Nona Gaprindashvili
Held the title for 16 years and, in 1978, became the first woman ever awarded the full Grandmaster title.
Photo: Jack de Nijs / Anefo (Dutch National Archives) · CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
Biography
Born in 1941 in Soviet Georgia, Gaprindashvili beat Bykova for the title in 1962 and defended it successfully for 16 years — one of the longest reigns in the championship's history — before finally losing it to fellow Georgian Maia Chiburdanidze in 1978.
That same year, she became the first woman ever awarded FIDE's over-the-board Grandmaster title, a milestone that had previously been earned almost exclusively by men.
Playing Style
Aggressive and universally strong, competing successfully in open (mixed) tournaments alongside her championship title defenses.
Notable Games
Becoming the first female Grandmaster
A landmark achievement that opened the Grandmaster title to women on the same open terms as men.
Fun Facts
- Her 16-year reign is among the longest in the championship's history.
- In 2021, she successfully sued Netflix over a line in "The Queen's Gambit" that inaccurately implied no woman had achieved what she had actually accomplished in real life — a genuinely notable, widely reported real-world footnote to her legacy.