Chigorin Memorial

The Chigorin Memorial is a chess tournament played in honour of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), founder of the Soviet Chess School and one of the leading players of his day. The first and most important edition was the one played in 1909 in St. Petersburg. Later on, the tournament was mainly played in the Black Sea resort Sochi. From 1993 the venue for the tournament returned to his hometown.

St. Petersburg 1909

Photo from the first Chigorian Memorial Tournament, 1909

President of the organising committee was Peter Petrovich Saburov, President of the St. Petersburg Chess Club. Members of the committee were Boris Maliutin, O. Sossnitzky, V. Tschudowski, Sergius A. Znosko-Borovsky and Eugene A. Znosko-Borovsky.^[1] The main event lasted from 14 February to 12 March 1909.

N°	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
1	Akiba Rubinstein (Russian Empire)/ Poland	*	1	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	0	1	½	1	1	1	1	14½
2	Emanuel Lasker (German Empire)	0	*	½	1	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	14½
3	Rudolf Spielmann (Austria-Hungary)/ Austria	0	½	*	1	0	1	1	½	1	½	½	½	1	0	½	1	½	½	1	11
4	Oldřich Duras (Austria-Hungary)/ Bohemia	0	0	0	*	0	1	½	0	½	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	11
5	Ossip Bernstein (Russian Empire)/ Ukraine	½	½	1	1	*	0	1	0	1	1	1	1	½	0	0	0	½	½	1	10½
6	Richard Teichmann (German Empire)	½	0	0	0	1	*	0	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	½	1	1	½	10
7	Julius Perlis (Austria-Hungary)/ Poland	½	0	0	½	0	1	*	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	½	0	0	1	9½
8	Erich Cohn (German Empire)	0	0	½	1	1	½	½	*	0	0	1	½	½	0	½	½	½	1	1	9
9	Carl Schlechter (Austria-Hungary)/ Austria	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	1	*	1	0	0	1	1	½	0	1	½	1	9
10	Gersz Salwe (Russian Empire)/ Poland	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	1	0	*	½	1	1	1	½	0	1	1	1	9
11	Savielly Tartakower (Austria-Hungary)/ Poland	½	0	½	1	0	½	½	0	1	½	*	0	0	0	½	1	1	1	½	8½
12	Jacques Mieses (German Empire)	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	1	0	1	*	½	1	1	1	0	1	1	8½
13	Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky (Russian Empire)/ Ukraine	1	1	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	0	1	½	*	½	½	½	1	0	1	8
14	Leo Forgács (Austria-Hungary)/ Hungary	0	0	1	0	1	½	½	1	0	0	1	0	½	*	½	½	½	0	½	7½
15	Amos Burn (England)	½	0	½	0	1	0	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	*	1	½	½	0	7
16	Milan Vidmar (Austria-Hungary)/ Slovenia	0	0	0	0	1	½	½	½	1	1	0	0	½	½	0	*	½	1	0	7
17	Abraham Speijer (Netherlands)	0	0	½	0	½	0	1	½	0	0	0	1	0	½	½	½	*	½	½	6
18	Sergey von Freymann (Russian Empire)	0	0	½	0	½	0	1	0	½	0	0	0	1	1	½	0	½	*	0	5½
19	Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (Russian Empire)	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	1	1	½	1	*	5

Rubinstein and Lasker won 875 rubles (each), Spielmann and Duras 475 rubles (each), Bernstein 190 rubles, Teichmann 120 rubles, Perlis 80 rubles, Cohn, Schlechter, and Salwe 40 rubles (each).^[2]

1947-1972

From 1947, there were several Chigorin memorial tournaments, but it was not until 1963 that it was established as an annual event in Sochi. These tournaments were all played on the round robin format.

Year	Winner	City
1947	Mikhail Botvinnik	Moscow
1951	Vasily Smyslov	Leningrad
1961	Mark Taimanov	Rostov-on-Don
1972	Lev Polugaevsky	Kislovodsk

Sochi period (1963-1990)

#	Year	Winner	City
1	1963	Lev Polugaevsky	Sochi
2	1964	Nikolai Krogius	Sochi
3	1965	Wolfgang Unzicker Boris Spassky	Sochi
4	1966	Viktor Korchnoi	Sochi
5	1967	Alexander Zaitsev Vladimir Simagin Nikolai Krogius Leonid Shamkovich Boris Spassky	Sochi
6	1973	Mikhail Tal	Sochi
7	1974	Lev Polugaevsky	Sochi
8	1976	Lev Polugaevsky Evgeny Sveshnikov	Sochi
9	1977	Mikhail Tal	Sochi
10	1979	Nukhim Rashkovsky	Sochi
11	1980	Alexander Panchenko	Sochi
12	1981	Vitaly Tseshkovsky	Sochi
13	1982	Mikhail Tal	Sochi
14	1983	Anatoly Vaisser Evgeny Sveshnikov	Sochi
15	1984	Georgy Agzamov	Sochi
16	1985	Evgeny Sveshnikov	Sochi
17	1986	Svetozar Gligorić Alexander Beliavsky Rafael Vaganian	Sochi
18	1987	Sergey Smagin Evgeny Pigusov Andrei Kharitonov	Sochi
19	1988	Sergey Dolmatov	Sochi
20	1989	Alexey Vyzmanavin	Sochi
21	1990	Vadim Ruban	Sochi

Back to St. Petersburg (1993- )

Since 1993, the Chigorin Memorial has been played as an open Swiss system tournament. The 13th edition was not played for superstitious reasons. The winners are listed below.

