July 20th is International Chess Day, celebrated since 1966 by the decision of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). This day is an excellent opportunity to recall the history of chess, its importance to culture and society, and to acknowledge the achievements of Lithuanian chess players.

Chess began to be played in Lithuania around the 17th century when Lithuanian nobles would compete against each other. In 1887, the first chess club was established in Vilnius, modeled after St. Petersburg's example. Since then, chess has gained increasing popularity in Lithuania. Currently, Lithuanian chess players are well-known and often surpass European chess players. Among the most notable Lithuanian grandmasters are Eduardas Rozentalis, Viktoras Gavrikovas, Aloyzas Kveinys, Vidmantas Mališauskas, Darius Ruželė, Šarūnas Šulskis, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, and Dagnė Čiukšytė.

For those who wish to delve deeper into the world of chess and learn more about its history and game strategies, we recommend these books available at the VILNIUS TECH Library:

The VILNIUS TECH institutional members can access the e-books free of charge by logging on to the University's computer network and from home by connecting to the VILNIUS TECH network via VPN.
For offline reading, the offline IPC Reader application must be installed and the selected books must be downloaded to the reader while connected to the institutional network. The books can then be read offline later. For more information on e-books, please refer to >>>