Women's Chess in Canada

by Stephen Wright

Historically competitive chess has always been dominated by men, and it is only relatively recently that societal and cultural norms have changed to allow women to emerge as tournament players in their own right. In earlier times women were actively discouraged or prevented from playing serious chess with men; chess clubs were almost invariably for men only, and their smoky interiors were not the sort of place a lady was expected to be found. Nevertheless, there have always been a few pioneering women who sought to play chess outside of a domestic setting. Two areas where they could legitimately take part in the nineteenth century were correspondence chess and the composition and solving of chess problems, activities which did not require over the board contact. These women included 'Judy,' the sobriquet of a problemist who communicated with the likes of Howard Staunton through major chess columns in the 1850s; Mrs. Ellen Gilbert, famous for announcing exceedingly long mates in her victorious correspondence match with George Gossip in 1879; Miss Frideswide Beechey (later Mrs. Rowland), the first woman to win a problem composing competition; and Mrs. Edith Baird, who composed over 2000 problems in her lifetime.

Over the board play was more problematic, given the strictures mentioned above; it was also difficult for a woman to get sufficient practice to advance as a player, unless her spouse (e.g., the top American players Nellie Showalter or Harriet Worrall) or another family member also played. This problem was addressed in part by the development toward the end of the nineteenth century of chess clubs for women, most notably the London Ladies' Chess Club. Founded in January 1895, the club quickly became a force to be reckoned with, playing matches with other (male) clubs, organizing women's tournaments at Hastings 1895 and London 1897, and providing the catalyst for the first British Women's Championship in 1904.

Despite the fact the club was almost a necessity in the cultural climate of the time, its existence highlights a debate which is still prevalent in our own time: should women's chess be segregated from the mainstream, with its own title system and separate tournaments and sections, or should women players seek out the strongest opposition possible in open competition? Perhaps both are necessary at different stages of a player's development, but notably Vera Menchik and Judit Polgar, the strongest women players of their respective generations, both chose the second option. This also applies to Mary Rudge, the best female player at the end of the nineteenth century, although in her case it may not have been by choice. Single when her father died in 1874, she moved to Bristol where fortuitously the chess club had recently voted to accept woman members. Mary developed as a player against men who were not related to her (she never did marry); overall she may not have been particularly strong, but her sober positional style was more than a match for any other woman at the time.

And what of Canada? There have been chess clubs here at least as early as the 1840s, and a Canadian Chess Association was formed in 1872, but women's chess in this country has lagged far behind the development of competitive chess in general, or women's chess elsewhere in the world. For example, the first Canadian championship was in 1872, the first British Women's Championship in 1904, but the first Canadian Women's Championship did not take place until 1975. Why this was the case is not readily apparent, but the simplest explanation may be there simply weren't enough female competitive players in Canada at the time for much progress to be made. As John G. Prentice wrote in his report on the Luxembourg FIDE Congress in 1959, "A substantial part of the agenda was devoted to international competition for ladies. To our regret this is of no particular interest to our Federation in view of the lacking popularity of chess among Canadian ladies." [Canadian Chess Chat, December 1959] The situation has improved lately with the rise of youth competitions to nuture and develop young female players, but even now Canadian women's chess often seems to be an afterthought or of secondary importance.

Nevertheless, the history of Canadian chess has included a few women players of note. The series of vignettes presented below is not intended to be comprehensive, but highlights some significant Canadian female players and events.

• Louisa Brett Ryall
• Anna Stevenson
• Miss Power
• Ladies' chess in Toronto, 1910-18
• Annabelle Lougheed
• Mona May Karff Simultaneous
• Erika White
• Smilja Vujosevic
• Nava Shterenberg/Starr
• Vancouver Women's International 1981
• Julia Sarwer
• Harmony Zhu

Louisa Brett Georgina Ryall (1 February 1865 - 15 March 1902)

In 1881 two problems appeared in the chess column of the Toronto Globe (it was not until 1936 that The Globe amalgamated with The Mail and Empire to form the newspaper we know now). Over six hundred problems had already been published in the column, but these two were significant in that they were the first composed by a Canadian woman - Miss Louisa Brett Ryall of Hamilton, who was sixteen years old at the time. Miss Ryall was the youngest daughter of Dr. Isaac Ryall (1830-1901), Hamilton's Medical Health Officer for the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Dr. Ryall was also an important figure in Canadian chess circles - a player, problemist, and organizer, who presumably passed on at least part of his love for chess to his daughter. Miss Ryall married Charles Tinling from Barbados and her name subsequently does not appear again in the annals of chess history.

