María Teresa Mora Iturralde (15 October 1902 – 3 October 1980) was a Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 master.

She is the only person who received direct lessons from José Raúl Capablanca

José Raúl Capablanca

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...

. Mora was the first woman to win the Cuban Championship

Cuban Chess Championship

In the second part of the 19th century, Celso Golmayo Zúpide had been generally accepted as Cuban champion since his 1862 match defeat of Félix Sicre. In 1912–1937 Cuban Championship as Copa Dewar occurred...

 (in 1922).

She was twice a challenger for the Women's World Champion

Women's World Chess Championship

The Women's World Chess Championship is played to determine the women's world champion in chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE....

. She tied for seventh/eighth place at Buenos Aires 1939 (Vera Menchik

Vera Menchik

Vera Menchik was a British-Czech chess player who gained renown as the world's first women's chess champion. She also competed in chess tournaments with some of the world's leading male chess masters, defeating many of them, including future World Champion Max Euwe.The daughter of a Czech father...

 won), and 10-11th at Moscow 1949/50 Lyudmila Rudenko

Lyudmila Rudenko

Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko was a Soviet chess player and the second Women's World Chess Champion from 1950 until 1953.She was awarded the FIDE International Master and Woman International Master titles in 1950, and the Woman Grandmaster title in 1976...

 won).

Mora was awarded the Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1950.