Maia Chiburdanidze

Maia Chiburdanidze, born in 1961 in Georgia, became Women's World Champion in 1978 by defeating Nona Gaprindashvili. She was 17 and the youngest champion up to that time. She held the title for thirteen years before losing it to Xie Jun in 1991.

In 1984 she received FIDE's grandmaster title. This is the general title available to any player and should not be confused with the separate woman grandmaster title. The distinction reflects that her results also met the standard required in open competition.

Her long reign continued the powerful Georgian and Soviet tradition in the women's championship, but her career was not confined to that circuit. She competed successfully in open events and ranked among the strongest players of her generation against opponents of any gender.