Maia Chiburdanidze was born on 17 January 1961 in the Georgian city of Kutaisi. Chess was very popular in her family, and Maia Chiburdanidze soon proved to be exceptionally talented, not only in chess.

Maia Chiburdanidze could read at the age of three, started school at five, and was soon solving complex arithmetic problems in her head.

A prodigy | Photo: Private collection

Ruy Lopez for the tournament player - A Complete White Repertoire against the Marshall, Berlin & Co

This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Overview
Free video sample: Chigorin: 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7/cxd4

At the age of eight, Maia Chiburdanidze learned to play chess from her brother Reziko, who was ten years older. Before long, she began to beat her brother regularly. It is said that he became so angry at having no chance against his little sister that he threw the chessboard into the fireplace, where it burned.

Her brother died tragically at the age of 19, and for some time afterwards nobody paid attention to Maia Chiburdanidze's chess abilities. Maia Chiburdanidze later recounted in an interview, Reziko appeared to her mother in a dream and urged her to continue nurturing her daughter's chess talent. Maia Chiburdanidze regarded this and other events as divine providence and became very religious. Towards the end of her career, she is said to have considered a life in a monastery.

At the age of ten, Maia Chiburdanidze became Georgian school chess champion. The family then moved to the Georgian capital Tbilisi so that their chess-talented daughter could receive better training at the chess schools there.

In a simultaneous exhibition against Gaprindashvili | Photo: Private collection

In 1973, the reigning Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili gave a simultaneous exhibition against the most talented girls in the country. The world champion won all her games with one exception: she lost to the twelve-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze. Later that year, Chiburdanidze also defeated the world champion at the USSR Championships.

The following year (1974), Chiburdanidze was already awarded the title of Woman International Master on the basis of her tournament results. In 1977, at the age of 16, she received the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. In 1984, she was also awarded the full Grandmaster title.

In conversation with Tigran Petrosian | Photo: Private collection

At the age of 13, Maia Chiburdanidze won her tournament debut in Brașov, and in 1976 she won the USSR Girls' Championship (U18). She qualified via the Soviet Women's Championship for the Women's Interzonal Tournament in Tbilisi in 1976, where she finished second and advanced to the Candidates matches.

In the final, she narrowly defeated Alla Kushnir in January 1978 and, at the age of 16, became the challenger to Nona Gaprindashvili for the Women's World Championship. During these years, Chiburdanidze benefited from training with Eduard Gufeld, who coached her from 1976 to 1977.

In 1978, the 17-year-old Chiburdanidze played her Georgian compatriot Nona Gaprindashvili for the world championship. Gaprindashvili had previously dominated women's chess in the Soviet Union and worldwide for 16 years. The match was played in Bichvinta (Pitsunda), a town in the Georgian region of Abkhazia, then part of the Soviet Union. Chiburdanidze won 8½–6½ and became the youngest world chess champion in history.

Master Class Vol.13 - Tigran Petrosian

Considered a master of prophylaxis, Petrosian sensed dangers long before they actually became acute on the board. In his prime, Petrosian was almost invincible. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Tigran Petrosian.

In 1981, Chiburdanidze defended her title with an 8–8 draw against Nana Alexandria - at the time, a draw was sufficient to retain the title. In 1984, she defeated Irina Levitina 8–5 in Volgograd. In 1986, Chiburdanidze won by an 8½–5½ score against Elene Akhmilovskaya, and in 1988 she achieved her last successful title defence in Telavi, winning 8½–7½ against Nana Ioseliani.

Enjoying chess

In 1991, however, Chiburdanidze lost the Women's World Championship match somewhat unexpectedly to the Chinese player Xie Jun. With this defeat, dominance in women's chess shifted from the Soviet Union/Georgia to China.

Georgian quartet: Ioseliani, Chiburdanidze, Gaprindashvili, Alexandria

After losing the title, Chiburdanidze took part in further Candidates Tournaments but was no longer able to qualify as a challenger.

In 1995 she lost to Susan Polgar. At the knockout World Championships in 2001 and 2004, she was eliminated in the semifinals on both occasions. In 2008, she did not take part in the knockout World Championship in Nalchik, Russia, because of the Russo-Georgian war.

After winning the Women's World Championship, Chiburdanidze was regularly invited to (men's) tournaments and competed successfully against male opposition. Between 1981 and 1989, she won numerous tournaments that also included male players, or finished in the prize places: 1984 in New Delhi (1^st place), 1985 in Banja Luka (1^st place), 1987 in Bilbao (shared 3^rd/4^th place), and 1987 in Brussels (2^nd place).

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

Over the course of her career, Maia Chiburdanidze won nine team gold medals: five for the Soviet Union and four for Georgia.

At the Chess Olympiad | Photo: FIDE

Alongside chess, Maia Chiburdanidze has had many other interests. From an early age she was interested in medicine, Ayurveda and aromatherapy, and was fascinated by the philosophy of mixed martial arts, by Asian cultures in general, and by tea production in India and China in particular. Maia Chiburdanidze studied medicine and completed her degree in 1978. Although she never practised as a doctor, she acted as a medical adviser and family physician for relatives and friends, as she once revealed in an interview.

Achievements and honours

2011 – Honorary citizen of Tbilisi
2008 – Women's Chess Olympiad champion
2001 – Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali, 3^rd Class
1996 – Women's Chess Olympiad champion
1994 – Women's Chess Olympiad champion
1994 – Order of Honour
1994 – Order of Friendship of Peoples
1994 – Order of the Red Banner of Labour
1992 – Women's Chess Olympiad champion
1988 – Women's World Champion
1987 – Winner of the Chess Oscar
1986 – Lenin Komsomol Prize of Georgia
1986 – Women's World Champion
1986 – Gold at the 11th Women's Chess Olympiad
1986 – Winner of the Chess Oscar
1985 – Winner of the Chess Oscar
1984 – Winner of the Chess Oscar
1984 – Women's World Champion
1984 – Gold at the 10^th Women's Chess Olympiad
1981 – Women's World Champion
1981 – Gold at the 9^th Women's Chess Olympiad
1978 – International Master of Sport (junior)
1978 – Master of Sport of the Soviet Union (junior)
1978 – Gold at the 8^th Women's Chess Olympiad
1978 – Women's World Champion
1978 – Georgian Sportswoman of the Year
1974 – Master of Sport of the Soviet Union (women)
1974 – International Master of Sport (women)

The Scotch Game

Besides in-depth theory and exciting tactical exercises in the Scotch Game, this video course also includes a bonus section on the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Bc4), a lively variation often leading to very dynamic positions.