Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (russian: Людми́ла Влади́мировна Руде́нко, uk, Людмила Володимирівна Руденко; 27 July 1904 – 4 March 1986) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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 dist ...

player and the second

women's world chess champion 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, whe ...

, from 1950 until 1953. She was awarded the

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 ...

titles of

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 ...

(IM) and

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 ...

(WIM) in 1950, and

Woman Grandmaster 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 ...

(WGM) in 1976. She was the first woman awarded the International Master title. Rudenko was also USSR women's champion in 1952.

Early life and swimming career

Rudenko was born in 1904 in Lubny, in the

Poltava region Poltava Oblast ( uk, Полта́вська о́бласть, translit=Poltavska oblast; also referred to as Poltavshchyna – uk, Полта́вщина, literally 'Poltava Country') is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The administrativ ...

of what is now Ukraine.E. Bishard about L. Rudenko
''e3e5.com''. 28 July 2004. At age 10, Rudenko was taught how to play chess by her father—although, at first, she was more interested in swimming. After secondary school, she moved to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

and took a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

. Rudenko became the swimming champion of Odessa in the

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

. In 1925, she was swimming vice-champion of Ukraine (breaststroke). She started a career as an economic planner for the Soviet Union, and chess became a hobby.

Chess career

Rudenko began playing tournament chess in 1925 after a move to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In 1928, she won the Moscow women's championship. She then moved to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where she met and married scientist Lev Davidovich Goldstein; in 1931 they had a son. In Leningrad in 1929 she began training with

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pre ...

Peter Romanovsky Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky (russian: Пётр Арсеньевич Романо́вский; 29 July 1892 – 1 March 1964) was a Russian chess player and author. He won the Soviet Championship in 1923 and, jointly, 1927. Biography At the begi ...

. She won the Leningrad women's championship three times. In World War II, Rudenko organized a train to evacuate children from the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of ...

. She described this as the most important accomplishment in her life. Women's World Champion

Vera Menchik Vera Francevna Mencikova (russian: Вера Францевна Менчик, ''Vera Frantsevna Menchik''; cz, Věra Menčíková; 16 February 1906 – 26 June 1944), was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in En ...

died in 1944 during an air raid. After the war, in the winter of 1949–1950, the World Chess Federation

held a tournament in Moscow to determine the new women's champion. Sixteen women from twelve countries competed, with the four Soviet players taking the top four spots. Rudenko, who was then 45 years old, won the tournament, a full point ahead of the field (scoring nine wins, one loss, and five draws). She held the Women's World Championship title until losing it to

Elisaveta Bykova Elisaveta Ivanovna Bykova (or ''Elisabeth Bykova'', Russian: Елизаве́та Ива́новна Бы́кова; 4 November 1913 – 8 March 1989) was a Soviet chess player and twice Women's World Chess Champion, from 1953 until 1956, and ...

in 1953 in the next championship cycle. Her score was 6–8 (five wins, seven losses, and two draws). Rudenko's post-war chess trainers were

Alexander Tolush Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush (1 May 1910 – 3 March 1969) was a Soviet chess grandmaster. He was one of Boris Spassky's mentors. Tolush was born and died in Saint Petersburg (in 1969 called Leningrad). He earned the title of International Mast ...

and

Grigory Levenfish Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Левенфи́ш; – 9 February 1961) was a Soviet chess player who scored his peak competitive results in the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion ...

Legacy

Rudenko was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2015. She was honored with a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

on the 114th anniversary of her birth, 27 July 2018.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudenko, Lyudmila 1904 births 1986 deaths Ukrainian female chess players Russian female chess players Soviet female chess players Women's world chess champions Chess International Masters Chess woman grandmasters People from Lubny 20th-century chess players