Menchik Memorial

Vera Menchik was 38 when she was killed by a German V1 flying bomb that landed on her home in Clapham. Born in Moscow in 1906 to a Czech father and an English mother, she was in her teens when her family settled in England. Aged 21, she won the first women’s world championship, and defended the title six times in the 1930s; she had two wins against Max Euwe a few years before he became world champion in 1935. Her sister Olga was another accomplished player; both sisters, along with their mother, were killed by the bomb.

The Menchik Memorial was held last week at the Mindsports Centre in Hammersmith, to mark the 80th anniversary of Menchik’s death in 1944. A strong female field was invited for this all-play-all event, with international master Marta Garcia Martin from Spain as the top seed. She began with four consecutive victories, including a memorable finish in round four against 21-year-old Kamila Hryshchenko, who moved from Ukraine to England after the war began in 2022.