Women chess players have demonstrated a considerable growth in chess during the last decades.
Playing chess is the toughest game of all the times. Though it does not require a lot of running and jumping on the field but, it still is one of the most popular and watched sports. This sport requires a lot of mental strength and not at all a hard nut to crack. But, these ladies are not at all scared to break this nut.
The world has not many famous chess players and these 10 ladies have come out of the crowd to change the scenario. Here, we have compiled a list of top 5 female chess players f all time.
let’s take a look at our list of the best women ever to play the royal game!
05) Vera Menchik:
The first recognized World Women’s Chess Champion, Vera Menchik was also the first true superstar of women’s chess. After winning the first ever Women’s World Championship in 1927, she successfully defended that title six times— winning every championship until her death in 1944.
She was a phenomenal player and holds many credits to her name. She was the face of the emerging chess horizon for the women. She was far ahead of her times and was one of the strongest chess payers. She was rated 52 in the world by Chessmetrics as there wasn’t any official rating systems at that time.
04) Susan Polgar:
Susan Polgar is an American chess player born in Hungary. This grandmaster was born on 19th April, 1969 and since her childhood; she is playing chess to achieve big credits. She is a pioneer in the world of women’s chess. She started her winning spree quite early in life and became the first woman to get the title of grandmaster Tittle.
Also, she was the first ever woman who qualifies for participation in World Championship cycle in 1986 though she was stopped on pretext of her gender. In 1996, she won the 1st world title. In her career, she has achieved 4 women’s world championships. AT 15, she became top- ranked woman chess player.
She was also the head coach at Webster University for 2013 and 2014 National Championship. Currently, she is the chief of Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence at Webster University.
03) Xie Jun:
Xie Jun holds the credit of being one of the biggest Chinese women’s chess players. She was born on 30 October, 1970. In the year 1991, Xie defeated Maya Chiburdanidze to grab the Women’s World Chess Championship. She kept the title to her till 1996 when Susan Polgar claimed the title defeating her.
However, the first true Chinese chess star was Xie Jun, who won the Women’s World Chess Championship in 1991 by defeating Maya Chiburdanidze. She would go on to hold the title until 1996 when she was defeated by Susan Polgar. She also claimed the title in the year 1999 after she defeated Alisa Galliamova.
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02) Maya Chiburdanidze:
Maia Chiburdanidze won her first USSR Girl’s Championship at the age of 15, and a year later, won the 1976 USSR Women’s Championship. It became clear that she was already one of the best female players in the world when she won her first Women’s World Chess Championship in 1978 by defeating the reigning champion, Nona Gaprindashvili.
She has 9 chess Olympiads in her name and is the only women to achieve so many Olympiads. IN January 2011, she got FIDE Elo rating of 2502. She is the fourteenth highest rated female chess champion.
01) Judit Polgar:
She is one of the strongest woman chess players. She deserves to be on number one irrespective of the fact that she was never a World Women’s Chess Champion ever. But, she has many other credits to her name that make her the leading name in the world of chess. Male or female, Judit was touted as the best player of chess. In 2005 at the FIDE World Chess Championship, she finished the tournament at 8thposition.
Born on 23rd of July 1976, she got the Grandmaster title at the age of 15. She is the only woman to cross 2700 Elo rating barrier. Her highest is the Elo rating of 2735. She also won many tournaments. She has defeated ten champions in classical or rapid chess. She retired on August 14, 2014.
Do you agree with our list? Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments.
Wasn’t Nona Gaprindashvili the first woman to get the Grandmaster title in 1978?
I would put Hou Yifan as #2
Yes you got the right player back in the post even she is the Youngest player to win the Women’s World Chess Championship at the age of 12. Thanks for adding your personnel experience.
Imho:
1) Judit
2) Menchik
3) Gaprindashvili
4) Jun
5) Chiburdanidze
Yfan must be in top also in future)
Thanks for Sharing!