| Jan-06-09 | | Stolberg: Paul Vaitonis came to Sweden in 1944 and left for Canada in Januar 1949. |
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Aug-26-10
 | | GrahamClayton: <Stolberg>Paul Vaitonis came to Sweden in 1944 and left for Canada in Januar 1949. <Stolberg>,
Vaitonis was leading the 1944 Lithuanian championship when the tournament was abandoned, probably due to the westward advance of the Red Army. |
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| Jan-21-12 | | AlphaMale: According to the <BCM> obit, <A lawyer in his own country, he fled in a fishing boat to Sweden with his wife and three children in 1944.> |
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| Jan-22-12 | | mojonera: oh , he was balsero |
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| Sep-01-17 | | Arconax: <Vaitonis was leading the 1944 Lithuanian championship when the tournament was abandoned, probably due to the westward advance of the Red Army> Pure speculation. |
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| Sep-02-17 | | hemy: Vaitonis fled Russian rule of his native Lithuania in 1944 because "all the time you're afraid. Even if you don't do anything wrong you never know when they'll arrest you." He was scheduled to go to Sweden in a small boat, but this boat and his proposed companions were blasted by bombs in a raid. Vaitonis managed to get aboard another ship, scheduled to run the high-explosive gauntlet, and successfully reached Sweden. He married there in 1948 and came to Canada the following year. After a year's work on a farm he took up cost accounting. He has played chess since he was five, but has no real love of tournament chess. "I like better to play a good game with my friends," he says. Source: An article about 1951 Canadian chess championship on http://www.bcchesshistory.com/1951c... with references to Vancouver local newspaper "Daily Province, Saturday, August 25, 1951" |
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| Sep-03-17 | | hemy: Detailed biography of Vaitonis, include his photos and photos of his family, was published in American Lithuanian Journal "Bridges", November 2011, pages 14-15.
(http://lithuanian-american.org/wp-c...). His biography also published on the webpage of Canadian chess federation. (http://chess.ca/vaitonis-paul) According to this webpage Vaitonis was the winner of 1944 Lithuanian chess championship. Some other sources are stating that this tournament wasn't finished. |
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| Feb-07-20 | | hemy: In 1932 Vaitonis won Kaunas city championship (9/10).
Vistaneckis and Bernotas shared 2-3 place (7.5/10). I managed to calculate draft numbers of the players and created tournament table based on articles in contemporary periodicals. https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbvcyoa78... "Dienos Naujienos", Feb 18, 1932, p. 3:
On February 16th, on the premises of the Chess Union, started chess tournament for the title of Kaunas Chess champion with 12 players.
The first round had the following results:
Kaganskis won against Molkas, Bernotas unexpectedly won against Žilevičius,
Vistaneckis won against Helmanas,
Birmanas won vs. Civinskis and Stalioraitis vs. Disleris.
Vaitonis-Luckis game was adjourned.
The tournament will continue on Tuesdays, Thursdays
and Saturdays from 8pm to midnight, the adjourned games will be played on Wednesdays. https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... --------------
"Lietuvos aidas", February 20, 1932, p.9:
12 players started Kaunas chss championship. Beside expirienced chess players Vistaneckis, Vaitonis, Luckis and
Žilevičius, participating less known chess players: Bernotas, Disleris, Stalioraitis, Birmanas, Kaganskis, Helmanas, Molkas and Civinskis.
Round 1:
Bernotas defeated Žilevičius
Vaitonis defeated Luckis
Stalioraitis defeated Disleris
Birmanas defeated Civinskis
Kaganskis defeated Molkas
Vistaneckis defeated Helmanas
Round 2:
Bernotas defeated Luckis
Vaitonis defeated Molkas
Žilevičius defeated Civinskis
Stalioraitis defeated Birmanas
Disleris defeated Helmanas
Vistaneckis - Kaganskis, Kaganskis didn't arrived,
the game will be played at Sunday.
Today, February 20, will play 2 main candidates for the title:
Vaitonis - Vistaneckis.
After 2nd round:
Vaitonis, Bernotas and Stalioraitis 2 points
Vistaneckis and Kaganskis 1 (1)
Žilevičius, Birmanas and Disleris 1
Luckis, Hėlmanas, Molkas and Civinskis 0
https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... ------------
On February 23, 1932, p.7 "Lietuvos aidas",
in the article "Vaitonis defeated Vistaneckis" Mikenas wrote: "Saturday, Feb. 20, was played 3rd round of the Kaunas championship tournament,
with very interesting
pairing of the tournament's favorites - Vaitonis and Vlstaneckis.
