Zigfrīds Aleksandrs Otto Solmanis (July 9, 1913,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

– September 6, 1984,

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

) was a Latvian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

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'') is a part of Jūrmala in Latvia, 44 km from Riga. From 1928 to 1959, Ķemeri was a separate town, famous for healing mud baths and luxurious hotels. Approximately 2,200 in ...

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 (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 ...

, 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 Championship () 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 (). Histor ...

. 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 ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, after the next world champion

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

. 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. In the eighties made grandmasters

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

and

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

chess school organization, which was a later chess grandmasters Aleksander Wojtkiewicz,

Alexander Shabalov Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov (; ; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship (1993, 2000, 2003, 2007). He also won or tied for first place seven times in the U.S. ...

and

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, ; 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 classical world championshi ...

. 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