Vera Menchik was a Czech chess grandmaster and the first Women’s World Chess Champion. She was the dominant female chess player before the war, winning at least 59 games in a row at the Women’s World Championship tournaments. Highlights of her successes against male players included two victories and a positive score in tournament play against Euwe and a positive score in 29 known games against George Thomas, who received the International Master (IM) title. Any master-level players that Menchik defeated were said to be members of the Vera Menchik Club, which included six players who ended up receiving the Grandmaster (GM) title or the honorary equivalent.

Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgian chess grandmaster. She is the sixth Women’s World Chess Champion, a title she held from 1978 to 1991, and was the youngest one until 2010, when this record was broken by Hou Yifan. Chiburdanidze is the second woman to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE, which took place in 1984. She has played on nine gold-medal-winning teams in the Women’s Chess Olympiad.

Chiburdanidze was born in Kutaisi, Georgia, in 1961. She began playing chess at the age of 5 and quickly showed a natural talent for the game. She won the Georgian Women’s Chess Championship at the age of 12, and the Soviet Women’s Chess Championship at the age of 14.

Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion, and the second highest rated female player of all time. She was the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of grandmaster (at the age of 14 years, 6 months, 2 days) and the youngest ever to win the Women’s World Chess Championship (at age 16).

Hou Yifan is a true chess prodigy and one of the greatest female chess players of all time. She is a role model for young girls and women around the world, and she is an inspiration to chess players of all levels.