Training tournament, Riga, 26 September - circa 15 December 1937: "Saha Maksla", 25 December 1937, Page 11.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Latvia-Estonia match, Tallinn, 7-8 March 1938:
"Krusta-mikla,Sachs,Bridzs", 19 March 1938, Page 11.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

(also drawn game Sepp-Melngailis from this match: "Saha Maksla", 25 March 1938, Page 9.)

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

2nd SELL student Olympiad, Tartu, 25-27 March 1938: "Rits", 19 March 1938, Page 4.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Latvian Championship Congress, Group 2, Riga, 24 December 1938 - 1 January 1939: "Stasti un Romani", 7 January 1939, Page 12.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

3rd SELL student Olympiad, Helsinki, 19-21 February 1939: "Stasti un Romani", 4 March 1939, Page 23.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Latvia-Estonia match, Riga, 24-26 February 1939: "Stasti un Romani", 4 March 1939, Page 23.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

1939 Olympiad Selection tournament, Liepaja, 22 April - circa 1 June 1939: "Stasti un Romani", 23 June 1939, Page 23.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Training tournament, Riga, 6 October-30 December 1940: "Sarkanais Sports", 1 January 1941, Page 4.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Riga Championship, 28 February - circa 26 March 1943: "Sporta Pasaule", 29 March 1943, Page 4. (Couldn't find a crosstable on Periodika.lv for this one. Possibly one on the European Library? [I'm not having much success when I try to search that site.])

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Vainode, 3-9 October 1943:
"Sporta Pasaule", 18 October 1943, Page 4.

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Riga Championship, January 1946:
"Fiziska Kultura", 1 February 1946 (cannot find crosstable on Periodika.lv. Nor do Rusbase have it; nor is it in Di Felice. Jeremy Gaige in "Chess Tournaments: A Checklist" indicated he had it, so it must exist somewhere!).

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

Riga Championship, 17 January-15 March 1947 (dates according to Gaige): Rusbase under "National Tournaments" chapter.
[after 1946, Periodika.lv will let you do a search, but won't allow you access to the newspaper item itself. Why is this?] (The Rusbase item only lists some of the competitors [including T. Melngailis] and their scores, but doesn't have a crosstable. Nor does Di Felice. Jeremy Gaige in "Chess Tournaments: A Checklist" indicated he had it, so it must exist somewhere!)

http://al20102007.narod.ru/nat_tour...

Latvian Championship, Riga, 27 March-30 April 1947: Rusbase under "Championships of Republics" chapter.

http://al20102007.narod.ru/ch_repub...

Quarterfinal of USSR Championship, Yaroslavl, 1948: Rusbase under "Championships of USSR" chapter.

http://al20102007.narod.ru/ch_urs/1...

That's all I found for now. Would probably pay to check that I've got everything correct.

The above documentation, plus what you have already found, would indicate that Di Felice wrongly has "Emilis Melngailis" instead of "Tenis Melngailis" for the following events in his "Chess Results":

Olympiad 1936.
Latvia-Estonia 1938.
Latvia-Estonia 1939.
Kemeri-Riga 1939.
Olympiad 1939.
Latvian Championship, Riga, 1947.
Latvian Championship, Riga 1948.
Quarterfinal of USSR Championship, Yaroslavl, 1948.

To finish up, I found a crosstable for Kemeri-Riga 1939 that has "T. Melngailis" in it. So that should confirm that one absolutely.

1. V. Petrov 14/17
2. F. Apšenieks — 12.5/17
3. M. Feigins 12/17

9-10. T. Melngailis and K. Ozols 9/17

[Event "Riga championship"]
[Site "Riga"]
[Date "1935.12.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Stabiņš, A"]
[Black "Melngailis, Tenis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E34"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[Source "'Krustamīkla. Šahs. Bridžs', January 11, 1936, p. 12; 'Aizsargs', January 15, 1936, p. 78"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. e3 c5 6. a3 Qa5 7. Bd2 cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Rc1 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Qd8 12. Bd3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b6 14. Bb5 Bb7 15. Qa4 Qd5 16. O-O a6 17. Be2 b5 18. Qc2 Rac8 19. Qd2 Ne4 20. Qf4 f5 21. Rfd1 g5 22. Nxg5 Nxc3 23. Bf3 Ne2+ 24. Bxe2 Nxd4 0-1

http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...

One more game of T. Melngailis from this tournament, against Fricis Apšenieks.

