Hilda Florence Chater (28 August 1874 – 27 November 1968) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player, Irish Women's Chess Championship four-times winner.

Biography

Hilda Chater was active in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

chess in the 1920s and 1930s. She was a member of the Cornwall County Chess Association. Hilda Chater represented the Cornwall County in

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common ...

and over the board chess tournaments. In 1928 and 1929 she twice won premier Cornwall County individual chess tournament. In 1939 Hilda Chater first time participated in

British Women's Chess Championship The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

in which she played several more times. Her best result in British Women's Chess Championship was 4th place in 1951. In 1950 Hilda Chater went to live in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. In 1954, she won first Irish Women's Chess Championship after playoff. Hilda Chater repeated this success three more times: 1954, 1955 and 1957. In 1957, in Emmen, at the age of 82, she represented Ireland at the first board in the

1st Women's Chess Olympiad The 1st Women's Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE, took place between 2 and 21 September 1957, in Emmen, Netherlands. Results Preliminaries A total of 21 two-woman teams entered the competition and were divided into three preliminary grou ...

. By this time she had become known as the ''Grand Old Lady of Chess''.

References

1874 births 1968 deaths People from Leytonstone British female chess players Irish female chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players {{Ireland-bio-stub