Aleksander Arulaid (24 May 1924,

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

– 9 July 1995, Tallinn) was an

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

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. He was a three-time winner of the

Estonian Chess Championship The Estonian Chess Championship is played to determine the Estonian champion in chess. The first unofficial championship in Estonia was held in 1903 and was organized by a chess club from Tallinn (then Reval, Russian Empire). After World War I, ...

Biography

In 1941 Arulaid graduated from

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Tallinn and in 1951 he graduated from

Tallinn Polytechnical Institute Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; ) is the only technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administration and maritime affairs. TalT ...

in electrical machinery and apparatus specialty. From 1952 to 1984 he worked as an engineer in industrial projects. In 1944/45 Aleksander Arulaid ranked third in the Estonian and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n strongest players tournament in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

after

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

and

Alexander Koblencs Alexander Koblencs (, , ; 3 September 1916, Riga – 9 December 1993, Berlin) was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61 World Champion Mikhail Tal. In 1935, he took 4th place in Rosas ( Salo ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was one of the leading chess players in Estonia. In 1945 Arulaid won a tournament in Tallinn. In 1948 he was second place in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

tournament. In Estonian Chess Championships he has won 3 gold (1948, 1955, 1964), 3 silver (1943, 1946, 1950) and 3 bronze (1944, 1959, 1960) medals. Arulaid was the winner of Tallinn Chess Championships in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1968. In 1954 and 1967 he won the traditional National Tournament in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

.National Tournament - Parnu 1967
/ref> He played in Soviet Chess Championships semifinals three times (1949, 1955, 1964) and played for Estonia in the Soviet Team Chess Championships five times (1953, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1967).

References

External links

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Aleksander Arulaid
player profile at olimpbase.org (Soviet Team Chess Championship) 1924 births 1995 deaths Chess players from Tallinn Estonian chess players Soviet chess players Tallinn University of Technology alumni {{Estonia-sport-bio-stub