It was published in "Krustamīkla. Šahs. Bridžs" magazine, December 7 , 1935, p. 12 as a game played in round 4 of Riga chess championship. However the game was played in round 5 on October 7th, 1935 ("Rīts", November 8, 1935, p. 7).

In round 4 T. Melngailis played against K. Ozols and Apšenieks against M. Brakmanis ("Rīts", November 4, 1935, p. 4).

In winning position T. Melngailis made big mistake on his last move and the game ended with a draw.

[Event "Riga championship"]
[Site "Riga"]
[Date "1935.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Melngailis, Tenis"]
[Black "Apsenieks, Fr."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[Source "'Krustamīkla. Šahs. Bridžs', December 7 , 1935, p. 12"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. b3 Nf6 4. Bb2
Nbd7 5. g3 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O O-O 8. d4 Qe7 9. Ne5 Rd8 10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. Nd2 c5 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rc1 Bg4 14. Re1 Rac8 15. Nf3 c4 16. Ne5 Be6 17. bxc4 dxc4 18. Qa4 Bb4 19. Red1 c3 20. Ba1 c2 21. Rd3 Bf5 22. e4 Nxe4 23. g4 b5 24. Qxb5 Ba3 25. Bb2 Nc3 26. Rxc3 Rxc3 27. gxf5 Rxd4 28. Bf3 h6 29. f6 Qxf6 30. Rxc2 Bxb2 31. Qxb2 Rxc2 32. Qxd4 Rxa2 33. Bd5 Qg5+ 34. Kf1 Rd2 35. Bxf7+ Kh8 36. Qxd2 1/2-1/2

From <hemy>:

<Riga 1935-1936 (20 October 1935-23 February 1936) Riga Championship. <Petrovs finished 1st> over F. Apsenieks, M. Feigins, T. Bergs and others. Di Felice, "Chess Results 1936-1940" p.8;
'Krustamīkla. Šahs. Bridžs', November 23, 1935, p.12; "Rīts", November 19, 1935, p.7.

Both Emils Melngailis and Tenis Melngailis participated in this event.>

<chesshistoryinterest> Awesome research thank you so much!

<chesshistoryinterest>

This is interesting: <Quarterfinal of USSR Championship, Yaroslavl, 1948: Rusbase under "Championships of USSR" chapter.

http://al20102007.narod.ru/ch_urs/1... >

On the actual crosstable page it is named <Tournament of candidates to masters- Yaroslavl 1948>.

The master title was possible to get only in tournaments where at least 3 masters participated.

For the best Candidate Masters the Soviet chess federation could arrange match with master. To get master title CM had to win a match against master or to made a draw in 2 such a matches.

In 1967, when in I played in USSR team championship ("Spartakiad") in Moscow I was approached by Chess federation officials and offered to played in match-tournament of 7 young (20 years old) Candidates Masters against 7 Masters in my home town Vilnius. Because of my exams in University in Kaunas city I couldn't accept this offer.

In this tournament each CM played with each Master 2 games. To get master title CM had to make 7.5/14 or more.

I remember that in this tournament Evgeny Sveshnikov was crushing masters and finished with 12/14. Seiran Chechelian from Armenia came with his father and Genrikh Kasparyan, one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies. Kasparian was helping him with analysis of adjourned games. I was told by Isakas Vistaneckis that Chechelian's father was helping his son with generous offers to masters.

My goal was to finish University and emigrate to Israel, so I didn'y played in tournaments.

<hemy> Thank you, and especially for more anecdotes from your chess career!

From your earlier translation, we know that <T. Melngailis> indeed held the Candidate Master title at this time:

http://periodika.lv/periodika2-view...

The candidates were divided into two groups,
A and B, each playing a tournament. In the A group Mezgailis won with 3.5 points; 2. < Indriķis Kalnins > 2,5 Arvids Kalnins (kibitz #1) 3rd 4th Brakmanis and < T. Melngailis each 1.5; > 5th Ozols 1.

In the B-group won:
1.-2. Dreibergs and Friede each 5
3-5. Giese, A. Kalnins and Taube each 4 points.
Based on these results Mezgailis and < Indriķis Kalnins > are added to the team ...

The three last of the A group with the
three first of the B group playing off a new tournament...

New tournament, 8 players:
From Group A: Brakmanis, < T. Melngailis >, Ozols

From Group B: Dreibergs, Friede, Giese,
and Endzelins - Riga and Elson - Walka
were allowed. The result of this fight:
1. Ozols 5; 2nd < T. Melngailis 4,5 >; 3. L. Endzelins 4 points.

