Who are Estonia's top chess players?

During this period of lockdown due to the coronavirus, I have been playing a lot more chess than I usually do. Playing online with Chess.com is a great way to test your skills against players from all over the world.  Blitz games are my favourite as I like to think fast!

Chess enjoys a certain prestige in Estonia compared to many other countries. Most Estonians know their way around a chessboard and chess is played by people from all walks of life. Supermodel Carmen Kass was president of the Estonian Chess Federation for seven years from 2004 to 2011. Chess competitions have taken place in Tallinn since 1903 but they weren't considered official until 1923. 

The greatest Estonian chess player of all-time was of course Paul Keres whose image even appeared on the Estonian 5 kroon banknote. But who is Estonia's top player today? 44-year-old Kaido Kulaots is currently ranked No.1 in Estonia for winning the most competitions. Grandmaster Ottomar Ladva is ranked second. At 15 he was the youngest player to win the Estonian Chess Championship. Now aged twenty-two he has won four - 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018. 

The winner of the 2019 Estonian Chess championship is Aleksandr Volodin. His FIDE rating is 2497, placing him third overall in Estonia behind Kulaots (2524) and Ladva (2513).

Aleksandr Volodin. Winner of the 2019 Estonian Chess Chmapionship.

Estonian comedy with English subtitles

Tonight I was in need of a laugh and so went online in search of some light entertainment. The Estonian comedy duo Ott Sepa and Märt Avandi have produced many funny sketches over the years and thankfully several of their videos include English subtitles. The two videos below are a bit dark in nature yet amusing.

Jõgeva furniture factory now produces face masks

With the coronavirus continuing to spread throughout the world, the demand for face masks is on the rise. Some countries like Germany have made it compulsory to wear face masks in public when visiting shops or travelling on public transport and the penalty for flauting the rules is a 150€ on the spot fine. There is growing frustration among consumers who attempt to buy masks only to discover they are sold out. An Estonian furniture company called Softcom is attempting to solve that problem by producing masks of their own. The company has invested in machinery from China and has the capacity to produce four million masks per month. This is great news for Estonian residents who no longer have to rely on foreign imports.

You can learn more about Softcom's mask production via their recent interview with ERR News.

Jõgeva mööblitehas suudab toota neli miljonit kaitsemaski kuus

Konrad Mägi documentary by Marianne Kõrver

Konrad Mägi was one of the first modernist painters in Estonia and often considered to be the most important painter in the history of Estonian art. His paintings of landscapes and portraits are highly accliamed for their sensitive use of colour. Interest in Konrad Mägi work has grown in Europe since the end of the 2010s where his works have been on display in Rome, Paris and most recently in Torino.

This documentary film by Marianne Kõrver, was made for the Konrad Mägi exhibition "The Light of the North" that was held in Torino Musei Reali from 2019-2020. 

Sharing Our Stories: The Baltic Diaspora at Home in Canada

Preserve your precious family photos

As we are all in lockdown due to the coronavirus, now is a good time to go through your old family photos and make sure they are in good order. The Photo Museum in Tallinn recently made a video showing different ways to preserve your precious family photos. They are absolutely worth preserving for the future generations.

One thing I would place great importance on in preserving photographs is to label them. On the back write the names of the people present in the photo and the location. Very often we have no idea who some of the people in our family photos are so it is best to provide as much information as possible for the generations to come.

Here is a photo of my great-grandparents (right) with my great-grandmother's family.

My great-grandparents (centre and right)

My great-grandfather with my great-grandmother, his brother (Hans Lesthal), 

sister-in-law (Annette Lesthal) and nephew (Ralf Lesthal).

My great-grandmother's cousins who worked for the Red Cross during World War One.

My grandfather Alexander with cousins from his mother's family.

Sadly I don't know any of their names.

Member's of my great-grandmother's family. 

I know few of these peoples' names.

That's why you need to write on the back of photos!

University of Tartu scientists develop coronavirus antibody detection test

Great news! Scientists from the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine at the University of Tartu have developed a test to determine whether someone had been infected with the coronavirus and developed immunity to it. The antibody tests will be available soon.

To read the full article, please click here;
University of Tartu scientists develop COVID-19 antibody detection test