Helga Axt (born 27 August 1937) is a German

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 ...

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 ...

(1961) who three times won West Germany Women's Chess Championship (1957, 1958, 1961).

Life

Helga Axt grew up with her grandmother in Prague with her younger sister. She graduated from a hotel management school in Bad Gastein and was a good track and field athlete at the time.''Schach und Speer''
''

Hamburger Abendblatt ''Hamburger Abendblatt'' () is a German daily newspaper in Hamburg belonging to the Funke Mediengruppe, publishing Monday to Saturday. The paper focuses on news in Hamburg and its surrounds, and produces regional supplements with news from Norde ...

'', 27 December 1957 From 1957 to 1961 she was one of the best chess players in the

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. She won the West Germany Women's Chess Championship in 1957, 1958 and 1961. She was a member of the ''Freiburg Chess Club'' and a club reserve player in the 1950s. After being a teacher in

Ihringen Ihringen is a town in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, just east of Breisach am Rhein and west of Freiburg im Breisgau at the southern end of the Kaiserstuhl. It is known for its wine . Climate By most ...

in the mid-1960s, she gave up playing chess.

West Germany Women's Chess Championships

* In 1957 she was first in

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

ahead of

Anneliese Brandler Anneliese Brandler (4 March 1904 – 1970) was a German chess player who won the West Germany Women's Chess Championship in 1962. Biography In the 1950s and in the 1960s, Anneliese Brandler was one of the leading chess players in the West German ...

. * In 1958 she was first in

Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germany, state () of Hesse, capital of both the Giessen (district), district of Giessen and the Giessen (region), administrative region of Giessen. The population is appro ...

before the blind Hannelore Kübel. * In 1959 she had an accident in

Dahn Dahn () is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemei ...

when she wanted to climb the

Jungfernsprung The Jungfernsprung, is a precipitous rock formation in the small German town of Dahn in the county of Südwestpfalz. The rocks tower above the town by around 70 metres and are crowned by a type of summit cross at a height of . The rocks is t ...

Friedl Rinder Friedl Rinder (née Benzinger) (November 20, 1905, in Schrobenhausen – June 3, 2001) was a German woman chess master. Rinder won the 1st Women's German championship at Stuttgart 1939. She took 4th place in the 7th Women's World Chess Championsh ...

became German Champion. * In 1961 she was first in

Wennigsen Wennigsen ( or ) is a municipality in the Hanover (district), district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, approx. 15 km southwest of Hanover. Geography Wennigsen borders on (from north and clockwise) ...

ahead of Gerda Rubin.

References

External links

* * * *Pekka Kauppala, Peter Bolt: ''100 Jahre Schach in Freiburg – Die Geschichte des Freiburger Schach-Clubs'' (''100 years of chess in Freiburg - The history of the Freiburg chess club''), ''Die Schachwoche'' Verlag 1987. *''Helga Axt (Freiburg) Deutsche Damenmeisterin 1961''. ''Schach-Echo'' 1961, Issue 18, cover page 2 (report).
Muggenbrunn: ''Helga Axt und Schwester auf Skiern'', 1958
1937 births Living people People from Rhineland-Palatinate Chess Woman International Masters German female chess players 20th-century German chess players 20th-century German sportswomen {{Germany-chess-bio-stub