| May-03-05 | | Eatman: As a kid in a summer chess camp in 1980s I had the (mis)fortune of playing Petroff against visiting Vitolinsh in a simul. At the time I did not know, he was famous using Nxf7 sac even against IMs and GMs. Needless to say I was crushed in about 25 moves.
There is a blitz tournament honoring his name which takes place every year in Carnikava (Latvia), his last place of residence. |
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| May-03-05 | | azaris: That's certainly a good way of teaching youngsters to play actively and not try to grind a draw with the Petrov. |
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| Jun-15-05 | | Knight13: Happy birthday, Alvis Vitolinsh! Have a nice afterlife! |
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| Oct-11-07 | | whiteshark: A rare picture
http://canal-h.net/webs/rguerrero00... |
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Oct-11-07
 | | technical draw: <whiteshark> Thanks for the picture. You sure it's him and not some Country and Western singer? |
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| Oct-11-07 | | whiteshark: <technical draw>
I've seen a better photo in a Latvian database lately, but couldn't find it anymore.... Therefore I took an old self portrait. (odd lie)
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| Oct-11-07 | | Resignation Trap: <whiteshark> Could this be the photo in question: http://www.latchess.lv/coppermine/a... ? |
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Oct-11-07
| | technical draw: <RT> Another great photo, but how come the pieces aren't rolling off the board? |
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| Oct-11-07 | | whiteshark: <Resignation Trap> yep, thank you very much !! |
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| Jun-17-08 | | Vitolinsh: !Hello! This is my first comment in this page.
I have done this account to honor the name of Alvis Vitolinsh, one of the most wonderful and amazing player in the whole history!! Thanks Alvis! :-) |
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| Jun-17-08 | | firebyrd: No "Game of the day" for Alvis? With a name made for puns and the sideburns to go with it? |
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| Jun-13-09 | | hedgeh0g: Apparently, Vitolinsh was a friend of the great Mikhail Tal. His prowess with the Cochrane Gambit should be recognised with a GotD, in my opinion. |
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| May-03-10 | | Caissanist: Vitolinsh is the subject of a poignant chapter in Genna Sosonko's <Russian Silhouettes>. He was one of many chess professionals in the former Soviet Union who were hit very hard by that country's disintegration, and he was left living in horrific poverty. This appears to have been the main reason for his suicide. |
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| Jan-07-11 | | Wyatt Gwyon: Isn't most ice frozen? |
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| Feb-11-11 | | wordfunph: "Truly chess has no limits!"
- IM Alvis Vitolins |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Anatoli Shvedchikov - Alvis Vitolinsh
Latvia-Russia Match 1973 Riga Semi-Sav Defence
1c4 e6 2Nf3 Nf6 3Nc3 d5 4d4 c6 5e3 Bb4 6Bd3 0-0 70-0 Nbd7 8Qe2 b6 9Bd2 Bxc3 10Bxc3 Ba6 11b3 Qe7 12Bb2 c5 13a4 cxd4 14exd4 dxc4 15bxc4 Rfc8 16Rfd1 Qb4 17Ba3 Qc3 18Rdc1 Qa5 19Rcb1 Qh5 20Bd6 Bb7 21Rb5 Bxf3 22gxf3 Qh4 23Qe3 Ne8 24Bg3 Qd8 25Be4 Rxc4 26Bxh7+ Kf8 27Bd3 Rc3 28Rh5 Ndf6 29Rh8+ Ke7 30Be5 Rac8 31Qd2 Qd5 32Bb5 Rb3 33Rc1Rxc1+ 34Qxc1 Nd7 35Qc8 1-0. |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Notes by B. Krapil: <5...Bb4>Dubious; better is 5Nbd7, leading to the Meran Variation. <9Bd2>Preparing 10Nxd5. <12...c5> Looking to hang White's central pawns. <13a4> Excellant move. <15...Rfc8>An acceptable move. <16...Qb4>Combinational pressure against White that fails. <23...Ne8>Black reacts lest 24 Rg5 or 24a5. <25Be4>A critical moment: an acceptable move, but White should instead strengthen the attack on the Black king. A better plan is 25Rg1-Rh5-Bh4. <26...Kf8>A good move. <31...Qd5> Time trouble interferes with the game. |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Should say: A better plan is 25Kh1, followed by Rg1- Rh5 - Bh4. |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Les commentaires sont de B. Krapil (en abrege). |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: See his photo under Chess Arbitor Boris Krapil. |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Ivkov-Kolarov, Wageningen, 1957. After 1d4 d5 2c4 c6 3Nf3 Nf6 4Nc3 e6 5e3 Nbd7 6Bd3 Bb4
