Jānis Klovāns

Jānis Klovāns (born 9 April 1935, Ruba) is a Latvian chess Grandmaster.

Jānis Klovāns won the Latvian Championship nine times (1954, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1979, and 1986), and participated in several Soviet Championships.

He played for Latvia in two Chess Olympiads. In 1992, at second reserve board in Manila (+0 −0 =2), and in 2000, at third board in Istanbul (+5 −4 =4).

Janis Klovans won thrice World Senior Chess Championship in 1997, 1999, and 2001.

Awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1976, and the Grandmaster (GM) title in 1997 following his win in the World Senior Championship. This achievement is notable in that he is probably the oldest player to be awarded the GM title for current achievements, rather than an honorary or retrospective title. This can be explained by the fact that although he was a strong master for many years, he was rarely allowed to play outside of the Soviet Union and therefore had few opportunities to gain FIDE titles.

External links

*chessgames player|id=83237|name=Janis Klovans
*fide|id=11600128|name=Janis Klovans
* [http://www.latchess.lv/lv/hall/2005/05/11/hall_62.html?template=23 Biography at latchess.lv]