Lembit Oll

Lembit Oll
Country	Estonia
Born	23 April 1966 Kohtla-Järve, Estonia
Died	16 May 1999 (1999-05-17) (aged 33) Tallinn, Estonia
Title	Grandmaster (1990)
Peak rating	2650 (July 1998)[1]
Peak ranking	No. 25 (July 1998)[1]

Lembit Oll (23 April 1966 – 16 May 1999) was an Estonian chess grandmaster.

Chess career

Born in Kohtla-Järve on 23 April 1966, Oll became Estonian Chess Champion in 1982 and U20 Soviet Chess Champion in 1984. FIDE awarded him the international master title in 1983 and the grandmaster title in 1990. From then on, he regularly played for Estonia at the Chess Olympiads and European Team Chess Championships. In July 1998, he reached his highest rating and position on the FIDE world rankings: 2650 and No. 25, respectively. He played his last tournament in 1999 in Nova Gorica, sharing second place.

List of victories

• 1989: Espoo, Tallinn (zonal tournament), Helsinki.
• 1990: Terrassa.
• 1991: Sydney, Helsinki.
• 1992: Seville.
• 1993: Vilnius, The Hague, Antwerp.
• 1994: New York City Open (shared 1st with Jaan Ehlvest).
• 1995: Helsinki, Riga (zonal tournament).
• 1996: Saint Petersburg.
• 1997: Køge, Szeged (shared 1st), Hoogeveen (shared 1st).

Olympiads

Oll played for Estonia four times in Chess Olympiads.

• In 1992, at second board at the 30th Olympiad in Manila (+7 –1 =6);
• In 1994, at first board at the 31st Olympiad in Moscow (+3 –2 =8);
• In 1996, at second board at the 32nd Olympiad in Yerevan (+2 –1 =9);
• In 1998, at first board at the 33rd Olympiad in Elista (+1 –0 =7).^[2]

Personal life

Oll, who was married and had two sons, fell into depression after his divorce and loss of child custody. He had received mental health treatment since 1996 and was prescribed anti-depressants.^[3] He committed suicide on 16 May 1999 by jumping out of a window of his fourth-floor apartment in Tallinn. Despite his personal problems, he was No. 42 on the FIDE world rankings at the time of his death.^[4] He was buried at Metsakalmistu cemetery in Tallinn, not far away from the most famous Estonian chess player Paul Keres.^[5][6]

References

1. "FIDE Rating List :: July 1998". OlimpBase.
2. Oll, Lembit team chess record at www.olimpbase.org
3. Rand, Oliver (18 May 1999). "Lembit Oll hüppas end surnuks". Eesti Päevaleht (in Estonian).
4. Staff writer(s) (21 May 1999). "Lembit Oll Chess Grandmaster, 33". The New York Times.
5. Speelman, Jon (21 May 1999). "Chess". The Independent. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
6. Press, Gunnar (6 August 2007). "Lembit Oll elas oma maailmas, nägi kõike läbi prismade". Õhtuleht (in Estonian).

Further reading

• New In Chess, 1999, #4

External links

• Lembit Oll player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Crowther, Mark (24 May 1999). "THE WEEK IN CHESS 237: Lembit Oll 1966–1999". London Chess Center.