Savereide, en Prié

Over the past 20+ years I've written somewhat extensively about women chess players, particularly American women.  If someone were to wade through it all, it would probably not come as any surprise that I've developed favorites. These might include ladies such as Nellie Showalter, Adele Rivero and Lisa Lane. Possibly near the top of that list would also be Diane Savereide.  

I'm aware that this is a niche area since women players throughout history are on a plane below that of men.  Maybe that's the source of their appeal to me. But it's also true that due to the lower stature, these names may not even be recognizable to most chess aficionados. 

That said, (both my POV and what I believe to be that of most) here's a little news item from back in 1982.   Diane Savereide was U.S. Women's Champion -her fourth such title by this time - heading to Lucerne, Switzerland to be part of the 10th Women's Olympiad (in conjunction with the 25th Olympiad),

The Olympiad took place in the Fall of 1982.

The US women's team comprised of Diane Savereide, Ruth Haring, Diana Lanni and alternate Rachel Crotto.

The competition was particularly strong. e.g., the Soviet team consisted of Maya Chiburdanidze, Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria and alternate Nana Ioseliani.

Although the U.S. women's team only finished in seventeenth place, individually the contenstants had their moments in the sun:
   --On first-board Diane Savereide beat WIM Agnieska Brustman of Poland, who was the current World Junior Women's Champion
  --On second-board Ruth Haring beat WGM Milunka Lazarevic of Yugoslavia who had tied for first place in the Women's World Championship Candidates Tournament in 1964.
   --On third-board Diana Lanni drew with both the former many-times Romanian Woman's Champion, Elisabeta Polihroniade and drew with Nona Gaprindashvili, who needs no introduction
  --On fourth-board Rachel Crotto beat Hanneke Van Parreren who would go on to become the Dutch Women's Champion in 1985.

The news item:

    "On her way to the chess Olympics in Lucerne, U.S. women's champion Diane Savereide dropped by Paris for a two-game match with Eric Prie, the city champion. The first game was drawn, but Diane wowed the spectators with this game in the finale."

    Éric Prié, then 20 years old (Savereide was 28),  was, as mentioned, the Paris Champion. He would later earn his grandmaster title and become the French Champion.

A lovely, lively little battle

OMG, are you kidding me? If you told me Kasparov or Gufeld had the Black pieces, I would believe you!

That is how good this game is!

It's both tactical and practical. 

a gem. Thank you!

Catchy phrase.  Can I borrow it?

Very nice game, and Diane and her teammates were pioneers in playing in open events.  Before them, most top "ladies knew their place."  The infusion of Soviet emigres that followed in the '80s obscured a bit of their significance, but just a bit.

How do you say, "be my guest" in French?
In the Olympiads there was Gisela Gresser, Jackie Piatigorsky and Mary Bain.. all pretty old school but not much of a team. Diane Savereide shows up at Haifa in 1976, the 7th women's olympiad (with her first US championship title) with Haring, Herstein and Crotto and the U.S. finally makes a good showing.   

Impressive. Difficult to tell who of those four looks coolest and most intimidating as an opponent.

Did you post monographic articles about each of them? If not, consider it a reader's request to do so in the future. Thank you in advance!

In short:

Ruth Haring was a former USCF president and died a little over a year ago. Mike Klein did a proper memorial: https://www.chess.com/news/view/wim-ruth-haring-1955-2018.

Rachel Crotto was one of John Collins so-called prodigies. She shared the US title with Savereide in 1978 and in 1979, snatched it for her own

Haring, Crotto, Savereide



I know Diana Lanni, a very sweet lady but a fierce competitor back in the day. She had a difficult but interesting life. She's expressed her intentions to write about it.  Unfortunately, she had to quit tournament chess due to injuries sustained from an attack by a stranger.  

Nice article and game.

I believe that would be "je vous en prie". 

Merci!

wow a truly inspired sacrificial attack. 

Very Cool Article

Nice article. Whatever happened to Rachel Crotto?

She sort of went off the radar, chesswise, in the mid-1980s.

More likely life interfered.  

Truly, thanks so much for the inspiration batgirl.

I played against Diane Lanni twice in the Detroit Metro League matches in the late 70's or early 80's, both draws.  Another name worth mentioning is Alexey Root; I think she was from the west coast.

Alexey Rudolph (her maiden name) won the US Women's and received her WIM in 1989. (as well as becoming  a high school teacher and swim/chess coach in California and marrying Douglas Root, also in 1989 - big year).   She had been in a couple of US Women's  Championships before that, of course.  She was originally from Texas, 

If you liked this, you may enjoy my most recent article, Liz Loves Chess. Diana Lanni commented there.