Irina Levitina

Irina Levitina has the rare distinction of being world-class in two endeavors—chess and bridge. She first made her mark in the former when she won the Soviet Women’s Championship in 1971 at the age of 17. She repeated this accomplishment in 1978, 1979, and 1981 before defeating Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, and Lidia Semenova in the 1982-84 Women’s World Champion cycle, losing only to Maia Chiburdanidze in the Women’s World Championship final. Levitina won the U.S. Women’s Championship three times (1991, 1992, and 1993) after immigrating in 1990. She has won five world championship titles in women’s bridge.