Zvirbulis, Valdis Andreevich

Valdis Andreevich Zvirbulis ( January 16, 1936 , Cesis , Latvia - June 20, 1985 , Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR) - Soviet Latvian athlete ( Russian and international drafts ), drafts coach, drafts composer , sports journalist, sports functionary. USSR champion in the national team of Latvia (1967), multiple champion of Latvia. USSR master of sports in drafts. Long-term member of the Drafts Federation of the Latvian SSR and the Union of Journalists of the USSR. Among the students - multiple world champion Andris Andreiko .

Valdis Andreevich Zvirbulis
Latvian. Valdis zvirbulis
personal information
Floor
A country	Latvia the USSR
Specialization	Russian and international drafts , checkers composition
Date of Birth	January 16, 1936 ( 1936-01-16 )
Place of Birth	Cesis
Date of death	June 20, 1985 ( 1985-06-20 ) (49 years old)
Place of death	Riga
Sports rank	master of Sport

One of the first drafts masters in Latvia, was one of the founders of the magazine " Drafts " (Riga), one of the founders of the drafts in Latvia and the USSR.

In 1954, in Leningrad, he played in the I USSR Championship in international drafts .

In 1959, Zvirbulis was preparing to print the first issue of the journal "Checkers", where he worked for more than twenty years - a member of the editorial board, senior editor. Together with Raphael Zdorovyak wrote two books.

In 1967, at the 9th USSR championship, he became a champion in the national team of the Latvian SSR; the team also included Andris Andreiko , Aivar Wojciescuk , Boris Gurevich, Emanuel Merins , Anatoly Subbotin, Peter Popov, Vello Luht , Johanna Tsyne (Tsine), Biruta Mikhnevich , coach P. Freidenfeld ^[1] .

Thirteen-time champion of the Latvian SSR: 11 - in international drafts, one - in Russian and one - in composition .

Member of the USSR Championship in international drafts among men (major league) 1954 , 1955 , 1958 , 1959 , 1960 , 1962 , 1980 , 1981 .

According to the memoirs of Vyacheslav Shchegolev , “Andreiko lost to Valdis Zvirbulis in the 1962 USSR Championship. After that, he did not talk all day with his first mentor ” ^[2] .

Passed away on June 15 (according to the obituary in J. Shashki) or on June 20, 1985, before he even reached the age of 50. He was buried at the Forest Cemetery in Riga . ^[3]