Gisela Kahn Gresser (February 8, 1906 Detroit, Michigan – December 4, 2000)[1][2] was an American chess player.
On a cruise from France to New York in the late 1930s, she borrowed a chess manual from a fellow passenger and taught herself how to play.
[3] In 1938, she was a spectator at the first U.S. Women's Chess Championship tournament, organized by Caroline Marshall (wife of US Champion Frank Marshall) and held at the Rockefeller Center in New York City (won by Adele Rivero).
[4] She won it again in 1948 (with Mona May Karff), 1955 (with Nancy Roos), 1957 (with Sonja Graf), 1962, 1965, 1966 (with Lisa Lane), 1967, and 1969 (at age 63).
[8] In April 1963, she became the first woman in the United States to gain a master title, with a rating of 2211.
[2][9][10] She also wrote an article for the October 1950 issue of Ladies Home Journal, entitled "I Went to Moscow".
Mrs. Gresser (Mrs. was her preferred title) took lessons from International Master Hans Kmoch [citation needed] and Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier.
[2] Gresser (White) defeats her main rival for the U.S. Women's Chess Championship.
[16] Subsequently, he acknowledged that, as pointed out by Frank Marshall and Harold Phillips, White could keep good winning chances with 31.Qh5!
[16] Gresser (White) hands Lyudmila Rudenko, who won the Eighth Women's World Championship in this event with 11½ points out of 15 games (+9 =5 -1), her only defeat.