The first Swedish Champion was Gustaf Nyholm, who won two matches against winners of national tournaments: Berndtsson in Göteborg and Löwenborg in Stockholm in 1917. Until 1931 Swedish Chess Championships were decided by match play. In the 1930s, Gideon Ståhlberg held the title in spite of results of the national tournaments. Since 1939, only the tournament is played as an official Swedish Championship.[1][2]