Elisabeta Polihroniade, probably the most famous Romanian chess player, died on January 23 at age 80.

Polihroniade was a chess Women Grandmaster, one of the highest international chess titles, and an International Arbiter.

She won the Romanian Women’s Chess Championships seven times from 1966 to 1977 and played for Romania in the Women's Chess Olympiads ten times, returning with nine medals, according to Romania's Chess Federation.

She played in more than 150 international chess tournaments and was an international arbiter at 8 Olympiads and over 60 World and European Championships.

Besides her sports career, Elisabeta Polihroniade (standing) has dedicated a lot of her time to promoting chess in Romania, especially in schools. She was a director of the Romanian chess magazine, wrote several books, and had a TV show for almost 40 years.

Romania’s Vaslui hosts the largest chessboard in the country

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: frsah.ro)