Leho Laurine (Leo Laurentius) (28 August 1904 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

– 31 January 1998 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

) 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 master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

. He was Estonian Champion in 1932 (4th EST-ch), and took 3rd in 1935, behind

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 Gunnar Friedemann (7th EST-ch). Throughout the 1930s, he played in the Estonian Club championships. In 1930 he won team silver medal, with Nedsvedski, Vidrik Rootare and Karring. In 1931 and 1938, he won two team gold medals, firstly with Villard, Karring, and

Vladimirs Petrovs Vladimirs Petrovs (; 27 September 1908 – 26 August 1943) was a Latvian Russian chess player. Biography He was born in Riga, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (present-day Latvia). Though he learned the game of chess relative ...

, and then with

Paul Felix Schmidt Paul Felix Schmidt ( – 11 August 1984) was an Estonian and German chess player, writer and chemist. Biography Schmidt was born in 1916, in Narva (then Russian Empire), two years before Estonia became an independent country. He excelled in ch ...

, Johannes Türn, Kalde, and Laht. He played for Estonia in two

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s. *In 1935, at third board in

6th Chess Olympiad The 6th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and (unofficial) women's tournament, as well as several events ...

in Warsaw (+4 -8 =2); *In 1936, at fifth board in

3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad The 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad was held by German Chess Federation (''Grossdeutscher Schachbund'') as a counterpart of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin with reference to 1924 and 1928 events. Many Jewish chess players took part in the event. Si ...

in Munich (+5 -7 =3). During World War II, he played the Estonian championships of 1942 and 1943 (both won by Keres). In 1944, Laurine, along with many other

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

players ( Romanas Arlauskas. Leonids Dreibergs, Lucius Endzelins,

Miervaldis Jurševskis Miervaldis (Walter) Jurševskis (November 6, 1921 in Riga, Latvia – March 15, 2014 in Burnaby, British Columbia) was a Latvian-Canadian chess master, and a professional artist. Jurševskis learned chess from his father at the age of six, but it ...

Edmar Mednis Edmar John Mednis (; March 22, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American chess player and writer of Latvian origin. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1980. Biography Mednis' family were refugees in 1944 during World War ...

Karlis Ozols Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols (; 9 August 1912, in Riga – 23 March 2001, in Australia) was a Latvian lieutenant in the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police and a member of Heinrich Himmler's SS during WW2. After later migrating to Australia, h ...

, Ortvin Sarapu, Povilas Tautvaišas, Povilas Vaitonis, Elmārs Zemgalis, etc.) escaped to the West, just before the advancing

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forces arrived, to avoid deportation to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

or any other persecutions resulting from a Soviet occupation, an example being the case of

. Laurine left

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 ...

for Germany and then Sweden. In 1963, he tied for 3rd-4th in Stockholm (

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

won).Event Details: Stockholm, 1963
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurine, Leho 1904 births 1998 deaths Swedish chess players Estonian World War II refugees Chess players from Saint Petersburg Chess Olympiad competitors Estonian emigrants to Sweden 20th-century Estonian chess players