Helga Axt grew up with her grandmother in Prague with her younger sister. She graduated from a hotel management school in Bad Gastein and was a good track and field athlete at the time. From 1957 to 1961 she was one of the best chess players in the
West Germany. She won the
West Germany Women's Chess Championship in 1957, 1958 and 1961. She was a member of the
Freiburg Chess Club and a club reserve player in the 1950s. After being a teacher in
Ihringen in the mid-1960s, she gave up playing chess. == West Germany Women's Chess Championships ==