Povilas Vaitonis

Povilas (Paul) Vaitonis (1911–1983) was a Lithuanian–Canadian chess master. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion and was twice Canadian champion. He also represented Lithuania and later Canada at Chess Olympiads.

Chess career

Vaitonis played for Lithuania in one unofficial and four official Chess Olympiads: In July 1933, he played second board at the 5th Chess Olympiad in Folkestone (+5 –5 =2) In August 1935, he played fourth board at the 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw (+5 –5 =3) In August/September 1936, he played third board at the 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad in Munich (+12 –6 =2) In July–August 1937, he played second board at the 7th Chess Olympiad in Stockholm (+8 –5 =5) In August–September 1939, he played second board at the 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+6 –8 =6) His Olympiad total for Lithuania was (+36 -29 =18).

Vaitonis played three matches against Vladas Mikėnas. In 1934, he lost a match (2–6). In 1937, he lost (4.5–5.5) and in 1938 he lost (3–9).

Vaitonis was Lithuanian champion in 1934, 1937, 1938, 1942, and 1944. In July 1943, he took 4th place, behind Birmanas, Romanas Arlauskas, and Leonardas Abramavičius, at the 12th Lithuanian Championship in Vilnius. He left Lithuania just before the advancing Soviet forces to avoid deportation to Siberia or other persecutions of the occupying Soviet regime (e.g., Vladimirs Petrovs). In 1944–45, he joined the exodus of many other Baltic players – such as Arlauskas, Dreibergs, Endzelins, Jursevskis, Mednis, Ozols, Sarapu, Tautvaišas, Zemgalis – to the West.

In 1948, he came to Canada and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. He wrote a weekly chess column for the Hamilton Spectator from 1953–55.

In 1949, Vaitonis took 5th place at the Canadian championship at Arvida, Quebec. In 1951 he won the Canadian championship at Vancouver. In September–October 1952, he took 19th place at the 2nd Interzonal at Stockholm. In 1953, he took 3rd place at the Canadian championship at Winnipeg. He again won the Canadian championship in 1957 again in Vancouver; however, he declined the place at the 1958 Interzonal in Portorož this win afforded him and was replaced by the runner-up (Géza Füster).

Vaitonis played for Canada in two Olympiads:

In the 1960s, he continued to participate in Canadian championships and on teams (Lithuanian Chess Club, McMaster University).

Notable games Povilas Vaitonis vs Erich Eliskases, Folkestone 1933, 5th Olympiad, English Opening, Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation, A16, 1–0 Octavio Trompowsky vs Povilas Vaitonis, Buenos Aires 1939, 8th Olympiad (f-A), Trompowsky Attack, A45, 0–1 Paul Vaitonis vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Vancouver 1951, Canadian Championship, Queen's Pawn Game, A41, 1–0