Women's World Chess Championship 1934 (non-FIDE)

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The Women's World Chess Championship 1934 was held in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

In 1934, reigning Women's World Chess Champion Vera Menchik was challenged by Sonja Graf, another female player who, like Menchik, regularly competed with men in open tournaments. The match was played in Rotterdam over four games. Menchik was a huge favourite beforehand, but Graf caused a small sensation by winning the first game. Menchik then won the other three, however, to successfully defend her title.

This was the first time the women's title was put on the line in a match arranged at the personal initiative of two players (much like the open title at the time) and not under the auspices of FIDE. [1]

Women's World Chess Championship 1934
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Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Vera Menchik  (TCH)01113
Flag of Germany (1933-1935).svg  Sonja Graf  (GER)10001

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The below is a list of events in chess in 1939.

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Womens World Chess Championship 1937 (match)

After their 1934 match, reigning Women's World Chess Champion Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf played a second championship match in Semmering in 1937.

The 7th Women's World Chess Championship took place during the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aires. The final results were as follows:

While the World Chess Championship title, contested officially since 1886 and unofficially long before that, is in theory open to all players, it was for many years contested solely by men. In 1927, FIDE therefore established a Women's World Chess Championship exclusively for female players. Like the "open" title, the format for the women's championship has undergone several changes since then, the most important of which are described here.

This article is about the participation of women in chess and its culture.

References

  1. "1927-39 Title Tournaments : World Chess Championship (Women)".