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Maia Chiburdanidze

Maia Chiburdanidze of Georgia became women's world chess champion in 1978, at 17, and held the title until 1991. She defended it four times. In 1984 she became the second woman to receive the grandmaster title, after Nona Gaprindashvili.

Maia Chiburdanidze
Photo: Bart Molendijk / Anefo, Nationaal Archief, 1986. Free to use (CC0 1.0). Cropped and toned.
  • BornJanuary 17, 1961, Kutaisi, Georgia
  • CountrySoviet Union, later Georgia
  • Women's world champion1978–1991
  • In the line of women's championsNo. 6 of 17
  • Highest rating2560 (January 1988)
    After FIDE raised most active women's ratings by 100 points in 1987
    FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)

The road to the title

Chiburdanidze was born in Kutaisi, Georgia, and began playing chess at around eight. At 16 she won the Soviet women's championship. She came through the Candidates matches and in 1978 faced the reigning champion, Nona Gaprindashvili. Chiburdanidze won 8½–6½ and became the youngest women's world champion up to that time.

The title matches

Chiburdanidze's points come first, then wins (+), losses (−) and draws (=) in the classical games. A tiebreak at faster time controls is given separately.
YearAgainstResultWhere
1978Nona Gaprindashvili8½–6½ (+4 −2 =9)
Won the title		the Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
1981Nana Alexandria8–8 (+4 −4 =8)
Kept the title		Borjomi and Tbilisi
1984Irina Levitina8½–5½ (+5 −2 =7)
Kept the title		Volgograd
1986Elena Akhmilovskaya8½–5½ (+4 −1 =9)
Kept the title		Sofia
1988Nana Ioseliani8½–7½ (+3 −2 =11)
Kept the title		Telavi
1991Xie Jun6½–8½ (+2 −4 =9)
Lost the title		Manila

Thirteen years as champion

She defended the title four times: against Nana Alexandria in 1981, when the match ended 8–8 and the champion kept her title, against Irina Levitina in 1984, against Elena Akhmilovskaya in 1986, and against Nana Ioseliani in 1988.

In 1991 she lost the title in Manila to Xie Jun of China. Only Vera Menchik and Nona Gaprindashvili have held the women's title longer in a single reign.

The team player

Chiburdanidze was one of the pillars of the Soviet team that won the Women's Chess Olympiads of the 1980s. After the Soviet Union broke up, she played first board for Georgia, which won the Olympiad several times. She has said that she preferred to play in open tournaments and hoped for a time when separate tournaments for women would no longer be needed.

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Maia Chiburdanidze
  • Store norske leksikon: Maja Tsjiburdanidze
  • Chess.com: Maia Chiburdanidze
  • OlimpBase: the title matches 1978–1991 and FIDE's lists
  • Mark Weeks: the women's championship 1978–1991

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