Voldemārs Mežgailis (also Voldemar Mezgailis or Mezhgailis; born 22 April 1912, Viļķene parish,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– died 1 June 1998 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

) was a Latvian

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 ...

master. In 1934, he took 8th

Latvian Chess Championship The Latvian Chess Champsionship () is the annual national chess tournament of Latvia among men and women players, which was established in 1924. It is organized by the Latvian Chess Federation (), previously - Latvian Chess Union (). History ...

(

Fricis Apšenieks Fricis Apšenieks ( Old orthography: ''Fritzis Apscheneek''; 7 April 1894 in Tetele, Courland Governorate – 25 April 1941 in Riga, Latvian SSR) was a Latvian chess master. Biography In 1924, Apšenieks finished 2nd, behind Hermanis Matison ...

and

Vladimirs Petrovs Vladimirs Petrovs (russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Петро́в, translit=Vladimir Mikhailovich Petrov; 27 September 1907 – 26 August 1943) was a Latvian Russian chess player. He was born in Riga, in the Governorate of L ...

won). He twice represented Latvia in

Chess Olympiads 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 the 3rd unofficial Olympiad at Munich 1936 (at sixth board, +4 –5 =1), and in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937 (at third board, +2 –6 =7). At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he won the

in June 1944, and won it again in 1950.

References

1912 births 1998 deaths Latvian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors People from Limbaži Municipality Soviet chess players {{Latvia-chess-bio-stub