Vaitonis played strong and deservedly defeated his opponent. Round 3
Vaitonis defeated Vistaneckis
Bernotas defeated Civinskis
Luckis defeated Molkas
Žilevičius defeated Stalioraitis
Disleris defeated Kaganskis
Birmanas defeated Helmanas
After 3 raunds:
Vaitonis and Bernotas - 3 points each,
Žilevičius, Disleris and Birmanas - 2 points,
Vistaneckis and Kaganskis - 1 (1), Luckis: - 1 point,
Helmanas, Molkas and Civinskis - 0 points each. 4th round games will take place today, February 23, where,
among others, an interesting couple will meet: Vlstanetskis - Luckis. https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... -----------------
"Lietuvos aidas", February 27, 1932, p.9:
In 4th round
Vaitonis defeated Disleris.
Bernotas defeated Molkas,
Žilevičius defeated Helmanas,
Stalioraitis defeated Civinskis.
Birmanas received a point in tournament table against Kaganskis,
who didn't arrived to play the game.
Vistaneckis - Luckis game wasn't played.
Round 5: Vaitonis defeated Birmanas,
Žilevičius defeated Kaganskis,
Molkas - Vistaneckis and Stalioraitis - Bernotas games were adjourned.
Luckis - Disleris game wasn't played.
Vistaneckis also received a point for a 2nd round game against Kaganskis,
who didn't arrived to the game.
Standing after round 5:
Vaitonis 5
Bernotas 4 (1)
Žilevičius 3
Stalioraitis 3 (1)
Birmanas 3
Vistaneckis 2 (2)
Disleris
Luckis 1 (2)
Helmanas 1
Kaganskis 1
Molkas 0 (1)
Civinskis 0
https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... To be continued ... |
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| Feb-07-20 | | hemy: Continuation:
"Lietuvos aidas", March 1, 1932, p.7:
Round 6, February 26:
Bernotas defeated Vistaneckis
Disleris defeated Molkas 1-0
Birmanas defeated Luckis 1-0
Civinskis - Kaganskis + -
Stalioraitis - Helmanas adjorned
Vaitonis 5 (1)
Bernotas 5 (1)
Žilevičius 4 (1)
Birmanas 4
Vistaneckis 3 (1)
Stalioraitis 3 (1)
Disleris 2 (1)
Luckis 1 (1)
Helmanas 1 (1)
Kaganskis 1
Molkas 0
Civinskis 0
https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... ---------------
"Lietuvos aidas", March 8, 1932, p.7:
Vaitonis- Vistaneckis and Bernotas - Disleris games score
https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... -------------
"Lietuvos aidas", March 19, 1932, p.9:
Vistaneckis defeated Žilevičius.\
Tournament table by Mikenas. It including 11 players only and having mistake in score of Helmanas.
https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText... The draft numbers I calculated comparing results and Berger table for 12 players: 1 Žilevičius
2 Civinskis
3 Stalioraitis
4 Helmanas
5 Kaganskis
6 Vaitonis
7 Luckis
8 Molkas
9 Vistaneckis
10 Disleris
11 Birmanas
12 Bernotas
Pairings and results:
Round 1
Žilevičius - Bernotas 0-1
Civinskis - Birmanas 0-1 Stalioraitis - Disleris 1-0
Helmanas - Vistaneckis 0-1
Kaganskis - Molkas 1-0
Vaitonis - Luckis 1-0
Round 2
Bernotas - Luckis 1-0
Molkas - Vaitonis 0-1
Vistaneckis - Kaganskis + -
Disleris - Helmanas 1-0
Birmanas - Stalioraitis 0-1
Žilevičius - Civinskis 1-0
Round 3
Civinskis - Bernotas 0-1 Stalioraitis - Žilevičius 0-1
Helmanas - Birmanas 0-1
Kaganskis - Disleris 0-1
Vaitonis - Vistaneckis 1-0
Luckis - Molkas 1-0
Round 4
Bernotas - Molkas 1-0
Vistaneckis - Luckis 1-0 Disleris - Vaitonis 0-1
Birmanas - Kaganskis + -
Žilevičius - Helmanas 1-0
Civinskis - Stalioraitis 0-1
Round 5
Stalioraitis - Bernotas 1-0
Helmanas - Civinskis 1-0
Kaganskis - Žilevičius 0-1
Vaitonis - Birmanas 1-0
Luckis - Disleris - +
Molkas - Vistaneckis 0-1
Round 6
Bernotas - Vistaneckis 1-0
Disleris - Molkas 1-0
Birmanas - Luckis 1-0
Žilevičius -Vaitonis 0.5 - 0.5
Civinskis - Kaganskis + -
Stalioraitis - Helmanas 0.5 - 0.5
Round 7
Helmanas - Bernotas 1-0
Kaganskis - Stalioraitis
Vaitonis - Civinskis 1-0
Luckis - Žilevičius 0-1
Molkas - Birmanas 0-1
Vistaneckis - Disleris 1-0
Round 8
Bernotas - Disleris 1-0
Birmanas - Vistaneckis 0.5-0.5
Žilevičius - Molkas 0.5-0.5
Civinskis - Luckis + -
Stalioraitis - Vaitonis 0-1
Helmanas - Kaganskis
Round 9
Kaganskis - Bernotas
Vaitonis - Helmanas 1-0
Luckis - Stalioraitis 0-1
Molkas - Civinskis 0-1
Vistaneckis - Žilevičius 1-0
Disleris - Birmanas 0-1
Round 10
Bernotas - Birmanas 1-0
Žilevičius - Disleris 1-0
Civinskis - Vistaneckis 0-1
Stalioraitis - Molkas 1-0
Helmanas - Luckis + -
Kaganskis - Vaitonis - +
Round 11
Vaitonis - Bernotas 0.5-0.5
Luckis - Kaganskis
Molkas - Helmanas 0-1
Vistaneckis - Stalioraitis 1-0
Disleris - Civinskis 0.5-0.5
Birmanas - Žilevičius 1-0 |
