Karlis Ozols

Karlis Alexandrs Ozols (born August 9, 1912 in Riga , † March 23, 2001 in Melbourne ) was a Latvian chess master . Ozols was under investigation on suspicion of World War II crimes , but he was not charged.

Life and chess career

Ozols claims to have been born in Riga on August 9, 1912, but journalists often give his date of birth as October 9, 1912. He is said to have learned to play chess at the age of 15, but other details could not be verified by historians in a corresponding article.

Ozols studied law at the University of Riga .

At the Latvian Chess Championship in 1931 Ozols reached fifth place. As a member of the Latvian team at the 1936 Chess Olympics , he achieved the sixth place among 21 participating countries with +7 = 7 −1. Ozols and Wolfgang Hasenfuss finished the tournament in Kemeri in 1937 in last place. He finished the 1937 Chess Olympiad with +2 = 3 -5 and 11th place for the Latvian team. No further chess successes from him are known until after the Second World War.

In 1947 Ozols finished fifth at the Mattison memorial tournament in Hanau . In 1949 he moved to Australia , where he joined the Melbourne Chess Club in the same year and won the championship of Victoria with +9 = 1 −0. In total, he won this championship nine times by 1971. He won the Australian Open Tournament in Melbourne in 1949–1950 and 1951–1952. He became an Australian citizen on October 17, 1956. Ozols shared the Australian Championship from 1956–1957. In 1963 he won a tournament in Melbourne with +6 = 1 −0 ahead of Alexander Kotow , whom he defeated in the face-to-face encounter.

Ozols turned to correspondence chess and became International Correspondence Chess Master in 1972 .

Ozols died on March 23, 2001 in Melbourne.

Game example

Karlis Ozols - Alexander Kotow

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position before 19.Rxg4

The following game was played at an invitation tournament at the Melbourne Chess Club in 1963.

Karlis Ozols - Alexander Kotow

Melbourne 1963

English opening

1. c4 d6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 e5 5. e3 Ne7 6. Nge2 0–0 7. 0–0 Nbc6 8. Nd5 f5 9. d3 Kh8 10. Sec3 g5 11. f4 gxf4 12. gxf4 Ng6 13.Qh5 exf4 14.Nxf4 Nxf4 15.Rxf4 Ne5 16.Rh4 h6 17.e4 Ng4 18.Nd5 c6 19.Rxg4 fxg4 20.Bxh6 Kg8 21.Bg5 cxd5 22.Bxd8 Rxd8 23.Qxd5 + Kh8 24.d4 Bd7 25. Qh5 + Kg8 26.e5 Be6 27. Be4 Rd7 28. d5 Bf7 29. Qh7 + Kf8 30. Qf5 Re7 31. e6 Rc8 32.Bd3 Bxb2 33.Rf1 Bd4 + 34.Kh1 Rcc7 35.Qxg4 and 1: 0

Investigations against Ozols

In 1979, Ozols stated in an article in the Chess Review that he was there when the Germans arrived in Riga during World War II. He reportedly responded to an appeal by the National Socialists , but only performed guard duties.

In 1992, a Special Investigations Unit in Australia investigated Ozols on suspicion of genocide and war crimes under Articles 71 and 74 of the Latvian Criminal Code. A Special Investigations Unit in Australia in 1992 assumed that Karlis Ozols was involved in several thousand murders. He is said to have joined the Latvian Security Police ( Kommando Arājs ) on July 1, 1941 and in 1942 received training from the security service at the Drögen Security Police School in Fürstenberg / Havel . Between July 24, 1942 and September 27, 1943, he is said to have headed a unit of around 100 Latvians who helped with the deportations and murders of Jews. In the murders of over 10,000 Jews in the Minsk Ghetto between July 1942 and September 1943, Ozols is said to have carried out several murders himself. On 8 and 9 February 1943 Ozols said to have commanded a unit of about 110 Latvians who in the ghetto of the town of Slutsk the SS helped in the murder of 2,000 Jews. Orders from Adolf Hitler are also said to have been accepted. On July 20, 1944, Ozols is said to have received the rank of Obersturmführer and the War Merit Cross II , and in December 1944 he went into hiding. However, the Special Investigations Unit was dissolved by the Australian federal government in 1992. A resumption of the investigation by the Director of Public Prosecutions was prevented by the General Attorney. In 1995 the Ministry of Justice prevented a resumption of the work because of the strained financial situation.

There was no trial.

Individual references and sources

1. ^ ^{A b c} Edward Winter : Kings, Commoners and Knaves . Mitchford 1999. pp. 246-254. Reprinted and expanded on http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/ozols.html . Retrieved May 29, 2012
2. ^ ^{A b} Stephen Roth Institute: Antisemitism Worldwide 2000/1 . U of Nebraska Press, September 1, 2002. p. 174. ISBN 0-8032-5945-X .
3. ↑ Karlis Ozols' results at unofficial Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
4. ↑ Karlis Ozols' results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
5. ^ Melbourne Chess Club: Club History. Chapter 6: Those who have come before . Retrieved June 12, 2012
6. ↑ ^{a b} The Australia / Israel Review . Vol. 22, No. 14 (October 1-22, 1997). Details reproduced by Edward Winter
7. ↑ Igors Varpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga ISBN 9984-751-41-4 . P. 61.
8. ↑ Armin Wertz : At the fifth end of the world . taz.de , October 9, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2012

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Karlis Ozols on chessgames.com (English)
• Replayable chess games by Karlis Ozols on 365Chess.com (English)
• Goose-Stepping Down Under , Chess.com, September 2, 2015 (English)