Mate in two The Globe, 22/29 (corrected) October 1881	Mate in two The Globe, 31 December 1881

Solutions

Anna (Annie) Story Stevenson (1841? - 17 February 1916)

The exact date of her birth is not known (census and other records give conflicting ages), but Anna S. Harris was born in Ontario around 1841. In 1864 she married Pillans Scarth Stevenson, an official with the Great Western and later the Grand Trunk Railway. After resigning from the latter he carried on business as a commission merchant until his untimely death as a result of a railway accident in 1889. Mrs. Stevenson was active in charitable work, notably the Mackay Institute (for deaf mutes and the blind) and the Protestant Infants' Home. During the 1885 Montreal floods she obtained the use of a row boat and had supplies transported to those trapped in their homes (the couple had moved to Montreal in 1872). After being made a widow Mrs. Stevenson ran a barrel making business for a time in order to support her children.

Mrs. Stevenson's name first appears in connection with chess in reports of the first ladies' international tournament, which took place in London (England) in June and July of 1897. Held in part to coincide with Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the twenty-player round robin was organized by the London Ladies' Chess Club and included players from nine countries. Two represented the North American continent, Mrs. Worrall from Brooklyn and Mrs. Stevenson of Canada. Mary Rudge was the overall winner, a full three points ahead of second-place finisher Louisa Fagan; Mrs. Stevenson finished last with one and a half points after forfeiting her last game.

Participants in the Ladies' International; Mrs. Stevenson is standing third from the left, using glasses.

It is not known on what basis Mrs. Stevenson was invited to the tournament as the Canadian representative. The Canadian Chess Association was not a true governing body and largely concerned itself with organizing the Dominion championship, so the authority to represent the country could be and sometimes was assumed by the individual involved. Two examples that come to mind are William Pollock representing Canada at Hastings 1895, presumably on the basis of living in Montreal for the previous year, and Dr. Stephen F. Smith signing on Canada's behalf the 1924 declaration which created FIDE, without having been given the authority to do so by any chess official in this country. (Smith was born in Canada but spent most of his adult life in England.) Whether this was also the case with Mrs. Stevenson is unknown. We do have a report in the Montreal Gazette which refers to Mrs. Stevenson as "the alleged Canadian representative" - she was apparently not known as a player to the newspaper's chess editor.

Sketch of Mrs. Stevenson playing tournament winner Mary Rudge, London 1897

Mrs. Stevenson's result in London may not have been encouraging, but one significant consequence of her participation was a desire to see a ladies' club organized in Montreal, as announced in the Gazette:

Ladies' chess clubs are quite the fashion now and have been successfully launched recently both in London and New York. If there is any latent chess talent among the ladies of Montreal, it is hoped the new organization will bring it to the front. [Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1897]

The club was duly inaugurated and met, at least initially, at Mrs. Stevenson's home at 500 Guy Street. How long the club lasted is not known; after its formation it is hardly mentioned in the press, at least in the Gazette, but see the article on Miss Power below.

Early in the twentieth century Mrs. Stevenson moved to London, and at the time of her death was living with a daughter who was married to the English physician Alfred M. Gossage. Perhaps she joined the London Ladies' Chess Club; there is a Mrs. Stevenson who played in women's tournaments in Ostende 1906 and San Remo 1911, presumably the same person. Despite all this activity we have none of her games; she was apparently not a strong player, and finished near the bottom of the mentioned events, but we recognize Mrs. Stevenson as the first Canadian female representative at an international chess tournament.

