Miervaldis Jursevskis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Miervaldis ‘Walter’ Jursevskis (born 1921, Riga, Latvia) a Latvian-Canadian chess master.

Jursesvkis learnt chess from his father at age six or seven, and achieved success in a number of events, including winning the Riga Jurmala championship on one occasion. He studied architecture at the University of Riga for four years, but eventually decided to concentrate on art.

In May 1945 he left Riga by sea just before the advancing Soviet forces arrived. He landed at Kiel, and spent the next two years in various D.P. (Displaced Person) camps across Germany. As a displaced person after WW II he played in a number of small international events, including Blomberg and Lübeck (both 1945), Meerbeck (1946), and Hanau (1947). In these events Jursevskis crossed swords with strong players from the Baltic countries who were also in D.P. camps, along with German and Austrian masters, including Bogoljubow, Sämisch, Rellstab, Zemgalis, Endzelins, Arlauskas, Ozols, etc. (the latter three emigrated to Australia).

In 1948 Jursevskis emigrated to Canada. By 1949 he had settled in Vancouver. He won the British Columbia Championships six times (1949, 1950, 1954-57). He played in three Canadian Championships (1951, 1955, 1957), his best result occurring at Vancouver 1957 when he tied for third, behind Povilas Vaitonis and Géza Füster.