Gisela Kahn Gresser (February 8, 1906

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– December 4, 2000)"Gisela Kahn Gresser", ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'', March 2001, p. 40. was an American chess player. She dominated women's chess in the United States, winning the

U.S. Women's Chess Championship Following are the results of the U.S. Women's Chess Championship from 1937 to date. The tournament determines the woman chess champion of the United States. List of U.S. Women's Chess Champions *1937 Adele Rivero *1938 Mona May Karff *1940 Adele ...

nine times from 1944 to 1969.

Chess career

Gresser learned chess at a very late age. On a cruise from France to New York in the late 1930s, she borrowed a chess manual from a fellow passenger and taught herself how to play. By the end of the cruise, she was hooked.Elaine Woo
Gisela Gresser; Chess Pioneer Won National Title 9 Times
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', December 16, 2000. Retrieved on 2009-03-29. In 1938, she was a spectator at the first

tournament, organized by Caroline Marshall (wife of US Champion Frank Marshall) and held at the

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

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(won by

Adele Rivero Adele Rivero (March 10, 1908 – May 5, 1992) was an American chess player. She won the first U.S Women's Chess Champion and held the title twice, in 1937 and 1940. Born Adolphine Octaire Permereur in Antwerp, Belgium to Edward Permereur and Ma ...

).Harkness, p. 284. She first played in the championship in 1940, and in 1944 she won it with a perfect score. She won it again in 1948 (with

Mona May Karff Mona May Karff (née Minna Ratner; 20 October 1908 – 10 January 1998) was an American chess player. She dominated U.S. women's chess in the 1940s and early 1950s: she held seven U.S. Women's Chess Champion titles and four consecutive U.S. O ...

), 1955 (with Nancy Roos), 1957 (with

Sonja Graf Susanna "Sonja" Graf (December 16, 1908 – March 6, 1965) was a German and American chess player. She was a women's world championship runner-up and a two-time U.S. women's champion. In 2016, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. E ...

), 1962, 1965, 1966 (with

Lisa Lane Marianne Elizabeth Lane Hickey, also known as Lisa Lane (born April 25, 1938, in Philadelphia), is an American former chess player. She was the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, U.S. Women's Chess Champion in 1959, but not a chess master. She appear ...

), 1967, and 1969 (at age 63). In addition to her repeated successes in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship, Gresser also played in the

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wher ...

tournament of 1949-50, and subsequently in six Women's World Championship cycles: five Candidates' tournaments (1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, and 1967) and one Interzonal tournament (1971). She played for the U.S. team in three Women's Chess Olympiads (1957, 1963, and 1966). She won the 1954 U.S. Women's Open Championship. In April 1963, she became the first woman in the United States to gain a

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

title, with a rating of 2211.Woo, Elaine. "Gisela Gresser; Chess Pioneer Won National Title 9 Times". '' Los Angeles Times.'' 16 December 2000. She also wrote an article for the October 1950 issue of ''

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'', entitled "I Went to Moscow". Mrs. Gresser (Mrs. was her preferred title) took lessons from

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

Hans Kmoch Johann "Hans" Joseph Kmoch (July 25, 1894, Vienna – February 13, 1973, New York City) was an Austrian-Dutch-American chess International Master (1950), International Arbiter (1951), and a chess journalist and author, for which he is best known. ...

and Grandmaster

Arthur Bisguier Arthur Bernard Bisguier (October 8, 1929April 5, 2017), paternal surname Bisgeier, was an American chess player, chess promoter, and writer who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships (1948, 1949), ...

. She was (with Karff) one of the first three female chess players in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and one of the first seventeen players in the world, to be awarded the title of

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 1950 when

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

created official titles. She was also the first woman to be inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame, which happened in 1992.

Personal life

Gresser studied classics at

Radcliffe Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * ...

. She won a prestigious Charles Elliott Norton fellowship, which she used to continue her studies at the American School of Classical Studies in

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. In 1927, she returned to New York, where she married William Gresser, a New York City attorney and musicologist, who died in 1982. She was a housewife, and raised their two sons, Ion and Julian. Gresser was an accomplished painter and musician, as well as a classical scholar. She went on

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

many times, even in her eighties.

