Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

[Wayne Komer]

Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

February 19, 2018

A recent ChessTalk discussion on Bohatirchuk games mentioned a tournament at Meerbeck.

http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...ht=bohatirchuk

With the information from Frank Dixon and Stephen Wright and from The Chess Player tournament book of the event, I can give the games and more information about the circumstances of the tournament.

The excerpts are from:

Meerbeck 1946
Edited by A.J. Gillam
Rare and Unpublished Tournaments and Matches 76
First Published 2009
The Chess Player
12 Burton Avenue
Carlton, Nottingham NG4 1PT
pb
40 pages

Central Europe was in chaos in late 1945 with many thousands of displaced people, many of them having been refugees from the advancing Soviet army. The "camp" at Meerbeck was one of the many and was occupied mainly by people from the Baltic States, including a number of strong chess players.

The authorities encouraged the organisation of events to occupy the time of the inmates of the various camps while they were awaiting resettlement and this included chess tournaments.

One of the biggest international chess tournaments in the life of the DPs (Displaced Persons) was the Meerbeck chess tournament, which was held from March 7 to 19 in the Meerbeck DP Damp. The tournament was organised by the Lithuanian chess player J. Repecka and it attracted 14 players from the British and American zones.

Two of the players were on the run from the Soviet authorities and so played under assumed names! Bohatirchuk played as J. Bogenko and E. Sadovsky played as Saltovskis. Many of the players in this tournament are lost to recorded chess after this even.

One game was played every day. The rate of play was 36 moves in two hours.

The games:

German DP Championship
Meerbeck, Germany
Round 1, March 7, 1946
Sepp, Leopold - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
A28 English, Four Knights System

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 d6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Bg5 Be6 8.O-O-O+ Kc8 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.e3 Be7 11.Be2 Nb4 12.b3 c6 13.Kb2 a5 14.Rd2 Na6 15.Rc1 Nc5 16.a4 Ra6 17.Ka2 Rb6 18.Rb2 Rb4 19.Nd2 b5 20.axb5 cxb5 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.cxd5 Kb8 23.g3 a4 24.bxa4 Rxb2+ 25.Kxb2 1/2-1/2

Round 2, March 8, 1946
Tautvaisas, Povilas - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
C28 Vienna game

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 a6 7.Nd5 g5 8.Bg3 d6 9.Qd2 Nh5 10.O-O-O Be6 11.Ne2 Nd4 12.c3 Nxe2+ 13.Qxe2 Nxg3 14.hxg3 c6 15.d4 cxd5 16.exd5 Bf5 17.dxc5 Kf8 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 gxf4 20.Rd4 Qg5 21.Qf3 dxc5 22.Qxf4 Kg7 23.Qxg5+ hxg5 24.Rxh8 Rxh8 25.Rd1 b5 26.Bd3 Bg4 27.Re1 c4 28.Bf1 Rd8 29.Re4 Bc8 30.Rd4 Bb7 31.b3 cxb3 32.axb3 Rxd5 33.Rb4 Re5 34.Kd2 Rd5+ 35.Kc1 Bc6 36.Rd4 Re5 37.Kd2 Kf6 38.c4 b4 39.g3 Ke7 40.Bh3 f5 41.Rd3 Ra5 42.Ke3 Be4 43.Rd2 Ra1 44.Rf2 Rb1 45.Bxf5 Bxf5 46.Rxf5 Rxb3+ 47.Kd4 g4 48.Rg5 Rf3 49.Rxg4 b3 50.Re4+ Kd6 51.Re1 Rxg3 52.Rb1 a5 0-1

Round 3, March 9, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Liepnieks, Aleksandrs
B10 Caro-Kann, Two Knights variation

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.d4 Ngf6 6.Ng3 e6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Ne5 c5 10.c3 Qc7 11.Qe2 b6 12.f4 Bd6 13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Rae1 Rad8 15.Rf2 Rfe8 16.Nh5 g6 17.Ng3 Bf8 18.h4 Nb8 19.dxc5 Bxc5 20.Be3 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Nc6 22.Bb5 Nd5 23.Qf3 a6 24.Bxc6 Bxc6 25.Ne4 Kg7 26.c4 Nf6 27.Nxc6 Qxc6 28.Nxf6 Qxf3 29.Nxe8+ 1-0