(The Romih Variation) 70-0 0-0 8Bd2 Qe7 9Qe1 dxc4 10Bxc4 Bd6 11Bb3 e5 12Ng5 Bc7 13 Nce4 Nxe 14Nxe4 a5 15d5, White is fine, as well. |
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| Sep-10-14 | | ljfyffe: Of course, 13 ... Nxe4. |
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May-10-18
 | | sleepyirv: Alexi Shirov writes of Vitolinsh in Fire on the Board II: "Now, when about seven years have passed since Alvis' death, I notice that some of his ideals have a strange destiny. Firstly, Alvis himself was not always able to make them work at their best because, as a true artist, he sometimes lacked certain practical skills. Then, picked up by stronger players (here I would only name Tal and myself, but there are many more of course), his ideas would shine, and then one day... they would be refuted by modern determination and technologies. But not all of them." |
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| Sep-30-21 | | Bartleby: <Cassianist: Vitolinsh is the subject of a poignant chapter in Genna Sosonko's "Russian Silhouettes"> I own a copy and it is indeed, a poignant and moving chapter. The word "pathetic," in all its Webster definitions, would apply well to Vitolinsh, from his meteoric junior career that never quite matured to adult success to the wretched circumstances of his end, similar to Karen Grigorian and Lembit Oll From Genna Gosonko's "Russian Silhouettes":
"Vladimir Tukmakov calls the chess potential that Vitolins had "fantastic": 'Because of his sharp, vivid, combinative style Vitolins was called the second Tal. For him chess was everything, which also made him similar to Tal. He was uncommunicative, as though all wrapped up in himself. Although I played him several times, I doubt whether we exchanged more than a sentence or two after a game. The great hopes expected of him were not realized. It became clear that he would not become a great player, and this happened before he was thirty--he quickly burned out. Of course, even after this everyone knew that Vitolins was very dangerous, and that you could not relax against him, but his time had already passed...' "Indeed, Vitolins' entire biography can be summed up in a few lines. Initially, there were enormous hopes and successes in junior competitions. Successes, which somehow came to nothing. He did not even become a grandmaster, and the number of international tournaments that he played, all within the Soviet Union, could be counted on one hand. In Latvia, however, Alvis shone. Seven times he won the championship of the Republic and several times he won Baltic tournaments. And that, really, is all. In the late 80s and early 90s when it finally became possible to travel abroad he played in some opens in Germany. But he was already in his 40s and his best years were obviously behind him. He completed two courses at the German Department of the University Philological Faculty in Riga and he spoke German quite well. All his life Vitolins lived with his parents and he never married. These are the external contours of his biography. The fact is he had no other life apart from chess games, tournaments, and endlessly analyses." |
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| Oct-01-21 | | Bartleby: Alvis Vitolins was called a "Second Tal" by his contemporaries, and it seems there were a number of players that could be called "Second Tals", I'm thinking among them Genrikh Chepukaitis who Genna Sosonko wrote about in a different collection "The Smart Chip from St. Petersburg," and Rashid Nezhmetdinov, though of course he was more of Botvinnik's and Keres' generation. Sosonko's "Russian Silhouettes":
"How did he play? Vitolins' motto was the initiative. The initiative at any price. The creation of positions where two pawns, or even one pawn, for a piece are sufficient compensation, because the pieces remaining on the board develop a furious energy... A distinguishing feature of his style is the creation of positions where both kings are under threat, everything is hanging, and from one incorrect move the entire construction can collapse." "The main testing ground of his earchings was the Sicilian Defence, where he was a veritable generator of ideas. The favorite squares for his bishops in this opening were b5 and g5. Very often he dropped the bishop on b5 even if this square was controlled by a pawn on a6." A Vitolinsh vs L Gutman, 1973 is one great example of this bishop deployment. And A Vitolinsh vs Harri Arrakas, 1978 for that sacrificial initiative. |
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Kibitzing
