Ruth Volgl Cardoso
Encyclopedia
Ruth Volgl Cardoso was a Brazilian chess
Woman International Master.
Her father was a Brazilian businessman who went to Germany
to study engineering
. There he met and married Ruth's mother, afterwards bringing her to Brazil where Ruth was born.
Shortly after Ruth was born, her parents' marriage ended, and Ruth and her mother went to Germany
. World War II
broke out and Ruth and her mother spent the period in East Germany. When the war ended, the Soviet Army
took over East Germany. Ruth would have been trapped there, except that she had dinner with General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
, who saw to it that Ruth would be allowed to escape to Brazil
.
Ruth Cardoso was, for many years, the strongest woman chess player in South America
. She won the South American Women's Championship every time she competed (1966, 1969 and 1972). She won the Brazilian Chess Championship
seven times. She played four times in the Women's Interzonal
Championship. She played in five World Chess Olympiad
s, playing first board for the Brazilian team each time: in Skopje
1972, Medellín
1974, Buenos Aires
1976, La Valletta 1980, and Luzern 1982. Her trainer was grandmaster Pal Benko
.
She played chess in the United States
for thirty years, mostly in open Swiss tournaments. She was a popular chess personality, who was always able to see the bright side in the worst possible situations.
Ruth Cardoso was perhaps best known for playing in strong grandmaster tournaments in Spain
and Italy
in the 1970s. She played tournament games against grandmasters Ljubomir Ljubojevic
, Arturo Pomar
, Jan Timman
and Arthur Bisguier
. She occasionally scored against the grandmasters, drawing with grandmasters Laszlo Barczay in Reggio Emilia
1970 and Miguel Quinteros
in Malaga
, Spain
in 1971.
In addition to being a chess player, she was an artist
and a woodcutter.
One confusing point which has often arisen is the similarity between her name and that of International Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso
of the Philippines
. Rodolfo Cardoso became famous for playing a match against Bobby Fischer
in 1957 and in the Interzonal
in Portorož
in 1958. As a result, when games played by R. Cardoso against grandmasters began being published in the 1970s, it was widely assumed that these were games played by Rodolfo Cardoso, whereas they were actually played by Ruth Cardoso. She is also sometimes confused with the wife of the former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso
, whose name is also Ruth Cardoso (Ruth Valença Correia Leite Cardoso).
Ruth Cardoso was married and divorced early in life and had no children. Her trainer, Benko, was also her long-time companion. She died of heart disease
.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Woman International Master.
Her father was a Brazilian businessman who went to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to study engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
. There he met and married Ruth's mother, afterwards bringing her to Brazil where Ruth was born.
Shortly after Ruth was born, her parents' marriage ended, and Ruth and her mother went to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out and Ruth and her mother spent the period in East Germany. When the war ended, the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
took over East Germany. Ruth would have been trapped there, except that she had dinner with General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, who saw to it that Ruth would be allowed to escape to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Ruth Cardoso was, for many years, the strongest woman chess player in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. She won the South American Women's Championship every time she competed (1966, 1969 and 1972). She won the Brazilian Chess Championship
Brazilian Chess Championship
The 1998 championship was held 9–19 December in Itabirito, Minas Gerais State.The field of sixteen played a series of two-game single elimination matches to determine the finalists....
seven times. She played four times in the Women's Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
Championship. She played in five World Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
s, playing first board for the Brazilian team each time: in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
1972, Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
1974, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
1976, La Valletta 1980, and Luzern 1982. Her trainer was grandmaster Pal Benko
Pál Benko
Pal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
.
She played chess in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for thirty years, mostly in open Swiss tournaments. She was a popular chess personality, who was always able to see the bright side in the worst possible situations.
Ruth Cardoso was perhaps best known for playing in strong grandmaster tournaments in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the 1970s. She played tournament games against grandmasters Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Ljubomir Ljubojević is a Grandmaster of chess. He was born on November 2, 1950, in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia . Ljubojević was awarded the International Master title in 1970 and the GM title in 1971. He was Yugoslav champion in 1977 and 1982. He won the 1974 Canadian Open Chess Championship...
, Arturo Pomar
Arturo Pomar
Arturo Pomar Salamanca is a Spanish chess Grandmaster .A chess prodigy , and a pupil of Alexander Alekhine, he became quite famous...
, Jan Timman
Jan Timman
Jan Timman is a Dutch chess Grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West"...
and Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bisguier
Arthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads...
. She occasionally scored against the grandmasters, drawing with grandmasters Laszlo Barczay in Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
1970 and Miguel Quinteros
Miguel Quinteros
Miguel Quinteros is an Argentine chess grandmaster.He won the Argentine Chess Championship at the age of 18 and in 1969 took eighth place at the Mar del Plata Zonal tournament...
in Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1971.
In addition to being a chess player, she was an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and a woodcutter.
One confusing point which has often arisen is the similarity between her name and that of International Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso
Rodolfo Tan Cardoso
Rodolfo Tan Cardoso is a Philippine chess International Master.In 1956, he won Philippine Junior Championship. In 1957, he took 5th in Toronto ; William Lombardy won)...
of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Rodolfo Cardoso became famous for playing a match against Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
in 1957 and in the Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
in Portorož
Portorož
- External links :**...
in 1958. As a result, when games played by R. Cardoso against grandmasters began being published in the 1970s, it was widely assumed that these were games played by Rodolfo Cardoso, whereas they were actually played by Ruth Cardoso. She is also sometimes confused with the wife of the former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso – also known by his initials FHC – was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. He is an accomplished sociologist, professor and politician...
, whose name is also Ruth Cardoso (Ruth Valença Correia Leite Cardoso).
Ruth Cardoso was married and divorced early in life and had no children. Her trainer, Benko, was also her long-time companion. She died of heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
.