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Vera Menchick

  



 

Vera was born in Moscow in 1906. Her father was Czechoslovakian, her mother, British. The family moved to England when Vera was 15, where she first attracted attention by winning the British girl’s championship. After World War I, Hungarian Grand Master Geza Maroczy moved to Hastings and became Vera's coach. FIDE established the first world championship for women in 1927, which Vera promptly won, with 10 wins and one draw in eleven games. She won every women's world championship held thereafter: 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939. In 83 games played in these seven championships, she lost only one.

We will never really know how good Vera was. She was killed in a bombing raid in 1944, at the age of 38. However, she was clearly the best woman player of her time, better than most men and the equal of some of the great male players. She played and beat Max Euwe, Samuel Reshevsky, C.H. Alexander, Frederick Yates, Edgar Colle, Karel Opocensky, Sir George Thomas and Sultan Kahn. In 1929, Vera was invited to the Carlsbad International Tournament which included such players as Jose Capablanca, Savielly Tartakover, Aron Nimzowitsch and Max Euwe.

She did not have a good result in that tournament, finishing tied for last place with several players. However, she played and beat Max Euwe (twice). Among her best results were a second place finish with Akiba Rubinstein at Ramsgate, one-half point behind Capablanca and ahead of her tutor, Maroczy, and George Koltanowski. She finished second in London in 1932, third in Maribor 1934 and third in Yarmouth in 1935.

Vera was a great inspiration to many women chess players around the world, including the American women players she met across the chess board, and apparently so inspired women in the Soviet Union during a 1935 trip to Moscow that the next year saw almost 5,000 women competing in qualifying tournaments

 for the Soviet championship - a legacy that resulted in the women’s world chess champion title being held by a series of Russian players from the time the championship was reinstituted in 1950 until 1962.

 

Baraka Shabazz

  



 

 

The most famous Black female player was Baraka Shabazz, who was taught to play chess in a cabin in Alaska by her stepfather. Baraka, which means "blessed," burst onto the scene in the early 80s and became a media darling, particularly in the Black community.

At age 15, Baraka would give simultaneous exhibitions of up to 20 boards, reached "Expert" level and later represented the U.S. in the under-16 girls' tournament in England. She played in several major tournaments before abruptly giving up the game in her late teens. Sources indicate that she simply collapsed under high expectations.
 

 Baraka spent some time in San Francisco, California and received instruction from IM Jeremy Silman. While Silman has memories of Baraka, he had no games of hers on record. He stated that Baraka played in the U.S. Women's Championship (in Utah). I remember meeting her at a tournament in Chicago and in those days, she favored the Colle System. While Baraka is the most famous, Collette McGruder of California was perhaps the first Black woman of note in American chess. She was the 1st

 to eclipse the 2000-level barrier and she told me at the 2001 National Open (Las Vegas) that she once won a major California tournament. McGruder has been on the Top Women's list for many, many years and still plays in tournaments, primarily on the American West Coast. McGruder also knew Baraka on a personal level and perhaps was a bit of role model during Baraka's ascent.