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Vera Menchik
Menchik 
 
Number of games in database: 314
Years covered: 1927 to 1943

Overall record: +94 -140 =76 (42.6%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 4 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Queen's Gambit Declined (18) 
    D30 D37 D31 D35
 Slav (15) 
    D13 D15 D11 D18 D12
 Queen's Pawn Game (15) 
    D02 D00 A46
 English (12) 
    A15 A14 A13 A12
 Orthodox Defense (10) 
    D63 D52 D55 D68 D51
 Semi-Slav (9) 
    D43 D46 D48 D45
With the Black pieces:
 French Defense (36) 
    C14 C11 C13 C00 C02
 Orthodox Defense (27) 
    D51 D63 D52 D61 D54
 French (16) 
    C13 C11 C00
 Classical French (14) 
    C14
 Queen's Gambit Declined (13) 
    D37 D35 D30 D31
 King's Indian (12) 
    E60 E61 E91 E85 E94
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Menchik vs G A Thomas, 1932 1-0
   Menchik vs Graf-Stevenson, 1937 1-0
   F Lazard vs Menchik, 1929 0-1
   Menchik vs Colle, 1929 1-0
   Baratz vs Menchik, 1928 0-1
   Menchik vs A Becker, 1929 1-0
   Menchik vs G A Thomas, 1936 1-0
   Sultan Khan vs Menchik, 1932 0-1
   Menchik vs Euwe, 1931 1-0
   Menchik vs E E Book, 1938 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Maribor (1934)
   Hastings 1929/30 (1929)
   Scarborough (1928)
   Margate (1936)
   Hastings 1931/32 (1931)
   Margate (1937)
   London (1932)
   Hastings 1932/33 (1932)
   Hastings 1933/34 (1933)
   Margate (1935)
   Margate (1938)
   British Championship (1938)
   Paris (1929)
   Podebrady (1936)
   Karlsbad (1929)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   1939 World (women) chess championship by gauer


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Vera Menchik
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VERA MENCHIK
(born Feb-16-1906, died Jun-27-1944, 38 years old) Russia (federation/nationality United Kingdom)
PRONUNCIATION:
[what is this?]

Vera Francevna Menchik Stevenson was born to English and Czech parents, in Moscow. She learned the game at nine and, after her family settled in England in 1921, she began taking lessons from Geza Maroczy. Her positional style and endgame expertise netted her victories against several notable male players, among them Max Euwe (twice), Samuel Reshevsky and Mir Sultan Khan. Albert Becker quipped that these and the other men she defeated were members of the "Menchik Club." She was married to Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson.

Vera Menchik was Women's World Champion from 1927 until 1944, when a German V1 rocket destroyed her London residence, killing her, her mother and her sister Olga Menchik.

An audiovisual documentary, prepared by User: jessicafischerqueen, can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTOl...

Wikipedia article: Vera Menchik

Last updated: 2022-04-02 09:33:53

 page 1 of 13; games 1-25 of 314  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Menchik vs E C Price  1-0321927FIDE Women's World ChampionshipA15 English
2. J W Rivkine vs Menchik 1-0311927Hastings 1927/28 Major AC11 French
3. Menchik vs Koltanowski 0-1211927Hastings 1927/28 Major AE60 King's Indian Defense
4. S F Smith vs Menchik  1-0271927Hastings 1927/28 Major AB08 Pirc, Classical
5. Menchik vs J Rejfir  1-0321928Hastings /29E38 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, 4...c5
6. George Wright vs Menchik 0-1371928GBR-ch opB00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening
7. Baratz vs Menchik 0-1261928Hastings 1927/28 Major AA01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack
8. S F Smith vs Menchik  0-1281928Cheltenham MajorC11 French
9. G A Thomas vs Menchik 1-0321928ScarboroughC11 French
10. Menchik vs Yates 1-0631928ScarboroughE60 King's Indian Defense
11. R P Michell vs Menchik 0-1481928ScarboroughD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
12. H Saunders vs Menchik  1-0431928ScarboroughA46 Queen's Pawn Game
13. Menchik vs F Schubert 1-0401928ScarboroughD35 Queen's Gambit Declined
14. Noteboom vs Menchik 1-0241928Hastings IID63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
15. Menchik vs G A Thomas 1-0421929Ramsgate schevD78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6
16. T H Tylor vs Menchik  ½-½361929Ramsgate schevB58 Sicilian
17. Menchik vs W Winter  ½-½231929Ramsgate schevE37 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
18. Yates vs Menchik  ½-½251929Ramsgate schevA48 King's Indian
19. Menchik vs R P Michell 1-0311929Ramsgate schevA09 Reti Opening
20. H E Price vs Menchik 0-1531929Ramsgate schevE73 King's Indian
21. E G Sergeant vs Menchik  ½-½341929Ramsgate schevC14 French, Classical
22. Menchik vs Colle 1-0391929ParisE40 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3
23. Menchik vs J Cukierman  ½-½121929ParisD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
24. Menchik vs Tartakower 0-1301929ParisA51 Budapest Gambit
25. Menchik vs J A Seitz  0-1511929ParisD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
 page 1 of 13; games 1-25 of 314  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Menchik wins | Menchik loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-23-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen:

<perfidious>

No one, of course.

Nonetheless, new member <Polonia> thinks this is an important message to get out there.

<Polonia> has made four posts so far, and three of them have been exactly the same post you read in here.

The fourth is a post in the Kibbutzer's Kafe criticizing its habitues.

Best Kibbutzer of the year?

You make the call!

Dec-23-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <jess...Best Kibbutzer of the year?>

Dang!

I have a theory: perhaps an ancestor was a member of the Vera Menchik Club.

Dec-23-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen:

<perfidious> ingenious theory.

Supporting science: "Revenge is a dish best served cold..."

Jan-12-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  John Saunders: At BritBase I have posted the scores of two <Vera Menchik> games which don't appear in the Robert Tanner book or Mega/Big Database 2022 or here: (1) V.Menchik 1-0 W.Winter, April 1930 Hastings Five-Player Tournament, rd 2, date 15.04.30; (2) W.Winter 1-0 V.Menchik, rd 8, Hastings 1930/31, dated 06.01.1931. I'll upload them here as well.
Jan-12-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: I have processed them, but for sources please use a source tag.
Jan-12-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: <[Source "Falkirk Herald, 21 May 1930; Linlithgowshire Gazette, 23 May 193"]>

Just one source necessary, except in exceptional circumstances. In this case, it's the same column which regularly appeared in both papers. A page number is also encouraged, where known.

I have amended the above to <Source "Falkirk Herald, 1930.05.21, p.15">.

Jan-16-22  Polonia: <jessicafischerqueen:

<perfidious>

No one, of course.

Nonetheless, new member <Polonia> thinks this is an important message to get out there.

<Polonia> has made four posts so far, and three of them have been exactly the same post you read in here.

The fourth is a post in the Kibbutzer's Kafe criticizing its habitues.

Best Kibbutzer of the year?

You make the call!>

INSTEAD OF DRINKING TOO MUCH, ANSWER MY POINT!

Jan-16-22  Polonia: <perfidious: <jess...Best Kibbutzer of the year?>

Dang!

I have a theory: perhaps an ancestor was a member of the Vera Menchik Club.> How WIKISTUPID U R.... ancestors go back at least thousands of years as in dinosaurus times, we can link crocodile and alligators to them but only ancestors people have are monkey humanoids!

Jan-28-22  Polonia: She beat top players in tournament play including world champ max euwe and sam reshevsky: https://worldchesshof.org/hof-induc...
Feb-02-22  Polonia: max euwe should not have given rematch to alexander alekhine but find opponent who will pay him most dough! i doubt there was rematch agreement but yet chess was not as professional as today with details computer preparation for moves leading to draws.
Feb-02-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Euwe was a class act. Full stop. The world was better for his presence.
Feb-02-22  Polonia: u mean chess world was made better because of him!
Feb-03-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Don't put words in my mouth.

Sod off.

Feb-03-22  Sally Simpson: Hi Polonia,

<"max euwe should not have given rematch to alexander alekhine...i doubt there was rematch agreement.">

There was re-match clause in the 1935 contract should Alekhine lose. Here is the contract signed by both players agreeing to it.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/edwar...

Feb-03-22  Olavi: Yes, there was a rematch clause, but there was one also in the Lasker - Schlechter contract, and Schlechter never got a second match. So if Euwe had somehow evaded the match there would have been little that Aljechin could have done. But of course that wasn't going to happen, provided the purse was there, which it was.
Feb-03-22  Polonia: sod off you can leave on wikipedia really: wiki-PEDO-ia aka wiki-PEE-dia full of wikignorant, wikihypocrites wikioccultist, wikistupid, wikicontradicting, wikiarrogant wikihomopedoidiots where every article is wrong and old people get accused of killing heads of state archive.is/Y0BB, whatever, i wrote what you really ment in positive terms, duh!
Feb-03-22  Polonia: but schlechter drew the match, did he try to get rematch? and 2 points clause? last game was draw for drawchter and the title and immortality and comfy living! then he like kieseritzky died like bum and was buried in pauper's grave?
Mar-08-22  Albertan: Thoughts on International Women’s Day:Remembering Vera Menchik:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/thoug...

Apr-05-22  Whitehat1963: How would she do against the likes of the Polgar sisters, Yifan Hou, etc.?
Apr-06-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Home or away?
Apr-08-22  Whitehat1963: Away, with DH allowed, lefty fireballer on the mound, and the lights on at Wrigley.
Apr-21-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: I was being smart-ish - I meant really during her heyday or during theirs
Jul-15-22  Reviews By AdiN: death should not take away somebody's champion, she remained champion until new champion was crowned!
Sep-03-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: An excellent article on Menchik from The New York Times, part of their "Overlooked" series of stories.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/...

Sep-03-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: <An Englishman: Good Evening: An excellent article on Menchik from The New York Times, part of their "Overlooked" series of stories.>

The NYTimes piece notes that

<As the 2020 Netflix mini-series “The Queen’s Gambit” dramatized, women competing in the upper echelons of chess have traditionally had to swim upstream in a black-and-white game that not only shuns them but also identifies success and competitive ambition as inherently male qualities.>

But ironically, “The Queen’s Gambit” overlooked Menchik. In the series Beth Harmon is referred to as the first female chessplayer who plays at the same level as the top male players. Menchik never gets a mention.

The Washington Post also ran an article about Menchik, covering much of the same material: https://www.washingtonpost.com/hist.... It makes the point about how the series expunged Menchik from history.

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