Karlis Ozols

Who was Karlis Ozols?

Kārlis Ozols was a Latvian-Australian chess player.

Ozols represented Latvia on eighth board in the unofficial Chess Olympiad, at Munich 1936, where he won the individual bronze medal. He also played on fourth board in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937.

In 1937, he tied for 17-18th in Kemeri. The event was won by three players: Salo Flohr, Vladimirs Petrovs and Samuel Reshevsky. In 1939, he took 16th in Kemeri-Riga. In 1941, he took 8th in Riga. In 1944, he won the Riga championship. In spring 1945, he left Riga by sea just ahead of the advancing Soviet forces, landing in West Germany, and spent the next several years in various D.P. camps across Germany. As did other DPs from the Baltic countries after World War II, he played in a number of small international events, including The Matisons Memorial Tourney in Hanau in 1947, which was won by his fellow Latvian Lūcijs Endzelīns, ahead of Elmārs Zemgalis, Efim Bogoljubow and Hönlinger. Ozols was equal fifth.

He immigrated to Australia in 1949. Ozols won the Victorian Championship nine times. He jointly won the Australian Championship in 1956 and became an International Master at Correspondence Chess in 1972.