Nona Gaprindashvili (born May 3, 1941) is a Georgian chess player, and a former womenīs world chess champion (1962-1978). Born in Zugdidi, Georgian SSR, she was the strongest player of her generation.
In 1961, aged 20, Gaprindashvili won the fourth womenīs Candidates Tournament, setting up a title match against Russian world champion Elisabeth Bikova. She won the match easily, with a final score of 9-2 (+7-0=4), and went on to defend her title successfully four times: three times against Alla Kushnir (1965: 10-6; 1969: 12-7; 1972: 12-11) and once against fellow Georgian Nana Alexandria (1975: 9-4). She finally lost her crown in 1978 to another Georgian, 17-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, by a score of 11-13 (+2-4=9).
During her career Gaprindashvili successfully competed in menīs tournaments, winning (amongst others) the Hastings Challengers tournament in 1963/4 and tying for first place at Lone Pine in 1977. In 1978 she became the first woman to be made an (unqualified) International Grandmaster — having been a Womenīs Grandmaster since 1962.
In 1975 she had a perfume named after her.
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