Aleksander Arulaid (24 May 1924,

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

– 9 July 1995, Tallinn) was an Estonian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. He was a three-time winner of the

Estonian Chess Championship The Estonian Chess Championship is played to determine the Estonian champion in chess. The first unofficial championship in Estonia was held in 1903 and was organized by a chess club from Tallinn (then Reval, Russian Empire). After World War I, ...

Biography

In 1941 Arulaid graduated from

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in Tallinn and in 1951 he graduated from

Tallinn Polytechnical Institute Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; et, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool) is the only technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administrati ...

in electrical machinery and apparatus specialty. From 1952 to 1984 he worked as an engineer in industrial projects. In 1944/45 Aleksander Arulaid ranked third in the Estonian and

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n strongest players tournament in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

after

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 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 ...

and

Alexander Koblencs Alexander Koblencs ( lv, Aleksandrs Koblencs, russian: Александр Кобленц; 3 September 1916, Riga – 9 December 1993, Berlin) was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61 World Ch ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was one of the leading chess players in Estonia. In 1945 Arulaid won a tournament in Tallinn. In 1948 he was second place in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

tournament. In Estonian Chess Championships he has won 3 gold (1948, 1955, 1964), 3 silver (1943, 1946, 1950) and 3 bronze (1944, 1959, 1960) medals. Arulaid was the winner of Tallinn Chess Championships in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1968. In 1954 and 1967 he won the traditional National Tournament in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...

.National Tournament - Parnu 1967
/ref> He played in Soviet Chess Championships semifinals three times (1949, 1955, 1964) and played for Estonia in the Soviet Team Chess Championships five times (1953, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1967).

References

External links

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Aleksander Arulaid
player profile at olimpbase.org (Soviet Team Chess Championship) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arulaid, Aleksander 1924 births 1995 deaths Sportspeople from Tallinn Estonian chess players Soviet male chess players Tallinn University of Technology alumni 20th-century chess players