Kalju Pitksaar (18 May 1931,

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 ...

– 26 September 1995,

) was an Estonian chess player, who won 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

Pitksaar first participated in the Estonian Chess Championships in 1947, at the age of 16. In the Estonian Chess Championships, he has won gold (1957) and two silver (1951, 1958) medals. In 1950, he was second in 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 ...

. In 1952, Pitksaar won th

Baltic Chess Championship The first Baltic Chess Congress took place in Riga, Latvia (then Russian Empire), in 1899. The winner was Robert Behting, the elder brother of Kārlis Bētiņš, who won a play-off game with Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz. The second Baltic Chess Cong ...

. In 1952, in the Soviet Chess Championships quarterfinal in

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

, he shared 2nd - 3rd place. In 1958, Pitksaar played for Estonia in the Soviet Team Chess Championship in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, where his team finished in fourth place. In the same year, Pitksaar's chess career was suddenly interrupted - he was disqualified with formulation to "improve his behavior". For more than 20 years, he did not participate in a chess tournaments. In 1981, he returned and won the Tallinn Chess Championship. His last chess tournament was the Correspondence Chess Olympiad semifinal (1992-1996).PITKSAR, KALJU
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References

External links

* * player profile at olimpbase.org (Soviet Team Chess Championship) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitksaar, Kalju 1931 births 1995 deaths Chess players from Tallinn Estonian chess players Soviet chess players