Vera Menchik: The Queen of Chess

Vera Menchik, the first women's world chess champion, was born in 1906 in Moscow to a Czech father and an English mother. Vera's father found his way to Russia to join his mother's brother, who had no offspring and offered to take care of his 23-year-old nephew. In October 1903, František received his passport and left for Russia. His siblings followed him gradually, and they thrived there. In Moscow, František met Olga, an Englishwoman, whom he married. In February 1906, their daughter Vera was born, followed by Olga two years later. Although born in Russia, according to the laws of Austria-Hungary and its civil code at the time, a foreign woman married to an Austrian citizen automatically acquired Austrian citizenship.

In 1918, Olga and her daughters also became Czechoslovak citizens, affiliated with the village of Bystrá nad Jizerou, from which their father hailed. František Menčík enjoyed playing chess and soon taught his daughters the game. Vera was already the more skilled player at that time. Chess was not her only hobby; she was interested in music, painting, and theater. Later, she began studying at a private gymnasium in Moscow and was the only girl to participate in tournaments where students played against their teachers. At the time, chess was very popular in Russia. Unfortunately, everything changed after the October Revolution, and three years later, Olga and her daughters moved to her native England, while father František returned to Bystrá nad Jizerou. Their hope of reuniting in Moscow never materialized.

Vera's First Major Chess Successes

Vera's beginnings in England were not easy, as she did not speak English at all, reportedly feeling shy and reluctant to interact with others. However, within two years, she mastered the language well enough to start attending the famous Hastings chess club in 1923. At the time, Hastings was a mecca for British chess players, with its history making it an ideal start for Vera. Chess masters from all over the world gathered there annually.

As soon as she arrived at the club, she was taken under the wing of the excellent Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy. Very soon, everyone in the club realized they were playing with a great talent. She defeated everyone who "crossed her path."

Ironically, as a foreigner in Great Britain, she could not participate in women's championships. Therefore, she decided to try her luck in men's chess tournaments, which the rules allowed. After a series of partial successes, the pivotal year 1927 arrived. The first women's world championship was held in London.

In 1925, she unofficially became the best female player in England, and by 1927, she was officially the first women's world champion at the first women's world championship. She repeated this success in 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, and 1939, becoming a seven-time world champion!

Vera Menchik Club

Male chess masters said that Vera played chess with utmost seriousness, possessing great theoretical knowledge that many masters would not be ashamed of. She also had another plus – she was the only woman who played tactically and always performed amazingly. It did not take long for Vera to enter the realm of male chess masters, and as the first woman in history, she managed to compete on equal terms with men. She did not just play with women but also participated in men's tournaments, which experts considered an exception. Her name appeared all over the world. However, it was not easy, as many men at the time contemptuously observed female chess players and said that a woman could never equal men. Perhaps those gentlemen did not realize how wrong they were at the time.

Vera Menchik was the first woman to successfully participate in highly competitive men's tournaments. Her entry into this sphere was met with skepticism and mockery from many chess masters. When she entered the tournament in Karlovy Vary (1929), Vienna master Albert Becker jokingly proposed that masters defeated by Menchik in tournament games should form a club named after her. He soon found his idea very unfortunate, as he immediately became its first member, and other tournament participants gleefully named him "president for three years." He was not thrilled, but later he took it better, after all, it was a select society, whose leadership after Becker was taken over by Max Euwe, the world chess champion from 1935 to 1937 (as then the only club member whom Menchik defeated twice, in 1931 and 1932). Other (grand)masters of renowned names gradually became members of the club, such as Jacques Mieses, Frederick Yates, Friedrich Sämisch, Samuel Reshevsky, Mir Sultan Khan, and Karel Opočenský.

Right in Karlovy Vary, the IV. International Master Tournament was held, which was not exactly easy for Vera. However, after it ended, world champion Alexander Alekhine wrote in The New York Times: "So far, I have delayed evaluating Vera Menchik from Russia because a person so exceptional requires the utmost caution and objectivity. However, after fifteen rounds, it is certain that she is an absolute exception among women. She is highly talented in chess and will surely succeed in penetrating the top international level with further work and experience in tournaments."

