The Tragic Story of the Brilliant Alvis Vītolins

Vitolins

    Alvis Vītolins (June 15, 1946 - February 16, 1997) was a Latvian master with a tragic story. 
     Awarded the IM title in 1980, he was Latvian Champion in 1973 (jointly), 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983 and 1985 (jointly). 
     He is probably best remembered for variations in the Sicilian, both in the Scheveningen and Dragon that are named for him. Vitolins analyzed and created much of the modern theory of the Cochrane Gambit against the Petroff Defense. One of his games is given below. Confident in his ability, he even played it when he knew opponent's were prepared for it. 
     In 1968, Tal was preparing for his Candidates semi-final match with Korchnoi he described the time Vitolins arrived at his apartment to assist him.  He was “...a very tall young man, leaning forward somewhat with a slightly rocking gait, a rather sullen appearance, with a high retreating forehead and a vacant stare directed somewhere into space.” Among fellow players he was given the nickname “Dlinny” which means “lanky.” 
     They had met several years earlier at a tournament in Leningrad and had played a game in which they reached an equal ending with opposite-color Bs when Vitolins had developed a strong initiative and it appeared that things would turn out badly for Tal who was short of time and was growing nervous. Then, Vitolins offered a draw simply because he didn't want to play on with Tal in time trouble. 
     Tal described how Vitolins then began demonstrating some far from obvious variations, where black would hold the position. They then began playing blitz games, most of which were won by Tal, but with the white pieces Vitolins frequently succeeded with many brilliant attacks. The results was that sometimes when he was analyzing, Tal would exclaim, “Let ' s play like Vitolins...” Quite a compliment from one of the greatest attacking geniuses of all time! 
     Vitolins was born in the suburbs of Riga and was nine years old when his father took him to his first Trainer, Felix Tsirtsenis. Vitolins' talent was obvious and within a few years he was to become one of the strongest juniors in the USSR. He soon became known for his ability to grab the initiative which often became a decisive factor. He was considered naive, unusual and absorbed in himself. Chesswise, because of his sharp, vivid, combinative style Vitolins was called the “second Tal" and for him chess was everything. 
     Unfortunately, the great hopes expected of him were not realized and it became clear that he would not become a great player; he burned out before he was 30 years old. Nevertheless, he was still a very dangerous opponent against whom one could never relax. 
     Sosonko wrote that his biography could be summed up initially there were enormous hopes and successes in junior competitions, but they came to nothing. Vitolins never became a GM and only actually played in a few tournaments, all within the Soviet Union. Other than winning the Latvian Championship seven times and the championship of the Baltic republics a few times, that was it. 
     Later, in the 1980s and 1990s when it was possible for Soviet citizens to travel abroad, he played in some open tournaments in Germany, but he was in his 40s and his future was behind him. 
     All his life Vitolins lived with his parents and was never married and he had no interest in anything except playing over games, playing in tournaments and endless analysis. 
     The main characteristic of his play was that he was always striving for the initiative at any price. As long he had the initiative, a Pawn or two for a piece was sufficient. A distinguishing feature of this type of play is the creation of positions where both Ks are facing threats, everything is hanging and one incorrect move will result in defeat. 
     While Vitolins possessed good endgame technique, he rarely played lengthy positional games. He also believed 1.e4 wins! Vladimir Bagirov told how, in the 1980s, when he began holding training sessions with the Latvian team, he and Vitolins met on Fridays and played blitz games until someone scored 10 wins. In those games Vitolins “played every game as if it were the game of his life and he suffered terribly when he lost. He was a brilliant blitz player, in some way not inferior even to Tal.” Vitolins prepared for these matches thoroughly and he developed his own ideas , trying to obtain a big advantage in the Caro-Kann and refute Alekhine's Defense, which he did not consider serious. 
     Mostly he analyzed the Sicilian Defense. He liked to place Bs on g5 and often, even if it involved a sacrifice when a black P was on a5, he liked to play Bb5. Knights were often placed on d5, f5 and e6. 
     He was responsible for numerous discoveries in the Poisoned Pawn Variation which was very popular in the 60s and 70s. In an article for New In Chess, he wrote, “'My experience as a chess analyst tells me that any, even the most thorough, analysis may have certain flaws. I just want to point out to the reader that even in a seemingly worn-out variation completely new ideas can be found. Truly chess has no limits.” 
     His obvious weaknesses were his dislike of being on the defensive and his willingness to take on slightly inferior positions. Many players tried to take advantage of this by playing in strict classical style, knowing that at some point he would get carried away by some spectacular, but not quite correct combination. and end up losing. 
     Vitolins problem was that he was suffering from severe mental problems. As a schoolboy his trainer, Tsirtsenis, thought that he was beginning to display symptoms of schizophrenia which plagued him throughout his life. In later years his appearance was strange, slow and relaxed and he was given to unpredictable reactions and had a strange laugh, but was considered honest, naive and kind and was essentially a large child. 
     The cause of schizophrenia is unclear, but it is a serious disorder which affects how a person thinks, feels and acts. Someone with schizophrenia may have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary; may be unresponsive or withdrawn; and may have difficulty expressing normal emotions in social situations. 
     Contrary to the general perception, schizophrenia is not split personality or multiple personality. The vast majority of people with schizophrenia are not violent and do not pose a danger to others. Schizophrenia is not caused by childhood experiences, poor parenting or lack of willpower, nor are the symptoms identical for each person. Symptoms include: 

