The Chigorin Memorial is a chess tournament played in honour of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), founder of the Soviet Chess School and one of the leading players of his day. The first and most important edition was the one played in 1909 in St. Petersburg. Later on, an international invitation Memorial tournament series was established, and mainly played in the Black Sea resort Sochi (from 1963 to 1990). Further irregular tournaments had been held in 1947, 1951, 1961, and 1972, played in diverse venues. From 1993 the venue returned to his hometown. The Memorial is now played as an Open event.
President of the organising committee was Peter Petrovich Saburov, President of the St. Petersburg Chess Club. Members of the committee were Boris Maliutin, O. Sossnitzky, V. Tschudowski, Sergius A. Znosko-Borovsky and Eugene A. Znosko-Borovsky.[1] The main event lasted from 14 February to 12 March 1909.
| N° | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
| 1 |  Akiba Rubinstein (Poland) |
* | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14½ |
| 2 |  Emanuel Lasker (German Empire) |
0 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14½ |
| 3 |  Rudolf Spielmann (Austrian Empire) |
0 | ½ | * | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 11 |
| 4 |  Oldřich Duras (Bohemia) |
0 | 0 | 0 | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 5 |  Ossip Bernstein (Russian Empire) |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | * | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 10½ |
| 6 | Richard Teichmann (German Empire) |
½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 10 |
| 7 | Julius Perlis (Austrian Empire) |
½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9½ |
| 8 | Erich Cohn (German Empire) |
0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 9 | Carl Schlechter (Austrian Empire) |
0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 9 |
| 10 | Gersz Salwe (Poland) |
0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 11 | Savielly Tartakower (Austrian Empire) |
½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | * | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 8½ |
| 12 | Jacques Mieses (German Empire) |
0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8½ |
| 13 | Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky (Russian Empire) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 14 |  Leo Forgács (Hungary) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 7½ |
| 15 |  Amos Burn (British Empire) |
½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 7 |
| 16 | Milan Vidmar (Austrian Empire) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 |  Abraham Speijer (Netherlands) |
0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 6 |
| 18 | Sergey von Freymann (Russian Empire) |
0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | 5½ |
| 19 | Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (Russian Empire) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | * | 5 |
Rubinstein and Lasker won 875 rubles (each), Spielmann and Duras 475 rubles (each), Bernstein 190 rubles, Teichmann 120 rubles, Perlis 80 rubles, Cohn, Schlechter, and Salwe 40 rubles (each).[2]
From 1947, there were several Chigorin memorial tournaments, but it was not until 1963 that it was established as an annual event in Sochi. These tournaments were all played on the round robin format.
| Year | Winner | City |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Mikhail Botvinnik | Moscow |
| 1951 | Vasily Smyslov | Leningrad |
| 1961 | Mark Taimanov | Rostov-on-Don |
| 1972 | Lev Polugaevsky | Kislovodsk |
| # | Year | Winner | City |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1963 | Lev Polugaevsky | Sochi |
| 2 | 1964 | Nikolai Krogius | Sochi |
| 3 | 1965 | Wolfgang Unzicker Boris Spassky |
Sochi |
| 4 | 1966 | Viktor Korchnoi | Sochi |
| 5 | 1967 | Alexander Zaitsev Vladimir Simagin Nikolai Krogius Leonid Shamkovich Boris Spassky |
Sochi |
| 6 | 1973 | Mikhail Tal | Sochi |
| 7 | 1974 | Lev Polugaevsky | Sochi |
| 8 | 1976 | Lev Polugaevsky Evgeny Sveshnikov |
Sochi |
| 9 | 1977 | Mikhail Tal | Sochi |
| 10 | 1979 | Nukhim Rashkovsky | Sochi |
| 11 | 1980 | Alexander Panchenko | Sochi |
| 12 | 1981 | Vitaly Tseshkovsky | Sochi |
| 13 | 1982 | Mikhail Tal | Sochi |
| 14 | 1983 | Anatoly Vaisser Evgeny Sveshnikov |
Sochi |
| 15 | 1984 | Georgy Agzamov | Sochi |
| 16 | 1985 | Evgeny Sveshnikov | Sochi |
| 17 | 1986 | Svetozar Gligorić Alexander Beliavsky Rafael Vaganian |
Sochi |
| 18 | 1987 | Sergey Smagin Evgeny Pigusov Andrei Kharitonov |
Sochi |
| 19 | 1988 | Sergey Dolmatov | Sochi |
| 20 | 1989 | Alexey Vyzmanavin | Sochi |
| 21 | 1990 | Vadim Ruban | Sochi |
Since 1993, the Chigorin Memorial has been played as an open Swiss system tournament. The 13th edition was not played for superstitious reasons. The winners are listed below.
| # | Year | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1993 | Alexey Dreev |
| 2 | 1994 | Ildar Ibragimov |
| 3 | 1995 | Vladimir Burmakin |
| 4 | 1996 | Alexei Fedorov Lembit Oll |
| 5 | 1997 | Konstantin Sakaev |
| 6 | 1998 | Sergey Volkov |
| 7 | 1999 | Alexander Grischuk Sergey Volkov |
| 8 | 2000 | Valerij Filippov |
| 9 | 2001 | Mikhail Kobalia |
| 10 | 2002 | Alexander Fominyh |
| 11 | 2004 | Sergey Ivanov |
| 12 | 2005 | Igor Zakharevich Roman Ovetchkin |
| 14 | 2006 | Dmitry Bocharov |
| 15 | 2007 | Sergei Movsesian |
| 16 | 2008 | Vladimir Belov |
| 17 | 2009 | Sergey Volkov |
| 18 | 2010 | Eltaj Safarli |
| 19 | 2011 | Dmitry Bocharov |
| 20 | 2012 | Alexander Areshchenko |
| 21 | 2013 | Pavel Eljanov |
| 22 | 2014 | Ivan Ivanisevic |
| 23 | 2015 | Kirill Alekseenko |
| 24 | 2016 | Kirill Alekseenko |
| 25 | 2017 | Kirill Alekseenko |
| 26 | 2018 | Pouya Idani |
| 27 | 2019 | Vitaly Sivuk |
