Lyudmila Rudenko

Biography (1904–1986)

Born in 1904 in Lubny, in the Poltava region of the Russian Empire, now Ukraine, Lyudmila Rudenko was taught how to play chess by her father at age 10.A gifted swimmer (she was a swimming vice-champion of Ukraine), Lyudmila took chess seriously only after moving to Moscow in 1925. Rudenko's real breakthrough came after relocating to Leningrad, where she started working with Peter Romanovsky. Lyudmila won Leningrad Women's championship three times and established herself as one of the leading Soviet players.After the war, in the winter of 1949–1950, FIDE held a tournament in Moscow to determine the new women's champion. Sixteen women from twelve countries competed, with Rudenko, who was then 45 years old, coming out on top, a full point ahead of the field. In the next World Championship cycle, she faced Elisaveta Bykova and lost her crown in a close title match.Rudenko was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2015.

Notable game

This game was played in 1946 in the radio match between the USSR and England

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Everything pales in comparison with the moments of the highest creative joy that I happened to experience at the chessboard.

I can't imagine life without chess.

On Rudenko

From Menchik and Graf to Rudenko to Xie Jun to the Polgars to Kosteniuk, these women have expanded the dreams of future generations.

Rudenko was very much gifted by nature, but since she began playing chess before the revolution, she did not receive the same level of training as later generations of chess players. As a result, it is not surprising that, in terms of positional play, she was sometimes inferior to her rivals in certain stages of the game.

After the war, Lyudmila Vladimirovna lived with her young son Volodya in a small basement room. Dampness, a smoking kerosene stove, a few makeshift beds and unstable stools, and, in addition, hungry Leningrad rats. One can only imagine the optimism and love for chess required to prepare and become a world champion in such difficult circumstances!