The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldovan/Romanian: Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ or Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească; Russian: Молда́вская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика Moldavskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union. After the Declaration of Sovereignty on June 23, 1990 and until the Declaration of Independence on August 27, 1991, it was officially referred as Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. Upon gaining formal independence it became the Republic of Moldova.

The Moldavian SSR was formed on August 2, 1940 from parts of Bessarabia, a region annexed from Romania on June 28 of that year, and MASSR, an autonomous republic within the Ukrainian SSR.

After the failure of the Tatarbunar Uprising, the Soviets set up an autonomous Moldavian ASSR on October 12, 1924 within the Ukrainian SSR on part of the territory between the Dniester and Bug rivers, as a way to prop up the propaganda effort and help a potential Communist revolution in Romania.

Kateryna Oleksandrivna Lahno (Ukrainian: Катерина Олександрівна Лагно; born December 27, 1989) is a Ukrainian chess player. She earned the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the age of 12 years and 4 months, breaking Judit Polgár's record to become the youngest ever to earn this title. She is now a full Grandmaster (GM). Born in Lviv, Lahno grew up in the industrial and chess-friendly town Kramatorsk. As of 2005, she lives in Donetsk.

Lahno was the fifth seed for the 64-player knockout 2004 Women's World Chess Championship. At the age of 15 she won the 2005 European Individual Women's Championship, held in June in Chişinău, Moldova. Tied with Russian IM Nadezhda Kosintseva at the end of the 12th round with 9 points each, Lahno won both games of a two-game rapid-play tie-break playoff to win the championship. She won IV Women's 'North Urals Cup - 2006', attaining a full grandmaster norm in the process.

In May 2008, Lahno won the European Individual Women Chess Championships again in Plovdiv, by one-half point in the 11-round open tournament.