Miss Power

In 1899 the Canadian Chess Association held its 24th championship in Montreal. The contest was divided into two sections; eighteen competitors entered the championship section, ultimately won by Magnus Smith of Manitoba. The intermediate section attracted eight entrants, most notably a Miss Power, the first women to participate in the Canadian Chess Championship. Miss Power was cited as being a member of the Montreal Ladies' Chess Club, founded by Mrs. Stevenson in 1897, and presumably representative of the "latent chess talent" the club sought to encourage.

In the intermediate division the chief incident of the day was the victory of Miss Power, of the Montreal Ladies' Chess Club, over S.F. Shenstone, of Toronto University. As both had scored four points and were at the head of the list, the game was regarded with great interest, and Miss Powers [sic] was warmly congratulated on the clever game she played. The score follows: [Montreal Gazette, 5 April 1899]

Miss Power, of the Montreal Ladies' Chess Club, yesterday won a solid gold medal offered by the Canadian Chess Association, as first prize in the intermediate section, and with it the title of intermediate champion of the Dominion. At the conclusion of six rounds, Miss Power tied with C.J. Dixon, of the Cercle St. Denis Club, each having lost one game. They then entered upon a supplementary series of three games, but Miss Power won the first two very cleverly, and made a third unnecessary. Mr. Dixon takes the second prize, a pair of mounted ebony hairbrushes, and the third falls to Mr. S.F. Shenstone, of the Toronto University C.C. Both are fair players, and Miss Power was warmly congratulated on her victory. [Montreal Gazette, 6 April 1899]

So who was Miss Power? The short answer is we don't know. In Lovell's Montreal Directory for 1899 there is a single listing for a Miss Power - Bridget Power, a dressmaker at 245 St. Urbain. However, the directory only names the main owners/tenants at a given address, so other members of the same household would not be listed. Consulting the 1901 Canadian Census we find the same Miss Bridget Power (born 14 June 1843), but also learn that her sister Jane (born 29 March 1846) was living with her; both were dressmakers and both spinsters. However, when the Montreal Ladies' Chess Club was formed the initial vice-president was a Mrs. N.J. Power. She had two daughters, Florence and Margaret; it seems more likely that one of these was the 1899 Dominion Intermediate Chess Champion.

Ladies' chess in Toronto, 1910-1918

On 19 October 1909 the chess column of the Toronto Globe newspaper published the game Miss Taylor - Mrs. Houlding, the winner of the brilliancy prize in that year's British Ladies' Championship.

Immediately below the game appeared the comment, "The chess editor would like to receive the names of lady chess players residing in Toronto or vicinity." The reason was made explicit a month later in the column: "A tourney is being arranged to decide the ladies’ championship, and a handsome challenge cup will be donated. Any lady player of the city is eligible." The tournament was delayed until early in the New Year but did eventually take place at the Toronto Chess Club on consecutive Fridays with a field of 13 players. In April the winners were announced: first was Miss Emma Sims, while Mrs. Geo. C. Warburton placed second, Miss Agnes J. Doble third, and Mrs. E. Spragge fourth. Prizes for the first three were the cup and a gold locket, chessmen, and a chess book respectively. On a May evening the prizes were awarded and what is described as "the annual match" between men and ladies took place on six boards, the men winning 4.0-2.0. How long this match had been taking place is unknown; although the 1910 ladies' championship was apparently Toronto's first, women had obviously been active in Toronto chess circles prior to that year. Several of the prize winners listed above were also part of the Toronto Chess Club team (mixed) that played a match with a team from the Y.M.C.A. in May of 1910, yet it was not until October that "it was decided to admit lady members to the Toronto Chess Club."

The championship continued to be held and Miss Sims won the first three editions, thus gaining permanent possession of the challenge cup. There is evidence the tournament was also held in 1915 at least, but the winner is currently unknown. Florence Spragge also won the event three times and took another trophy out of circulation.

