Women's World Champion #2 1950–1953 Soviet Union

Lyudmila Rudenko

Won the first Women's World Championship held after Menchik's death, ending a six-year vacancy caused by the Second World War.

Photo: Unknown (Soviet chess magazine "64") · Public Domain (PD-Russia-1996)

Biography

Born in 1904 in what is now Ukraine, Rudenko trained as an economist before rising through Soviet chess ranks. She won the 1950 championship tournament in Moscow, becoming champion after the title had sat vacant since Menchik's death in 1944.

She lost the title to fellow Soviet player Elisaveta Bykova in 1953, but her win marked the beginning of an unbroken 41-year run of Soviet players holding the Women's World Championship.

Playing Style

A solid, technically grounded player representative of the early Soviet chess school's rigorous approach.

Notable Games

1950 Women's World Championship Tournament

Moscow · 1950

The tournament that finally filled the six-year vacancy left by Menchik's wartime death, restarting the championship's history.

Fun Facts

The six-year gap between Menchik's death and Rudenko's title win remains the longest vacancy in the championship's history.
Her 1950 win opened a 41-year unbroken run of Soviet Women's World Champions, ending only in 1991.