A word about Vera

This is Vera Menchik.  She was very good at chess.  There are other pictures of her later in her career, when she looks more matronly, but I like this one.  She was the only woman allowed to play in men's tournaments in the first half of the 20th century.  In her first men's tournament (Ramsgate, 1929) she scored three victories, four draws, and no losses against the leading lights of the British chess world.   Here, via the estimable Edward Winter, is a clipping from Irving Chernev's book Curious Chess Facts (1937):

In 1944 the Nazis blew up her London home with a V-1 rocket, killing her, which is further evidence (as if any were needed) that they were complete assholes.  Vera Menchik was better than all of them put together.

You can get your Vera Menchik t-shirt here.