By decision of the Latvian Chess Federation
the Latvian representation Team for Munich: Petrov, Apscheneek., <Edgars Roberts Krūmiņš> Alfred J Krumins (kibitz #2) Feigins, Hasenfuss, Mezgailis, <Indriķis Kalnins>, Ozols, <T. Melngailis >and Endzelins. ______________________________

I certainly second <jessicafischerqueen's> comment that anecdotes from your chess career are very welcome, as is any information on how the USSR chess system worked.

<Jessicafischerqueen>, I too, wondered why the crosstable had a different heading than the expected <Quarterfinal of USSR Championship> (and it's the same for all the 1948 events listed <"Quarterfinal of USSR Championship" in the Rusbase index). I'm presuming the tournament was both. Gaige in "Checklist" calls it "Master Candidates", while Di Felice calls it "Quarterfinal 17th USSR ch" [that's the 1949 USSR ch, not the 1948 one]. Di Felice's source is "Shakhmaty v SSSR 1948, p. 262". And, indeed, the winner, Cherepkov, is in the USSR Semifinal at Tbilisi, 25 April - May 1949, while the second placegetter, Solmanis, was in the USSR Semifinal at Moscow, 25 May - 22 June 1949. So it certainly looks like it was a USSR Ch. Quarterfinal as well.

I think you've got the Kalnins and Krumins stuff right. This item ("Rits", 10 August 1936, page 4):

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

shows what I think are the correct names, and are what you give. I also agree that it was Edgars Krumins (not Alfreds) who played in the 1935 Warsaw Olympiad.

Funny how I've just praised Olimpbase and here we are discussing errors in it. In my experience, such errors on this very excellent website are extremely rare indeed.

Di Felice's version also has errors. He correctly has Edgars Krumins; but wrongly has Arvids Kalnins instead of Indrikis; and wrongly has Emilis Melngailis instead of Tenis.

Re the tournaments in preparation for the 1936 Munich Olympiad: My assessment would be that these are Qualification tournaments, not a Training tournament. The actual Training tournament was held shortly afterwards, 27 July - 3 August 1936, Riga, where Edgars Krumins, Feigins, and Paul List from Berlin tied for first. Paul Schmidt from Estonia was 4th, half a point behind.

Ernests Gize, son of August Giese
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernes...

Augusts Gize

< "Elson" is Eklons from Valga >

Two different players, see
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935....

Alfrēds Eklons
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfr%...

Gize/Giese: I think the version of this depends on the language of the article. Gize is Latvian, Giese is probably German.

Eklons/Elisons: That Gothic is hard to read. I'm pretty sure the second letter is a 'k' (I've come across this before). Anyway, here is another item on this event, in Latvian this time ("Jaunakas Zinas", 22 July 1936, Page 10):

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

It clearly reads "Eklons" and "Gize".

Also, this player was given as from Valga. Eklons was the only significant player to come from there. I'm pretty sure Elisons was from Riga.

<Sep-28-18
Premium Chessgames Member hemy: Paul Keres played against Tenis Melngailis, not <G. Melngailis>. Match "Kalev" (Estonia)- Daugava (Latvia), Tallinn, 1947.

1st board:
round 1: P. Keres - T. Melngailis 1:0
round 2: P. Keres - A. Aleksandrov 1:0

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9...

G Melngailis vs Keres, 1947

To me, this is confirmed by the fact that a couple of days earlier, Tenis was playing for the Latvian team in the Latvian SSR - Estonian SSR match, 15-18 June 1947, Tallinn (draw, then a win vs. Kondratjev) [Sources: Rusbase; and "Male Eestis", page 165].

The search in Latvian periodicals of 1947 returning snippets, but not opening the actual pages. I used different 'keywords', taken from the each snippet to get the next one and so on.

I was able to compile the text of some articles. It didn't help too much for information about 'Kalev' - 'Daugava' match.

"Cīņa", June 22, 1947, p. ??:

"... Sport Club "Daugava" team remained in Tallinn to play a match with "Kalev" chess players. In the first round, Keres won Melngailis, Solmanis-Renter, Turn-Zdanov, Randvirs - Bleks and Kruzkop - Kalde.
Games Bāiiņš - Kondratjev and Zvirbulis - Kibermann ended with a draw. Aleksandrov - Arulaid game adjourned - Aleksandrov in a slightly better position. The result is currently 4: 3 at in the favor of 'Kalev'."

