Husband and wife simultaneous national champions

[Colin Patterson]

I recall reading an old copy of "Chess", where it was claimed that Bill and Jana Hartston were the first ever married couple to hold national championships at the same time (1973).

I also remember thinking initially that this must be true; it seemed inconceivable that another couple could have done it earlier, but then I started thinking about Alexei Suetin and Kira Zvorykina, who were married at some point and I believe lived together in Minsk.

In fact, Wikipedia shows that they held the respective men's and women's Belarussian Championship in 1960, so the crucial question is ... were they married at the time? Their son Aleksandr was born in 1951, so it seems highly likely. Of course, it could be argued that they do not qualify as national championships - Belarussia being then a Soviet State rather than a nation.

A bit specialised, but can anyone verify my understanding of the facts here, or add anything of interest?

[Gordon Cadden]

Royal Air Force Squadron Leader David Pritchard was posted to Singapore after the Second World War, accompanied by his wife Elaine. I believe that they were the joint husband and wife simultaneous champions of Singapore, for at least 1 year.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Slightly off topic, but it is worth noting that Zvorykina (born 1920) represented her newly independent nation in her 70s - and was still playing a few years ago

[IM Jack Rudd]

I remember being told that Jonathan Grant and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant are the only married couple ever to have both held the national championship of the same country (in this case, Scotland).

[JustinHorton]

Belarus did actually have a separate seatin the United Nations .

[James Pratt]

I remember when Bill and Jana Hartston achieved the double - in 1973 and 1975 - that the record books were searched. I thought the Bileks achieved it in Hungary but although they were married and national champions this was not, as I read it, in the same year.

(Robert Bellin and Jana Miles in 1979, later they married)

[Stewart Reuben]

Have twins ever held the national chess championship at different times, or even shared the title? Junior Championships it must be quite common. We are told of triplets (about 7 years old) in the US who are doing well at chess. They are, I believe, same sex.

Stewart Reuben