Kavalek in Huffington: Women in chess – a few tales (Part 2)

Women in Chess: A Few Tales – Part two

By GM Lubomir Kavalek

Lurking in the background, hiding their identity, they seem mysterious, magical, beautiful. At first, they observed the game from a distance, but as centuries went by, women were drawn closer to the chessboard. Still, for ages they could not play chess in public and it took some courage and determination to break into the male-dominated game. Let's have a look at some who paved the way. [Read part one here]

Dynasties of champions

After World War Two the world title went to Lyudmila Rudenko (1950-1953), Olga Rubcova (1956-1958) and Bykova (1953-1956 and 1958-1962). Since they were not interested in challenging the men, women's chess didn't make much progress.

It all changed with the appearance of two Georgian women who dominated the women's title for nearly 30 years: Nona Gaprindashvili (1962-1978) and Maya Chiburdanidze (1978-1991). They didn't mind competing against men. The more aggressively they played, the more successful they became. The pace of their games quickened, sacrifices multiplied and it was fun to watch them. Women's chess would never be the same.

In the year Garry Kasparov was born, the 22-year-old Gaprindashvili played a nice combination in the 1963 Championship of Georgia, destroying her opponent through the vital square f7.

The Chinese dynasty began with Xie Jun (1991-1996 and 1999-2001). She learned tactics from the traditional Chinese chess – xiangqi – and brought her experience to the chessboard. Already at 15, she was the girl with Adolf Anderssen's combinational talent. In the game against her coach Qi the pieces collided with speed. It was brutal, imaginative, colorful. Another assault against the square f7.

Xie was the role model for other Chinese girls. They looked up to her and went after the world title with gusto. They were Zhu Chen (2001-2004), Xu Yuhua (2008-2010) and the current women's champion, the 18-year-old Hou Yifan (2010-). The Chinese dynasty was briefly interrupted by world champions Zsuzsa Polgar (1996-1999), Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria (2004-2006) and Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia (2008-2010).

And that brings us to the Polgar sisters. When they were very young, they had to choose: mathematics or chess. They made the right choice. Competing mostly against men, they progressed rapidly and won many titles. Zsuzsa became the women's world champion.

Without a doubt, Judit is the all-time best woman chessplayer. During her career she defeated many strong male players and world champions such as Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vishy Anand. In 2005, she was rated number eight in the world with her FIDE peak rating of 2735.

In January, Judit Polgar and Hou Yifan met in Gibraltar. Just another game, said some. A historical contest between the Queen and the Princess, thought others. Hou won. She is climbing all alone. Can she reach Judit's heights so far unattainable to other women?

Hou Yifan and Judit Polgar before their game in January in Gibraltar

Nostalgia

Champions come and go and we wish them well. But before they say the final goodbye, we demand another masterpiece. At the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, Zsuzsa Polgar and Maya Chiburdanidze obliged. Their tactical skills did not diminish with age and they gave us a memorable performance. And again, the square f7 played a major role in Zsuzsa's combination.

Acknowledgement: the top photo by Peter Mayer from Hospodarske noviny is from my recent trip to Slovak town of Nitra where we celebrated the 50th anniversary of my blindfold simultaneous exhibition against ten club players. The photo is from Roman Cerulik's headquarters of the K-CERO company where the celebration took place.

Original column here – Copyright Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is an American news website and aggregated blog founded by Arianna Huffington and others, featuring various news sources and columnists. The site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet and liberal/progressive alternative to conservative news websites. It offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living, style, the green movement, world news, and comedy. It is a top destination for news, blogs, and original content. The Huffington Post has an active community, with over one million comments made on the site each month. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the site has around 13 million unique visitors per month (number for March 2010); according to Google Analytics the number is 22 million uniques per month.