Folke Rogard

Bror Axel Folke Per Rogard (6 July 1899 – 11 June 1973) was a Swedish lawyer, chess official, player and arbiter.

He was born in Stockholm, with the surname Rosengren, and qualified as a lawyer with that name. After a family member was charged with burglary, he changed his name to Rogard and severed all connections with his family.

Rogard was vice-president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), from 1947 to 1949, then succeeded Alexander Rueb as president, a post he held until succeeded by Max Euwe in 1970. He was also chairman of the Swedish Chess Federation from 1947 to 1964. Rogard was granted the International Arbiter title by FIDE in 1951. He could speak five languages.

During his senior leadership terms with FIDE, and with the Swedish federation, he was able to arrange for many high-profile chess events to be hosted in Sweden. Four Interzonal tournaments—Saltsjobaden 1948 (won by GM David Bronstein), Stockholm 1952 (won by GM Alexander Kotov), Gothenburg 1955 (won by GM Paul Keres), and Stockholm 1962 (won by GM and future World Champion Bobby Fischer) -- were all held in Sweden. The 1956 Student Chess Olympiad was held in Uppsala and won by the USSR. The 1969 World Junior Chess Championship was held in Stockholm and won by future World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The 1968 Candidates' match between Grandmasters Boris Spassky and Bent Larsen was held in Malmö, and won by Spassky. Gothenburg also hosted the FIDE Congress of 1955.

Major achievements for FIDE were many:

Another enormous success toward the finish of Rogard's presidency was the first Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World match, staged on ten boards in Belgrade, April 1970.

During Rogard's time of involvement with Swedish chess, Stockholm hosted the 1937 Chess Olympiad, won by the United States.

Rogard played chess at third category level.