Result and table of the <Match Estonia-Latvia 12:11- Tallinn 14-15.6.1947>: http://al20102007.narod.ru/matches/...

So we have that in the first round, Aleksandrov played Arulaid and in the second, Keres. It is possible that Keres and Arulaid swapped opponents for Round 2, which would mean that Tenis Melngailis played Arulaid in Round 2. Unfortunately, we don't know Arulaid's result in Round 1, so cannot determine how he did against Tenis Melngailis in Round 2 (if he played him). Perhaps we should advise the compiler of Rusbase of this information, and he might be able to find more in Soviet sources.

As for the table of the match <Estonian SSR - Latvian SSR, 1947> on Rusbase, there is something wrong with it, because although it says the score was 12:11 in the heading, at the bottom it gives the score as 12.5:11.5 The table in "Male Eestis", page 165, plus a comment, plus the final score of 12:11 there, indicates that the second Malksoo-Balin game was not played. There are also a couple of other conflicts between the two tables: Rusbase gives the Prunn that played as Richard, while "Male Eestis" gives the Prunn as Rudolf. Item snippets on periodika.lv support the "Male Eestis" version. Rusbase also has the wrong initial for Aleksandrov. Also the last 4 board orders are different. Rusbase gives Board 9 as Kalde-Straume; Board 10 as Kibbermann-Kruskop; Board 11 as Heinra-Zvirbulis; Board 12 as Pruun-Blek, whereas "Male Eestis" gives Board 9 as Pruun-Blek; Board 10 as Kalde-Straume; Board 11 as Kibbermann-Kruskop; Board 12 as Heinra-Zvirbulis. Also dates differ. Rusbase gives the dates as 14-15 June 1947, while "Male Eestis" gives the dates as 15-18 June 1947. "Paul Keres: Photographs and Games" says Keres played his two games on 16 and 17 June 1947, which supports the "Male Eestis" version. All in all, I believe the "Male Eestis" version.

"Cīņa", June 18, 1947:

Tallinn, June 15-June 18, 1947.

Estonia-Latvia
Round 1:
1. Keres - Koblenc 1-0
2. Renter - Solmanis 0-1
3. Arulaid - Aleksandrov
4. Randvir - Mežgailis 0.5-0.5
5. Kondratiev - T. Melngailis 0.5-0.5
6. Tiurn - Šiliņš
7. Villard - Zdanov
8. Melks - Balinš
9. Kalde - Straume
10. Rich. Prūn - Kruzkop 0.5-0.5
11. Heinre - Zvirbulis 0.5-0.5
12. Rud. Prun - Bleks 0-1

The current score is 4:3 in favor of the Latvian SSR.

"Padomju Jaunatne", June 19, 1947:
The Latvian-Estonian chess match adjourned games continued to play on June 18. 3. Arulaid - Aleksandrov 0.5-0.5
6. Tirn - Šiliņš 0.5-0.5
7. Villard - Zdanov 0.5-0.5

"Cīņa", June 22, 1947:

Estonia-Latvia
Round 2:
1. Keres - Koblenc 1-0
2. Renter - Solmanis 0.5-0.5
3. Arulaid - Aleksandrov 1-0
4. Randvir - Mežgailis 0.5-0.5
5. Kondratiev - T. Melngailis 0-1
6. Tirn - Šiliņš 0-1
7. Villard - Zdanov 0-1
8. Melks - Balinš
9. Kalde - Straume
10. Kibermann - Kruzkop 1-0
11. Heinre - Zvirbulis
12. Rud. Prun - Bleks 0.5-0.5

Round 1 game Melks - Balinš ended in draw after 13 hours of game. (Round 1: 8. Melks - Balinš 0.5-0.5).

Due to lack of time, it was not possible to complete the Balinš - Melks second-round game, where Balinš have a great chance to win.
The game will be sent to arbitration in Moscow for evaluation. The score is currently 12:11 in favor of the Estonian SSR.

