Vera Menchik

Biography (1906–1944)

Born in Moscow in 1906 to a Czech father and an English mother, Vera Menchik debuted in a chess tournament at school at age 14 after switching to an integrated school during the Russian Revolution. In 1921 her family moved to Hastings, England, where Vera joined a local chess club and began training with James Drewitt and Géza Maróczy. Menchik established herself as the best female player in the country in 1925 by defeating the British women's champion Edith Charlotte Price in two matches, and just two years later, she won the inaugural Women's World Chess Championship in 1927.Menchik was the dominant female chess player before the war, winning eight titles and at least 59 games in a row at the Women's World Championship tournaments.The longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champion, Menchik was the first and only woman competing in master-level tournaments with the world's best players before World War II and had several top players' scalps under her belt.Still the Women’s World Champion, Vera Menchik tragically died in 1944 in a German air raid on Kent.

Notable game

This game was played during the Women's World Chess Championship match in 1937

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Counterattack is the soul of the game. In the times of need when we are faced with a very cramped or even a lost game, our best chance of recovering the balance is to introduce complications.

On Menchik

She sits all game with her hands in front without even moving a muscle in her face.

She is so highly talented for chess that with further work and experience at tournaments she will surely succeed in developing into a high classed international champion.

Vera was the first woman to play consistently, and sometimes defeat, the best players in the world. She may have exceeded the standards of her time by an even larger margin if she had used against men the fearless, confident style she exhibited against women.

No one could wish for a more sporting or considerate opponent whether in success or in defeat, and I know no player less given to making excuses for failure or displaying undue elation when victorious.