Elmārs Zemgalis (9 September 1923 – 8 December 2014) was a Latvian-American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

master and mathematics professor at

Highline College Highline College is a public community college in Des Moines, Washington. Highline was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County, Washington. The main campus covers . , there were approximately 17,000 students and 350,000 alu ...

. He was awarded an Honorary Grandmaster title in 2003.

Biography

Zemgalis started to play chess when he was eleven, eventually winning the championships of Riga and

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Du ...

. After the Soviet Union invaded his native Latvia for the second time in 1944, Zemgalis fled to Germany. As a

Displaced Person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

after World War II, he played in twelve international tournaments. In 1946, he took second place, behind

Wolfgang Unzicker Wolfgang Unzicker (26 June 1925 – 20 April 2006) was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970. He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead. Unzicker was at times the world's strongest amat ...

, in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

, with 13/16. In 1946, he took second place, behind Fedor Bohatirchuk, in Regensburg ('' Klaus Junge Memorial''), with 6.5/9. In 1947, he took second place, behind

Lūcijs Endzelīns Lūcijs (Lucius) Endzelīns (21 May 1909, Dorpat (Tartu), Estonia – 27 October 1981, Adelaide, Australia) was a Latvian-Australian chess master. He was the son of the Latvian linguist Jānis Endzelīns. In 1932, Endzelins tied for 3rd-5th w ...

in Hanau ('' Hermanis Matisons Memorial''). In 1948, he won in Esslingen (

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

-ch), with 7/9. In 1949, he won in Rujtā (Württemberg-ch). In 1949, he tied for first place with

Efim Bogoljubow Efim Bogoljubow ( or ), also known as Ewfim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, ( (); also Romanized ''Bogoljubov'', ''Bogolyubov''; uk, Юхим Дмитрович Боголюбов, Yukhym Dmytrovych Boholiubov; April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952) ...

in Oldenburg. In 1949, he tied for first place with Leonids Dreibergs in Esslingen. In 1951, he emigrated to the United States, where he became a mathematics professor. By 1952, Zemgalis had settled in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. He was arguably the top player in the Pacific Northwest for the next fifteen years.''Elmars Zemgalis: Grandmaster without the title'', by John Donaldson, 2001, ASIN: B0006RZ3N6 In 1952, he won (3:1) a match against Olaf Ulvestad in Seattle. In 1953 and 1959, he won the

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

championships. His 9–0 win in the 1953 Championship and his 6–0 win in the 1959 Championship are the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. In 1962, he won (4.5: 3.5) a match against

Viktors Pupols Viktors Pūpols (born July 31, 1934) is an American chess master. Known by many local players as "Uncle Vik," he frequently plays at the Tacoma Chess Club. He was the Club Champion in 1955, and some of his games can be viewed online at the club ...

. William John Donaldson wrote a book on his chess career: ''Elmars Zemgalis: Grandmaster without the title'' (2001). Zemgalis was awarded the Honorary Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2003.

References

External links

*
De.chessbase.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemgalis, Elmars 1923 births 2014 deaths Latvian chess players Chess grandmasters Sportspeople from Riga American chess players 20th-century American mathematicians Latvian World War II refugees Latvian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American mathematicians