Lyudmila Rudenko

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Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (Russian: Людмила Владимировна Руденко; the transcription of her first name may vary in different sources - Liudmila, Ljudmila, Ludmila...; 27 July 1904 in Lubny, Russia — 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second Women's World Chess Champion from 1950 until 1953. Rudenko held the FIDE International Master and Woman International Master titles.

Born in Lubny in the Poltava region of Ukraine, her father taught her to play chess at age 10 although at first she was more serious about swimming. After grammar school, she moved to Odessa and took a degree in economics. Rudenko became the Odessa swimming champion in the 400m breaststroke. Her professional career would be as an economic planner for the Soviet Union, and chess would remain a hobby.

She began playing tournament chess in 1925 after a move to Moscow. She then moved to Leningrad where she met and married scientist Lev Davidovich Goldstein; in 1931 they had a son. In Leningrad in 1929 she began training with chess master Peter Romanowski. She would not reach the peak of international women's chess until she was about 40 years old.

In World War II, Rudenko organized a train to evacuate children from the Siege of Leningrad. She would describe this as the most important thing she had accomplished in her life. Women's World Champion Vera Menchik died in 1944 during an air raid, so after the war in the winter of 1949–1950 the World Chess Federation FIDE held a tournament in Moscow to determine the new women's champion. Sixteen women from twelve countries competed, with the four Soviet players taking the top four spots. Rudenko won, and held the Women's World Championship title until losing it to Elisabeth Bykova in 1953 in the next championship cycle. After the war, Rudenko's chess trainers were Alexander Tolush and Grigory Levenfish.