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| Feb-08-20 | | chesshistoryinterest: <hemy> Nice work. I'll offer my thoughts and findings: I agree with your draft numbers. This means Molkas played Helmanas in the last round. Sources: I didn't have the 'Dienos Naujienos", 18 Feb 1932 item. I checked this paper 14-22 March 1932 and didn't find anything more on this event. I checked "Lietuvos Zinios" 16-21 March 1932 and found nothing. The "Lietuvos Aidas" items you give, I had found about a year ago. But I had missed one that also looks as though it is not above: "Lietuvos Aidas", 12 March 1932, page 9 https://www.epaveldas.lt/object/rec... (the epaveldas site doesn't seem to directly link to the page) Although this item gives interesting new material, it is unfortunately not decisive. It looks as though the tournament is largely finished here with just a few outstanding games. Unfortunately, Molkas-Helmanas is one of them and we are never directly told what the result of this game was. As we know, in his crosstable, Mikenas mistakenly gives both Molkas and Helmanas a zero for this game. You have determined that Helmanas won this game, but I can't see any definite evidence for this conclusion. Why could it equally not be the other way around? Indeed, that seems more likely to me. If Helmanas won, then Mikenas not only got his result wrong, but also got Helmanas's total score wrong, and Molkas's total score wrong - so that would be three errors made by Mikenas. Whereas if Molkas won, the score totals for Helmanas and Molkas as given by Mikenas are correct - so only one error made by Mikenas. There is the question in the latter case that if Molkas's score is 1.5, why is he in the table below Luckis? This indeed looks strange. But perhaps possibly Mikenas's thinking might be that because Luckis lost 3 games by default, that Luckis's 1/7 is of more merit than Molkas's 1.5/10. Speculative, of course. To me, we can't be really sure either way at present. I'm more swayed by thinking that Mikenas getting the total score of both Helmanis and Molkas wrong would be rather surprising. So I give it a two-thirds chance that Molkas won; and a one-third chance that Helmanas won. Unless we can find more information, there might have to remain some doubt on this one. |
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| Feb-08-20 | | hemy: <chesshistoryinterest> <Mikenas mistakenly gives both Molkas and Helmanas a zero for this game> You convinced me that most likely that Molkas won this game. It will make changes in the last round result.
Round 11
Vaitonis - Bernotas 0.5-0.5
Luckis - Kaganskis
Molkas - Helmanas 1-0
Vistaneckis - Stalioraitis 1-0
Disleris - Civinskis 0.5-0.5
Birmanas - Žilevičius 1-0
and the tournament table as well:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbvcyoa78... |
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| Feb-09-20 | | chesshistoryinterest: <hemy> That's good. It looks as though Kaganskis played less than half his games, so his score was cancelled. It could be possible that he played a couple more games (eg in Rounds 7 and 8, and then dropped out) - we don't have enough information to say. Luckis did terribly. Perhaps he was ill, or was too busy with his studies. Bernotas did well. I haven't found this player in any over-the-board event before or after this event. The game Bernotas - Disleris in "Lietuvos aidas", 8 March 1932, page 7 makes it possible to create a page for him. I found his initial to be "P", but don't have his full first name. (There is also a game Bernotas - Birmanas in "Lietuvos aidas", 12 March 1932, page 9. This gives us a fourth game for Birmanas.) There is a page for Disleris because of a single game entered. This is Disleris - Mezgailis, Latvia-Lithuania 1937 (this game is also in "Jews in Lithuanian chess history") and was probably entered by <jessicafischerqueen>. However, his initial is given as "J". I can't see where this comes from, and I also thought his first name was "Simon". If this is so, the page title (and game pgn) will need correcting. |
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| Feb-09-20 | | hemy: <chesshistoryinterest> Additional information about the Kaunas 1932 tournament from "Lietuvos aidas", March 7, p.6:
Luckis withdraw from the tournament after round 7. It makes changes in round 9 results:
Round 9
Kaganskis - Bernotas
Vaitonis - Helmanas 1-0
Luckis - Stalioraitis - +
Molkas - Civinskis 0-1
Vistaneckis - Žilevičius 1-0
Disleris - Birmanas 0-1
The tournament table is updated as well.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbvcyoa78... Translation of the article:
From Kaunas Chess, Championship Tournament.
