Mona May Karff (née Minna Ratner; 20 October 1908 – 10 January 1998) was an American

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. She dominated U.S. women's chess in the 1940s and early 1950s: she held seven U.S. Women's Chess Champion titles and four consecutive

U.S. Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

titles.

Chess career

Karff played in three

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's ...

s: 1937 Stockholm, playing for Palestine and placing sixth (won by

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 ...

); 1939 Buenos Aires, playing for the U.S. and placing 5th (also won by Menchik); 1949 Moscow, playing for the U.S. (won by

Lyudmila Rudenko Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (, ; 27 July 1904 – 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second women's world chess champion, from 1950 until 1953. Rudenko was awarded the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Interna ...

). When

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 ...

established titles in 1950, Mona May Karff was one of three American women to receive the title of International Woman Master. Karff, along with

Gisela Kahn Gresser Gisela Kahn Gresser (February 8, 1906 Detroit, Michigan – December 4, 2000)"Gisela Kahn Gresser", ''Chess Life'', March 2001, p. 40. was an American chess player. She dominated women's chess in the United States, winning the U.S. Women's Ches ...

and

Mary Bain Mary Weiser Bain (August 8, 1904 – October 26, 1972) was an American chess master. Biography She was born in or near Ungvár, Kárpátalja, Hungary, which is now Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia oblast, Ukraine, into an assimilated Jewish family. Under ...

, dominated U.S. women's chess in the 1940s and early 1950s. Mona May Karff won her first U.S. Women's Chess Champion title ahead of

and Adele Rivero in 1938. She competed and won the title six more times, in 1941, 1943, 1946, 1948 (sharing it with Gresser), 1953 and in 1974 (at age 66). She also won four consecutive U.S. Open titles: 1938, 1939, 1948, and 1950 (shared with

Lucille Kellner Lucille is a female given name of French origin and may refer to: People with the given name * Lucille Roybal-Allard (born 1941), American politician * Lucille Ball (1911–1989), American actress best known for the television series ''Love Lucy ...

Personal life

Karff was born in

Sokyriany Sokyriany (, ; ) is a small city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast (province) of Ukraine, Northern Bessarabia. It hosts the administration of Sokyriany urban hromada, one of the hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of mu ...

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

, then a province in Tsarist

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Sometime after the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

of 1917, her family moved to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, in what was then

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Her father, Aviv Ratner, a wealthy

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

land-owner, had taught her to play chess when she was 9 years old. Because of her natural ability, she started playing in tournaments in Tel Aviv and developed into a strong player. In 1930, she moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and became a U.S. citizen, aged 21. There she met and married her cousin, an attorney named Abraham S. Karff (15 March 1901 – 16 February 1995). The marriage was brief. She never remarried, but her long-time romantic relationship with

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author ...

(a five-time U.S. Chess Open champion) was not a secret. Karff was also a

stock investor A stock trader or equity trader or share trader, also called a stock investor, is a person or company involved in trading equity securities and attempting to profit from the purchase and sale of those securities. Stock traders may be an inve ...

who was worth a small fortune. She spoke eight languages fluently and traveled extensively. As an art lover, she spent a good portion of her fortune on

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

. She died in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on January 10, 1998.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karff, Mona May 1908 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American chess players Jewish chess players American female chess players Palestinian chess players Chess Woman International Masters Bessarabian Jews Jews from Mandatory Palestine Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent Chess players from Boston 20th-century American sportswomen

Chess career

Personal life

See also

References

External links