Leonīds Dreibergs (also Leonid Dreiberg, 27 October 1908, Riga – 6 April 1969,

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

) 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. Dreibergs took sixth place at Riga 1930 ( Vladimirs Petrovs won), took ninth at Ķemeri 1939 (

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

won), and took fifth at Riga 1941 (

Alexander Koblencs Alexander Koblencs ( lv, Aleksandrs Koblencs, russian: Александр Кобленц; 3 September 1916, Riga – 9 December 1993, Berlin) was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61 World Ch ...

won). At the end of World War II, joining the westward exodus in 1944/45, he — along with many other Baltic players, e.g.

Romanas Arlauskas Romanas Arlauskas (11 June 1917, Kaunas, Lithuania – 22 September 2009 Adelaide, Australia) was a Lithuanian-born Australian chess player who held the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. Arlauskas played at sixth board (+4 –7 ...

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 ...

, Miervaldis Jurševskis, Leho Laurine, Edmārs Mednis,

Kārlis Ozols Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols ( lv, Kārlis Aleksandrs Ozols; 9 August 1912, in Riga – 23 March 2001, in Australia) was a Latvian lieutenant in the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police and a member of Heinrich Himmler's SS during WW2. After lat ...

Ortvin Sarapu Ortvin Sarapu (born Ortvin Sarapuu; 22 January 1924 – 13 April 1999), known in New Zealand as "Mr Chess", was an Estonian-born chess player who emigrated to New Zealand and won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1 ...

Povilas Tautvaišas Povilas Tautvaišas ( en, Paul Tautvaisas / Tautvaisis) (6 May 1916 in Mogilev – November 1980 in Chicago) was a Lithuanian-American chess master. Biography He played twice for the Lithuanian team in the Chess Olympiads, at eighth board (+4 –8 ...

Povilas Vaitonis Povilas (Paul) Vaitonis (15 August 1911 in Užpaliai, Kovno Governorate – 23 April 1983 in Hamilton, Canada) was a Lithuanian–Canadian International Master of chess. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion, and was twice Canadian champion. Va ...

Elmārs Zemgalis Elmārs Zemgalis (9 September 1923 – 8 December 2014) was a Latvian-American chess master and mathematics professor at Highline College. He was awarded an Honorary Grandmaster title in 2003. Biography Zemgalis started to play chess when he ...

, etc., and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

players, e.g. Fedor Bohatyrchuk, Stepan Popel, Myroslav Turiansky, etc. — moved to the West. After the war, while living as a D.P. (

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 ...

) in post-war Germany, Dreibergs tied for 12-13th at Augsburg 1946 (

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 ...

won), and shared first with Zemgalis at Esslingen 1949. Afterwards he emigrated to the United States. Dreibergs won the Michigan Championship twice (1954 and 1955). He also played in the

Correspondence Chess League of America ICCF U.S.A. is the member of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) for the territory of the United States of America. The organization was formed in 1909 as Correspondence Chess League of New York but quickly expanded to become t ...

(CCLA).CCLA's North American Class Champions

References

External links

* 1908 births 1969 deaths Latvian chess players American chess players Latvian World War II refugees Sportspeople from Riga University of Latvia alumni 20th-century chess players Latvian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Latvian emigrants to the United States {{US-chess-bio-stub