Vladimirs Petrovs

Infobox chess player
playername = Vladimirs Petrovs


birthname = Vladimirs Petrovs
country = LAT
datebirth = birth date|1907|9|27
placebirth = Riga, Latvia
datedeath = death date and age|1943|8|26|1907|9|27
placedeath = Kotlas, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
title =
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating =
peakrating =

Vladimirs Petrovs or Vladimir Petrov (27 September 1907 – 26 August 1943 at Kotlas) was a Latvian chess master.

He was born in Riga, Latvia. Learning the game relatively late, at age 13, Petrovs made rapid progress. By 1926, at age 19, he had improved enough to win the Riga Championship and finish 3rd in the national championship. He placed 2nd–5th, behind Isakas Vistaneckis, in the first Baltic Championship at Klaipeda 1931. Petrovs won a match with Movsas Feigins (+4 –1 =3) in 1931, won a match against Vladas Mikenas (+2 –0 =1) in 1932, and narrowly lost a match to Rudolf Spielmann (+1 –2 =5) in 1934.

Vladimirs Petrovs tied for 1st with Fricis Apšenieks in 1934, and won the Latvian Championship in 1935 and 1937. He won at Helsinki 1936, and was equal first with Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr at Kemeri 1937, ahead of Alexander Alekhine, Paul Keres, Endre Steiner, Saviely Tartakower, Reuben Fine, Gideon Stahlberg and others. This was Petrovs’ finest tournament achievement. In the same year he unfortunately was 8th (the last one) at Semmering. Petrovs placed 3rd-5th at Lodz 1938, behind Vasja Pirc and Saviely Tartakower, and third at Margate 1938, behind Alexander Alekhine and Rudolf Spielmann, but beat Alekhine in their individual game. In 1939 Petrovs placed 8th of 16 at Kemeri–Riga, and won at Rosario, ahead of Erich Eliskases and Vladas Mikenas. [http://www.rogerpaige.me.uk/index.htm]

Petrovs played for Latvia in all seven official Chess Olympiads from 1928 to 1939. He also played at the unofficial Olympiad at Munich 1936.
* In July/August 1928, he played at third board at the 2nd Olympiad in The Hague (+5 –4 =7).
* In July 1930, he played at second board at the 3rd Olympiad in Hamburg (+8 –3 =6).
* In July 1931, he played at third board at the 4th Olympiad in Prague (+9 –2 =5).
* In July 1933, he played at second board at the 5th Olympiad in Folkestone (+6 –5 =3).
* In August 1935, he played at first board at the 6th Olympiad in Warsaw (+7 –5 =7).
* In August/September 1936, he played at first board at the unofficial Olympiad in Munich (+10 –3 =7).
* In July/August 1937, he played at first board at the 7th Olympiad in Stockholm (+5 –3 =10).
* In August/September 1939, he played at first board at the 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+8 –0 =11). [ [http://www.olimpbase.org/ OlimpBase :: the encyclopaedia of team chess ] ]

He won two individual medals: gold in 1931 and bronze in 1939. He achieved a particularly brilliant result playing on top board at Buenos Aires: he lost not a single game, drew against world champion Alexander Alekhine, former world champion José Raúl Capablanca, and the young superstar Paul Keres, and won against Vladas Mikenas, Roberto Grau, Saviely Tartakower, and Moshe Czerniak.

In 1940 the Soviet Union annexed Latvia. Petrovs was critical but played under the new regime, placing 10th of 20 in the 1940 USSR Championship, taking equal third at Riga 1941, and second in several strong tournaments: Moscow 1941, behind Isaak Mazel, Moscow 1942, behind Igor Bondarevsky [http://www.geocities.com/al2055perv/nat_tour/1942/moscow42.html] , and Sverdlovsk 1942, behind Viacheslav Ragozin.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on the 22 June 1941, Petrovs was unable to return to his wife and daughter at home in Latvia. He therefore remained in Russia, and was arrested on August 31, 1942 under the infamous Article 58, for criticising decreased living standards in Latvia since the Soviet annexation of 1940. Petrovs was sentenced to ten years in a corrective labor camp. His final fate was revealed in 1989 when it became known that he had died at Kotlas on August 26, 1943 from an inflammation of the lungs.

References

Further reading

*Andris Fride, "Vladimirs Petrovs: A chessplayer's story from greatness to the gulags" (Caissa Editions)

Notable games

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1278871 Vladimirs Petrovs vs Kazimierz Makarczyk, The Hague 1928, 2nd Olympiad, Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack, D64, 1-0]
* [http://www.olimpbase.org/1930/1930in.html Saviely Tartakower vs Vladimirs Petrovs, Hamburg 1930, 3rd Olympiad, Queen’s Pawn Game, A45, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1281005 Karel Treybal vs Vladimirs Petrovs, Folkestone 1933, 5th Olympiad, Sicilian Defense, Classical Variation, B58, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266510 Vera Menchik vs Vladimirs Petrovs, Podebrady 1936, Czechoslovakia championship, Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation, D13, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1004671 Vladimirs Petrovs vs Reuben Fine, Kemeri 1937, Alekhine's Defense, B03, 1-0]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1004894 Gideon Stahlberg vs Vladimirs Petrovs, Łódź 1938, Nimzo-Indian Defense, Spielmann Variation, E22, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1013336 Vladimirs Petrovs vs Alexander Alekhine, Margate 1938, Catalan, Open, E02, 1-0]
* [http://www.olimpbase.org/1939/1939in.html Vladimirs Petrovs vs Roberto Grau, Buenos Aires 1939, 8th Olympiad, Queen's Gambit Declined, D06, 1-0] Described as "An instructive and convincing game in its very simplicity"
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1096603 Vladimirs Petrovs vs Vladas Mikenas, Rosario 1939, Catalan, Open, E02 1-0]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1090733 Vladimirs Petrovs vs Grigory Levenfish, Moscow 1940, 12th USSR ch, Old Indian, A53, 1-0]