Toma Popa (20 April 1908 — 25 February 1962), was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

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 disti ...

player,

Romanian Chess Championship The Romanian Chess Championship became a yearly event in 1946, and was held irregularly earlier. A series of national eliminating contests are played to select a 20-player field for the men's final. The women's final consists of 16 players. Men's w ...

winner (1948).

Biography

From the mid-1930s to the end of the 1940s Toma Popa was one of the strongest Romanian chess players. In 1948, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

he won

. Toma Popa played for Romania in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

: * In 1935, at reserve board in the 6th Chess Olympiad in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

(+3, =5, -7). Toma Popa played for Romania in the unofficial Chess Olympiad: * In 1936, at sixth board in the

3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad The 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad was held by German Chess Federation (''Grossdeutscher Schachbund'') as a counterpart of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin with reference to 1924 and 1928 events. Many Jewish chess players took part in the event. Si ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(+7, =5, -7). Toma Popa played for Romania in the Men's Chess Balkaniads: * In 1946, at eighth board in the 1st Men's Chess Balkaniad (+1, =2, -0) and won team silver and individual bronze medals, * In 1947, at seventh board in the 2nd Men's Chess Balkaniad (+1, =0, -1) and won individual silver medal.

References

External links

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Toma Popa
chess games at 365chess.com 1908 births 1962 deaths Romanian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century chess players {{Romania-bio-stub