Vera Menchik
Encyclopedia
Vera Menchik (16 February 1906 – 27 June 1944) was a British-Czech chess player who gained renown as the world's first women's chess champion
. She also competed in chess tournament
s 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 and British mother, Vera Menchik was born in Moscow
but, in the aftermath of World War I
and the Russian Revolution, moved with her family to England
in 1921. Her father taught her chess when she was nine and, in the year of her arrival in England at the age of fifteen, she won the British girls' championship. The following year, she became a pupil of Géza Maróczy
, considered one of the top chess masters of the early decades of the 20th century.
She won the first Women's World Championship
in 1927 and successfully defended her title six times in every other championship in her lifetime, and only lost one game, while winning 78 and drawing
four games.
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.
Starting in 1929, she participated in a number of Hastings Congress tournaments
. When, the same year, she entered the tournament in Carlsbad
, Viennese
master Albert Becker ridiculed her entry by proposing that any player whom Menchik defeated in tournament play should be granted membership into the Vera Menchik Club. In the same tournament, Becker himself became the first member of the "club". In addition to Becker, the "Vera Menchik Club" eventually included Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander
, Abraham Baratz
, Eero Böök
, Edgard Colle
, Max Euwe
, Harry Golombek
, Mir Sultan Khan
, Frederic Lazard
, Jacques Mieses
, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Karel Opočenský
, Brian Reilly
, Samuel Reshevsky
, Friedrich Sämisch
, Lajos Steiner
, George Alan Thomas
, William Winter
, and Frederick Yates
. Alekhine
, writing about one of her victories against Sonja Graf in 1939, wrote that “it is totally unfair to persuade a player of an acknowledged superclass like Miss Menchik to defend her title year after year in tournaments composed of very inferior players”, the specific tournament in question being the seventh Women's World Chess Championship
.
Menchik's greatest success at international tournaments was at Ramsgate
1929, when she finished tied for second with Akiba Rubinstein
, just half a point behind former World Champion José Raúl Capablanca
, and ahead of her teacher Géza Maróczy. In 1934 she finished third at Maribor
, ahead of Rudolph Spielmann and Milan Vidmar
. In 1942 she won a match against Jacques Mieses
(four wins, five draws, one loss).
In 1937, at the age of 31, Vera Menchik married Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson (1878–1943), twenty-eight years her senior, who was subscriptions editor of British Chess Magazine
, a member of the West London Chess Club, and later honorary secretary of the British Chess Federation.
Vera Menchik's younger sister Olga
was also a tournament chess player. In 1944, as Britain was nearing its sixth year in World War II
, and 38-year-old Vera, who was widowed the previous year, still holding the title of women's world champion, the two sisters and their mother were killed in a V-1 rocket bombing raid which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham
area of South London
.
The trophy for the winning team in the Women's Chess Olympiad
is known as the Vera Menchik Cup.
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 also competed in chess tournament
Chess tournament
A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition among serious players.Today, the most recognized chess...
s with some of the world's leading male chess masters, defeating many of them, including future World Champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Max Euwe
Max Euwe
Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...
.
The daughter of a Czech father and British mother, Vera Menchik was born in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
but, in the aftermath of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Russian Revolution, moved with her family to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1921. Her father taught her chess when she was nine and, in the year of her arrival in England at the age of fifteen, she won the British girls' championship. The following year, she became a pupil of Géza Maróczy
Géza Maróczy
Géza Maróczy was a leading Hungarian chess Grandmaster, one of the best players in the world in his time. He was also a practicing engineer.-Early career:...
, considered one of the top chess masters of the early decades of the 20th century.
She won the first Women's World Championship
Women's World Chess Championship 1927
The 1st Women's World Chess Championship took place during the 1st Chess Olympiad 1927 in London. It was organized by FIDE and was played as a full round-robin tournament. Vera Menchik won the championship, the first of all her 7 championships. The final results were as follows:...
in 1927 and successfully defended her title six times in every other championship in her lifetime, and only lost one game, while winning 78 and drawing
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
four games.
