was
awarded the
International Woman
Master title in 1950.
She was a musician by
profession until
deafness compelled her
to retire. She then took
up chess.

Evelina Trojanska
(1929-2000) was a
Bulgarian Woman
International Master
(1972). In 1973, she
won the Bulgarian
women's championship.
She died in a car crash.

Ingrid Tuk was a Dutch

woman chess master. In
1968, she won the
Dutch women's
championship. She
worked in s strip club
in Amsterdam.

Anna Yuriyivna
Ushenina (1985- ) is a
Ukrainian Grandmaster
(2012). She was the
14th Women's World
Chess Champion from
2012 to 2013. She won
the Ukrainian Girls
under-20
Championship at age
15. In 2016, she won
the European Women's
Championship. Her
peak rating was 2502 in
2007.

Dr. Irina Mikhailova

Umanskayal (1963- ) is
a Woman Grandmaster
from Russia. She has a
PhD in pedagogy. Her
dissertation was
"Developing of
advanced junior chess-
players with the help of
chess software and
Internet resources."

Szidonia Vajda (1979- )

is a Romanian-
Hungarian Woman
Grandmaster and
International Master. In
2002, she played for
Hungary in the 35th
Chess Olympiad, held
in Bled, Slovenia. Her
brother, IM Levente
Vajda, played for
Romania at that
Olympiad. In 2004 and
2015, Szidonia won the
Hungarian Women's
Championship.

Tatjana Vasilevich
(1977- ) is a Ukrainian
International Master.
She has won the
Ukrainian women's
championship 3 times.

Sabrina Vega-Gutierrez
(1987- ) is a Spanish
Woman Grandmaster
(2007) and
International Master
(2013). She has won
the Spanish women's
championship 3 times.

Szuzsa Veroci (1949- )

is a Hungarian Woman
Grandmaster (1978).
She has played for
Hungary in 10
Women's Chess
Olympiads.

Iva Videnova (1987- )

is a Bulgarian Woman
Grandmaster (2011)
and International
Master (2015). She has
won the Bulgarian
women's championship
3 times.

Subbaraman
Vijayalakshmi (1979- )
was India's first
Woman Grandmaster
(2001) and India's first
female International
Master (2001). In 1988
and 1990, she won the
Under-10 National
Girls' Chess
Championship. She
won the National
Under-12 Girls'
Championship twice.
She won the Asian
Women's Zonal
Championship in 1997
and 1999. She is
married to GM Siram
Jha. Her peak rating
was 2485 in 2005.

Margarita Voiska
(1963- ) is a Bulgarian
woman chess master.
She won the Bulgarian
women's championship
11 times. In 2013, she
won the Women's
European Senior Chess
Championship.

Larissa Volpert (1926-

2017) was a Soviet
Woman Grandmaster
(1977). She won the
Soviet women's chess
championship in 1954,
1958, and 1959. She
was a Russian and
Estonian philogist by
profession. She died at
the age of 91.

Maria Cornelia
Vreeken, nee Bouwman
(1928- ) is a Dutch
Woman Grandmaster
(1987). She won the
Dutch women's
championship 5 times.

Wang Yu (1982- ) is a
Chinese Woman
Grandmaster (2003)
and International
Master (2007). In 2005,
she won the Chinese
Women's Chess
Championship.

Cathy Warwick (nee

Forbes) (1968- ) won
the British Women's
Chess Championship in
1987, 1988, and 1994.
She was awarded the
title of Woman
International Master
(1990), but resigned it
15 years later in protest
at the whole principle
of having separate
"inferior" women's
titles.

Ursula Wasnetsky
(1931-2009) was a
German woman chess
master. In 1968, she
won the West German
women's championship.
In the early 1970s, she
organized the first girls'
tournaments in West
Germany. In 1992, she
was elected to the FIDE
Women's Commission.

Miyoko Watai (1945- )

is a Japanese Woman
International Master.
She is the general
secretary of the Japan
Chess Association. In
2004, she married
Bobby Fischer.

Harriet Jona Worrall

(1836-1928) was
considered as America's
strongest woman
chessplayer. She was
the wife of Thomas
Herbert Worrall. They
were married in 1856.
She learned chess from
her husband. When he
died in 1868, she was
left destitute. In 1886,
she was suffering from
epileptic attacks and
depression. In 1890,
she attempted suicide
by drinking carbolic
acid. She later
recovered and played a
match for the US
women's championship
with Nellie Showalter,
the wife of Jackson W.
Showlater. When Nellie
was leading 3-1 with
one draw, the match
was interrupted on
account of Nellie
Showalter's illness and
never resumed.
Because Harriet was a
friend of Nellie, she
never claimed victory.
In 1897, Harriet sailed
for England to play in
the First Ladies'
International Chess
Tournament in London.
She finished 4th with
13 wins and 6 losses,
earning $150 in prize
money. She died of
natural causes at the
age of 92.