Toronto Ladies' Champions
1910	Emma Sims
1911	Emma Sims
1912	Emma Sims
1913	Elsie Banks
1916	Elsie Banks
1917	Florence Spragge
1918	Florence Spragge
1919	Florence Spragge

According to census records there was an Emma Sims (1 May 1864 - 26 May 1919) who in 1911 resided with her sister Florence; both were public school teachers (female teachers were not allowed to be married). Living with them in the same household were the offspring of their sister Bertha and Greenhow Banks, both deceased in 1908. These nieces and nephews included Elsie G. Banks (b. 24 April 1886) and Hilda D. Banks (19 February 1889 - 8 April 1945), names we find among the ladies of the Toronto Chess Club. Firm evidence is still wanting, but it would be a remarkable coincidence if these women were not the chess players in question. Elsie Banks is listed as an artist who was employed by an engraving firm, while after completing university her sister Hilda taught at public school for a few years before serving as a missionary in India for twenty years.

Two other prominent women in Toronto chess circles at the time were also related, Ellen Elizabeth (Elsie) Spragge (8 March 1854 - 2 May 1932) and her daughter Florence Elsie (19 September 1879 - 19 April 1951). Born a Cameron, Ellen married the Toronto lawyer Arthur G.M. Spragge in 1878. Unusually for that era, Mrs. Spragge continued her professional career as a journalist after marrying. The family moved out West, eventually settling in Revelstoke; Mrs. Spragge was a passenger on the first transcontinental train that reached Port Moody, B.C. on 4 July 1886, subsequently publishing an account of the journey in her book From Ontario to the Pacific by the C.P.R.. In June 1898 Arthur Spragge drowned in the Columbia River; Mrs. Spragge and her daughter moved back to Toronto, but retained a summer residence in B.C. Mrs. Spragge was an important figure organizationally, serving for a number of years as a director on the board of the Toronto Chess Club. A short biographical note about Florence Spragge was published in the 20 April 1918 edition of the Globe:

Miss Spragge was born in Toronto, but spent twelve years of her life in the mountains of British Columbia during which time she developed unusual skill at bridge, a game popular in the West. Chess has been a diversion with Miss Spragge for some fifteen years, her initiation into the art of the game coming from her mother, Mrs. Arthur Spragge, a strong local supporter and a director of the Toronto Chess Club board. Miss Spragge is also a member of the Toronto Golf Club, but her preference and chief ability lie with tennis as her outdoor recreation.

In the 1920s Florence Spragge followed in her mother's footsteps and also served on the board of the Toronto Chess Club. On her passing the May 1951 issue of Canadian Chess Chat noted

From about twenty years, from 1914 on, she was a member of the Toronto Chess Club, and was several times holder of the City Ladies' Title. Miss Spragge was the strongest woman player Canada has so far had, but eventually devoted her leisure hours more exclusively to bridge. Her mother, Mrs. Elsie Spragge, was also a Toronto Chess Club member up to her death. The two always spent the summer together in Golden, B.C. and were passenegrs on the first transcontinental train.

Annabelle Lougheed (18 January 1899 - 6 April 1986)

When the Games of the Eighth Summer Olympics took place in Paris in 1924, a parallel team chess competition was held alongside them, and FIDE (the World Chess Federation) was hastily formed at the end of this event. FIDE began organizing what we now recognize as chess olympiads, beginning in London in 1927. Concurrently with the olympiads (consisting of teams of men) FIDE ran the women's world championship, held in the period before the Second World War by Vera Menchik. In her seven championship tournaments and one title match Menchik scored the staggering total of 87 wins, 9 draws and only 3 losses for a percentage of 92.42, dominating her challengers as no woman (or man!) has in any other era.

Abe Yanofsky (aged 14), John Morrison, Abe Helman, Walter Holowach, and Haakon Opsahl, the Canadian team at the Buenos Aires Olympiad, along with the Canadian representative to the women's championship, Annabelle Lougheed.

