Estonian Chess Championship

The first unofficial Estonian Chess Championship was held in 1903, organized by a chess club formed in Reval (then Russian Empire) in 1903 and named for the famous Russian master Mikhail Chigorin. After the World War I, when Estonia became an independent country, official Estonian championships started. During the World War II, Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union in June 1940 and existed as the Estonian SSR till June 1941, then became a part of the German-occupied Reichskommissariat Ostland, and reoccupied by the Soviet Union (Estonian SSR) in 1944. Estonia regained independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.