Povilas Tautvaišas () (6 May 1916 in

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

– November 1980 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) was a

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refer to Americans, American citizens and residents of Lithuanians, Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population ...

chess master.

Biography

He played twice for the Lithuanian team in the

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 ...

, at eighth board (+4 –8 =2) at Munich 1936 (unofficial Olympiad), and at fourth board (+5 –9 =6) in the 8th Olympiad at

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1939, during which

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out. Tautvaisas returned to Europe and took 5th, behind Birmanas, Arlauskas, Abramavičius, and Vaitonis, at the 1943 Lithuanian chess championship in Vilnius. At the end of the war, Tautvaišas, along with many other Baltic players, escaped to the West, ahead of the advancing Soviet forces. There were many tournaments organized in Germany in the late 1940s, and most of these consisted of Germans and "displaced persons" - mostly from the Baltics. Tautvaišas took 3rd, behind Arlauskas and Endzelins, in the "Baltic Displaced Persons" (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) championship, which was held in Blomberg. In 1946, he tied for 3rd-4th with Sämisch, behind Unzicker and Zemgalis, in Augsburg. In 1947, he took 12th in Kirchheim-Teck. In 1948, he tied for 3rd-5th in Esslingen. In 1948, he won in Oldenburg. Tautvaisas then moved to Boston in 1949, then finally to Chicago in 1950. He was many-time Chicago and Illinois champion, and his prominence in the Chicago area in the 1950s and 1960s earned him the nickname "The Old Fox". In 1956, he tied for 2nd-3rd with

Arthur Bisguier Arthur Bernard Bisguier (October 8, 1929April 5, 2017) was an American chess player, chess promoter, and writer who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships (1948, 1949), three U.S. Open Chess Cham ...

, behind Donald Byrne, in

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( Tartakower Memorial). In 1957, he tied for 3rd-5th in Milwaukee (New Western Open). In 1957, he tied for 6th-16th in Milwaukee (North-Central Open). In 1958, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Theodorovych, behind

Pal Benko Pal Charles Benko (; July 15, 1928 – August 25, 2019) was a Hungarian and American chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was born on July 15, 1928, in Amiens, France, where his ...

, in Milwaukee (NCO). In 1959, he took 19th in Milwaukee (Western Open).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tautvaisas, Povilas 1916 births 1980 deaths 20th-century chess players American chess players Lithuanian chess players Lithuanian refugees in the United States