Galina Satonina
KazakhstanBiography of Galina Satonina
Early Life and CareerGalina Satonina, a multiple champion of Kazan and Tatarstan in women's chess, was born in 1905 in Kazan. After completing school, she studied at an art school. From 1930 to 1932, she worked as an artist and draftsman at the largest construction site in Kazan, "Kazmashstroi". From 1933 to 1941, she worked as an artist at the Kazan Sewing Factory. During the Great Patriotic War, she worked at a defense enterprise. From 1946 to 1961, she worked as a coach for the Tatar Council of the Democratic Union "Spartak", conducting chess work in production collectives. Since 1961, she has been retired but continues to do public work in the chess federation of Kazan and Tatarstan.
Chess and Art
In 1964, Satonina began painting pictures on chess themes, which gained nationwide recognition. Exhibitions of her paintings were held in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Voronezh, Saratov, Krasnodar, and other cities of our country. Reproductions of her paintings were placed in a number of magazines, including those published in Cuba, the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. She learned to play chess in childhood from her brother. She started participating in competitions only in 1936, at the age of 31, mainly in men's tournaments, where she progressed from fourth to first rank.
Achievements
Before the war, she became the champion of Kazan among women twice, and in the post-war years, three times. In 1946, she won the title of Tatarstan champion for the first time and repeated this success twelve times until 1969. From 1947, she participated four times in the RSFSR Women's Championship and several times in competitions of the Russian and Central Councils of the Democratic Union "Spartak". She repeatedly defended the sporting honor of Kazan and Tatarstan in various team competitions in the Volga region and the Russian Federation. Since 1939, Galina Ivanovna has been a consistent member of the chess federations of Kazan and Tatarstan, and she has long been involved in the work of the qualification commission. She also did significant work in refereeing various chess competitions. In 1957, she was awarded the title of referee of the Republican category in chess.
