The 2026 Estonian Chess Team Championships concluded in Tallinn this past weekend. Held from February 6–8 at the Paul Keres Chess House, the competition featured fourteen teams in the Open tournament and four in the Women’s section.
MK Kaksikodad (pictured below) claimed first place in the combined standings, lifting the club’s historic traveling trophy – established in 1991 – for the first time. Kaksikodad shared first place in the Women’s tournament and finished third in the Open. SK Reval-Sport, which had won the cup the two previous years, did not participate.
SK Diagonaal (pictured on the top) won the Open event for the second consecutive year, scoring nine match points out of ten. Their lineup included Estonia’s top-rated player, GM Aleksandr Volodin, along with Dmitri Petrov, Valeri Golubenko, Vyacheslav Koop, and Andrei Skladtshikov.
The runner-up, Tonu Truusi MKK, netted an equal amount of match points but finished half a game point behind the champions. Their team featured International Masters Sergei Zjukin and Andrei Shishkov, FIDE Master Ilja Haitin, Marti Medar, and Georg Abozenko.
Third place went to the first team of MK Kaksikodad (FIDE Master Oliver Wartiovaara, Georg Aleksander Pedoson, Candidate Masters Tormi Kull and Daniil Shnurov, Aaron Rajandu, Markus Hansson, and Karl Kristofer Orgse).
In the Women’s tournament, three teams shared first place, each scoring four match points out of six and finishing equal on all tie-break criteria. As a result, the titles were awarded to MK Vektor (Women’s FIDE Master Sofia Blokhin, Maria Helena Rudiger, and Alexis Miriam Reren), MK Kaksikodad (Woman Candidate Master Maria Ioanna Haapsal and Leelo Mia Thimm), and Tallinna MK (Women International Masters Margareth Olde – the reigning Estonian Women’s Champion – and Margit Brokko, along with Woman Candidate Master Grete Olde), which had won the Women’s tournament in the previous two years.
Estonian Chess Federation’s website: https://maleliit.ee/