Wojtkiewicz dies at 43

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Local chess has lost its iron man.

GM Alexander "Wojo" Wojtkiewicz, Maryland's highest-rated player and one of the most active and successful players on the U.S. chess scene for nearly a decade, succumbed to liver disease July 14 at the age of 43.

An ethnic Pole born in Latvia in 1963, the popular Wojtkiewicz packed a lot of adventure and achievement into a too-short life. According to his official biography and several press profiles, he was a candidate master by the age of 15 but had a promising chess career cut short when refused induction into the Soviet Army.

He spent time in a Soviet prison and moved to Warsaw after his release in 1986. He was twice Polish national champion and competed on his country's Olympiad team before gradually relocating to the United States in the early 1990s. For many years, he was among the country's busiest grandmasters, winning multiple Grand Prix awards for accumulating the most points from qualifying tournaments.

A miniprofile of the peripatetic Pole, written for a New York tournament, noted, "He can play in an event in Las Vegas one day and have no problem flying to Europe the next. His strong opening knowledge makes such situations easy for him, as he is so well versed in the positions that he usually gets that he can play without much sleep or right after landing in a new country."

His massive over-the-board record includes wins over such luminaries as former Soviet world champion David Bronstein, Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, English GM Michael Adams and virtually every active top-ranked U.S. player.

What makes the loss all the more tragic is that the Baltimore grandmaster was on a roll, winning or tying for first in his last few tournaments, including the prestigious National Open in Las Vegas in June and this month's World Open in Philadelphia.

We mark Wojo's passing with two of his finer efforts, one from early in his career and one played just last month in Las Vegas.

More comfortable in quiet, positional maneuvering, Wojtkiewicz showed excellent combinational flair in his much-admired win over Greek GM Spyridon Skembris in the 1990 Olympiad in Yugoslavia. Black finds himself in a bad cramp coming out of the opening, and Wojtkiewicz, playing for the Polish national team, strikes just as Black seems about to relieve the pressure.

Thus: 21. Ne5 Bc8 22. Rxd8 Qxd8 (Rxd8 23. Qh5! g6 [gxf6 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 25. Qxf6+ Bg7 26. Nf7+ Kg8 27. Qxe7] 24. Qf3 keeps the edge, as 24...Qd6? 25. Nxf7 Kxf7 26. Be5+ wins the queen) 23. Rd1 Qc7 24. Qh5!, when 24...gxf6 25. Qxf7+ Kh8 26. Qxe8 wins decisive material.