# Delusions - false ideas that someone spying on them or that they are someone famous 
# Hallucinations - seeing, feeling, tasting, hearing or smelling something that doesn’t exist. The most common experience is hearing imaginary voices that give commands. 
# Disordered thinking and speech –moving from one topic to another, in a nonsensical fashion. Individuals may also make up their own words or sounds, rhyme in a way that doesn't make sense, or repeat words and ideas. 
# Disorganized behavior - having problems with routine behaviors like hygiene or selecting appropriate clothing for the weather, to unprovoked outbursts, to impulsive and uninhibited actions. A person may also have movements that seem anxious, agitated, tense or constant without any apparent reason. 
# Social withdrawal 
# Extreme ack of interest or enthusiasm 
# Lack of drive or initiative 
# Emotional flatness It is treated with drugs which can sometimes have strong side effects such as trouble with muscle control, pacing, tremors and facial ticks.

     The drugs Vitolins was treated with dulled his perception and adversely affected his play, so he often avoided taking them. The result was breakdowns and sometimes at the board he would resign in a perfectly defensible position if he didn't like the position. 
     His daily routine was that at night he would stay awake and analyze on a magnetic set, only falling asleep in the morning and then often sleep twenty-four hours. He was also known to spend days on end at the Riga chess club.
     Physically very strong, he had 15 pound shot which he threw every day on the family farm and he was always striving to break his personal record which was over 43 feet. By comparison, in shot put competition, the shot weighs 16 pounds and the world record is 76 feet. 
     He had no close friends and generally avoided people, especially strangers and people who didn't play chess. Oddly, one of his best friends was the Armenian Karen Grigorian (1947-1989) who also suffered from psychiatric disorders. He would often begin talking about suicide and eventually became a patient at a psychiatric hospital. Finally, at the age of 42 he did commit suicide by jumping from the highest bridge in Yerevan. 

     Grigorian studied for a time with Lev Aronin, an outstanding player and theoretician, who reportedly was also burdened with serious mental problems. Grigorian had a twin brother, Levon Grigorian (1947-1975). 
     Eventually Vitolins' job as a trainer with the Latvian federation was eliminated and he effectively lost contact with the chess world. While his parents were alive they took care of what he ate and how he dressed.  Shortly after their death, both of whom died within a week of each other, the chess playing psychiatrist who had been treating Vitolins for free also died. Now he was alone.
     The ragged, unkempt and toothless Vitolins went around telling those who remembered him goodbye. The next day was February 16, 1997 and he committed suicide by jumping off a bridge onto the frozen ice on the Gauja River in Sigulda, Latvia. 

The game Vitolins-Viksna from the 1985 Latvian Chp was published on a now defunct site, but you can view it here:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1292846