) is a Latvian chess master who won the Latvian Chess Championship

Latvian Chess Championship

-History:Professional level Latvian chess players have already appeared in the nineteenth century. They participated in chess tournaments and union congresses, organized by the Riga Chess Association. After the World War I, when Latvia became an independent country, official Latvian chess...

 for women four times.

Chess player career

Vija Rožlapa learned to play chess at the age of 12. She won Latvian Girl Championship in 1958 and Soviet Girl Championship in 1960. She fulfilled the chess master norm in 1977.
During the period from 1958 to 1983 Vija Rožlapa participated without interruption in all Latvian women's chess championships. Four times she was won this tournament (1967, 1971, 1972, 1974), five times were won second place (1961, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1979), and was four times won the third place (1963, 1968, 1976, 1980). The last time she took part in Latvian women's chess championship in 2002.
Vija Rožlapa played for Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 in Soviet team chess championship in 1959, 1960 (won third place at girl board), 1963 (won third place at second women board), 1967, 1969 (won second place at second women board), 1972, and 1975, and for team "Daugava" in Soviet team chess cup in 1961, 1966, 1968, 1974, and 1976.

Chess teacher and trainer

In 1964 Vija Rožlapa decided to become a chess teacher and trainer in Riga Chess school.
Among her pupils were Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov

Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...

 and Laura Rogule

Laura Rogule

Laura Rogule is a Latvian chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster. She won the Latvian Chess Championship for women in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2002 she won the World Girls Under-14 Championship...

.

External links

player profile at chessgames.com player profile at 365chess.com player profile at chesstempo.com

• Žuravļevs, N.; Dulbergs, I.; Kuzmičovs, G. (1980), Latvijas šahistu jaunrade, Rīga, Avots., pp. 105 – 106 (in Latvian).