#	Year	Winner
1	1993	Alexey Dreev
2	1994	Ildar Ibragimov
3	1995	Vladimir Burmakin
4	1996	Alexei Fedorov Lembit Oll
5	1997	Konstantin Sakaev
6	1998	Sergey Volkov
7	1999	Alexander Grischuk Sergey Volkov
8	2000	Valerij Filippov
9	2001	Mikhail Kobalia
10	2002	Alexander Fominyh
11	2004	Sergey Ivanov
12	2005	Igor Zakharevich Roman Ovetchkin
14	2006	Dmitry Bocharov
15	2007	Sergei Movsesian
16	2008	Vladimir Belov
17	2009	Sergey Volkov
18	2010	Eltaj Safarli
19	2011	Dmitry Bocharov
20	2012	Alexander Areshchenko
21	2013	Pavel Eljanov
22	2014	Ivan Ivanisevic
23	2015	Kirill Alekseenko
24	2016	Kirill Alekseenko

References

The International Chess Congress: St. Petersburg 1909, New York, edition Lasker Press, 1910 (reprinted by Dover books 1971)

External links

St. Petersburg 1909 and 1914
The Independent, 1999, Jon Speelman: Results 1993-1999
Results from The Week in Chess: TWIC 157 (1997), TWIC 212 (1998), TWIC 262 (1999), TWIC 314 (2000), TWIC 365 (2001), TWIC 418 (2002), TWIC 572 (2005), TWIC 625 (2006), TWIC 683 (2007), TWIC 730 (2008), 2009, 2011
Results from ChessBase: 2006 edition, 2010 edition
Results from Ruschess: 2004 edition
Results from Rusbase: Editions 1961-1990
Results from Chess-Results: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

[1] The Saburovs by Edward Winter

[2] St. Petersburg 1909 and 1914

[1]

[2]

v t e Major recurring international chess tournaments
Strong chess tournaments Mini chess tournaments Round-robin chess tournaments
Major present (average rating > 2700; round-robin system generally)	Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (since 1973) Grand Chess Tour (since 2015) Grenke Chess Classic (since 2013) London Chess Classic (since 2009) Norway Chess (since 2013) Shamkir Chess (since 2014) Shenzhen Masters (since 2017) Sinquefield Cup (since 2013) Tata Steel Chess Tournament (since 1938) UzChess Cup (since 2024)
Other present (Swiss system generally)	Aeroflot Open (since 2002) Australasian Masters (since 1987) Biel Chess Festival (since 1968) Canadian Open (since 1956) Capablanca Memorial (since 1962) Cappelle-la-Grande Open (since 1985) Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial (since 1987) Chigorin Memorial (since 1909) Doeberl Cup (since 1963) Dubai Open (since 1999) Gibraltar Chess Festival (since 2003) Hastings International Chess Congress (since 1920) Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament (since 1995) Lublin Grandmaster Tournament (since 2009) Paul Keres Memorials (Tallinn, since 1969) (Vancouver, since 1975) Prague Chess Festival (since 2019) Qatar Masters Open (2014–2015, since 2023) Reykjavik Open (since 1964) Riga Technical University Open (since 2011) Rilton Cup (since 1971) Rubinstein Memorial (since 1963) South African Open (since 1962) U.S. Open (since 1900) TePe Sigeman & Co chess tournament (since 1993) Vidmar Memorial (since 1969) World Open (since 1973) Xtracon Chess Open (since 1979) Zurich Christmas Open (since 1977)
Recently cancelled (after 2000)	Alekhine Memorial (1956–2013, irregular) Acropolis (1968–2009) Aerosvit (2006–2008) Amber (1992–2011) Bilbao Chess Masters Final (2008–2016) Howard Staunton Memorial (2003–2009) Linares (1978–2010) Mar del Plata (1928–2001) Millionaire Chess (2014–2016) M-Tel Masters (2005–2009) North Sea Cup (1976–2008) Pearl Spring (2008–2010) Reggio Emilia (1947–2012) Tal Memorial (2006–2018) Zurich Chess Challenge (2012–2017)
Major past (19th–20th century)	American Chess Congress (1857–1923) Carl Schlechter Memorial (1923–1996) DSB Congress (1879–1932) General Government (1940–1944) IBM international (1961–1981) Konex (1977–1994) Leopold Trebitsch Memorial (1907–1938) Lone Pine International (1971–1981) Max Euwe Memorial (1987–1996) Monte Carlo (1901–1904; 1967–1969) Netanya (1961–1983) Palma de Mallorca (1965–1972) Phillips & Drew Kings (1980–1986) Piatigorsky Cup (1963–1966) San Sebastián (1911–1912) Silesian Chess Congress (1922–1939) Tilburg (1977–1998) Triberg (1914–1917)
Chess competitions National championships Supranational championships