The last championship Menchik participated in was held in parallel with the 1939 Buenos Aires olympiad, but this tournament also marked the first time a Canadian competed for a world chess championship, in any category. The player in question was Annabelle Lougheed of Toronto. According to the Toronto Star, she had only learned to play two years previous; not surprisingly, Lougheed finished last in the twenty-player round robin (the final crosstable) with a score of one win and two draws. Nevertheless, during the competition she "… improved to such an extent that Yanofsky believes her openings now are as good as those of any class “A” player. Miss Lougheed took lessons from an Argentine professional as well as competing four hours a day in the women’s division." [Montreal Gazette, 21 October 1939]

It is not immediately apparent how or why Lougheed was chosen to represent Canada, there being no Canadian women's championship at the time, but likely she came to the attention of Bernard Freedman, founder of the Canadian Chess Federation and organizer extraordinaire. In fact, she came to his attention in more ways than one - in August 1948 she became Mrs. Annabelle Freedman. After her marriage Lougheed largely abandoned competitive chess, but she did play in some correspondence events in the 1940s, winning a 1941 CCCA June Minor and representing Canada again in Preliminary Group 5 of the first Correspondence Chess Olympiad, 1947-49. She wrote the following by way of introduction for the CCCA Bulletin:

Born in Clarksburg, Ontario, many years ago! Was for over ten years head of the United Business College. Am now heading a department at the Unemployment Selective Service. Hobbies when young – skating and music. Now a little bridge and chess in my spare time. Have travelled in the States, Quebec and Ontario. Was Canadian Chess Representative when Canada played in Buenos Aires in 1939. Had a wonderful trip and will always remember what I saw in the various countries visited on our way to Argentina with J.S. Morrison, H. Opsahl, A. Yanofsky, A. Helman, W. Holowach. [CCCA Bulletin #79, 30 November 1942]

Mona May Karff Simultaneous

Beginning with English master Henry Bird in 1877, Canada has received many chess visitors over the years, including most of the (male) world champions. Not surprisingly, there have been far fewer female visitors; one of the first was U.S. Women's Champion Mona May Karff (1914-1998), who is pictured giving a simultaneous on six boards at the Winnipeg Y.M.C.A. on 8 April 1940 - she won all the games. The two standing gentlemen in civilian clothing are (left) Herbert Gregory, longtime chess columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, and (right) Canon Henry Roy, at that time president of the Manitoba Chess Association, who would later be a multi-year president of the CFC.

Erika Beatrice White (1 March 1904 - 1 May 1970)

In 1948 the Vancouver Province newspaper instituted a correspondence championship for British Columbia. Held under the auspices of the British Columbia Correspondence Chess Club, the annual event ran for twenty years until the club was folded into the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association in 1968. The competition quickly became so popular that it was held in two stages, a series of preliminary round robins with the winners qualifying for the finals. The 1952 event had a handful of women playing in the preliminary sections, but one of them, Mrs. Erika White of Vancouver, won her section and made it through to the finals: "It is particularly gratifying to note that a lady has fought her way to the finals. May Lady Luck dog her footsteps all the rest of the way." [Vancouver Province, 31 January 1953] How much luck was required is unknown, but Mrs. White went on to win the 1952 Correspondence Chess Championship of B.C., the first and only woman to have her name engraved on the trophy. She scored 5½/6 in the final, a half point ahead of runner-up Jack Tanner. Mrs. White subsequently became involved in chess organization, was elected as secretary to the BCCF and later served as director for the BCCCC; in 1968 then director Russell Isaac made her the first life member of the BCCCC "in recognition of the service she rendered the Club."

Smilja Vujosevic (9 June 1935 - 30 July 2016)

Smilja Vujosevic; with Lynn Stringer and the championship trophy
(Source: Bulletin #20, Jan/Feb 1977; #11, Jul/Aug 1975)

Women's chess in this country finally achieved official recognition in 1975 with the inaugural Canadian Women's Championship, an eight-player round robin (Marie Bernard subsequently withdrew before the fourth round due to health reasons).

1st Canadian Women's Championship

Ottawa, 28 June - 5 July 1975			1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Vujosevic, Smilja (ON)	1680	*	½	1	1	1	1	1	5.5
2	Day, Angela (ON)	1683	½	*	½	1	1	1	1	5.0
3	Demers, Claire (PQ)	1580	0	½	*	½	1	1	1	4.0
4	Clegg, Renée (ON)	1302	0	0	½	*	½	1	½	2.5
5	Seniuk, Marde (AB)	1236	0	0	0	½	*	1	1	2.5
6	Sarac, Bea (BC)	1436	0	0	0	0	0	*	1	1.0
7	Stringer, Lynn (BC)	1388	0	0	0	½	0	0	*	0.5

Source: 11-4

The winner was Smilja Vujosevic, who drew with second-place finisher Angela Day and won the rest of her games; Day could only draw with Claire Demers in round four, and this provided Vujosevic with her margin of victory.

