Salme Rootare (March 26, 1913,

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 ' ...

– October 21, 1987) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

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 ...

master. She was fifteen times Estonian Champion (1945, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972). Salme tied for 4-5th at Plovdiv 1959 (Candidates Tournament, Women's World Chess Championship). She beat Ludmilla Rudenko, the all-USSR women's champ 1950-1953, at least once, in 1956 in recorded tournament play, when Rudenko, believing she was would be mated on her next move, resigned. It wasn't until later that both players realised that Rudenko had a saving move.The ultimate blunder
/ref> She received the

FIDE title FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

of Woman International Master (WIM) in 1957. Salme was married to

Vidrik Rootare Vidrik "Frits" Rootare (born in Tallinn, Estonia August 20, 1906 – March 5, 1981) was an Estonian chess player. His wife, Salme Rootare, was also an Estonian chess player, 15-time Estonian Champion and a Women's International Master (WIM). ...

, known as Frits, and they had a daughter, Reet.

References

1913 births 1987 deaths Sportspeople from Tallinn People from the Governorate of Estonia Estonian female chess players Estonian chess players Soviet female chess players Chess Woman International Masters {{Estonia-chess-bio-stub