Great British Chess Players by John Nunn
Vera Menchik (1906-1944)
Vera Menchik was born in Moscow to a Czech father and an English mother, but moved to England in 1921 after her parents split up. Vera, her mother and her sister Olga settled in Hastings, which was a centre of English chess activity. She could only speak Russian when she arrived but seems to have settled into her new country well and was soon receiving coaching from club champion James Drewitt and, for a limited time, Geza Maroczy. By 1925 it was clear that Menchik was the strongest female player in Great Britain and her chance to achieve fame came in 1927 when FIDE organised the first women’s World Championship. This was a 12-player round-robin tournament and Menchik won decisively with a score of 10½/11, a full 1½ points ahead of second-placed Katarina Beskow (Sweden).
This was the start of a remarkable run of success in the Women’s World Championship, which Menchik held continuously from 1927 until her death in 1944, the longest any person has held the title. Her dominance over the other female players can hardly be overstated. All the pre-war Women’s World Championships were in the form of tournaments, and Menchik won the 1931, 1933, 1935 and 1937 events with a 100% score, finally dropping two draws in the mammoth 19-round event at Buenos Aires 1939. Unusually for the time, Menchik was a chess professional, playing regularly in tournaments while also coaching, writing and giving simultaneous displays. In 1937 she married Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson, a prominent chess organiser, and became a British citizen. Stevenson died in 1943 and a year later Menchik was killed in a German V-1 missile attack, along with her sister and mother.
Menchik’s tournament record in mixed events was patchy. She had some successes in individual games, beating Euwe, Reshevsky and Sultan Khan amongst others, and in shorter tournaments she had some good results, such as third place at Maribor 1934 ahead of Spielmann. However, in very strong events she fared less well, scoring 3/21 at Carlsbad 1929 and 1½/19 at Moscow 1935. Her style was positional, and she tended to avoid complications whenever possible. Menchik favoured the Queen’s Gambit with both colours, also playing the Catalan as White, while against 1 e4 she almost always used the French Defence. Playing over her games I feel that her strongest area was the endgame, and I have chosen an example which shows the strengths and weaknesses of her style.
Reginald Michell - Vera Menchik
Scarborough 1928
Queen’s Gambit Declined
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7
These days it’s more usual to play ...Be7 and ...0-0 first, but there’s nothing wrong with this move.
5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Rc1 b6
Black has a wide choice here, with 7...a6, 7...c6 and 7...h6 all common alternatives.
8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bb5 Bb7 10.0-0 c6 11.Ba4
11.Bd3 looks better, as it makes it harder for Black to achieve the freeing move ...Ne4.
11...Rc8
The immediate 11...Ne4 was simpler.
12.Qe2
Once again the bishop should control e4, so 12.Bc2 was better. Then 12...Ne4?! 13.Bxe4 Bxg5 14.Bf5 would be unpleasant for Black.
12...Ne4!
After this the position is very close to equality.
13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Nd2 Rfd8
16.f3?!
An ambitious but not especially good move. White aims to open the f-file and target the f7-pawn with a later Bb3, but the danger is that he will be left with weak centre pawns. 16.Rfd1 was safe and solid.
16...c5
Menchik’s style tended towards simplicity, and in view of her endgame skill she had no reason to fear exchanges. 16...exf3 was also good.
17.fxe4 Bxe4 18.Nxe4 Qxe4
White has bishop vs knight but potentially weak central pawns. The position is dead level.
19.Qc2?
A risky and unnecessary pawn offer. 19.Bb3 Nf6 20.dxc5 would have maintained the balance.
19...Nf6?
Sometimes finding the best move involves calculation. Menchik chooses a safe line, but she should have accepted the offer by 19...Qxe3+ 20.Kh1 Qxd4. This looks risky, but after 21.Rcd1 (21.Bb3 Nf6) 21...Qg4 22.h3 Qe6 23.Qd2 (23.Rfe1 Ne5) 23...Nf8! 24.Qxd8 Rxd8 25.Rxd8 Qc4! 26.Re1 Qxa4 27.Ree8 g6 Black has a winning position since she will win at least one more pawn on the queenside.
20.Qxe4 Nxe4 21.Bb3 Rd7 22.Bc2
White also aims for exchanges, and the game seems to be heading towards a tame draw.
22...Re7 23.Bxe4 Rxe4 24.dxc5 bxc5 25.Rc3 Re7
This passive move doesn’t seem essential as White has no real threat, so 25...Kf8 is more logical, with total equality.
26.Rfc1 Rec7 27.Rc4
27.b4 c4 28.Rd1 also gives White chances for a slight advantage.
27...Kf8 28.b4 Re7 29.Rxc5 Rxc5 30.Rxc5 Rxe3
White can perhaps claim a faint edge after 31.Ra5, which forces Black to drop her rook back by 31...Re7, although there is no doubt that the result should be a draw. Instead, White falls for a tempting but fatal possibility.
