Chantal Chaudé de Silans (9 March 1919,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

– 6 September 2001,

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional ) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Re ...

) was a French

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player 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 ...

. She also participated in the Men's/Open competitions. She learned how to play the game when she was nine along with her brother the Baron de Silans, who later became a strong amateur. In 1932, at age thirteen, she entered her first women's

French Chess Championship The French Chess Championship is the annual, national chess tournament of France. It was officially first played in 1923 after the formation of the ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' in 1921. The first unofficial national tournament was played i ...

. In 1936, she won the championship at age seventeen. In 1939, she married Bernard Chaudé and followed him to Morocco due to World War II. They returned to France in 1942 and soon entered

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

nets. In 1950 she took part to The Gijón International Chess Tournament, she scored 3,5 points. Silans represented France at the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

tournament, which had to decide who would succeed

Vera Menchik Vera Francevna Mencikova (, ''Vera Frantsevna Menchik''; ; 16 February 1906 – 26 June 1944), was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in England. She was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champ ...

as the woman World Champion. Chantal Chaudé de Silans was leading the field for a good part of the tournament but tired at the end, ending up being tied for fifth place out of sixteen players. Despite having to take care of four children, she participated again to the

Women's World Championships A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

in 1952 and 1955 (Moscow), and again in 1961 (at Vrnjacka Banja), ending up respectively tied for eighth place, tied for 10th and in 12th place. She was part of the national French team at the

9th Chess Olympiad The 9th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE and comprising an open team tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 20 and September 11, 1950, ...

held in

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in 1950, becoming the first woman ever to participate in this competition. She was also the first woman to ever take part to the French Chess Championship (men's section), finishing seventh in 1947. Her shared third place in 1951 is still to this day the best result by a woman at the French Championship. In 1970, shortly after the demise of Jeanne Le Bey-Taillis, she became the President of the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Caïssa

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

. She voluntarily managed it for more than thirty years; meanwhile, the club produced several young talents who would later become strong grandmasters, such as Olivier Renet, Eloi Relange, Manuel Apicella, Igor Nataf and

Joël Lautier Joël Lautier () is a French chess grandmaster and one of the world's leading chess players in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1986, he won the U-14 World Youth Chess Championship in Puerto Rico, Argentina. In 1988, he won the World Junior Chess ...

. She was awarded by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

the title of

, at the creation of the title in 1950 Sunnucks, Anne, ''The Encyclopedia of Chess'', 1970, p. 68 and later the (honorary) title of

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 ...

Illustrative game

*
This game is typical of her attacking style and was played during the match she drew against

Henri Grob Henri Grob (4 June 1904) was a Swiss chess player, artist, and painter. He was Swiss chess champion twice, and was awarded the title of International Master in 1950 at its inauguration. Grob pioneered eccentric chess openings, in particular 1.g ...

in Zurich 1951.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaude de Silans, Chantal 1919 births 2001 deaths French female chess players Chess Woman International Masters 20th-century French chess players 20th-century French sportswomen