27 June 2012

Remembering First Women’s World Chess Champion Vera Menchik
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,


Vera Menchik (16 February 1906 – 27 June 1944) was a British-Czech chess player who was the first women’s world chess champion. She also competed in chess tournaments with some of the world’s leading male chess players of her time.

She won two matches against Sonja Graf for the Women’s World Champion title; (+3 −1 =0) at Rotterdam 1934, and (+9 −2 =5) at Semmering 1937. Sonja Graf was the second strongest women’s player in the world at the time and coached by the legendary Siegbert Tarrasch. Enjoy this nice game between Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf.




Menchik Vera – Graf-Stevenson Sonja (GER)

Result: 1-0
Site: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Date: 1939


[…] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 ¤bd7 5.e3 ¥b4 6.¥d3 c5 7.O-O O-O 8.¥d2 a6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.¦c1 c4 11.¥b1 ¦e8 12.¤e2 ¥d6 13.¥c3 b5 14.¤g3 g6 15.¦e1 ¥b7 16.¦e2 b4 17.¥e1 a5 18.¤g5 ¤g4 19.¤h3 f5 20.¤f1 £c7 21.f4 ¤df6 22.¥h4 a4 23.¤g5 £e7 24.¦e1 a3 25.b3 c3 26.¤f3 £g7 27.h3 ¤h6 28.¥xf6 £xf6 29.¤e5 £e7 30.¤h2 ¦ec8 31.¤hf3 ¤f7 32.¥d3 ¦c7 33.£e2 £d8 34.¦c2 £c8 35.¤xf7 ¦xf7 36.¥b5 ¦c7 37.¥d3 ¥f8 38.¤e5 ¥g7 39.¢h2 ¥f6 40.¦g1 ¢f8 41.g4 ¥xe5 42.fxe5 fxg4 43.¦f1+ ¦f7 44.¦xf7+ ¢xf7 45.hxg4 £d8 46.¢g3 ¢g7 47.£f1 £e7 48.¦f2 ¦f8 49.¦f4 ¥c8 50.¥c2 ¥e6 51.¦xf8 £xf8 52.£a6 £e7 53.¥d1 ¢f7 54.¢f4 h6 55.£f1 ¢g7 56.¢g3 h5 57.gxh5 £g5+ 58.¢f2 £f5+ 59.¥f3 £c2+ 60.£e2 £xe2+ 61.¢xe2 ¥f5 62.hxg6 ¢xg6 63.¥xd5 ¥b1 64.¢d1 ¥d3 65.¥c6 ¢f7 66.d5 ¢e7 67.e4 ¢f7 68.e6+ ¢f6 69.e5+ ¢e7 70.¥b7 ¥g6 71.¥a6 ¥e4 72.¥c4 ¥g6 73.d6+ ¢d8 74.¥b5


From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com