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Lyudmila Rudenko

Lyudmila Rudenko of the Soviet Union was the second women's world chess champion. She won the championship tournament in Moscow in the winter of 1949–1950, at the age of 45, and held the title until 1953.

Lyudmila Rudenko
Photo: unknown photographer (the magazine 64), c. 1928. Public domain. Cropped and toned.
  • BornJuly 27, 1904, Lubny (now in Ukraine)
  • Died1986, Leningrad
  • CountrySoviet Union
  • Women's world champion1950–1953
  • In the line of women's championsNo. 2 of 17
  • Highest ratingShe played her championships before FIDE's lists
    FIDE's official lists began in July 1971

The road to the title

Rudenko was born in 1904 in Lubny, now in Ukraine, and learned chess from her father when she was ten. She studied economics in Odessa and then worked as a planner. In 1928 she won the Moscow women's championship. Later she moved to Leningrad.

Title tournaments and matches

Rudenko's points come first, then wins (+), losses (−) and draws (=) in the classical games. A tiebreak at faster time controls is given separately.
YearAgainstResultWhere
1949–1950Tournament of 16 players11½ of 15
Won the title · title tournament		Moscow
1953Elisaveta Bykova6–8 (+5 −7 =2)
Lost the title		the Soviet Union
1956Tournament with Rubtsova and Bykova4½ of 16
Lost · title tournament		Moscow

During the war

When the war reached Leningrad in 1941, Rudenko was given the task of taking a group of children to safety by train. She said herself that it was the most important thing she had done in her life.

World champion

The title had been without a holder since Vera Menchik died in 1944. In the winter of 1949–1950 sixteen women played for it in Moscow, and Rudenko won by a full point ahead of the runner-up, Olga Rubtsova.

In 1953 she was challenged by Elisaveta Bykova and lost the title in a fourteen-game match, 6–8. Three years later she was one of the three who played for the title in a tournament, and she finished third.

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Lyudmila Rudenko
  • Chess.com: Lyudmila Rudenko
  • Wikipedia (Russian): Lyudmila Rudenko
  • Mark Weeks: the 1949–1950 championship tournament and the 1953 match
  • OlimpBase: the 1953 title match

The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given. The match results are also checked game by game.

Updated November 8, 2026