Karff Mona May

About

Mona May Karff, born Minna Ratner in Bessarabia (today part of the Republic of Moldova), was one of the most remarkable chess players in the history of the United States, dominating American women's chess in the 1940s and early 1950s. She won the U.S. Women's National Championship title seven times (1938, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1948 – tied, 1953, and 1974, at the age of 66) and four consecutive U.S. Women's Open titles (1938-1950). She participated in three Women's World Championships, finishing 7th in 1937 for Palestine, 5th in 1939 and 1949 for the USA, and in 1950 she received the FIDE International Master title, one of the first awarded to American women. After her family moved to Palestine, where her father, Aviv Ratner, a prosperous Jewish landowner, taught her chess at the age of 9, Karff moved to the USA in the 1930s, initially settling in Boston. She collaborated with prestigious clubs like the Marshall Chess Club in New York, where she became a constant presence, and played alongside prominent figures like Gisela Gresser and Mary Bain, forming a dominant trio in American women's chess. She was a member of the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame (inducted in 2013) and had a FIDE rating of up to 2135, demonstrating an extensive and passionate career for the sport of the mind. Karff led a sophisticated life, speaking six to eight languages, holding a degree in international relations, and collecting modern art, which she financed through smart stock market investments. She was briefly married to her cousin, lawyer Abraham S. Karff, but her long-term relationship with master Edward Lasker was well-known. She traveled extensively and died in 1998 in New York at the age of 89, leaving a legacy of excellence in women's chess.