Roland Ekström (born 22 May 1956) is a Swedish and Swiss

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,

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(1982), four time

Swiss Chess Championship The Swiss Chess Championship is held annually during two weeks of July. It is organised by the Swiss Chess Federation (the SSB), which has been a member of the overall governing body, Swiss Olympic, since 2000. The SSB is itself a relatively new org ...

winner (1988, 1989, 2001, 2008).

Chess career

In 1972, Roland Ekström won Swedish Junior Chess Championship in

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a Cities in Sweden, city in Västerbotten County, Sweden, with a population of 36,388. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 77,322 inhabitants in 2024. The city is historically industrial, with mining ...

. In 1975–1979 he participated in the individual finals of the

Swedish Chess Championship The first Swedish Champion was Gustaf Nyholm, who won two matches against winners of national tournaments: Berndtsson in Göteborg and Löwenborg in Stockholm in 1917. Until 1931 Swedish Chess Championships were decided by match play. In the 1930s, ...

four times, achieving his greatest success in 1975 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

where he won silver medal. From the beginning of the 1980s, he started playing mainly in chess tournaments organized in Switzerland. Roland Ekström has four individual gold medals in the

s, which he won in 1988, 1999, 2001 and 2008. Roland Ekström twice took part in

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

Zonal tournaments (1998 and 2000), but did not achieve significant results. His successes in international chess tournaments include: shared 1st place in

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...

(1987, together with

Krunoslav Hulak Krunoslav Hulak (25 May 1951 – 23 October 2015) was a Yugoslav and later Croatian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the International Master title in 1974, and the grandmaster title in 1976 by FIDE. Career Hulak won the Yugoslav Chess Cha ...

) and shared 1st place in

Bad Wiessee Bad Wiessee (Central Bavarian: ''Bad Wiessä'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Miesbach (district), district of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria in Germany. Since 1922, it has been a spa town and located on the western shore of the ...

(2000, together with Gerald Hertneck, Konstantin Lerner and Alexander Graf). Roland Ekström played for Switzerland in the

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 1996, at fourth board in the

32nd Chess Olympiad The 32nd Chess Olympiad (, ''32-rd Shakhmatayin olimpiadan''), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

(+5, =3, -2), * In 1998, at fourth board in the

33rd Chess Olympiad The 33rd Chess Olympiad (, ''33-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''; Kalmyk language, Kalmyk: 33-гче Шатрин олимпиад, ''33-gçe Şatrin olimpiad''), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, took place between Se ...

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

(+4, =6, -1), * In 2002, at first reserve board in the

35th Chess Olympiad The 35th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and women's tournament, took ...

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

(+1, =2, -3), * In 2010, at third board in the

39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from September 19 to October 4, 201 ...

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

(+3, =3, -1). Roland Ekström played for Sweden (1989) and Switzerland in the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

s: * In 1989, at sixth board in the 9th European Team Chess Championship in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

(+2, =1, -3), * In 2001, at first reserve board in the 13th European Team Chess Championship in León (+1, =2, -3), * In 2007, at first reserve board in the 16th European Team Chess Championship in

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

(+1, =3, -1), * In 2009, at fourth board in the 17th European Team Chess Championship in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

(+2, =4, -1). Roland Ekström played for Switzerland in the

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

: * In 1997, at second reserve board in the 4th World Team Chess Championship in

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

(+1, =1, -2). In 1982, he was awarded the FIDE International Master (IM) title. Roland Ekström achieved the highest

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

in his career so far on July 1, 1998, with a score of 2510 points, he was then 5th among Swiss chess players.FIDE rating history :: Ekstroem, Roland
/ref>

Other successes

In 1998, 2000 and 2005 he won the Swiss

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

championship three times.

References

External links

* * * 1956 births Living people Chess players from Stockholm Swedish chess players Swiss chess players Chess International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors Backgammon players {{Switzerland-chess-bio-stub