Clarice Benini (January 8, 1905 - September 8, 1976) was a WIM and was the strongest Italian female player of all time. Never married, she was always “Signorina Benini,” a moody and sober spinster whose only known amusement was to hang out with the men at the chess club who referred to her as “Benini girl” because she was unmarried.
Born in Florence, at the age of fifteen she found herself fatherless when Giuseppe Benini died while she was playing in a tournament. After the death of her parents she devoted herself to chess and became a close friend of Marquis Stefano Rosselli del Turco (1877-1947) who was also from Florence.
A dangerous attacker, she was always going after the opponent’s King, usually with exceptional creativity and violence. Take a look at her game against Chaude de Silans below!
She was the twice Italian women's champion (1938 and 1939).
At the women's super-tournament at Semmering 1936, won by Sonja Graf, she finished 2nd.
Then she was a surprise at the Women's World Championship at Stockholm 1937, when she finished second behind Vera Menchik. This event took place during the 1937 Stockholm Olympiad.
In 1949/50, she finished 9th in the Women's World Championship in Moscow; it was won by Lyudmila Rudenko. The title had been vacant since the death of Vera Menchik in 1944.
For Benini the Moscow tournament was a long-awaited event after the war years during which time chess in Italy had suffered badly under the Italian fascist regime.
Though her youth was gone and she had been threatened by her employer in the new post-fascist Italy with losing her job if she went to the Soviet Union, she didn’t think twice about it and undertook the fifteen-day train trip anyway.
She traveled to Moscow at her own expense and when she arrived there it was 32 below zero.
By this time she no longer resembled the young woman who had surprised everyone in Sweden because she had been out of practice for years.
As a result, she lost many games, but even so, the Soviets were impressed with her fighting spirit; Bronstein and Ragozin made special mention of her. It was clear that if the Benini had been well prepared, she would have been a dangerous contender. She tied for 3rd-4th at Venice 1951 (WWCC zonal). In 1953/54 Benini achieved excellent results in the International Women's tournaments of Abbazia where she placed second with 13.5 points out of 17. At Gardone in 1956 she was unbeaten and finished first. Then at Amsterdam in 1957 she was undefeated and took another first. She finished 2nd at Beverwijk in 1958.
Benini continued to play in Italian women’s events and at the Florence chess club, but then had to abandon competitive activity in the mid-Sixties due to an eye disease.
She moved to the countryside where she owned a small house in Borgo Nuovo in northwestern Italy not far from the French and Swiss borders. It was there that she suffered an untimely end when an insane farmer murdered his wife and children and then murdered Benini who was his neighbor.
[Event "Womens World Championship Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1949.12.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chantal Chaude de Silans"]
[Black "Clarice Benini"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Slav Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 {The Slav gain popularity in the 1920s and
received an exhaustive test during the two Alekhine-Euwe World Championship
matches.} 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9.
Ne2 {Nowadays the preference runs towards 9.Qe2} 9... h6 10. Ng3 Bh7 11. Qe2
Nbd7 12. e4 Qe7 13. Ne5 Rad8 {Had black taken the N the doubled P would be no
disadvantage because after f2-f4 white has a remote possibility of a general P
advance on the K-side.} 14. Nxd7 Rxd7 15. e5 {Aggressive play by white who
eschews the solid 15.Rd1.} 15... Nd5 16. Nh5 Kh8 17. f4 Nb6 18. Be3 Nxc4 19.
Qxc4 Rd5 20. Qc1 {With the N on h5 in the vicinity of black's K, white plans a
R-lift and the advance of her f-Pawn to give her a promising attack.} 20...
Rfd8 21. Rf3 Qh4 {An interesting way of defending...white either must retreat
the N or defend it with the R. But there is a third possibility that leads
to quite interesting play. 22.Nxg7?! Kxg7 23.Rh3 Qe7 24.f5 with complications
that are unclear...to humans. Engines prefer black based on material
considerations.} 22. Rh3 Qg4 23. f5 {The N sac is no longer a possibility}
23... Bxf5 24. Nf4 {One would now expect black to tamely retreat the R and
keep a solid advantage. Instead, she sacrifices it in order to gain play on
the d-file...d2 in particular. Watch!} 24... Rxd4 {Beautiful!} 25. Bxd4 Rxd4
26. Rf3 Bd2 {Winning the N...the game is over, or so it would appear.} 27.
Qc5 Bxf4 28. h3 {Now with the quiet retreat 28...Qh4 black would have a
winning position. Instead she gets fancy and could have lost the game.
Thankfully for all the spectators Benini decided to exhibit her uncompromising
style for which she was so well known.} 28... Qxf3 {This is unsound in the
sense that it results in equal chances... equal if white finds the correct
defense. If white takes the Q she would get a lost ending: 29.gxf3 Be3+
followed by ...Rd1+ and black ends up with two Bs and a Q-side P-majority vs a
R which should win without great difficulty.} 29. Qf8+ {The only correct
defense because now that her Q is not exposed to attack she can safely play
30.gxf3} 29... Kh7 30. gxf3 Rd2 31. Qb4 {Somewhat better was 31. h4} 31... g5
{Better was 31...Be3+ and 32...b6} 32. Qxb7 Kg6 {White has now equalized and
should have taken the a-Pawn} 33. Re1 {Now black could have grabbed some extra
Ps with 33...Bg3! ...Bxh3 and white's e-Pawn would also soon fall.} 33...
Bxh3 34. Qb8 {The Ks entry into the action is decisive.} 34... Kh5 {Thanks to
the advancing K black has a mate in 10 moves.} 35. Qg8 Kh4 36. Qxf7 Kg3 {There
was a quicker mate to be had with 36...Bh2+, but no matter, black's next move
makes the ending even better.} 37. Qh5 {Taking the a-Pawn would delay the
mate, but fortunately she palyed this which allows a nice finish.} 37... Be3+
{Mate attack! 38.Rxe3 Rd1 mates next move.} 0-1
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