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 again from 1958 to 1962. She was awarded the titles of Woman International Master in 1950, International Master in 1953, and Woman Grandmaster in 1976.[1] In 2013, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.[2]

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Ivanovna and the family name is Bykova.
Elisaveta Bykova
Full nameElisaveta Ivanovna Bykova
CountrySoviet Union
Born4 November 1913
Bogolyubovo, Vladimir Oblast, Russian Empire
Died8 March 1989(1989-03-08) (aged 75)
Moscow, Soviet Union
TitleInternational Master (1953)
Woman Grandmaster (1976)
Women's World Champion1953–1956
1958–1962
Bykova on a 2001 stamp of Yugoslavia

Career

Bykova was born to a peasant family. When she was twelve, her family moved to Moscow, where she began to play chess with her brother. Her talent became apparent in 1927, when she won her school's chess championship.[3]

In 1938, she won the women's Moscow championship and after the Second World War she was a three-time winner of the Women's Soviet Chess Championship (1946, 1947 and 1950).

After winning in 1952 the Women's Candidates Tournament in Moscow, in 1953 she defeated in Leningrad the reigning champion Lyudmila Rudenko, with seven wins, five losses, and two draws. She lost the title to Olga Rubtsova in 1956, but won it back two years later, becoming the first woman to do so.

In 1960, she defended successfully the title against Kira Zvorykina (+6 -2 =5), but in 1962, she lost the title against the 21-year-old Nona Gaprindashvili (+0 -7 =4).

She worked as an engineer in a large Moscow printing house, and was also an author and columnist about chess in the USSR. Passionate about women's chess, Bykova also wrote three books about Vera Menchik, Soviet women chess players, and the Women's World Championship. She also promoted chess through lectures and the organization of tournaments.[4]

References
  1. Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0709146971
  2. "Elizaveta (Elizabeth) Bykova". World Chess Hall of Fame.
  3. "Fifth Elizaveta Bykova Memorial Tournament in Vladimir". ChessBase. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  4. "World Chess Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.


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