Romanas Arlauskas (11 June 1917 – 22 September 2009) was an Australian chess player of Lithuanian origin who held the

ICCF title International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded on 26 March 1951 as a new appearance of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA), which was founded in 1945, as successor of the Internationaler Fernschachbund (I ...

Correspondence Chess Grandmaster International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster is a correspondence chess title created by FIDE in 1953, second only to that of world correspondence champion. Currently, this title is awarded by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (IC ...

. Arlauskas played at sixth board (+4 –7 =7) in an unofficial

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

at Munich 1936. He tied for 1st–3rd, with Birmanas and Leonardas Abramavičius, ahead of

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 pl ...

Povilas Tautvaišas Povilas Tautvaišas () (6 May 1916 in Mogilev – November 1980 in Chicago) was a Lithuanian-American chess master. Biography He played twice for the Lithuanian team in the Chess Olympiads, at eighth board (+4 –8 =2) at Munich 1936 (unofficial Ol ...

, etc., at the 1943

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 Vilnius. At the end of World War II, Arlauskas, along with many other Baltic players ( Leonids Dreibergs, Lucius Endzelins,

Miervaldis Jurševskis Miervaldis (Walter) Jurševskis (November 6, 1921 in Riga, Latvia – March 15, 2014 in Burnaby, British Columbia) was a Latvian-Canadian chess master, and a professional artist. Jurševskis learned chess from his father at the age of six, but it ...

Leho Laurine Leho Laurine (Leo Laurentius) (28 August 1904 in St. Petersburg – 31 January 1998 in Stockholm) was an Estonian chess master. He was Estonian Champion in 1932 (4th EST-ch), and took 3rd in 1935, behind Paul Keres, and Gunnar Friedemann (7th E ...

Edmar Mednis Edmar John Mednis (; March 22, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American chess player and writer of Latvian origin. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1980. Biography Mednis' family were refugees in 1944 during World War ...

Karlis Ozols Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols (; 9 August 1912, in Riga – 23 March 2001, in Australia) was a Latvian lieutenant in the Nazi-controlled Latvian Auxiliary Police and a member of Heinrich Himmler's SS during WW2. After later migrating to Australia, h ...

Ortvin Sarapu Ortvin Sarapu (born Ortvin Sarapuu; 22 January 1924 – 13 April 1999), known in New Zealand as "Mr Chess", was an Estonian-born chess player who emigrated to New Zealand and won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1 ...

Elmārs Zemgalis Elmārs Zemgalis (9 September 1923 – 8 December 2014) was a Latvian and American chess master and mathematics professor at Highline College. He was awarded an Honorary Grandmaster title in 2003. Biography Zemgalis started to play chess when ...

, etc.) escaped to western Europe, just before the advancing Soviet forces arrived, to avoid deportation to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

or any other persecutions by the Soviet occupation (e.g., those of

Vladimirs Petrovs Vladimirs Petrovs (; 27 September 1908 – 26 August 1943) was a Latvian Russian chess player. Biography He was born in Riga, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (present-day Latvia). Though he learned the game of chess relative ...

). In 1946, Arlauskas placed third, with 10/13, in a round-robin event at Meerbeck.tournament book for Meerbeck 1946, 'The Chess Player', 2009, Nottingham, by A. J. Gillam In 1947, Arlauskas tied for 6–7th in Kirchheim. He, like Endzelins, Ozols and Sarapu, migrated from Germany to Australia. Arlauskas won the South Australian championship in 1949. He finished 3rd in the 4th World Correspondence Championship (1962–1965) and was awarded the GMC title in 1965.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arlauskas, Romanas 1917 births 2009 deaths Lithuanian chess players 20th-century Australian chess players Correspondence chess grandmasters Lithuanian refugees Lithuanian emigrants to Australia