Smilja Vujosevic was born in the village of Ogar, now part of Serbia. After emigrating to this country in 1967 she established herself as Canada's leading woman player, winning the top woman prize in the 1970 (St. John's) and 1973 (Ottawa) Canadian Opens. Her victory in the championship qualified Vujosevic for the Tbilisi Women's Interzonal at the end of 1976 but fortune was not on her side: she was ordered out of the event after five rounds by the tournament doctor due to illness. (Second in Tbilisi was fifteen year old Maia Chiburdanidze, who won the Candidates' Matches and went on to dethrone Nona Gaprindashvili as world champion.) Vujosevic was a member of the Canadian Women's Olympiad teams in 1974, 1976, 1990, 1992, and 1994, winning a bronze medal on board 1 in 1976; she was made a WIM in 1977, the first Canadian to be awarded the title. Vujosevic was eclipsed by the rise of Nava Shterenberg, but was still the top woman in the 1976, 1988, 1991, and 1993 Canadian Opens and came second in the 1989 Canadian Women's Championship.

Nava Shterenberg/Starr (née Gordon, b. 4 April 1949)

(Source: Chess Canada Echecs #50, Sept/Oct 1981)

Born Nava Gordon in Riga, Latvia, Nava married Alexander Shterenberg; subsequently the couple changed their surname to Starr some time after emigrating to this country. No matter what name she played under, Nava Shterenberg/Starr was the dominant figure in Canadian women's chess in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Her accomplishments are many, and the following is only a summary. Starr won the Canadian Women's Championship eight times between 1978 and 2001, and only placed second in 1996 by a mere half point. She was a member of the Canadian women's olympiad team twelve times, playing board one on ten of those occasions; Starr won two medals, a gold in 1976 (Haifa) and a bronze in 1982 (Lucerne). She also represented Canada in five interzonal tournaments and in the second of FIDE's knock-out tournaments for the Women's World Championship in Moscow, 2001. Starr was awarded the WIM title in 1978 and was the highest rated female in Canada for twenty years in a row.

Vancouver Women's International 1981

In the end the two Europeans dominated the standings; each scored 4½/5 in the first cycle, but Cramling won their second individual encounter in round 6 and this proved to be her margin of victory. Canadian Champion Nava Shterenberg (subsequently Nava Starr) comfortably took third, while Ruth Haring (married at the time to GM Peter Biyiasas) beat out her American compatriot Alexey Rudolph (now academic and author Dr. Alexey Root) for fourth place.

Julia Sarwer

What we now know as the World Youth Chess Championship gradually coalesced into its present form during the late 1970s and 1980s (with the exception of the U8 sections, which weren't introduced until 2006). The first time an U10 section was held was in 1986 when the festival was hosted by Puerto Rico. Canada was represented by the brother and sister team of Julia and Jeff Sarwer, the latter being the basis for Josh Waitzkin's final opponent in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer. Julia and Jeff played in the same U10 section, there being no gender separation in those days; Jeff scored 7½/9 to win the section, while Julia was the top female with 5½ points. Julia thus became the first female World chess champion from Canada in any category.

Harmony Zhu

Fast forward to Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) in 2013, where that year's version of the World Youth Chess Championship drew slightly under 1800 participants, a new record for that competition. This included forty-one players from Canada, also a record number. Among them was Harmony Zhu in the U8 girls' section, who had played in the previous year's event in Maribor, Slovenia and despite being sick much of the time had placed eighth in a field of ninety. In Al Ain the same section swelled to 117 players, but despite the increased competition Harmony scored 9.0/11 to tie with Bat-Erdene Mungunzul of Mongolia, placing first on tiebreak (head-to-head result; Harmony had defeated Mungunzul in the very first round).