Round 4, March 10, 1946
Zemitis, Valdemars - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
C71 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Qd3 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.b3 g6 11.Bb2 Bg7 12.O-O O-O 13.h3 Re8 14.Rae1 Nh5 15.Nf3 Bc6 16.Ba1 Qd7 17.Nd4 Nf4 18.Qe3 Ne6 19.Nxc6 bxc6 20.Qd2 a5 21.e5 Nc5 22.Ne4 dxe5 23.Qc3 Ne6 24.Rd1 Nd4 25.Qe3 Qe7 26.c3 Ne6 27.Nd2 Nf4 28.Nf3 Nd5 29.Qe4 h6 30.c4 f5 31.Qe1 Nf4 32.Kh2 e4 33.Nd4 c5 34.Nc2 Nd3 35.Qd2 Bxa1 36.Rxa1 Kh7 37.f3 a4 38.fxe4 Qxe4 39.Ne1 Qe5+ 0-1

(to be concluded)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

February 19, 2018

(continued from last post)

German DP Championship
Meerbeck, Germany
Round 5, March 11, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Sadovsky, E.
C00 French, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d3 b6 6.g3 Bb7 7.Bh3 g6 8.c3 Bg7 9.Na3 O-O 10.O-O Qc7 11.Bd2 Rad8 12.g4 d6 13.Rae1 e5 14.f5 Ne8 15.g5 f6 16.fxg6 hxg6 17.Nh4 Kh7 18.Nxg6 1-0

Round 6, March 12, 1946
Valdsaare, H. - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
A84 Dutch Defence

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Qe7 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 O-O 8.Bg2 d6 9.Qb3 Nc6 10.O-O e5 11.c5+ d5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Qc2 c6 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.Nf3 Qe7 16.e3 Ne4 17.b4 Bd7 18.Nd4 Rae8 19.Rae1 g6 20.Qd3 Qg7 21.f3 Ng5 22.h4 Nf7 23.e4 Ne5 24.Qc3 f4 25.exd5 cxd5 26.Ne2 Bb5 27.Qd2 Nd3 28.Rb1 fxg3 29.Nxg3 Qd4+ 30.Kh2 Qxh4+ 31.Kg1 Qxg3 0-1

Round 7, March 13, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Skema, Kazys
C00 French, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Qc7 5.g3 e5 6.fxe5 Nxe5 7.Nxe5 Qxe5 8.Nc3 Be7 9.Nd5 Bg5 10.d4 cxd4 11.Bxg5 Qxg5 12.Nc7+ Kd8 13.Nxa8 Nf6 14.Bg2 d5 15.O-O Bg4 16.Qb5 Kc8 17.exd5 Kb8 18.Nc7 Qe3+ 19.Kh1 Be2 20.Rfe1 Bxb5 21.Rxe3 Kxc7 22.Re7+ Kd6 23.Rxb7 Bc4 24.Re1 Bxd5 25.Rxa7 Rc8 26.Ra6+ Kc5 27.Bxd5 Kxd5 28.Ra5+ Kc4 29.Ree5 1-0

Round 8, March 14, 1946
Ariauskas, Romanas - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
E80 King's Indian, Samisch variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 Nbd7 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 O-O 8.g4 Ne8 9.Qd2 f5 10.gxf5 gxf5 11.Bg5 Ndf6 12.Bh3 Bd7 13.O-O-O Qc8 14.Nge2 f4 15.Bxd7 Qxd7 16.Qe1 a6 17.Qf2 b5 18.c5 dxc5 19.Qxc5 Qd6 20.Qxd6 cxd6 21.Kd2 Nd7 22.Rhg1 Kf7 23.Rg2 Nc5 24.b4 Nd7 25.a4 Nb6 26.Ra1 Nc7 27.axb5 axb5 28.Rgg1 Rfc8 29.Bh4 Nc4+ 30.Kd3 Na6 31.Rab1 Rab8 32.Bf2 Bf6 33.Rgc1 Bd8 34.Nxb5 Rxb5 35.Rxc4 Rcb8 36.Be1 Ba5 37.Ra1 Bxb4 38.Rxa6 Bxe1 39.Rc7+ Kg8 40.Rxd6 Rb2 41.Nc3 Rd2+ 42.Kc4 Rd4+ 43.Kc5 Bxc3 44.Rb6 Rxd5+ 45.Kxd5 Rxb6 46.Rxc3 Rb5+ 47.Ke6 Kg7 48.Kf5 Kh6 49.Rc7 Rb3 50.Kg4 Rb2 51.Rc6+ Kg7 52.Re6 Rg2+ 53.Kf5 Rf2 54.Rxe5 Rxf3 55.Kg4 Re3 56.Kxf4 Rh3 57.Rg5+ Kf6 58.Rg2 Rh4+ 1/2-1/2

