Vera Menchik
From Chesspedia, the Free Chess Encyclopedia.
Vera Francevna Menchik (1906–1944) was a female chess player.
She was born in Moscow; her father was Czech and her mother British. Her father taught her chess when she was 9. The family moved to England in 1921, and Vera won the British girls' championship that year. Next year, she became a pupil of Géza Maróczy, one of the best players in the world in the early 1900s, in 1922. She won the first Women's World Championship in 1927 and successfully defended her title in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939).
Male chess players whom Menchik defeated in tournament play were said to belong to the Menchik club. This included Max Euwe, Samuel Reshevsky, and Mir Sultan Khan. Vera Menchik was older sister to Olga Menchik, also a chess player. While Vera was still reigning world champion, she, Olga, and their mother were all killed in a bombing raid on Kent, England in World War II.
The trophy for the winning team in the Women's Chess Olympiad is known as the Vera Menchik Cup.
External links
| Preceded by: none, first champion |
World Women's Chess Champion 1927–1944 |
Succeeded by: vacant, then Ludmilla Rudenko (no champion from 1944–1950) |
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