In Karlovy Vary, she did not win a monetary prize (the winner received 21,000 crowns), but she received a special prize – an old Viennese tea service. Thanks to her play, she received an offer to go to the USA, but she only took advantage of it ten years later. However, she managed something else; after the tournament in Karlovy Vary, she went to Bystrá nad Jizerou, where her father worked as a farmer. The chronicles of Semily report that she stayed at the Okresní dům hotel in Semily and organized a simultaneous exhibition against nine players – and won all the games.

Chess Star

Vera won, gained respect even among men who had recently mocked her. She inspired many other girls and women not to be afraid and to confidently enter the world of chess. Playing with Vera was also very pleasant for everyone; she always managed to create a comfortable atmosphere. Interestingly, at the chess Olympiad in Prague in 1931, not only Vera but also her sister Olga, also a skilled chess player, participated. Both visited Semily again, where they spent four days. Vera was exceptional not only in how she played but also in her demeanor.

Besides chess, she continued to pursue other hobbies, such as painting, sculpture, and bridge. Many chess players remembered meeting her as on one hand the darkest chess day of their life, and on the other hand, they remembered her personality with a smile. She was knowledgeable, intelligent, always had something to say, friendly. She never put down her opponents or spoke ill of them. Until 1937, it seemed that she would be "just" a chess player with no personal life. But in October of that year, she married the English owner and publisher of a chess magazine, Rufus Henry S. Stevenson. By marrying, she acquired British citizenship and from then on, stopped representing Czechoslovakia in chess tournaments. As a chess player, she was incredibly lucky and successful, but luck did not favor her in her personal life. After six years, her husband died, and she was left alone without children. When the war started, she lived in England and devoted herself to journalism, translating and analyzing played games.

Tragic End

In 1937, Vera married the editor of the British Chess Magazine, Rufus Stevenson. This gave her British citizenship, and she stopped representing Czechoslovakia in chess tournaments. Stevenson, however, became seriously ill and died after a few years. Menchik outlived him by only a year and a half.

The brilliant chess player lived with her mother and sister in her husband's house. It housed a huge library, said to be the largest chess library in the world. Although Vera's husband was prudent and had an air-raid shelter built in the garden, she hid in the basement during air raids on London. In June 1944, their house was hit by a German rocket and destroyed to the ground. Vera, 38, died in the basement that day along with her mother and 26-year-old sister. Ironically, the adjacent air-raid shelter remained completely undamaged.

Vera Menchik, like Alekhine, died as an undefeated world champion. Czechoslovak women's chess never again achieved such success.

The Chess Legacy of Vera Menchik The Czech Republic does not forget the brilliant player. In 1991, the Vera Menchik Foundation was established, aiming to commemorate the achievements of this chess player and help organize women's tournaments. Salo Flohr, one of the world's most famous chess players before World War II, said about Vera: "How would she have played after the war? She would have been great at any time. She played a huge role in the development of chess culture."

Vera Menchik significantly contributed to promoting women's chess. When she participated in a tournament in Moscow in the mid-1930s, the number of female participants increased to five thousand the following year. Since 1957, the best women's team at the Chess Olympiad receives the Vera Menchik Cup.

In 1996, the Czech Post issued a stamp with her portrait. However, she was not the first; a similar stamp had already

Today, Vera Menchik is remembered not just for her victories but for her role in transforming chess into a more inclusive sport. She paved the way for future generations of women in chess, proving that skill knows no gender. Her story continues to inspire players around the world, a timeless reminder of the power of perseverance, courage, and the enduring appeal of the game of chess.

Vera Menchik's contributions to chess are immortalized in the history of the game, a queen in every sense who conquered the world of chess with grace, intelligence, and indomitable spirit. As we remember her on her birth anniversary, we celebrate not just a champion but a pioneer who forever changed the face of chess.

Vera Menchik's life story is a powerful narrative of breaking barriers and setting new standards, her legacy living on as an inspiration to countless chess enthusiasts and players globally.