Round 9, March 15, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Jursevskis, Miervaldis
C00 French, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 e5 3.f4 exf4 4.d4 Qh4+ 5.Kd1 Be7 6.Nf3 Qf6 7.Nc3 c6 8.e5 Qe6 9.Bxf4 Nh6 10.Qd2 O-O 11.Bd3 b6 12.d5 cxd5 13.Nb5 Bd8 14.Nbd4 Qg4 15.Bxh6 gxh6 16.h3 Qg7 17.Nf5 Bg5 18.Nxg5 Qxe5 19.Nxh6+ Kg7 20.Nf5+ Kh8 21.Nxh7 Rg8 22.Qh6 Rg6 23.Ng5+ Rxh6 24.Nxf7+ 1-0

Round 10, March 16, 1946
Rankis, August - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
B85 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Classical variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Be2 Nf6 6.Bf3 Qc7 7.O-O a6 8.Nc3 Ne5 9.Be2 d6 10.f4 Nc6 11.Kh1 Be7 12.Bf3 Bd7 13.Nb3 O-O 14.Be3 Rfd8 15.Qe2 b5 16.Qf2 Rab8 17.a3 Be8 18.Rfd1 Nd7 19.f5 Nde5 20.Bh5 Bf6 21.Qg3 Qe7 22.Nd4 Nxd4 23.Bxd4 Rdc8 24.Rf1 Bd7 25.Rad1 a5 26.Rc1 Rc4 27.Ne2 Rbc8 28.c3 Bh4 29.Qh3 Bg5 30.Rcd1 exf5 31.exf5 R4c7 32.Nf4 Bc6 33.Be2 Nc4 34.Bxc4 bxc4 35.Rde1 Qd8 36.Qg3 Bf6 37.Bxf6 Qxf6 38.Nh5 Qh6 39.f6 g6 40.Ng7 Qd2 41.Nf5 Qxg2+ 42.Qxg2 Bxg2+ 43.Kxg2 gxf5 44.Kf3 h6 45.Rg1+ Kh8 46.Rg7 Rg8 47.Re7 Rgc8 48.Rgxf7 Rxe7 49.fxe7 Kg8 50.Rxf5 Kg7 51.Rf8 1-0

Round 11, March 17, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Repecka, Josef
C00 French, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 e5 3.f4 exf4 4.d4 g5 5.h4 Bg7 6.e5 Nc6 7.c3 h6 8.g3 fxg3 9.hxg5 hxg5 10.Rxh8 Bxh8 11.Qh5 Bg7 12.Bxg5 Nf6 13.Qh4 d5 14.Ne2 Be6 15.Nxg3 Qd7 16.Bxf6 Bf8 17.Bb5 a6 18.Ba4 b5 19.Bc2 Ne7 20.Nd2 O-O-O 21.Nb3 Ng6 22.Bxg6 fxg6 23.Bxd8 Qxd8 24.Qxd8+ Kxd8 25.Kf2 Ke8 26.Nc5 1-0

Round 12, March 18, 1946
Endzelins, Lucius - Bohatirchuk, Fedor
E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 e5 8.b3 Re8 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.e4 c6 11.h3 Nh5 12.Qc2 Nf8 13.Rd1 Qe7 14.a4 f5 15.Ba3 Qf7 16.Bd6 Bf6 17.a5 Qg7 18.Bxf8 Qxf8 19.Nd2 f4 20.g4 Ng7 21.Nf3 Ne6 22.Ne2 Qe7 23.Qc3 Nd8 24.b4 Nf7 25.Ne1 Kg7 26.Nc2 Rg8 27.f3 h5 28.Kf1 Ng5 29.Ng1 hxg4 30.hxg4 Be6 31.c5 Rad8 32.Rxd8 Rxd8 33.a6 bxa6 34.Rxa6 Rd1+ 35.Ne1 Qd7 36.Ne2 Nf7 37.Ra1 Bh4 38.Rxd1 Qxd1 39.Qc1 Qb3 40.Qc3 Qxc3 41.Nxc3 Bc4+ 0-1

