Zigfrīds Aleksandrs Otto Solmanis (July 9, 1913,

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 ...

– September 6, 1984,

Jūrmala Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach, and a population of 49,325 in 2019 ...

) 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 ...

player.

Chess career

Zigfrīds Solmanis started to play chess at the age of 6. From him earliest youth participated in various tournaments and other events related to chess. He stood out with his aggressive style of play. In 1938, Solmanis won the Latvian Chess Club tournament and in 1939 he participated at the second

Ķemeri Ķemeri resort (originally ''Ķemeres'', also known as ''Kemmern'') JŪRMALA, Nature and Cultural Heritage, Ed. LaimaSlava, Neputns 2004, , pages 83-95 is a part of Jūrmala in Latvia, 44 km from Riga. From 1928 to 1959, Ķemeri was a separat ...

International chess tournament. Solmanis was a very good speed chess player having won over 70 such tournaments. In 1938 he visited 25 cities in Latvia and gave simultaneous exhibitions with a very good result 74 percent. After the

Second World War 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 ...

, Solmanis actively involved in reconstruction of Latvian chess life. He was a triple champion in chess in Jurmala and in 1947 won

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 ...

. In 1947 he took third place in Quarterfinal of Championship of USSR in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, after the next world champion

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

. In 1948 he represented Latvian team at the first table in the USSR team championship semi-finals in

. Until 1964 he almost every year participated in the

finals.

Chess manager

In 1959 after establishing the Latvian magazine "Šahs", he actively participated in its making. Until 1965, Solmanis was the magazine editor in chief for Latvian edition but him reporter activity is not stopped until his death. The sixties and seventies worked as a coach, one of his student is Latvian chess champion

Anda Šafranska Anda Šafranska (born December 2, 1960, in Riga) is a Latvian-born chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster. Anda Šafranska for many years was one of the best women's chess players in Latvia. She won the Latvian Chess Championship f ...

. In the eighties made grandmasters

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

and

Aivars Gipslis Aivars Gipslis (February 8, 1937 – April 13, 2000) was a Latvian chess player, writer, and editor, who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster and the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. Chess biography Born in Ri ...

chess school organization, which was a later chess grandmasters

Aleksander Wojtkiewicz Aleksander Wojtkiewicz ( lv, Aleksandrs Voitkevičs; January 15, 1963 – July 14, 2006) was a Polish chess grandmaster. He was born in Latvia. In his early teens he was already a strong player; a student of ex-world champion Mikhail Tal whom he ...

Alexander Shabalov Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov (russian: Алекса́ндр Анато́льевич Шаба́лов; lv, Aleksandrs Šabalovs; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Cha ...

and

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...

. In recent years, Solmanis has devoted much time

chess life's development. He was a local chess club head, and a lot of time invested in the annual chess festival organization.

References

* Žuravļevs, N.; Dulbergs, I.; Kuzmičovs, G. (1980), Latvijas šahistu jaunrade, Rīga, Avots.(in Latvian), pp. 73 – 74.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solmanis, Zigfrids 1913 births 1984 deaths Chess players from Riga Latvian chess players Soviet chess players Soviet journalists