From the publisher’s blurb:

“As late as 1950, many chess clubs in America excluded women. The Marshall Chess Club in New York City was an exception, organizing the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship beginning in the late 1930s. Since the 1980s, the average rating of the players has increased. The Saint Louis Chess Club has organized the championship since 2009, with record-setting prizes. Drawing on archives and original interviews with the living U.S. Women’s Chess Champions, this book examines their careers with biographies, photos, and 171 annotated games, most of which are from the 60 championships between 1937 and 2020.”

“Alexey W. Root, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas and a former United States Women’s Chess Champion. This is her eighth book.”

 

For many years chess was traditionally seen as a game for white males, and, in these days where representation is considered so important, there is much that needs to be written about other aspects of the game.

In particular, it’s important that the history of women’s chess is written, that stories are told, that games are published. So it’s a particular pleasure to welcome this new book by former US Women’s Champion Alexey Root, featuring every champion from 1937 to 2020.

We have 29 chapters in total, one for each champion, with winners of multiple titles granted more space. Some of the recent winners will be well known to many readers, but many of the earlier champions will have names only remembered by those who enjoy digging around in chess archives.

In each chapter you’ll learn about their lives both within and outside chess as well as seeing some of their games, all with light annotations. Each chapter also includes a photograph of its protagonist. The book has been thoroughly researched, and all living champions were asked to assist: advising on games and, on occasion, providing scoresheets and photographs.

Whereas the first British Championship took place back in 1904, with the British Ladies Championship incorporated in the congress, the first US Women’s Championship didn’t happen until 1937, hosted by the Marshall Chess Club. In fact, the first US Championship tournament only took place the previous year, the title having up to that point been decided by challenge matches.

The first champion was Adele Rivero Belcher, a new name to me, who also won in 1940, but the first few decades were dominated by two names, Gisela Kahn Gresser, who won nine titles between 1944 and 1969, and Mona May Karff, who won seven titles between 1938 and 1974. Other strong players who took part in that period included Mary Bain, winner in 1951, and Sonja Graf, Vera Menchik’s rival back in the 1930s, who took the title in 1964.

By today’s standards they weren’t amazingly strong players (Gresser was just below 2200 and Karff just below 2100 at their best in the 1950s), but as pioneers who achieved success in a male dominated field they deserve our respect and remembrance.

Here’s a game between Gresser and Karff. Click on any move for a pop-up window.

[pgn]
[Event “US Women’s Championship”]
[Site “New York City”]
[Date “1944.05.06”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Gresser, Gisela”]
[Black “Karff, Mona May”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B40”]
[PlyCount “65”]
[SourceVersionDate “2022.09.11”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. e5 Nd5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8.
bxc3 Qc7 9. f4 Nxc3 10. Qg4 O-O 11. Bd3 Nd5 12. c4 f5 13. Qh4 Qc5 14. Nb3 Qe7
15. Qh3 Nb4 16. Bb1 N8c6 17. a3 Na6 18. O-O d6 19. exd6 Qxd6 20. Bc3 Nc5 21.
Bc2 Nxb3 22. Bxb3 Re8 23. Qg3 Qc7 24. Kh1 Re7 25. Rad1 Bd7 26. Rd3 Rae8 27.
Rfd1 Bc8 28. c5 Kh8 29. Ba4 Rd8 30. Qh4 Rxd3 31. Rxd3 Rd7 32. Rh3 h6 33. Qxh6+
1-0
[/pgn]

1959 champion Lisa Lane briefly caused a sensation in the chess world, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1961.

If you’ll excuse a digression into the history of Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club, I had a particular interest in this brief encounter.

[pgn]
[Event “USCF Rating Improvement Tournament”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1960.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Herbst, Henry”]
[Black “Lane, Lisa”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E43”]
[WhiteElo “2086”]
[BlackElo “2035”]
[PlyCount “28”]
[SourceVersionDate “2022.09.11”]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bd3 Ne4 7. Qc2 f5 8. a3
Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Rb1 c5 11. O-O d6 12. Nd2 Qh4 13. g3 Ng5 14. gxh4 Nh3#
0-1
[/pgn]

Lane’s opponent, Henry Herbst (at least I presume it’s the same one) was a member of my club for several years in the middle to late 1970s, often playing on the adjacent board to me. From what I can piece together, he was born in Germany, moved to Canada, then to the USA, where he played this game, before moving to England and then back to Germany, where I believe he died a few years ago.

I was editing the club magazine at the time and Herbst submitted his game against Bobby Fischer for publication. When I checked it out in my book of Fischer’s collected games it was played by somebody with a different name, but with a similar rating and, as far as one can tell from two short games, a similar style of play.

[pgn]
[Event “Western op-ch”]
[Site “Bay City”]
[Date “1963.07.04”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Reinhard, Allen”]
[Black “Fischer, Robert James”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B25”]

[WhiteElo “2103”]
[BlackElo “2674”]

[PlyCount “48”]
[EventDate “1963.07.04”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “8”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “Fischer”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 6. e4 c5 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. h3
Rb8 9. Be3 b5 10. e5 dxe5 11. Bxc5 b4 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. dxe4 Qa5 14. Be3 Ba6 15.
Re1 Rfd8 16. Qc1 Nd4 17. Kh2 Rdc8 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. Bg5 d3 20. a3 Rxc2 21. axb4
Qb6 22. Qe3 Bd4 23. Qf3 Rxf2 24. Qg4 d2 0-1
[/pgn]

Assuming he wouldn’t otherwise have claimed to have played a rather indifferent game, why was my friend Henry Herbst using two names? Both names appeared occasionally in other US tournaments at the time these games were played. I have my suspicions based on something I was told in confidence many years ago, but I couldn’t possibly repeat it here.

