Emīlija Šmite (1899 – 16 September 1977) was a Latvian

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 dist ...

player.

Biography

Emīlija Šmite was permanent participant of first Latvian Women's Chess Championships in which she won several medals and has been very close to several times to win the title of Latvian Women's Chess Champion. In the 1938 Latvian Women's Chess Championship she shared 1st place with

Elise Vogel Elise Johanna Vogel ( lv, Elīza Johanna Fogele, née Kalsing; 26 June 1895 – date of death unknown) was a Latvian chess player of Baltic German origin. Biography The German newspaper "Rigasches Stadtblätter" preserved the news that Elise Jo ...

and Marta Krūmiņa but after further competition remained in second place. 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 opposing ...

Emīlija Šmite had rivalry with the leading Latvian chess players of this time

Milda Lauberte Milda Lauberte (7 October 1918 in Vildoga – October 19, 2009 in Riga) was a Latvian chess master. She played in two Women's World Championship tournaments, sharing third place with Sonja Graf, behind Vera Menchik and Clarice Benini at Sto ...

. In the 1948 Latvian Women's Chess Championship she was a leader with 7 points out of 7, but in the decisive battle with Lauberte in first missed the won, then continued to play for victory and lost. The 1949 Latvian Women's Chess Championship she was also close to winning the whole tournament, but once again in the decisive party she lost Lauberte and stayed second. In December 1949 and January 1950, in

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 '' ...

Emīlija Šmite participated in the 10th USSR Women's Chess Championship semi-final, in which shared 11th-12th place, but was the only one who win the tournament winner

Kira Zvorykina Kira Alekseyevna Zvorykina (, ; September 29, 1919 – September 6, 2014) was a Soviet chess player who spent many years living in Belarus. She was a three-time winner of the Women's Soviet Championship. In 2018, she was inducted into the World ...

. In the 1950s, Šmite's results in chess tournaments were no longer as good as before, but she played regularly until 1963 in the Latvian Women's Chess Championships. In the 1960s Emīlija Šmite worked in the electrical engineering department of '' VEF'' manufactory. In 1960, she represented the "VEF" team in Latvian 1st Team Chess Championship.Newspaper "Padomju Kuldīga" 05.07.1960 Buried in Riga Raiņa Cemetery.

Results in Latvian Women's Chess Championship

* 1937 — 3rd-4th place. * 1938 — 2nd place. * 1941 — 3rd-4th place. * 1948 — 2nd-3rd place. * 1949 — 2nd place. * 1950 — 5th-6th place. * 1951 — 3rd-4th place. * 1953 — 8th place. * 1954 — 4th place. * 1955 — 5th-6th place. * 1956 — 8th place. * 1957 — 7th place. * 1958 — 13th place. * 1959 — 10th-11th place. * 1960 — withdrawn after the 3rd round. * 1961 — 12th place. * 1963 — 10th-11th place.

References

Literatura

* Encyclopedia of Latvian chessplayers : 1900-2000 / compiled by Val Zemitis ; editors, J. Vitomskis ... t al. USA, 2009. * Ģedimins Salmiņš, Valdemārs Zemītis "Sudraba važiņa no Stokholmas. Milda Lauberte šaha cīņās" ("Silver chain from Stockholm. Milda Lauberte in chess fighting"),

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

, LiePA, 2007, . * Zigfrīds Trenko "Latvijas pirmā šacha karaliene" ("Latvia's First Chess Queen"), Riga, author's edition, 2011, . 1899 births 1977 deaths Latvian female chess players Latvian chess players Soviet female chess players Soviet chess players 20th-century chess players {{Latvia-chess-bio-stub