"Fiziskā Kultūra", July 1, 1947:

... Keress 1 1 - Koblencs 0 0
Renters 0 0.5 - Solmanis 1 0.5
Arulaid - Aleksandrov 0.5 1 - 0.5 0
... Kalde - Straume 1 1 - 0 0
... Heinre - Zvirbulis 0.5 0.5 - 0.5 0.5

************
Round 1:
1. Keres - Koblenc 1-0
2. Renter - Solmanis 0-1
3. Arulaid - Aleksandrov 0.5-0.5
4. Randvir - Mežgailis 0.5-0.5
5. Kondratiev - T. Melngailis 0.5-0.5
6. Tirn - Šiliņš 0.5-0.5
7. Villard - Zdanov 0.5-0.5
8. Melks - Balinš 0.5-0.5
9. Kalde - Straume 1-0
10. Rich. Prūn - Kruzkop 0.5-0.5
11. Heinre - Zvirbulis 0.5-0.5
12. Rud. Prun - Bleks 0-1

Estonia - Latvia 6:6

Round 2:
1. Keres - Koblenc 1-0
2. Renter - Solmanis 0.5-0.5
3. Arulaid - Aleksandrov 1-0
4. Randvir - Mežgailis 0.5-0.5
5. Kondratiev - T. Melngailis 0-1
6. Tirn - Šiliņš 0-1
7. Villard - Zdanov 0-1
8. Melks - Balinš
9. Kalde - Straume 1-0
10. Kibermann - Kruzkop 1-0
11. Heinre - Zvirbulis 0.5-0.5
12. Rud. Prun - Bleks 0.5-0.5

If a result came back from arbitration in Moscow for the second Malksoo-Balins game, it must have been adjudicated as a draw. I'm not too convinced that a result ever came back. "Male Eestis" was published in 1965, so that is ample time for such a result to have come back. Given that publication was for Estonian events, and given the critical nature of the result, the Estonians must have been very interested in it and would surely have known about it if one had came back. Plus Rusbase had 12:11 in their heading; and given the number of errors they have for this item, this "draw" result looks a bit untrustworthy. Certainly I think an unimpeachable source for such a result would need to be seen for it to be accepted. Something else (in addition to "Kalev"-"Daugava") for Rusbase [a very good site in general] to look at.

(1) <Riga-Antwerp match, 13-14 August 1936, Antwerp> On Board 9, Tenis Melngailis won his first game, then drew the second versus Geisen.

(2) <Latvia-Netherlands match, 24-25 July 1939, Rotterdam> On Board 5, Tenis Melngailis drew his first game, then won the second versus Van der Tols.

(3) <Riga-Antwerp match, 27-28 July 1939, Antwerp> On board 5, Tenis Melngailis won both games versus Borodins.

More details are on my posting on the Petrovs page, here:

Vladimir Petrov (kibitz #953)

which I repeat below:

Nov-19-18
delete chesshistoryinterest: <jessicafischerqueen> <Latvia-Netherlands match, Rotterdam, 24-25 July 1939>; and <Riga-Antwerp match, Antwerp, 27-28 July 1939>:

Full table for both matches (plus Euwe-Petrovs game) are in "Stasti un Romani", 2 August 1939, page 23

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

I don't think these have been posted here so far.

***
<Riga-Antwerp match, August 1936, Antwerp>: On <Vladimirs Petrovs Tournaments/Matches 1923-1942>, you have the dates for this as 14-15 August 1936. But the following three references:

"Jaunakas Zinas", 14 August 1936, page 12

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

"Kurzemes Vards", 15 August 1936, page 1

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

"Rits", 10 August 1936. page 4

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

all indicate the dates were 13-14 August 1936.

Using the first two references, plus "Rits", 16 August 1936, page 8

http://www.periodika.lv/periodika2-...

I work out the full table to be:

Bd Riga player Antwerp player 1. Petrovs 1-0, 1-0 vs Dunkelblum; 2. Apsenieks 0.5-0.5, 1-0 vs Jerochov; 3. Feigins 0.5-0.5, 0-1 vs Sapira; 4. Edgars Krumins 0-1, 1-0 vs Perlmuter; 5. Hazenfuss 1-0, 0.5-0.5 vs Franka; 6. Mezgailis 0.5-0.5, 0.5-0.5 vs Grabua; 7. Endzelins 1-0, 1-0 vs Stofela; 8. Ozols 1-0, 1-0 vs Deneja; 9. Tenis Melngailis 1-0, 0.5-0.5 vs Geisena; 10. Indrikis Kalnins 0.5-0.5, 0-1 vs Demunki

Total score 13.5-6.5 to Riga (7-3 in the first half, and 6.5-3.5 in the second half). [table won't format properly.]

I have assumed that the Board order of Hazenfuss and Mezgailis (Boards 5 and 6) is the same as that as in the 1936 Munich Olympiad (this event was played en route to this) - it cannot be determined from the sources above. Not quite sure of the spelling of some of the Antwerp players' names - the Latvians have their own way of spelling names.