Lyudmila Rudenko Chess Memorial for women begins in Moscow

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

Do you know who was Lyudmila Rudenko?

She was the second women's world chess champion from 1950 until 1953. Born in Lubny in the Poltava region of Ukraine, in the Russian Empire, her father taught her to play chess at age 10 although at first she was more serious about swimming. She became the Odessa swimming champion in the 400m breaststroke. In 1925, she was the holder of the title of Vice-Swimming Champion of Ukraine (breaststroke). Her professional career would be as an economic planner for the Soviet Union, and chess would remain a hobby. She took to tournament chess only in 1925 after moving to chess.

In Moscow, the Lyudmila Rudenko Chess Memorial runs from August 22 to 31 with 43 players. The Memorial is also a ticket to the next women's chess superfinal in Russia. The total prize fund is 7500 euros.

List of players (top 10):

1 IM Romanko Marina RUS 2402 1986
2 IM Galojan Lilit ARM 2389 1983
3 WGM Molchanova Tatjana RUS 2346 1980
4 WIM Tomilova Elena RUS 2317 1986
5 WIM Severiukhina Zoja RUS 2270 1990
6 WGM Zakurdjaeva Irina RUS 2268 1982
7 WGM Stjazhkina Olga RUS 2247 1970
8 WGM Eidelson Rakhil BLR 2242 1958
9 WGM Doluhanova Evgeniya UKR 2227 1984
10 WFM Baraeva Irina RUS 2204 1995

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