Maaja Ranniku (born 1 March 1941 in Abja-Paluoja - died 24 October 2004 in Tallinn) was an Estonian chess player (represented the Soviet Union until 1991).
She was twice the winner of the Women's Soviet Championship: in 1963 (after beating at tiebreak Tatiana Zatulovskaya 4-2) and 1967.
She was awarded the title of Woman International Master in 1964.
Maaja Ranniku participated to many Estonian Championships, winning the women's title 10 times (1961, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1988, and 1991).
At the 1964 women's Candidates Tournament, played in Sukhumi, she placed 6th in a field of 18 players. [1]
In 1992 she played with the Estonian team at the 30th Chess Olympiad in Manila, scoring 6½ points out of 11 games played.
She had many good results in international tournaments:
A photograph of her is published here.
Paul Keres 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 occasions. As Estonia was repeatedly invaded and occupied during World War II, Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments.
Leonid Zakharovych Stein was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s, and was among the world's top ten players during that era.
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Irina Solomonovna Levitina is a former Soviet and current American chess and bridge player. In chess, she has been a World Championship Candidate in 1984 and gained the title Woman Grandmaster. In contract bridge she has won six world championship events, four women and two mixed, including play on two world-champion USA women teams.
Henryka (Henrijeta) Konarkowska-Sokolov is a Polish–Serbian chess master.
Kira Alekseyevna Zvorykina was a Soviet chess player who spent many years living in Belarus. She was a three-time winner of the Women's Soviet Championship. In 2018, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.
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The Women's Soviet Chess Championship was played in the Soviet Union from 1927 through 1991 to determine the women's chess national champion.
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Katarina Blagojević, also known as Katarina Blagojević-Jovanović was a Serbian chess player who held the title of Woman Grandmaster. She shared 4th–5th place in the Women's World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament in 1964. She was a three-time winner of the Yugoslav Women's Chess Championship and won a team silver medal and bronze individual medal at the Women's Chess Olympiads in 1963 and 1966, respectively.
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