12 mars 1909 - St. Petersburg 1909

Description:

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.

At the same time as the main event - The Chigorin Memorial - there was held the 'All Russian Amateur Tournament'. This is remembered as the first notable success of Alexander Alekhine, who had not yet turned 17 years of age. He won the first prize - a cut glass vase valued at 650 roubles.

Later on, an international invitation Memorial tournament series was established.