Round 13, March 19, 1946
Bohatirchuk, Fedor - Darznieks, Artur
C00 French, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nge7 5.d3 d5 6.g3 b6 7.Nc3 dxe4 8.dxe4 Bb7 9.Be3 Nc8 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.Bh3 Be7 12.f5 e5 13.f6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.Bg5 Qg6 17.Bf5 Qh5 18.g4 Qh3 19.Ng1 1-0

Final Standings

1 Bohatirchuk, Fedor 11.0
2 Endzelins, Lucius 10.5
3 Ariauskas, Romanas 10.0
4 Rankis, August 8.0
5-7 Repecka, Josef; Skema, Kazys; Sadovsky, E. 7.0
8-10 Tautvaisas, Povilas; Darznieks, Artur; Jursevskis, Miervaldis 6.0
11 Sepp, Leopold 5.0
12-14 Liepnieks, Aleksandrs; Valdsaare, H; Zemitis, Valdemaars 2.5

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

Wayne, thanks very much for this exceptionally detailed and useful information. :)

What is most impressive for me is the fact that Bohatirchuk and his colleagues in this Meerbeck 1946 event, and others like it from that era, could play such high-quality chess after facing six years of war across Europe, amid personal tragedy and hardship at every turn. Bohatirchuk is without a doubt one of the most fascinating people in chess history. I am hoping to see, one day, a translation into English language of his autobiography from 1978.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

Wayne, I believe you have a typo for one of the players at Meerbeck 1946. I think it should be 'Romanas Arlauskas', instead of 'Romanas Ariauskas.' There is a wikipedia article for Arlauskas, Latvian chess master fleeing Soviet advance in this era (eventually settling in Australia), which I have just edited with the Meerbeck info.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

Wayne, I believe you have a typo for one of the players at Meerbeck 1946. I think it should be 'Romanas Arlauskas', instead of 'Romanas Ariauskas.' There is a wikipedia article for Arlauskas, Latvian chess master fleeing Soviet advance in this era (eventually settling in Australia), which I have just edited with the Meerbeck info.

I gave the spelling in the tournament book that I have.

It says that when the players left the camp, they were scattered across the world. "Many people from the Baltic States went to Australia, including Endzelins and Ariauskas, but Tautvaisas went to Chicago, Liepnieks went to Lincoln, Nebraska, Zemitis lives in California and Bohatirchuk settled in Canada. "Walter" Jursevskis also went to Canada."

Further along - "The winner of the tournament was former champion of the Ukraine J. Bogenko (F. Bogatirchuks) (Latvian spelling, despite the fact that he played under an assumed name, both of his names appear in the bulletin in the headings to his games - editor), a well known personality in chess circles. Second and third places were shared by L. Endzelins (several times a member of the Latvian national team in the chess Olympiads) and R. Ariauskas (a Lithuanian chess master). Fourth, was the champion of Kurzeme (one of the four provinces of Latvia, known in the West as Courland - editor), A. Rankis, who had very bad luck in the middle stages of the tournament. Rankis was the only one to beat veteran master Bogenko.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

I tend to think that the "L" version is correct (Arlauskas) - or maybe he adopted the changed spelling later in life. He has a few games in my database (e.g. 1936 unofficial Munich Olympiad). He eventually settled in Australia.

http://www.olimpbase.org also shows him with the "L" for that same Olympiad.

But Google searches show many occurrences of both surnames Ariauskas and Arlauskas outside the chess world.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

There is also 'Romanas Arlauskas' listed at chessmetrics.com, with three events from the same era, not including Meerbeck 1946. Likely the 'small l' for 'small i' confusion dates from the tournament book and the scoresheets. Having created tournament databases myself from scoresheets, I know how challenging that task can sometimes be!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Bohatirchuk at Meerbeck, 1946

I tend to think that the "L" version is correct (Arlauskas) - or maybe he adopted the changed spelling later in life. He has a few games in my database (e.g. 1936 unofficial Munich Olympiad). He eventually settled in Australia.

http://www.olimpbase.org also shows him with the "L" for that same Olympiad.

He was a Lithuanian. The last name is with "L" - it's a popular last name, and no need to change to something very unusual (and he did not change).

He had not much chess opportunities in Australia thus used to play in correspondence chess and got even the corr GM title.

http://margiris.vpprojektai.lt/arlauskas/ - more about his later life (in Lithiuanian) with some crosstables and pictures (no captions, thus no idea who is who)