- In 1927, she represented Russia in 1st WWCh in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(+10 −0 =1). - In 1930, she represented Czechoslovakia in 2nd WWCh in HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
(+6 −1 =1). - In 1931, she represented Czechoslovakia at 3rd WWCh in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(+8 −0 =0). - In 1933, she represented Czechoslovakia in 4th WWCh in FolkestoneFolkestoneFolkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
(+14 −0 =0). - In 1935, she represented Czechoslovakia in 5th WWCh in WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(+9 −0 =0). - In 1937, she represented Czechoslovakia in 6th WWCh in StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
(+14 −0 =0). - In 1939, she represented England in 7th WWCh in Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
(+17 −0 =2).
She won two matches against Sonja Graf
Sonja Graf
Sonja Graf was a German chess master who also lived in Argentina and the United States. She was the Women's World Sub-Champion, two-time winner of the U.S...
for the Women’s World Champion title; (+3 −1 =0) at Rotterdam 1934, and (+9 −2 =5) at Semmering 1937.
Starting in 1929, she participated in a number of Hastings Congress tournaments
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
. When, the same year, she entered the tournament in Carlsbad
Carlsbad 1929 chess tournament
The fourth international Carlsbad tournament was held in the Kurhaus Hotel Imperial. Twenty two great masters, under the direction of Viktor Tietz, played in the resort Karlsbad from July 30 to August 28, 1929. Only the world champion Alexander Alekhine did not partake but during the event he...
, Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
master Albert Becker ridiculed her entry by proposing that any player whom Menchik defeated in tournament play should be granted membership into the Vera Menchik Club. In the same tournament, Becker himself became the first member of the "club". In addition to Becker, the "Vera Menchik Club" eventually included Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, CMG, CBE was an Irish-born British cryptanalyst, chess player, and chess writer. He worked on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during World War II, and was later the head of the cryptanalysis division at GCHQ for over 20 years...
, Abraham Baratz
Abraham Baratz
Abraham Baratz was a Romanian–French chess master.In 1924, Baratz took 2nd, behind Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, in Paris. In 1925, he tied for 1st with Vitaly Halberstadt in the 1st Paris City Chess Championship. In 1925, he took 3rd in Paris . In January 1926, he won ahead of Dawid Janowski in Hyères...
, Eero Böök
Eero Böök
Eero Einar Böök was a Finnish chess player and engineer.A six-time Finnish champion who represented his country six times in the Chess Olympiad, he was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and became an honorary Grandmaster in 1984...
, Edgard Colle
Edgard Colle
Edgard Colle was a Belgian chess master. He scored excellent results in major international tournaments, including first at Amsterdam 1926, ahead of Savielly Tartakower and future world champion Max Euwe; first at Meran 1926, ahead of Esteban Canal; and first at Scarborough 1930, ahead of Maróczy...
, Max Euwe
Max Euwe
Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...
, Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek OBE , was a British chess International Master and honorary grandmaster, chess arbiter, and chess author. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He became a grandmaster in 1985.He was the chess correspondent of The Times...
, Mir Sultan Khan
Mir Sultan Khan
Malik Mir Sultan Khan was the strongest chess master of his time from Asia. This manservant from British India traveled with Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan , his master, to Britain, where he took the chess world by storm...
, Frederic Lazard
Frédéric Lazard
Frédéric Lazard was a French chess master, problemist and journalist.He lived in Paris where played in many local tournaments. He took twice 4th place in 1905, shared 3rd in 1908, took 3rd in 1909, shared 2nd behind H...
, Jacques Mieses
Jacques Mieses
----Jacques Mieses was a German-born Jewish chess Grandmaster and writer. He became a naturalized British citizen after World War II.p258-Chess career:...
, Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Karel Opočenský
Karel Opocenský
Karel Opočenský was a Czech chess master.-Biography:He was four-time Czech Champion . In 1919, he took 2nd, behind František Schubert, in Prague . In 1925, he tied for 3rd-4th in Paris . In 1927, he won in Česke Budějovice...
