Leonids Dreibergs (27 October 1908, Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 – 6 April 1969, Saginaw, Michigan

Saginaw, Michigan

Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...

) was a Latvian–American chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 master.

He took 6th at Riga 1930 (Vladimirs Petrovs

Vladimirs Petrovs

Vladimirs Petrovs or Vladimir Petrov was a Latvian chess master.He was born in Riga, Latvia. Though he learned the game of chess relatively late, at age thirteen, Petrovs made rapid progress. By 1926, at age 19, he won the Riga Championship and finish third in the national championship...

 won), took 9th at Kemeri 1939 (Salo Flohr

Salo Flohr

Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr was a leading Czech and later Soviet chess grandmaster of the mid-20th century, who became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. His name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, slippers and eau-de-cologne...

 won), and took 5th at Riga 1941 (Alexander Koblencs

Alexander Koblencs

Alexander Koblents was a Latvian chess International Master, trainer, and writer.In 1935, he took 4th place in Rosas . In 1936, he took 5th in Reus . In 1937, he won, ahead of Lajos Steiner, in Brno with 9/11. In 1938, he took 5th in Milan...

 won).

At the end of World War II, joining the westward exodus in 1944/45, he — along with many other Baltic players, e.g. Romanas Arlauskas

Romanas Arlauskas

Romanas Arlauskas was a Lithuanian-born Australian chess master.Arlauskas played at sixth board in an unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936...

, Lucijs Endzelins

Lucijs Endzelins

Lūcijs Endzelīns was a Latvian-Australian chess master....

, Miervaldis Jursevskis

Miervaldis Jursevskis

Miervaldis Jursevskis is a Latvian-Canadian chess master.He left Riga in 1945, just just prior to the Soviet forces arriving. As a displaced person after World War II, he took place in several chess events in Germany, including Blomberg and Lübeck , Meerbeck , and Hanau...

, Leho Laurine

Leho Laurine

Leho Laurine was an Estonian chess master.He was Estonian Champion in 1932 , and took 3rd in 1935, behind Paul Keres, and Gunnar Friedemann ....

, Edmar Mednis

Edmar Mednis

Edmar John Mednis was an American International Grandmaster of chess born in Riga, Latvia. He was also a popular and respected chess writer.-Biography:...

, Karlis Ozols

Karlis Ozols

Kārlis Ozols was a Latvian-Australian chess player.Ozols represented Latvia on eighth board in the unofficial Chess Olympiad, at Munich 1936, where he won the individual bronze medal. He also played on fourth board in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937.In 1937, he tied for 17-18th in Kemeri...

, Ortvin Sarapu

Ortvin Sarapu

Ortvin Sarapu MBE , sometimes known as "Mr Chess", was a New Zealand chess International Master who won or co-won the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times between 1952 and 1990.-Early life:Born Ortvin Sarapuu in Estonia, he won the Estonian Junior Championship in 1940, then defected to Finland...

, Povilas Tautvaišas

Povilas Tautvaišas

Povilas Tautvaišas was a Lithuanian-American chess master.-Biography:He played twice for the Lithuanian team in the Chess Olympiads, at eighth board at Munich 1936 , and at fourth board in the 8th Olympiad at Buenos Aires 1939, during which World War II broke out...

, Povilas Vaitonis

Povilas Vaitonis

Povilas Vaitonis was a Lithuanian–Canadian International Master of chess. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion, and was twice Canadian champion...

, Elmārs Zemgalis

Elmars Zemgalis

Elmārs Zemgalis , is a Latvian-American chess master and mathematics professor. He was awarded an Honorary Grandmaster title in 2003.- Biography :...

, etc., and Ukrainian players, e.g. Fedor Bohatirchuk, Stepan Popel

Stepan Popel

Stepan Popel was a multiple chess champion of Lviv, Paris and eventually, of the Ukrainians in North America .-Biography:Stepan Popel was the nephew of an early master, Ignatz von Popiel , and took...

, Myroslav Turiansky

Myroslav Turiansky

Myroslav Turiansky was a Ukrainian chess master.He won the championship of the Shakhovyi Konyk Club in Lviv in 1928, and tied for 1st-2nd with Stepan Popel in the Championship of Western Ukraine at Lviv 1943.Joining the westward exodus in 1944, Turiansky wound up in Vienna, where in the years...

, etc. — moved to the West.

After the war, as a D.P. (Displaced Person) in West Germany, he tied for 12-13th at Augsburg 1946 (Wolfgang Unzicker

Wolfgang Unzicker

Wolfgang Unzicker was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970.He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead....

won), and shared 1st with Zemgalis at Esslingen 1949. Then, he emigrated to the United States. Dreibergs won twice the Michigan Championship (1954 and 1955). He also played in Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA).

External links