Mona May Karff

Mona May Karff
CountryUnited States
Born(1908-10-20)October 20, 1908
Bessarabia, Russia
DiedJanuary 10, 1998(1998-01-10) (aged 89)
Manhattan, New York, United States
TitleWoman International Master (1950)
Peak rating2135 (January 1990)

Mona May Karff (née Minna Ratner; 20 October 1908[1][2][3] – 10 January 1998) was an American chess player. She dominated U.S. women's chess in the 1940s and early 1950s: she held seven U.S. Women's Chess Champion titles and four consecutive U.S. Open titles.[4]

  1. ^ Massachusetts, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1798-1950
  2. ^ U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
  3. ^ U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995
  4. ^ Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (18 January 1998). "Mona May Karff Dies at 86; A Dominant Figure in Chess". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2019.