Amazing and unforgettable Chiburdanidze Maya Grigoryevna is a great chess player. Her record, set at the age of seventeen, lasted thirty years. Then she won the Queen’s chess laurel wreath .
Childhood and youth
Children in the family of Grigory Chiburdanidze loved to play chess. They taught each other, and then fought among themselves. Seven-year-old sister joined the chess seventeen-year-old brother Revaz. And a year later, Maya Chiburdanidze already beat sister Lamara, who studied at the institute. But not only in Maya's chess were successful: she read from the age of three, and went to school at five, already easily operating with three-digit numbers. In Kutaisi, where she was born in 1961 and lived with her family, the girl came to the chess section of the Palace of Pioneers. The childhood of athletes ends quickly, especially if we have a child prodigy, like Maya Chiburdanidze in the field of chess.
First successes
First at 10 years old maya became the champion of Georgia among girls. Mom understood that her daughter needed to be seriously taught and, with the consent of her husband, moved with her a year later to Tbilisi, where there was one of the strongest chess schools. A child - he is a child. During these years, Maya Chiburdanidze loved to play chess, not learn: attack and end with a quick victory - to checkmate, and that’s all. Maya Grigoryevna herself calls it now children's chess.
At the same time, there were victories in international competitions. In 1973, a tournament was held in Tbilisi, where guests from Yugoslavia arrived. They made a mistake and brought an adult grandmaster V. Kalkhbrener. And Maya made a splash. She won all games with a score of 4: 0. At the first performance abroad in Romania in Brasov, she was ahead of all rivals for three rounds before the end of the tournament. These brilliant abilities, which Maya had, allowed her to become an international class grandmaster at age 13.
Style change
But as an adult chess player, she began to play, practicing for two years (1976 - 1977) with Eduard Gufeld. And she was only 15-16 years old. Her game has changed. She gained maturity, depth and simplicity, unusual for such a young age. And then 1978 came. Pitsunda. World Championship. There is a game of sixteen games with Nona Gaprindashvili, who has been on the chess throne for 16 years. Maya Chiburdanidze, who had just graduated from school, seized the initiative from the fourth and fifth games, and the win made her the sixth world chess champion. Young Maya did not lose respect for the former champion. And she decided how Nona play with men.
Diversity of interests
You should not think that in life, Maya had only one chess, although she loved them madly and still loves them. The girl was keenly interested in philology. Then she delved into the study of the history of Georgia, and quite unexpectedly, the Old Slavonic language captured her. In 1978, Maya entered Tbilisi Medical Institute and graduated from it with a cardiologist degree.
Mixed Matches
The chess player Maya Chiburdanidze most of all valued not the titles, but the ability to play at a high level. She was a playing champion who was not afraid to defend her title. Her heroine was N. Gaprindashvili, whose game was distinguished by masculine qualities, and Mikhail Tal also aroused her admiration .
Like Nona, Maya Grigoryevna played with men with pleasure, believing that they were scared to play with women, as they are ashamed to lose to them. Defending the title of the world's strongest chess player from 1981 to 1989, M. Chiburdanidze managed to take part in men's tournaments, often taking first or prize places (1984 - New Delhi, 1st place; 1985 - Banja Luka, 1st place; 1987 - Bilbao, 3-4 places; 1987 - Brussels, 2 place).
Offensive defeat
In 1991, defending the title of world champion for the sixth time, Maya Grigoryevna took the lead and unexpectedly met with stiff resistance. The result - the loss of the crown, which was very bitter. Since that time, Chinese women have become leaders in the international arena.
A bit about personal
Maya Grigoryevna got married, but soon divorced.
Now, all attention is paid to close relatives of Maya Chiburdanidze. Personal life focused on communicating with sisters and nephews. There are many of them - seven. In the life of Maya Grigoryevna and her family, religion occupies a large place. A tragic event led to this: at the age of 19, the elder brother died.
M. Chiburdanidze does not leave chess to this day, so you can expect pleasant surprises from it.