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The Most Famous

CHESS PLAYERS from Estonia

This page contains a list of the greatest Estonian Chess Players. The pantheon dataset contains 374 Chess Players, 4 of which were born in Estonia. This makes Estonia the birth place of the 24th most number of Chess Players behind Slovakia and Romania.

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Estonian Chess Players of all time. This list of famous Estonian Chess Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Paul Keres (1916 - 1975)

With an HPI of 61.85, Paul Keres is the most famous Estonian Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages on wikipedia.

Paul Keres ([ˈpɑu̯l ˈkeres]; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. As Estonia was repeatedly invaded and occupied during World War II, Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union (1940–41, 1944–75) and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments. Keres won the AVRO 1938 chess tournament, which led to negotiations for a title match against the reigning World Champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Keres was runner-up in the Candidates Tournament on four consecutive occasions in 1953–1962. Due to these and other strong results, many chess historians consider Keres one of the greatest "Super grandmasters" in history, and the strongest player never to become world champion. Widely considered an Estonian national hero, he was nicknamed "Paul the Second", "The Eternal Second", and "The Crown Prince of Chess".

2. Lionel Kieseritzky (1806 - 1853)

With an HPI of 53.05, Lionel Kieseritzky is the 2nd most famous Estonian Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky (Russian: Лионель Адальберт Багратион Феликс Кизерицкий; 1 January 1806 [O.S. 20 December 1805] – 18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1853) was a Baltic German chess master and theoretician, known for his contributions to chess theory, as well for a game he lost against Adolf Anderssen, known as the "Immortal Game". Kieseritzky's name became associated with several openings and opening variations, such as the Kieseritzky Gambit, Kieseritzky Attack, and the Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit.