Ludmilla Meijler-Sochnenko (born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus) is a Belarusian female

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

player. She was the women's world champion in 1979.

Career

Meijler-Sochnenko started playing at age 14, later than most professional players. Nine years later, in 1979, she became the women's world champion. She participated in the world championships in 1980 and 1981, where she twice finished second and again in 1987, coming third. She won the draughts women's championship of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and finished second in the same tournament in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and 1982. she was a fanatic competitor, and trained 5-6 hours every day. Her trainer Michael Kats had a large influence on women's Draughts, and his disciples included world champions Ludmilla Sochnenko, Zoja Golubeva and Elena Altsjoel. In 1985 she competed for the last time at the women's Soviet Union draughts championship, coming 14th of 16 competitors. She began studying

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

, which interrupted her training. During five years she did not play at all. She married a Dutchman and since 1990 lives in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands she could not compete without reasonable fluency in Dutch language, preventing her from competing. She participated a couple of times (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

) in the Dutch draughts women's championships. Her best performance there was third in 1992.

Music

She published some albums of instrumental music, such as ''Семейный альбом / Familie album'' and ''Грезы / Dagdromen'' (''Daydreaming'').

References

External links

KNDB (Royal Dutch Draughts Organization) profile

World championship 1977

World championship 1979

World championship 1980

World championship 1981
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meijler-Sochnenko, Ludmilla Soviet draughts players