On March 1, in the 7th round of the tournament, Bernotas made a mistake and unexpectedly lost to Helmanas. Žilevičius won against Luckis, who after his last defeat refused to continue the tournament. Birmanas defeated Molkas, Vaitonis - Civinskis and Vistaneckis - Disleris games were adjourned. Also, on March 2, Žilevičius made a draw in adjourned game with Vaitonis. Stalioraitis defeated Bernotas and finished with a draw against Helmanas. In the 8th round Bernotas defeated Disleris, Vaitonis defeated Stalioraitis. The games Žilevičius - Molkas and Vistaneckis - Birmanas were adjourned. Civinskis was credited with point against Luckis, who withdraw from the tournament. Tournament standing after round 8:
Vaitonis 6,5(1)
Bernotas 6
Žilevičius 5,5(1)
Stalioraitis 5,5
Birmanas 5(1)
Vistaneckis 3(1)
Helmanas 3,5
Disleris 3(1)
Luckis and Civinskis 1
Molkas 0
(https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText...) |
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| Feb-09-20 | | hemy: <chesshistoryinterest>
<I also thought his first name was "Simon"> Indeed, his name was Simon Disleris.
https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_... |
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| Feb-09-20 | | chesshistoryinterest: <hemy>
Very nice find, and a surprise. I had assumed that the only material on the event would be Mikenas's columns on Tuesdays and Saturdays and only checked those days (it's a fair bit of work to check every day). I have now checked all the days 8-19 March and didn't find anything more. There is a Mikenas column on 15 March which I'd previously found, but it didn't have anything on the event. Strange that Mikenas doesn't mention Luckis's withdrawal in his column of 8 March. He does mention Luckis, but all he says is something like (writing is hard to read) "Our own international Luckis turned out to be a very slender in this tournament, who had only one hand in the six laps of the tournament". Perhaps he had pre-written the column before Luckis's withdrawal. So this means there is another error in Mikenas's crosstable. It seems the more you look into these things, the more there is to fix! Also very useful in this find is that there is no mention of Kaganskis from Round 7 onwards; and that he is not mentioned in the tournament standing after round 8. Thus it can be safely said that he withdrew from the tournament after Round 6 at the latest, and thus played only 3 games over-the-board. Therefore, in the round-by-round results from round 7 onwards, instead of Kaganskis, I would have "bye", or "bye (Kaganskis)". |
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| Feb-14-20 | | chesshistoryinterest: <hemy>
Found this, sorting through my stuff. Has more significance now than it did! "Waba Maa", 26 March 1932, page 6
https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=... Column written during Mikenas's visit to Tallinn in the middle of the 1932 Macht match (and shortly after the finish of the Kaunas 1932 Championship). Some material on the Kaunas 1932 Championship. Unfortunately, the scores of Helmanas and Molkas are not mentioned (and that of Luckis is wrong). But what is interesting is that Bernotas is given as being only 14 years old(!!) That would explain why we hadn't heard of him previously. But why not afterwards? Perhaps he died? If so, perhaps Lithuania missed out on a Keres... Also mentioned in the item is that Mikenas's mother and sister were still in Tallinn. |
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| Jun-21-20 | | chesshistoryinterest: Some of the comments above regarding Vaitonis playing in the 1944 Lithuanian Championship are not fully correct. It is true that such a Championship was started; and it was abandoned after 5 of the 9 scheduled rounds were played due to the faster than expected advance of the USSR army into Lithuania. But Vaitonis did not take part in this event. See discussion on the Ignas Zalys page starting with this post: Ignas Zalys (kibitz #3) The biography of Vaitonis published on the webpage of the Canadian Chess Federation https://chess.ca/vaitonis-paul is also wrong about the other Lithuanian Chess Championships:
Vaitonis did not take part in the 1942 Championship (let alone win it). He did take part in the 1941 and 1943 Championships, being half a point short of the winning score on both occasions.
In 1934, 1937 and 1938, he won the Challengers event only. But to become Lithuanian Champion he then also had to beat the sitting Champion, Mikenas, in a match. This he failed to do, losing all three matches. So in fact, Vaitonis was never Lithuanian Champion. |
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Kibitzing
