Olga Nikolayevna Rubtsova

Olga Nikolayevna Rubtsova (born Aug. 20, 1909, Moscow, Russia—died Dec. 13, 1994) was a Russian chess player who was the women’s world champion (1956–58).

In 1936 Rubtsova graduated as an engineer from Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University). By then she had already established herself as a premiere chess player by winning the first U.S.S.R. Women’s Championship in 1927. She also won that championship in 1931, 1937, and 1949. (During the Soviet era, chess was supported by the state for propaganda purposes, so many of the best players held positions that left them substantial time for study and play.)

The first widely acknowledged, or official, women’s world chess champion, Vera Menchik-Stevenson of England, died in 1944, leaving the title vacant. The chess governing body, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), organized a tournament in Moscow to determine a new champion in the winter of 1949–50. (This was organized in conjunction with a men’s tournament to determine Alexander Alekhine’s successor, since he also had died, in 1946, while holding the world champion title.) Rubtsova finished in second place, behind Ludmilla Rudenko of Ukraine. When Rubtsova won the 1955 tournament in Moscow to determine a challenger for Elizaveta Bykova of Russia (who defeated Rudenko for the world title in 1953) by a mere half point, FIDE decided to organize a three-way match in 1956 between Bykova, Rubtsova, and Rudenko, which was won by Rubtsova, one-half point ahead of Bykova. In 1958 Bykova was given a rematch with Rubtsova, whom she defeated by a score of 7 wins, 3 draws, and 4 losses.

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Rubtsova won the first Women’s World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1972; she is the only person to become world champion in both over-the-board and correspondence play. In 1976, along with several older players, Rubtsova was awarded the newly created title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM).