Chess grand master dies at 43

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Alek Wojtkiewicz — known to his friends as “Wojo” — was an international chess grand master, winning titles in both the United States and Russia. He gave lessons to local Maryland chess players at Fells Point Chess in Baltimore, but at one time he was a political prisoner at a Latvian KGB prison camp for his views on communism in Eastern Europe.

Wojtkiewicz died Friday in Baltimore. He was 43.

“Through everyone who knew and loved him, he’ll live on for many more [years] to come,” said Amber Berglund, Wojtkiewicz’s fiancée.

Wojtkiewicz and Berglund, 33, lived in Halethorpe for three years, until Wojtkiewicz died in her arms.

“He was my heart,” she said.

Although many around the region knew him for his chess titles in Russia, the United States, and the lessons he gave in Baltimore, Wojtkiewicz also was a strong freedom fighter in Eastern Europe.

Berglund said, Wojtkiewicz was caught smuggling papers during the Solidarity movement in Poland and was sentenced to 16 months in a KGB prison camp in Latvia in the mid-’80s. His late father, Pawel Wojtkiewicz, was also an outspoken activist against communism overseas who died at age 45, Berglund said.

Berglund said it wasn’t until President Ronald Reagan signed amnesty papers that Alek Wojtkiewicz was brought back into the United States, shortly after his release.

On the day he died, Berglund said Wojtkiewicz suffered from internal bleeding, which she said she believes was directly related to his imprisonment in Latvia. “They didn’t feed him in prison,” she said.

Wojtkiewicz died at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. The results of an autopsy are pending.

Wilbur Brown, manager of Fells Point Chess, said Wojtkiewicz died from internal bleeding and a liver condition.

On Monday, Berglund and the members of Fells Point Chess held a memorial service for friends of Wojtkiewicz to pay their respects.

“This is a huge loss,” said Donald Penning, associate professor of anesthesiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “I played a really good game on Saturday, and I wanted to show Alek and he was gone. I felt awful. He was the center of a community.”

“Alek was my teacher,” said Tim Murphy, of Washington. “The impact of this will be felt around the world. He was one of the top in his profession.”

Another chess student, Frank Huber, said he was still in shock. “He introduced me to world masters and made me feel accepted. He was a buddy and he said I was his best friend. Of course, he said that about everybody he liked. He was a very accessible grand master,” Huber said.

Berglund said Wojtkiewicz will be cremated at the Maryland Cremation Society in Catonsville, but his ashes will be buried in Latvia next to his father. Donations will go toward transferring Wojtkiewicz to Latvia, but any leftover money will go to his mother, Tamara, who lives in Latvia. He also is survived by his 13-year-old son, Yosef, in Lithuania.

mshapiro@baltimoreexaminer.com