Women's chess in Australia has been occurring since the 1930s and competitive

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 ...

tournaments in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

were taking place on a state level by 1934.

History

During the 1930s, women were encouraged to play chess because the sport was not seen as a bridge to gambling. In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The ninth most popular sport that these women participated in was chess, with 3 having played the sport. The sport was tied with croquet, billiards, chess,

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, squash,

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

Competitive chess

There were chess championships for women being organised by the 1940s. A

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's women's championship was held in 1936, 1939 and 1941.

Competitors

As at January 2015, the following players are the top FIDE rated Australian female players:FIDE Australia Active Women
Country Top chess players
www.fide.com
/ref> #

Giang Nguyen :''This is a Vietnamese name; The family name is Nguyen.'' Giang Thu Nguyen (born ''Nguyễn Thu Giang'' on 2 October 1985 in Hanoi) is a Vietnamese-Australian chess player and mathematician. She is a senior lecturer in Applied Mathematics a ...

, WFM #

Irina Berezina Irina Berezina (also known as Irina Feldman and Irina Berezina-Feldman; born 7 July 1965) is an Australian chess International Master and trainer, and five-time Oceania women's chess champion. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Chess career Berezin ...

, IM is an Australian Women's Chess Champion, and has represented the country in international competitions. # Heather Richards, WIM #

Arianne Caoili Arianne Bo Caoili ( ; 22 December 1986 – 30 March 2020) was a Filipino-Australian chess player. She held the FIDE title of Woman International Master, won the Oceania women's chess championship in 2009 and competed in seven Women's Chess ...

, WIM # Biljana Dekic, WIM Other top Australian female chess players, who are no longer regular tournament competitors, include

(died 2020), Katrin Aladjova, Laura Moylan, Daniela Nutu-Gajic, and Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky.

Australian Women's Champions

The Australian Women's Chess Championship has not been held since 1999 due to lack of interest by the Australian Chess Federation and the top women players of the time. The title of Australian Women's Champion is now awarded to the top finishing woman in the biennial Australian Open, subject to conditions being met. *2023 Leah Rice *2019

Julia Ryjanova Julia Ryjanova (also known as Julia Galianina and Julia Galianina-Ryjanova; ; born 15 May 1974) is a Russian and Australian chess player with the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2001. Ch ...

*2017 Alexandra Jule *2015

Heather Richards Heather Richards (born 16 February 1994) is a Scottish football forward who plays for Hamilton Academical of the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL). Club career Coming from Rangers, Richards transferred to Celtic in December 2011, where ...

*2003

Slavica Sarai Slavica may refer to: People * Slavica Ćukteraš (born 1985), Serbian singer * Slavica Đukić (born 1960), Serbian handball player * Slavica Ecclestone (born 1958), Croatian fashion model * Slavica Jeremić (born 1957), Serbian handball player ...

*2002 Narelle Szuveges *1999 Irina Feldman *1998 Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky *1996 Biljana Dekic & Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky *1995 Daniela Nutu-Gajic *1992 Katrin Aladjova-Wills *1990 Josie Wright *1988

Carin Craig Carin is a given name and surname. As a given name it is a variant spelling of Karin (given name), Karin. Notable persons with the name Carin include: Persons with the given name * Carin Cone (born 1940), American swimmer * Carin du Rietz (1766–1 ...

*1986 Josie Wright *1984 Anne Slavotinek *1982 Anne Slavotinek *1980 Marion McGrath *1978

Lynda Pope Lynda Pope ( Maddern, born 19 April 1953) is an Australian chess player who holds the title of Woman International Master (WIM, 1972). She is a winner of the Australian Women's Chess Championship (1978). Biography Lynda started playing chess ...

*1976 Marion McGrath *1974 Narelle Kellner *1972 Narelle Kellner *1969 Marion McGrath *1966 Marion McGrath

References

Bibliography

* {{chess

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 ...