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| Jul-25-08 | | Granny O Doul: She won that game in the Fireside Book of Chess with the intro "the war between the sexes ends in an airplane checkmate!" 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4 f5 5.Qg3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bd7 7.Be2 cd 8.Nd4 Nd4 9.Bh5+ Ke7 10.Qa3# I might have moves transposed somewhere and I don't remember Black's name. It was also a "chess movie" in one of Chernev's beginner books. |
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| Oct-20-08 | | brankat: A very talented Chess master, Mona May!
Three times the Women's World Championship Challenger! R.I.P. Mona May Karff. |
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| Oct-20-09 | | Birthday Boy: Happy Birthday!!!Mona May Karff!!! |
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Oct-24-10
 | | GrahamClayton: Here is a photo of Karff giving a simultaneous exhibition in Winnipeg in 1940: http://tinyurl.com/247fad6 |
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| Dec-06-10 | | JG27Pyth: OH WOW! The second rated game I ever played in my life was against an elderly woman at the Marshall Chess Club -- this would be around 1987... Her name was Karff! She kicked my butt, too. |
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| Dec-06-10 | | BIDMONFA: Mona May Karff KARFF, Mona M.
http://www.bidmonfa.com/karff_mona....
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| Jan-15-12 | | SBC: In 1938 N. May Karff won the first universally accepted US women's chess championship (Mary Bain placed 2nd and Adele Rivero came in 3rd). In 1939, there was a 3-way tie with Mary Bain, N. May Karff and Dr. Helen Weissenstein sharing first place. While there was supposed to be a play-off, I've not been able to find anything to indicate one ever occurred. Adele Rivero did not participate that year. But in 1940, Rivero returned to the fray and won the championship by a wide margin, winning all but one of her games. The promoters seemed taken by the idea of staging a match for the 1941 championship and N. May Karff was selected (how this came about is unclear) to be Adele Rivero's challenger. The story and games of this match can be read here: http://blog.chess.com/batgirl/karff... |
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| Oct-20-12 | | brankat: R.I.P. Mrs.Karff. |
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| Dec-17-16 | | whiteshark: <Granny O Doul> / <SBC>'s link to the game https://www.chess.com/de/forum/view... <7.Be2!> TN Great move! It let me wonder why they played 7.Bd3 all the time? <Berlin 1937> ? May I express my general reservations on this with regard to her bio. |
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Jul-02-21
 | | Tabanus: U.S., Consular Reports of Marriage:
<Certificate of Marriage. American Consular Service, Jerusalem Palestine February 3rd, 1927I Oscar Heizen [?], Consul of United States of America at Jerusalem Palestine, do hereby certify that on this third day of February A. D. 1927, at Pension Orlinsky, Zichron Moshe, in the city of Jerusalem, Palestine, Abraham Samuel Karff, a citizen of the United States, aged twenty five years, born in Securani, Kishinew, Russia, and now residing in Boston, Mass, and Mina Rotner, a subject of Roumania, aged eighteen years, born in Securani, Kishinew, Russia, and now residing in Tel Aviv, Palestine were united in marriage ....> |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: https://www.google.com/maps/place/S... shows Sokyriani (= Securani), now located in Ukraine, and Chisinau (= Kishinew), earlier the capital of Bessarabia and now the capital of Moldova. I think the area was considered part of "Romania" in abt. 1908 (check it out), or "Russia" by us westerners. |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: Petition for citizenship 13 May 1930:
Minna Karff, 28 Quint Ave., Boston, Allston, housewife, born in Secureni, Russia on Oct 20, 1908, Hebrew, husband Abraham naturalized 23 March 1925, married 3 Feb 1927 in Jerusalem Palestine, ... I have no children ... emigrated from Tel Aviv via Cherbourg, France and arrived in New York 15 April 1927 on board Aquitania ... <Wherefore, I, your petitioner, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United states of America, and that my name be changed to May Karff.> Nevada State Journal, 8 Jan 1936, page 8: <In
District Court. Divorce suits filed. Abraham Karff vs Mina Karff; ...> |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: The US newspapers' chess columns have "Miss May Karff" and "Miss N. May Karff" from 1937 to about 1952. Don't know what <N.> means. Boston Herald 5 Sep 1948 has "Miss Mona Karff, defending champion", clearly the same person. In Plain Dealer, 26 Oct. 1952 it's "Mona May Karff". |
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| Jul-02-21 | | Petrosianic: There's some question about Karff's birth date. This site says she was born in 1914. The World Chess Hall of Fame says she was born in 1912. Wikipedia says 1908, and cites Social Security and Naturalization records as sources. This makes a difference, because if Karff was born in 1908, she's the oldest person ever to win the US Women's Championship. If 1912 or 1914, then Eva Aronson holds that record. |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: <This site says she was born in 1914> Not any more. She was born in 1908 :) |
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| Jul-02-21 | | Petrosianic: I just had a friend of mine look her up on ancestry.com, and they confirm the birth date October 20, 1908. |
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Jul-02-21
 | | MissScarlett: How much for a copy of the birth certificate? $400? Or does the <DOB> come from another source? |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: I saw no offer in this case.
I rarely see this offer. The US Social Security Death Index has 20 Oct 1908, and so has the orig. marriage certificate + Find a Grave. |
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Jul-02-21
| | MissScarlett: If she was born in 1912 or 1914, that would make her anywhere between 12-15 when she married in 1927 (assuming the marriage was genuine), so that would give her a motive for lying about her DOB. Let's concentrate on finding a source which gives her DOB as 1912 or 1914. |
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Jul-02-21
| | Tabanus: U.S. Public Records Index also has 20 Oct 1908. I think the 1912 date must be a newspaper thing. Spread from one newspaper / source to hundred others, at the time when she died. Hall of Fame, listen ;) |
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| Dec-07-22 | | Messiah: Weird... I have never ever heard about her. |
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| Dec-07-22 | | stone free or die: <Messiah> How did you happen to hear about her just now then? |
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| Dec-07-22 | | Messiah: <stone free or die: <Messiah> How did you happen to hear about her just now then?> Found randomly. |
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| Dec-08-22 | | stone free or die: <Messiah> Ah then, the pleasure of an unexpected find. If you want to read more about this player, you probably couldn't do better than to check out <batgirl> over at chess.com: hess.com/article/view/the-first-us-women-champio-
n---mona-may-karff
<batgirl> is known as <SBC> here on <CG>, and there's another article to explore, mentioned by her just above: Mona May Karff (kibitz #17) |
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Dec-17-23
 | | PJchess: Her Winnipeg 8 April 1940 simultaneous exhibition photo is now to be found at: https://www.bcchesshistory.com/wome... |
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