Vera Menchik
The first Women's World Champion — and utterly dominant for the entirety of her 17-year reign.
Photo: Unknown (Underwood & Underwood) · Public Domain (published 1927)
Biography
Born in Moscow in 1906 and later settling in England, Menchik trained under the strong Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy and won the first official Women's World Championship in London in 1927, when the title was created.
She defended it six times over the next 17 years without ever losing a single game in championship play — an unmatched record of dominance in the event's history. She also competed successfully in open (mixed) tournaments against top male players of the era, defeating several of them, which led to the (backhanded) nickname "the Vera Menchik Club" for the list of strong men she'd beaten.
She was killed in 1944, along with her mother and sister, when a German V-1 flying bomb struck their London home — making her the only World Chess Champion, of either title line, to die during their reign as a direct result of wartime violence.
Playing Style
Tactically sharp and well-rounded for her era, trained in the strong Central European school and confident competing against elite men, not just other women.
Notable Games
The "Vera Menchik Club"
Menchik's tournament wins over several leading male players of the day — including a young Max Euwe, years before he became World Champion himself — were frequent enough that commentators joked about a standing "club" for the men she'd defeated.
Fun Facts
- She remained undefeated across her entire 17-year championship reign — no other champion, open or women's, has matched that.
- She is the only World Chess Champion of either title line to die during their reign from wartime violence.
- Her death left the title vacant for six years, until the first postwar championship in 1950.