Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 was the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE title of Grandmaster.

Gaprindashvili participated in men's tournaments during her career, including a performance at Lone Pine International which earned her the title of Grandmaster.

[1] Her family was highly athletic, and the neighborhood children would often gather at the Gaprindashvili's home to play table tennis, billiards, and football.

[1] Gaprindashvili's favorite football team, FC Dinamo Tbilisi attended the game as spectators to support her.

[2] After her victory, Gaprindashvili was a celebrity in Georgia, and crowds gathered to meet her as she returned from the World Championship match.

Woman Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade described Gaprindashvili as a symbol of Georgian nationalism and merit during the country's time as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.

[1] Woman Grandmaster Rusudan Goletiani said that this went even further, with her success helping inspire a broader "intellectual revolution" for Georgian women.

[11][12] At the meeting of the FIDE Congress in 1978, Gaprindashvili was awarded the title of Grandmaster, although the normal requirement was three norms totaling 24 games.

[16] Gaprindashvili went on to train young female chess players, including Ana Matnadze and Tea Lanchava.

[2] Gaprindashvili was then among the most prominent members of the People's Assembly, a political opposition movement that protested the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili.

[2][18] In 2005, at the age of 64, Gaprindashvili won the BDO Chess Tournament held in Haarlem, the Netherlands, with a score of 6½/10 points and a performance rating of 2510.

[22] In response, she filed a lawsuit against Netflix for US$5 million for false light, invasion of privacy, and defamation on 16 September 2021.

[1] Following her victory over Bykova in 1962, it became common for young female chess players to emulate Gaprindashvili's style of aggressive and technical play.

Among those she considers great chess players, she has listed Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal, and Paul Morphy.

[3] In 2016, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov gave her a representation of Caïssa, in the shape of a chess queen, made by the Lobortas Classic Jewelry House.