, Brian Reilly
Brian Reilly
Brian Patrick Reilly was an Irish chess Master, writer and magazine editor....
, Samuel Reshevsky
Samuel Reshevsky
Samuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky was a famous chess prodigy and later a leading American chess Grandmaster...
, Friedrich Sämisch
Friedrich Sämisch
Friedrich Sämisch was a German chess grandmaster .-Main results:* 2nd at Berlin 1920...
, Lajos Steiner
Lajos Steiner
Lajos Steiner was a Hungarian–born Australian chess master.Steiner was one of four children of Bernat Steiner, a mathematics teacher, and his wife Cecilia,, and a younger brother of Endre Steiner...
, George Alan Thomas
George Alan Thomas
Sir George Alan Thomas, Bart. was a British badminton, tennis and chess player. He was twice British Chess Champion and a 21-time All-England Badminton champion. He also played in the semi-finals of the men's tennis doubles at Wimbledon in 1911...
, William Winter
William Winter (chess player)
William Winter was a British chess player. He won the British Open Chess Championship in 1934 and the British Chess Championship in 1935 and 1936. An acolyte of Siegbert Tarrasch, his sound, strategic play enabled him to defeat a number of the world's top players, including David Bronstein, Aron...
, and Frederick Yates
Frederick Yates
Frederick Dewhurst Yates was an English chess master who won the British Chess Championship on six occasions...
. Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
, writing about one of her victories against Sonja Graf in 1939, wrote that “it is totally unfair to persuade a player of an acknowledged superclass like Miss Menchik to defend her title year after year in tournaments composed of very inferior players”, the specific tournament in question being the seventh Women's World Chess Championship
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....
.
Menchik's greatest success at international tournaments was at Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
1929, when she finished tied for second with Akiba Rubinstein
Akiba Rubinstein
Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I...
, just half a point behind former World Champion 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...
, and ahead of her teacher Géza Maróczy. In 1934 she finished third at Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
, ahead of Rudolph Spielmann and Milan Vidmar
Milan Vidmar
Milan Vidmar was a Slovene electrical engineer, chess player, chess theorist, philosopher, and writer. He was a specialist in power transformers and transmission of electric current.- Biography :...
. In 1942 she won a match against Jacques Mieses
Jacques Mieses
----Jacques Mieses was a German-born Jewish chess Grandmaster and writer. He became a naturalized British citizen after World War II.p258-Chess career:...
(four wins, five draws, one loss).
In 1937, at the age of 31, Vera Menchik married Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson (1878–1943), twenty-eight years her senior, who was subscriptions editor of British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine is the world's oldest chess magazine in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as BCM....
, a member of the West London Chess Club, and later honorary secretary of the British Chess Federation.
Vera Menchik's younger sister Olga
Olga Menchik
Olga Menchik Rubery was a Czech–British female chess master.Born in Moscow into a Czech – British family, she was younger sister to Vera Menchik. They all moved to England in 1921...
was also a tournament chess player. In 1944, as Britain was nearing its sixth year in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and 38-year-old Vera, who was widowed the previous year, still holding the title of women's world champion, the two sisters and their mother were killed in a V-1 rocket bombing raid which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
area of South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
.
The trophy for the winning team in the Women's Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
is known as the Vera Menchik Cup.
Notable chess games
- Frederic Lazard vs Vera Menchik, Paris 1929, Bird Opening: From Gambit (A02), 0–1 A nice combination in an open position leaves Lazard without a bishop.
- Mir Sultan Khan vs Vera Menchik, Hastings 1931, Queen's Gambit Declined (D35), 0–1 A sharp game with attacks on both sides of the board. At the end, Menchik is able to queen her advanced pawn.
- Vera Menchik vs George Alan Thomas, Poděbrady 1936, Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (D11), 1–0 The chess queen queens another passed pawn in a rook ending.