{{Short description|Scottish chess player (1882–1947)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Mary Gilchrist | birth_date = 4 June 1882 | birth_place = Rutherglen, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|01|14|1882|06|04|df=y}} | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | known_for = Chess }}
'''Mary Dinorah Gilchrist''' (4 June 1882 – 14 January 1947) was a Scottish chess player.
Gilchrist was born in Rutherglen<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.chessscotland.com/documents/history/biographies/gilchrist_miss_md.htm |title=Miss Mary Dinorah Gilchrist|publisher=Chess Scotland|access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref> to Mary Cameron and John Gilchrist, an ostrich-feather merchant and chess player.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women|isbn=9781474436298|editor-last=Ewan|editor-first=Elizabeth|location=Edinburgh|date=2018|pages=160|oclc=1057237368}}</ref>
She began playing chess at the Glasgow Ladies Chess Club and later moved to Edinburgh where she joined the Edinburgh Ladies Chess Club, at which she became a leading player. She was the Scottish Ladies Champion multiple times, in 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1938.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She won twice British Chess Championship in 1929 and 1934.<ref>[http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/britchamps.html BritBase :: British Chess Champions]</ref> She represented Scotland at the Women's World Chess Championship in the 4th Women's World Chess Championship at Folkestone in 1933, where she placed third, and again at the 6th Women's World Chess Championship at Stockholm in 1937 where she placed joint 8-9th,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> both events were won by Vera Menchik.<ref>Stanisław Gawlikowski, ''Olimpiady szachowe 1924 - 1974'', Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa 1978</ref>
Upon the merger of the Scottish Ladies Chess Association with the men's Scottish Chess Association (SCA), Gilchrist was one of four women to become president of the SCA. She served from November 1937 to April 1938.<ref name=":1" /> Gilchrist was a life member of the British Chess Federation.<ref name=":0" />
Gilchrist died on 14 January 1947 in Edinburgh.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography|last=Gaige|first=Jeremy|publisher=McFarland|year=1987|isbn=0-7864-2353-6|page=140|author-link=Jeremy Gaige}}</ref> Very little is known of her life outside of chess, although on her death certificate she is described as a confectioner.<ref name=":1" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrist, Mary}} Category:1882 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Rutherglen Category:Scottish female chess players Category:Scottish chess players Category:20th-century British chess players