Mona May Karff

Mona May Karff (nee Ratner, born October 20, 1914 in Bessarabia, Russian Empire; † January 10, 1998 in Manhattan) was an American chess player. Together with Gisela Gresser they dominated for many years the women's chess in the U.S. and won 1938-1974 a total of six times the national championship.

Karff grew up in Tel Aviv as the daughter of a rich landowner Aviv Ratner, from which they learned the rules of chess. In the 1930s, she settled in Boston, where he was married a short time with the lawyer Abe Karff. Later she lived with the chess master Edward Lasker and go.

She participated in three world chess championships: 1937 in Stockholm (No. 6 ), 1939 in Buenos Aires ( 5th place) and 1949/50, in Moscow. In 1950 she was appointed by the World Chess Federation FIDE to the International Champion.

Mona Karff was a privateer, in addition to their chess passion she was a shrewd investor and had no money worries. She spoke eight languages ​​fluently and traveled a lot around in the world. She was also a lover of art and was a major part of their assets for the purchase of contemporary art from.