The first unofficial Lithuanian Chess Championship was held in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

(

Temporary capital of Lithuania The temporary capital of Lithuania ( lt, Laikinoji sostinė) was the official designation of the city of Kaunas in Lithuania during the interwar period. It was in contrast to the declared capital in Vilnius, which was part of Poland from 1920 u ...

) in 1921. The Champion's title was granted after victorious or drawn match between previous champion and challenger, mostly a winner of Championship of Kaunas (later - the Championship of Lithuania) in the period from 1922 to

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 ...

. The first official Lithuanian championship was held in 1929. The next year,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

joined

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

, the World Chess Federation. When Lithuania was part of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(June 1940 – June 1941 and July 1944 – March 1990), players from other

Soviet Republics The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

were sometimes invited to play in the championship. In 1951,

Ratmir Kholmov Ratmir Dmitrievich Kholmov (Russian: Ратмир Дмитриевич Холмов) (13 May 1925 in Shenkursk – 18 February 2006 in Moscow) was a Russian chess Grandmaster. He won many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his c ...

won the championship ahead of the guests

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich LilienthalReuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ten ...

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

, and

Vladimir Simagin Vladimir Simagin (June 21, 1919 in Moscow – September 25, 1968 in Kislovodsk) was a Russian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. He was three times Moscow City Chess Championship, Moscow champion (1947, 1956, and 1959), helped to train V ...

Winners

Women

Notes

References

*Lithuanian Chess Federation and Department of Physical education and Sport (1994) ''Šachmatų taisyklės'' (Vilnius) *A. Uogelė (1993) ''Mano šachmatai''
Lietuvos čempionatai
(most results and crosstables for 1943–2002)
Lietuvos vyrų šachmatų čempionatai (1943 - 2007)

* * (full names and brief biographical details for some players)
FIDE player information
(names and birth years for some currently active players)
Details 2002-2007 editionsŠarūnas Šulskis biography
(in Polish) {{Chess national championships Chess national championships Women's chess national championships Chess in Lithuania 1929 in chess Recurring events established in 1929 1929 in Lithuanian sport National championships in Lithuania