The Chigorin Memorial is a chess tournament played in honour of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), founder of the Soviet Chess School and one of the leading players of his day. The first and most important edition was the one played in 1909 in St. Petersburg. Later on, an international invitation Memorial tournament series was established, and mainly played in the Black Sea resort Sochi (from 1963 to 1990). Further irregular tournaments had been held in 1947, 1951, 1961, and 1972, played in diverse venues. From 1993 the venue returned to his hometown. The Memorial is now played as an Open event.

St. Petersburg 1909

President of the organising committee was Peter Petrovich Saburov, President of the St. Petersburg Chess Club. Members of the committee were Boris Maliutin, O. Sossnitzky, V. Tschudowski, Sergius A. Znosko-Borovsky and Eugene A. Znosko-Borovsky.The Saburovs by Edward Winter The main event lasted from 14 February to 12 March 1909.

N° Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total 1*111½½½111½101½111114½ 20*½1½111½111011111114½ 30½*1011½1½½½10½1½½111 4000*01½0½101111111111 5½½11*0101111½000½½110½ 6½0001*0½½½½11½1½11½10 7½00½01*½½1½11½1½0019½ 800½11½½*001½½0½½½119 90½0½0½½1*10011½01½19 1000½00½010*½111½01119 11½0½10½½01½*000½111½8½ 1200½0000½101*½1110118½ 131100½00½001½*½½½1018 1400101½½10010½*½½½0½7½ 15½0½0100½½½½0½½*1½½07 1600001½½½1100½½0*½107 1700½0½01½00010½½½*½½6 1800½0½010½00011½0½*05½ 1900000½0000½00½11½1*5

Rubinstein and Lasker won 875 rubles (each), Spielmann and Duras 475 rubles (each), Bernstein 190 rubles, Teichmann 120 rubles, Perlis 80 rubles, Cohn, Schlechter, and Salwe 40 rubles (each).St. Petersburg 1909 and 1914

1947–1972 From 1947, there were several Chigorin memorial tournaments, but it was not until 1963 that it was established as an annual event in Sochi. These tournaments were all played on the round robin format.

Year Winner City 1947 Mikhail Botvinnik Moscow 1951 Vasily Smyslov Leningrad 1961 Mark Taimanov Rostov-on-Don 1972 Lev Polugaevsky Kislovodsk

Sochi period (1963–1990)

# Year Winner City 1 1963 Lev Polugaevsky Sochi 2 1964 Nikolai Krogius Sochi 3 1965 Wolfgang Unzicker Boris Spassky Sochi 4 1966 Viktor Korchnoi Sochi 5 1967 Alexander Zaitsev Vladimir Simagin Nikolai Krogius Leonid Shamkovich Boris Spassky Sochi 6 1973 Mikhail Tal Sochi 7 1974 Lev Polugaevsky Sochi 8 1976 Lev Polugaevsky Evgeny Sveshnikov Sochi 9 1977 Mikhail Tal Sochi 10 1979 Nukhim Rashkovsky Sochi 11 1980 Alexander Panchenko Sochi 12 1981 Vitaly Tseshkovsky Sochi 13 1982 Mikhail Tal Sochi 14 1983 Anatoly Vaisser Evgeny Sveshnikov Sochi 15 1984 Georgy Agzamov Sochi 16 1985 Evgeny Sveshnikov Sochi 17 1986 Svetozar Gligorić Alexander Beliavsky Rafael Vaganian Sochi 18 1987 Sergey Smagin Evgeny Pigusov Andrei Kharitonov Sochi 19 1988 Sergey Dolmatov Sochi 20 1989 Alexey Vyzmanavin Sochi 21 1990 Vadim Ruban Sochi

Back to St. Petersburg (1993–present) Since 1993, the Chigorin Memorial has been played as an open Swiss system tournament. The 13th edition was not played for superstitious reasons. The winners are listed below.

# Year Winner1 1993 Alexey Dreev2 1994 Ildar Ibragimov 3 1995 Vladimir Burmakin4 1996 Alexei Fedorov Lembit Oll5 1997 Konstantin Sakaev6 1998 Sergey Volkov7 1999 Alexander Grischuk Sergey Volkov8 2000 Valerij Filippov 9 2001 Mikhail Kobalia 10 2002 Alexander Fominyh11 2004 Sergey Ivanov12 2005 Igor Zakharevich Roman Ovetchkin14 2006 Dmitry Bocharov 15 2007 Sergei Movsesian16 2008 Vladimir Belov17 2009 Sergey Volkov18 2010 Eltaj Safarli19 2011 Dmitry Bocharov20 2012 Alexander Areshchenko21 2013 Pavel Eljanov22 2014 Ivan Ivanisevic23 2015 Kirill Alekseenko24 2016 Kirill Alekseenko25 2017 Kirill Alekseenko26 2018 Pouya Idani27 2019 Vitaly Sivuk

References

The International Chess Congress: St. Petersburg 1909, New York, edition Lasker Press, 1910 (reprinted by Dover books 1971)

External links St. Petersburg 1909 and 1914 Results from The Week in Chess: TWIC 157 (1997), TWIC 212 (1998), TWIC 262 (1999), TWIC 314 (2000), TWIC 365 (2001), TWIC 418 (2002), TWIC 572 (2005), TWIC 625 (2006), TWIC 683 (2007), TWIC 730 (2008), 2009, 2011 Results from ChessBase: 2006 edition, 2010 edition Results from Ruschess: 2004 edition Results from Rusbase: Editions 1961-1990 Results from Chess-Results: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015