Zigurds Lanka (born May 21, 1960 in

Baldone Baldone (; ) is a town in Ķekava Municipality, in the Semigallia region of Latvia. The town is famous for its sulfur water springs and was a spa resort. Viktors Arājs was born here in 1910. Gallery File:Mercendarbes muiža.jpg, Mencendarb ...

) is a Latvian

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. In chess, he received the

FIDE titles 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 ...

of International Master (IM) in 1987 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1992. In

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less commo ...

, he earned the title of Correspondence Chess International Master (IM) in 1989. Lanka started to play chess when he was 6 years old. He won the

Latvian Chess Championship The Latvian Chess Championship () is the annual national chess tournament of Latvia among men and women players, which was established in 1924. It is organized by the Latvian Chess Federation (), previously - Latvian Chess Union (). Histor ...

in 1993 and 2020. His

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

peaks were 2575 in 1997 and 2531 in 2005. Lanka is considered to be an excellent theoretician and trainer. He assisted

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, ; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classical world championshi ...

. Zigurds Lanka graduated from the Latvian University and is a journalist by profession. In recent years, Lanka has been living in Germany but he still participates in Latvian tournaments on a regular basis. Lanka is married to former

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er Nina Serbina.

ChampionshipsLanka played for Latvia in all of these Championships

Soviet Team Chess Championship

* In 1983, at the third board in the 16th Soviet Team Chess Championship in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(+1, =0, -0). * In 1979, at the seventh board in the 14th Soviet Team Chess Championship in

(+2, =2, -1);

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 1992, at the reserve board in the

30th Chess Olympiad The 30th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

(+5, =4, -1); * In 1994, at the third board in the

31st Chess Olympiad The 31st Chess Olympiad (, ''31-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, took pla ...

(+2, =9, -1); * In 2008, at the fourth board in the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

(+2, =2, -4).

3rd World Team Chess Championship

* In 1993, at third board 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 ...

(+3, =2, -2).

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 ...

* In 1992, at first board in

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

(+2, =4, -2); * In 1997, at second board in

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

(+2, =4, -3); * In 1999, at first board in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

(+3, =3, -3).

Notes

References

* Žuravļevs, N.; Dulbergs, I.; Kuzmičovs, G. (1980), Latvijas šahistu jaunrade, Rīga, Avots., pp. 47 – 50 (in Latvian).

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanka, Zigurds 1960 births Living people Latvian chess players Latvian journalists Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors University of Latvia alumni People from Ķekava Municipality Sportspeople from Vidzeme