Xie Jun (1970- ) is a

Chinese grandmaster
player (1993) who
defeated Maya
Chiburdanidze
(Women's World chess
champion since 1978)
for the Women's World
Championship title in
1991 after a 15 game
match in Manila. She
became the 7th
Women's World
Champion and the first
from Asia She was the
first player outside the
Soviet Union to
become world women's
champion. She
defended her title in
1993 against Nana
Ioseliani. She lost her
title to Zsuzsa Polgar in
1996. She became
Women's World Chess
Champion again from
1999 to 2000 when she
defeated Alisa
Galliamova in 1999 and
Qin Kanying in 2000.
Her peak rating was
2574 in 2008. Her
name is pronounced
‘Chay Yoon.' She is
married to GM Wu
Shaobin.
Xu Yuhua (1976- ) is a
Grandmaster (2007)
from China. In 2000
and 2004, she won the
Women's World Cup.
She won the 11th
Women's World Chess
Championship in
Ekaterinburg, Russia on
March 25, 2006. She
was Women's World
Champion from 2006 to
2008. Her peak rating
was 2517 in 2006. She
has a Bachelor of Law
degree and a Master of
Literature, Chinese
Linguistics.

Lora Yakova (1932- ) is

a Russian Woman
Correspondence
Grandmaster. She won
the 2nd Women's
World Correspondence
Championship (1972-
1977).

Elena Zaiatz (1969- ) is

a Russian Woman
Grandmaster (1988)
and International
Master (2005). In 1988,
she won the Belarusian
Women's
Championship.

Anna Zatonskih (1978-

) is an International
Master and Woman
Grandmaster (1999). In
2001, she won the
Ukrainian Women's
championship. She has
won the US Women's
championship 4 times.
Her peak rating was
2537 in 2011. She is
married to Latvian-born
GM Daniel Fridman.

Tatiana Zatulovskaya
(1935-2017) was a
Russian-born Israeli
Woman Grandmaster
(1976). She was USSR
women's champion in
1960, 1962, and 1963.
In 1967, she took 2nd
in the Women's
Candidates tournament.
In 1971, she won the
first Women's
Interzonal tournament,
held in Ohrid. In 1993
and 1997, she won the
Women's Seniors
World Championship.
She was a geological
engineer and gymnast.

Zhu Chen (1976- ) is a

Chinese-born Qatar
Grandmaster (2001). In
1988, she became the
first Chinese player to
win an international
chess competition when
she won the World
Girls Under-12
Championship. In 1994
and 1996, she won the
World Junior Girls
Chess Championship.
She was Women's
World Chess Champion
from 2001 to 2004. She
did not defend her title
in 2004 due to a
jammed playing
schedule and her
pregnancy. She is
married to GM
Mohamad Al-
Modiahki. Her peak
rating was 2548 in
2008.

Natalia Zhukova (1979-

), born in Dresden, East
Germany, is a
Ukrainian Grandmaster
(2010). In 1996, she
was Ukrainian women's
champion at age 16.
She has won the
European women's
championship twice, in
2000 and 2015. Her
peak rating was 2499 in
2010. She is married to
GM Alexander
Grischuk.

Nastassia Ziaziulkina
(1995- ) is a Belarusian
Woman Grandmaster
(2012) and
International Master
(2014). She has won
the Belarusian women's
championship 4 times.

Olga Zimina (1982- ) is

a Russian-born Italian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. In 2001, she
won the Women's
World Chess
Championship.
Anna Zozulia (1980- )
is a Ukrainian-Belgian
Woman Grandmaster
and International
Master. In 2011, she
won the Belgian
women's
championship.

Kira Zvorykina (1919-

2014), born in Ukraine,
was a Woman
Grandmaster (1977)
from Russia who
moved to Bulgaria. She
took 1st in 5 Soviet
Women championships
in 1951, 1953, 1956,
1957 (lost the play-off
to Borisenko), and 1958
(lost the play-off to
Volpert). She lived in
Minsk where she was
an engineer and taught
chess. In 1959, she won
the Women's
Candidates tournament
and played for the
world women's
championship. In 1959
she lost to Bykova for
the title in Moscow,
winning 2, losing 6, and
drawing 5. She was
married to GM Alexey
Suetin. She died 23
days before her 95th
birthday.
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