In 1961, aged 20, Gaprindashvili won the fourth women's Candidates Tournament, setting up a title match against world championElisaveta Bykova. She won the match easily, with a final score of 9-2, and went on to defend her title successfully four times: three times against Alla Kushnir and once against fellow Georgian Nana Alexandria. She finally lost her crown in 1978 to another Georgian, 17-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, by a score of 6½–8½. Gaprindashvili played for the Soviet Union in the Women's Chess Olympiads of 1963, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, and for Georgia in 1992. She was one of the contributing players of the USSR team that dominated the Women's Olympiads of the 1980s. She won as many as 25 medals, among which 11 team gold medals and 9 individual gold medals. At the Olympiad of Dubai 1986 she won all the ten games she played. She was a five-times winner of the Women's Soviet Championship: in 1964, 1973, 1981, 1983, and 1985. During her career Gaprindashvili successfully competed in men's tournaments, winning the Hastings Challengers tournament in 1963/4 and tying for first place at Lone Pine International tournament in 1977. In 1978 Gaprindashvili became the first woman to be awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE. She was awarded the title after scoring two grandmaster norms totaling 23 games, the last of which was winning Lone Pine 1977 against a field of 45 players, mostly grandmasters. Although the GM title normally required 24 games, by exceeding the GM 'norm' requirement in Lone Pine, FIDE found her results over 23 games equivalent to 24 games and made her the first woman Grandmaster. In 1975 she had a perfume named after her. In 1995 Gaprindashvili won the Women's World Senior Championshipfor the first time. She won it also in 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. She also won the European Women's Seniors Championship in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2005, at age 64, Gaprindashvili won the BDOChess Tournament held in Haarlem, the Netherlands with a score of 6½/10 points and a performance rating of 2510. Gaprindashvili was awarded the Order of Excellence in 2015 by President of GeorgiaGiorgi Margvelashvili for "her outstanding contribution to the country and nation" and "representing Georgia at an international level". In honor of the 75th anniversary, she was awarded by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with precious chess prize of Caissa, executed in the shape of the imperious and unbeatable chess queen, the patroness of the fair skill of grandmaster chess. It was made by the Lobortas Classic Jewelry House.