To return to the book, perhaps the leading figure in US Women’s chess between the mid 1970s and the mid 1980s was Diane Savereide, who took the title five times between 1975 and 1984.

She nominated this, against the author of this book (Rudolph was her maiden name) as her best game from the 1981 championship.

[pgn]
[Event “US Women’s Championship”]
[Site “Brigham City”]
[Date “1981.06.11”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Rudolph, Alexey”]
[Black “Savereide, Diane”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B26”]
[WhiteElo “2007”]
[BlackElo “2262”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[SourceVersionDate “2022.09.12”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Be3 d6 7. Qd2 Nge7 8. Nf3
Nd4 9. Nh4 Rb8 10. O-O Qa5 11. a3 b5 12. Rfb1 Qc7 13. a4 a6 14. axb5 axb5 15.
Nd1 O-O 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. c3 Nc6 18. Nf3 Bd7 19. Ra6 b4 20. c4 Na5 21. e5 dxe5
22. Ne1 Nb3 23. Qc2 Nc5 24. Raa1 f5 25. f3 Bc6 26. Nf2 Ra8 27. b3 Qb7 28. Rd1
Rxa1 29. Rxa1 e4 30. fxe4 0-1
[/pgn]

The overall standard of play gradually improved as the 20th century reached its end, but it wasn’t until the 1990s, with an influx of players from the former Soviet Union, that players with higher ratings started to compete on a regular basis.

This game won the brilliancy prize in 1997.

[pgn]
[Event “USA-ch (Women)”]
[Site “Chandler”]
[Date “1997.08.30”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Belakovskaia, Anjelina”]
[Black “Zitserman, Tatyana”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D43”]
[WhiteElo “2355”]
[BlackElo “2125”]
[PlyCount “91”]
[EventDate “1997.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Qc2
g6 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfc1 Qe7 13. Qb3 a6 14. a4 b6 15.
Na2 Qd6 16. Qb4 Qb8 17. Rc2 Re8 18. Rac1 Bf8 19. Qb3 Bb7 20. a5 b5 21. Rc7 Rd8
22. h4 Bd6 23. R7c2 Nf6 24. Nb4 Ra7 25. Kf1 Kg7 26. Ke2 Nd7 27. h5 g5 28. Nc6
Bxc6 29. Rxc6 f5 30. Qc2 Rf8 31. Nd2 Nf6 32. Nb3 Nxh5 33. Rb6 Qd8 34. Qc6 Bc7
35. Nc5 Rf6 36. Nxe6+ Rxe6 37. Qxe6 Bxb6 38. axb6 Rb7 39. Rc6 Nf6 40. Bxf5 a5
41. Rd6 Qf8 42. Qc8 Qe7 43. Rc6 Ne8 44. Re6 Qf7 45. Rxe8 Rxb6 46. Rh8 1-0
[/pgn]

The dominant competitor in recent years has been Irina Krush, who took the title for the first time in 1998 and has won on seven further occasions between 2007 and 2020, leaving her only one behind Gisela Gresser: an impressive feat considering the strength of her opposition in recent years.

This game is from the 2015 championship.

[pgn]
[Event “USA-ch (Women)”]
[Site “Saint Louis”]
[Date “2015.04.09”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Melekhina, Alisa”]
[Black “Krush, Irina”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B22”]
[WhiteElo “2235”]
[BlackElo “2477”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2015.04.01”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 165 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2015.04.21”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2015.04.21”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bc4 e6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 dxe5 12. dxe5 Qc7 13. Qe4 b6 14. Bg5 Bb7
15. Bd3 g6 16. Bf6 Rfd8 17. Qe3 Rd5 18. Be4 Rc5 19. Rfd1 Rc8 20. Rd3 Ba6 21.
Rd2 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Nxe5 Qxe5 24. Qd4 Qg5 25. Rad1 Rc4 26. Qd3 Bb5 27.
Rb2 Qc5 28. Bf3 Ba4 29. Re1 Bf6 30. Qe3 Bxc3 31. Rd2 Bxd2 32. Qxd2 Rc2 33. Qd8+
Kg7 34. Qh4 Rc1 35. Qe4 Qc3 36. Rf1 Rxf1+ 37. Kxf1 Bb5+ 0-1
[/pgn]

Woven into the biographies and games are occasional stories of sexism and abuse, and, although they sometimes make uncomfortable reading, it’s entirely fitting that we can read them here. This is an issue the chess world has to deal with in order to make the game more attractive and inclusive.

I have a few minor gripes about the production. There are inconsistences, particularly in the presentation of the crosstables at the back of the book, which have been produced in the format in which they appeared in print. Perhaps it’s just a personal thing, but inconsistency really annoys me. I’d prefer them to be standardised in the same format. I also found the covers too flimsy, and, a point I’ve made before with softback books from this publisher, the presentation of the games, with very few diagrams, rather unattractive. I like to be able to follow games from the book without resorting to a board and pieces. I appreciate that the solutions I’d have preferred would not have been economically viable.

Nevertheless, this is a well-researched and thoughtfully compiled book which fills an important gap in the market. We need more books about women’s chess.

Whether you’re a female chess player, you teach female chess players, you have friends who are female chess players, or you have an interest in chess history and culture, this is a book you should read. Perhaps someone should also commission a book about the British Ladies/Women’s Chess Championship as well. That, too would be a very worthwhile project.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 13th September 2022

Book Details :

• Format: Softback
• Pages: 240
• Bibliographic Info: photos, diagrams, games, bibliography, indexes
• Copyright Date: 10th June 2022
• ISBN-10: 1476686939
• ISBN-13: 978-1476686936
• Imprint: McFarland & Company Inc.

Official web site of McFarland