Blast from the Past: Karpov v. Polgar

From the archives of Chessbase, a preview of the titled "Clash of the Titans" - past World Chess Champions GM Anatoly Karpov and GM Susan Polgar. It also provides a retrospective of Women's World Chess Champions: from the woman considered the first modern women's world chess champion, Vera Menchik, who was tragically killed during a bombing raid in London during World War II, through Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2004). There are some misstatements of and omissions of important facts and mispellings (Antoaneta - not Anoatneta) - did no one edit that article??? For instance, while it is noted that in 2004 GM Zhu Chen declined to defend her title in the WWCC knock-out tournament due to pregnancy, the entry on GM Susan Polgar does not mention that she also declined to participate in the WWCC match against Xie Jun in 1996. Tsk tsk. Today's chess femmes prove that brains and beauty go together like a hand in a glove, thanks in no small part to the intrepid chess femmes who forged the pathways ahead of them. Here is an updated list of women's chess champions: Name Years Country Vera Menchik 1927–1944 Czechoslovakia / United Kingdom Lyudmila Rudenko 1950–1953 Soviet Union / Ukraine Elisabeth Bykova 1953–1956 Soviet Union / Russia Olga Rubtsova 1956–1958 Soviet Union / Russia Elisabeth Bykova 1958–1962 Soviet Union / Russia Nona Gaprindashvili 1962–1978 Soviet Union / Georgia Maya Chiburdanidze 1978–1991 Soviet Union / Georgia Xie Jun 1991–1996 People's Republic of China Susan Polgar 1996–1999 Hungary / United States Xie Jun 1999–2001 People's Republic of China Zhu Chen 2001–2004 People's Republic of China Antoaneta Stefanova 2004–2006 Bulgaria Xu Yuhua 2006–2008 People's Republic of China Alexandra Kosteniuk 2008–present Russia Thanks to Mark Weeks' website for information and also Wikipedia. The "Battle of the Titans" was the subject of Susan Polgar's recent chess column for the Lubbock Avalance-Journal's online edition.