31.Rc8+ Re8
Setting a neat trap.
32.Rxe8+?
At first this seems a no-brainer because it looks like a classic case of the outside passed pawn: White makes a passed pawn on the queenside, and while Black’s king is dealing with that the white king marches into Black’s kingside and gobbles up several pawns. The trap is that, contrary to first impressions, the position is winning for Black and not White. The point is that Black’s active king prevents White making a passed pawn on the queenside, and then it is Black’s kingside majority which is ‘outside’. Any rook retreat would have led to a draw.
32...Kxe8 33.Kf2 Kd7 34.Ke3 Kc6!
This winning move is the only one not to lose. After 34...Kd6?? 35.Kd4 Kc6 36.a4 White does indeed win according to the standard recipe.
35.a4
Forced, since after 35.Kd4 Kb5 36.Kc3 Ka4 Black wins a pawn. However, this gives Black the tempo she needs to get her king to the fourth rank.
35...Kd5 36.Kd3
In this fascinating position there’s only one winning move for Black, but it’s not at all easy to find. The first point to note is that pushing a queenside pawn doesn’t help White, since b5 is met by ... Kc5 and a5 by ...a6 or ...Kc6 (which one depends on the exact position of White’s king). In both cases the change in the pawn structure can only favour Black. There’s no way White can use his queenside majority to create a passed pawn, but that doesn’t mean that Black’s win is automatic.
36...f5?
In order to draw White must try to eliminate as many kingside pawns as possible, while Black must try to create a passed pawn while leaving an additional pair of kingside pawns. The winning line was 36...h5! 37.h4 (37.g3 g5! 38.Kc3 f5 wins much as in the game) 37...f6 38.g3 g6! (this cunning move leads to a position of reciprocal zugzwang; after 38...g5? 39.Ke3! gxh4 40.gxh4 Kc4 41.Ke4 Kxb4 42.Kf5 White has a surprising draw by 42...Kxa4 43.Kg6! Kb5 44.Kxh5 a5 45.Kg6 a4 46.h5, leading to a drawn queen ending) 39.Kc3 (39.Ke3 Kc4 is hopeless) 39...g5 40.Kd3 gxh4 41.gxh4 f5 42.Ke3 Kc4 43.Kf4 Kxb4 44.Kg5 f4! (this deflection is the crucial difference compared to the line given after 38...g5?, since if White now takes the h-pawn then the f-pawn promotes) 45.Kxf4 Kxa4 and Black wins by one tempo.
37.Kc3?
37.h4! was the only drawing move. Black can now only make a passed pawn on the kingside by ...g6, ...h6, ...g5 and ...f4 but this results in all White’s kingside pawns disappearing, and he makes a draw by a single tempo after 37...g6 38.g3 h6 39.Kc3 g5 40.hxg5 hxg5 41.Kd3 f4 42.gxf4 gxf4 43.Ke2 Kc4 44.b5 Kb4 45.Kf3 Kxa4 46.Kxf4 Kxb5 47.Ke3 Kb4 48.Kd2 Kb3 49.Kc1.
37.a5? is also wrong and loses after the precise sequence 37...a6! 38.Kc3 Kc6! 39.Kc4 g5 40.g3 h5 41.h3 f4 42.gxf4 gxf4 43.Kd4 Kb5 44.Ke4 Kxb4 45.Kxf4 Kxa5 46.Kg5 Kb6 and so on.
37...g5!
Menchik finds the only move to win. It’s crucial to prevent White’s h4, which would lead to a draw as in the previous note.
38.a5
38.h3 might seem to repair the damage by forcing an exchange of pawns after a later ...g4, but once Black’s pawns are far enough advanced she can win by a breakthrough; for example, after 38...f4 39.Kd3 h5 40.Kc3 g4! 41.hxg4 f3! 42.gxf3 h4 43.g5 h3 44.g6 Ke6 the h-pawn decides the game.
The line 38.g3 f4 39.gxf4 gxf4 40.Kd3 f3 41.Ke3 Kc4 42.Kxf3 Kxb4 shows why having an extra pair of pawns on the kingside favours Black. Without the h-pawns this would be a draw, but as it is Black wins easily by taking on a4, then running to the h2-pawn with her king.
38...Kc6!
Another excellent move. 38...a6? allows White to escape by 39.b5! axb5 40.a6 Kc6 41.a7 Kb7 42.Kb4 f4 43.Kxb5 g4 44.Kc4, and the king makes it back in time.
39.Kc4 a6
White will sooner or later have to move his king and allow ...Kb5.
40.g3 f4 41.gxf4 gxf4 42.Kd4 Kb5 43.Ke4 Kxb4 44.Kxf4 Kxa5 45.Ke3 Kb4 46.Kd2 Kb3 47.Kc1 Kc3
The extra kingside pawns doom White.
48.h4 h5 0-1