The previous championship in Arvida, Quebec, in 1949 had been won by Maurice Fox for a record eight times. His record was subsequently matched by Abe Yanofsky. In the 1949 event, Fox had managed to stave off challenges Yanofsky, Frank Anderson, Vaitonis and Fedor Bohatirchuk who had won the 1927 championship of the Ukraine.
In the 1951 championship play was from, Sundays excepted, August 26, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., with adjournments being played on the following mornings from 9 o'clock to 12 noon.
As defending champion Fox's traveling expenses paid. Additionally, accommodations for all the participants was paid. Prize money: First $300; second $200; third $120; fourth $80; fifth $60; sixth $20. Plus bonuses were paid to the other plays based on wins. Other prizes for brilliancy, shortest game, etc were offered. Prior to the start there was a banquet for the players that was open to the public for $2.50 per plate.
The big question was could Fox repeat? He couldn't. The championship was won by Paul Vaitonis, a cost accountant in Hamilton, Ontario.
Povilas (Paul) Vaitonis (August 15, 1911 – April 23, 1983) was born in what was to become modern Lithuania. He was an IM and was inducted into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame in 2011.
Vaitonis was a five-time Lithuanian champion ( 1934, 1937, 1938, 1942, and 1944) and played for Lithuania in four official and one unofficial Olympiads (1933, 1935,1936, 1937, 1939) scoring +36 -29 =18. The 1936 Olympiad held in Munich was unofficial. In those days he played, and lost, three matches against Vladas Mikenas. He won the Canadian championship twice.
Vaitonis left Lithuania just before the advancing Soviet forces arrived. His reason..."all the time you're afraid. Even if you don't do anything wrong you never know when they'll arrest you."
He was scheduled to escape to Sweden in a small boat, but the boat was bombed and those he intended to escape with were killed. He managed to find another ship which successfully ran the gauntlet to Sweden. Many Baltic players ended up in the US, Canada and Australia: Arlauskas, Dreibergs, Endzelins, Jursevskis, Mednis, Ozols, Sarapu, Tautvaiaas and Zemgalis.
He remained in Sweden until 1948. That year he got married and left for Canada in 1949. After working for a year on a farm he found employment as a cost accountant. He wrote a weekly chess column in The Hamilton Spectator from 1953–1955.
In 1949, he finished 5th in the Canadian Championship. In 1951 and in 1957, he was Canadian Champion. In 1952 he qualified for the Interzonal in Stockholm 1952, but only managed 19th place. In 1953, he finished 3rd place in Canadian Championship. Vaitonis played for Canada in two Olympiads (1954 and 1958), scoring +10 -8 =10. In 1952, he was awarded the IM title and through the 1960s he continued playing in the Canadian Championships and on various local teams.
Vaitonis leaned to play chess at the age of five, and oddly, he did not particularly care for tournament play; he most enjoyed just casual play with friends.
The 1951 championship quickly turned into a race to see if anyone could catch Frank Anderson, who established a substantial lead by scoring 9.5 out of his first 10 games!
The only ones who had a chance were Vaitonis and Frank Anderson. For Abe Yanofsky the tournament was a disaster when he lost his first two games: to Bohatirchuk and Anderson. Then is round 5 he lost to Hayes and it was all over.
The championship came right down to the wire and wasn't decided until the last adjournment of the final round. Because of the odd number of players each player had to receive a bye. I still have painful memories of losing a game to Hayes back in 1962 and I also did a post on him HERE.
When the final round arrived Vaitonis already had his bye and Bohatirchuk had his in round 11. Anderson's bye was in the last round which meant his 10.0 points was his final score. In round 12 Bohatirchuk had beaten Anderson which set up the decisive last round game between Bohatirchuk and Vaitonis. Going into the 13th round the scores were:
1) Anderson 10.0
2) Vaitonis 9.5
3) Bohatirchuk 9.0
Final standings;
1) Paul Vaitonis 10.5
2) Frank Anderson 10.0
3) Fedor Bohatirchuk 9.0
4) Abe Yanofsky 8.0
5) Nathan Divinsky 6.5
6-7) Maurice Fox and Walter Jursevskis 6.0
8-9) Frank Yerhoff and Jack Taylor 5.0
10-11) Rea B. Hayes and Walter Holowach 4.0
12) Howard Ridout 3.0
13) Charles Millar 1.0
Here is the decisive game.
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