Mečislovas Birmanas (Mechislovas Birmanas) (1900 – 1950) was a Lithuanian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player who won the

Lithuanian Chess Championship The first unofficial Lithuanian Chess Championship was held in Kaunas (Temporary capital of Lithuania) in 1921. The Champion's title was granted after victorious or drawn match between previous champion and challenger, mostly a winner of Championshi ...

in 1943.

Biography

Mečislovas Birmanas lived in Kaunas and worked as an accountant. He participated in Kaunas chess tournaments, including city chess championships. Before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mečislovas Birmanas published a book of poems. In 1942, he participated in the match between Lithuanian and Latvian trade union teams (won against Leonids Dreibergs and drew with

Zigfrīds Solmanis Zigfrīds Aleksandrs Otto Solmanis (July 9, 1913, Riga – September 6, 1984, Jūrmala) was a Latvian chess player. Chess career Zigfrīds Solmanis started to play chess at the age of 6. From him earliest youth participated in various tourn ...

). Mečislovas Birmanas won the

in 1943. In the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

held in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, he scored 8½ out of 11 (+7, -1, =3) and shared 1st-3rd places with Romanas Arlauskas and Leonardas Abramavičius, and a month later he won an additional two-round tournament held in Kaunas (2½ out of 4).Bertašius A. Lietuvos sporto žinynas. Vilnius: Lietuvos sporto informacijos centras, 1999. T. 2. P. 150. After the end of the war, Mečislovas Birmanas participated in the Lithuanian SSR championship in 1945, where he scored 6 points out of 10 (+4, =4, -2) and shared 4th-6 places (

Vladas Mikėnas Vladas Mikėnas (17 April 1910 – 3 November 1992) was a Lithuanian and Soviet chess player and journalist. He was awarded the titles of International Master and Honorary Grandmaster by FIDE. Early career Vladas Mikėnas played for Lithuani ...

became the champion of the republic). For many years Mečislovas Birmanas had serious health problems. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

References

External links

* 1900 births 1950 deaths Chess players from Kaunas Lithuanian chess players Soviet chess players {{Lithuania-chess-bio-stub