Chess Goddesses
A Dedication

"Age cannot wither her,
nor custom stale her infinite variety"

William Shakespeare - Antony and Cleopatra

Gender and Chess
An examination of the gender question in chess

Book Reviews
Glimpses into the newest literature

Goddesschess presents profiles of a few remarkable women considered true patronesses of chess. Courage and patience are their trademarks. Giving birth to a special love for The Game, all began life as adventurous pawns, who promoted to queens in their own right. Through them, the tutelary spirit of chess continues to enjoy many new moments of expansion...

Definitions of "patroness" and "pawn" appear at the lower corners of pages 840 and 841, respectively, in Webster's "New Collegiate Dictionary".

What is a Patroness"? Webster's first definition says a patroness is: "a person chosen, named, or honored as a special guardian, protector."

And what is a "pawn"? In chess, the definition with which we are all familiar is: "one of the chessmen of least value having the power to move only forward ordinarily only one square at a time, to capture only diagonally forward, and be promoted to any piece except a king upon reaching the eighth rank"

John Graham mentions in his book, "Women in Chess, Players of the Modern Age"

"There have been several women chess players who have deserved the right to be known as Queens of the Royal Game. However, as in other fields, they have suffered from lack of opportunity and a built-in male suspicion that they really do not play as well as men. Thus, any success they have gained has been treated as a freak event, an oddity, and an unrepeatable occurrence. Worse still, men who have lost to women have been made the butt of jokes; it was the man’s fault rather than to the woman's credit. Even with this background, women have been so consistently good, even in open tournaments, that they should be recognized for the gifted players that they are."

Sofonisba Anguissola

St. Teresa of Avila

Marie de France

Extraordinary Patronesses

Elizaveta Ivanova Bykova

Mona May Karff

Vera Menchik

Ludmilla Vladmirovna Rudenko

Gisela K. Gresser

Edith M. Holloway

Alina Markowski