Notable games

Gresser vs. Karff, New York 1944

Gresser (White) defeats her main rival for the

. The game was annotated by

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of ...

for

Chess Review ''Chess Review'' was a U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Until April 1941 it was called ''The Chess Review''. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but lat ...

.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. e5 Nd5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 Leaving the kingside unprotected by a minor piece. Annotated by

. 8.bxc3 Qc7 9.f4 Nxc3 10.Qg4 Stronger was 10.Qf3 Nd5 11.Nb5 Qc5 12.Nd6+ Kf8 13.Qh5 g6 14.Qh6+ Kg8 15.c4 followed by Ne4 and Nf6. 10... O-O 11.Bd3 Nd5 12.c4 f5 13.Qh4 Qc5! 14.Nb3 Qe7! 15.Qh3 Nb4 16.Bb1 N8c6 17.a3 Na6 18.O-O! 18.g4 g6 19.Rg1 d6 defends and counterattacks. 18... d6 Probably better was 18... b6, followed by ... Nc5, ... Ba6, and ... Rac8. 19.exd6 Qxd6 20.Bc3 Nc5 21. Bc2 Nxb3 22.Bxb3 Re8 23.Qg3 Qc7 24.Kh1 Re7 Black could consider 24... e5 giving back the pawn. 25.Rad1 Bd7 26.Rd3! Rae8 26... e5 does not work after 27.c5+ Kh8 28.fxe5 Nxe5 29.Rxd7; or 27... Be6 28.Be6+ Rxe6 29.fxe5 Nxe5 30.Rd6! 27.Rfd1 Bc8 28.c5 Kh8 29.Ba4! Rd8? 30.Qh4 30.Rxd8+ Nxd8 31.Be5 Qa5 32.Qg5 wins material immediately. 30... Rxd3? Lasker at first recommended 30... Red7 because White only gets perpetual check after 31.Bxg7+ Kxg7 32.Rg3+ Kf8. Subsequently, he acknowledged that, as pointed out by Frank Marshall and Harold Phillips, White could keep good winning chances with 31.Qh5! Rxd3 32. Rxd3 Kg8 33. Rg3. Letter to editor. 31.Rxd3 Rd7 White was threatening 32.Bxc6 bxc6 33.Be5, or if 32... Qxc6 33.Rd8+ Re8 34.Qe7! 32 Rh3 h6 33 Qxh6 Black

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

Gresser vs. Rudenko, Moscow 1949-50

Gresser (White) hands

Lyudmila Rudenko Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (russian: Людми́ла Влади́мировна Руде́нко, uk, Людмила Володимирівна Руденко; 27 July 1904 – 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second women' ...

, who won the Eighth Women's World Championship in this event with 11½ points out of 15 games (+9 =5 -1), her only defeat.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 f5 5.d4 fxe4 6.dxc5 exf3 7.Qxf3 Nf6 8.Bg5 O-O 9.O-O Qe7 10.Bc4+ Kh8 11.b4 a5 12.Bxf6 Rxf6 13.Qd5 Rf8 14.b5 Nd8 15.Nd2 c6 16.Qd6 Qxd6 17.cxd6 b6 18.Rfe1 cxb5 19.Bxb5 Nf7 20.Nc4 Ba6 21.Bxa6 Rxa6 22.Nxe5 Nxd6 23.Nxd7 Rc8 24.Rad1 b5 25.h3 Nf7 26.Re7 Kg8 27.Rde1 Nd6 28.R1e6 Rxc3 29.Ne5 h6 30.Rd7 Rc5 31.Nf7 Nxf7 32.Rxa6 Ne5 33.Rb7 b4 34.Raa7 Nc6 35.Rxg7+ Kf8 36.Raf7+ Ke8 37.Rb7 Rf5 38.Rg8+ Rf8 39.Rxf8+ Kxf8 40.Rb6 Ne5 41.Rxh6 1-0Kažić, p. 264.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gresser, Gisela Kahn 1906 births 2000 deaths 20th-century chess players 20th-century American Jews American female chess players Chess Woman International Masters Jewish chess players People from Detroit Radcliffe College alumni 20th-century American women 20th-century American people