Portrait of Lyudmila Rudenko, the second Women's World Chess Champion

Lyudmila Rudenko (1904-1986) was a prominent Soviet chess player who held the title of women's world chess champion from 1950 to 1953. Lyudmila won the Leningrad Women's Championship three times, establishing herself as a top Soviet player. After World War II, in the winter of 1949–1950, FIDE held a tournament in Moscow to determine the new women's champion. Sixteen women from twelve countries competed. Rudenko, then 45, emerged victorious, finishing a full point ahead of her competitors.