Vera Menhik Stevenson (February 16, 1906 – June 26, 1944) was born to English and Czech parents in Moscow. She was married to Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson, who at one time served as secretary of the British Chess Federation, from 1937 until his death in 1943. She learned to play chess at the age of nine and, after her family settled in England in 1921, she began taking lessons from Geza Maroczy.
Her style was positional and she was also known for her endgame expertise. Chessmetric estimates her highest rating to have been 2535 in 1929m ranking her #52 in the world. The top players were Alekhine. Capablanca, Nimzovich, Bogoljubow and Euwe.
Menchik was Women's World Champion from 1927 until 1944, when a German V1 rocket destroyed her London residence, killing her, her mother and her younger sister Olga Menchik. Watch a Youtube video
The virtually unknown Olga Menchik (1907-1944) was also born in Moscow. In January 1927, Vera won the London ladies championship, and Olga finished second. She finished fourth in the Women's World Championship at Warsaw in 1935, and tied for 17–20th in the sixth WWC at Stockholm in 1937. In 1938, she married a Briton named Clifford Glanville.
At London 1932, the prominent British Master Sir George Thomas (1881-1972, 91 years old) joined the Vera Menchik Club. Thomas was born near Istanbul, Turkey. He learned chess from his mother, Lady Edith Thomas, who won one of the first women's tournaments that was held in Hastings in 1895. He was the British Champion in1923 and 1934.
In addition to chess, Thomas wass the most successful player ever in the All England Open Badminton Championships, considered the unofficial World Badminton Championships, with 21 titles from 1903 to 1928. Four of those titles were in men's singles, nine in men's doubles and eight in mixed doubles. In tennis, he reached the quarterfinals of the singles and the semifinals of the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 1911.
[Event "London"]
[Site "]
[Date "1932.02.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vera Menchik"]
[Black "Sir George Thomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E85"]
[Annotator "Dragon by Komodo"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "1932.02.01"]
{E85: King's Indian: Sämisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {
Developed by the German Friedrich Saemisch in the 1920s, this often leads to
very sharp play with players conducting attacks on their opponent's Ks which
are castled on opposite sides.} O-O 6. Be3 e5 {Equally popular is 6...c5} 7.
Nge2 {The alternative is 7.d5} b6 {This is not especially effective. The
modern way is 7...c6} 8. Qd2 Nc6 (8... c5 9. d5 a6 10. Rb1 Ne8 11. g4 b5 12.
cxb5 axb5 13. Nxb5 f5 {Black has a poor game. Castaldo,F (2330)-Likavsky,T
(2485) Arvier 2007}) 9. d5 Ne7 10. g4 Nd7 11. Rg1 a5 {Both sides are going
after their or opponent’s King. As Frank Marshall once put it, the outcome
will depend on who can get there the fastest with the mostest.} 12. O-O-O Nc5
13. Ng3 Bd7 14. h4 a4 15. h5 Qb8 16. Bh6 {It's pretty clear that white has a
significant advantage and the elimination of dark squared Bs leave black at a
serious disadvantage.} Qa7 {Practically spealing 16...b5 was worth a try if
for no other reason than ot complicates the issuue a bit.} 17. Bxg7 $18 Kxg7
18. Nf5+ {Crushing! Had white played 18.hxg6 her advantage would have been
much less and black might then have had a fighting chance.]} Nxf5 (18... gxf5 {
gets him mated.} 19. Qg5+ Kh8 20. Qf6+ Kg8 21. h6 {and mate on g7 cannot be
prevented.}) 19. gxf5 {Threatening mate with f6+ which Thomas misses...not
that it matters!} a3 {This loses quickly,.} (19... f6 20. hxg6 h6 21. Rh1 Rh8 {
Holds up the attack a bit and would force white to work a little harder. Here
is Dragon by Komodo's top line:} 22. Bd3 h5 23. Rh4 a3 24. b4 Nb3+ 25. axb3 a2
26. Qxa2 Qxa2 27. Nxa2 Rxa2 28. Rdh1 Ra1+ 29. Bb1 Raa8 30. f4 Rh6 31. fxe5 fxe5
32. Rxh5 {There is no question that white is winning/}) 20. f6+ {White mates
in 8 moves.} Kh8 (20... Kxf6 21. Qg5+ Kg7 22. h6+ Kg8 23. Qf6 {and it's mate
on g7}) 21. Qh6 axb2+ 22. Kb1 Rg8 23. hxg6 fxg6 {He could have held out an
another two moves by playing something else, but this allows Menchik to pull
off a nifty finish.} 24. Qxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Black resigned.} (24. Qxh7+ Kxh7 25.
Rh1+ Bh3 26. Rxh3#) 1-0
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