Aleksandras Ziselis Machtas
chose for reasons unknown
not to take part in the following
chess Olympiads of 1931 and 1933.
A new generation of chess players
about twenty years younger than him
headed by Vladas Mikenas
were now dominating the scene
and Machtas was about to retire.

It was in August 1935 though
that he was called upon again
to represent his country
in the Warsaw Olympiad in Poland.

That was not simple in itself
as there were no diplomatic relations
between Poland and Lithuania
after the first world war.
However the Lithuanian team
did make it and played their part.

You can read a bit more
about the 1935 chess Olympiad.

for more on that click here

The 1930 Olympiad was historic
as it was the first ever Olympiad
for the Republic of Lithuania.
The old homeland of Machtas.

The 1935 Olimpiad though was historic
for his soon to be new one
as It was the first ever chess Olympiad
to feature an Israeli team
representing British Palestine.

Machtas was now one of only four
Lithuanian chess players
who were the first ones ever
to compete in a formal match
against an Israeli chess player.
In his case a draw against David Enoch.

Less than a year after that match
Aleksandras Ziselis Machtas
will himself become a citizen
of that very same country.

You can see now in details
all of the matches
of the Lithuanian team
in that historic Olympiad.

for more on that click here

It is interesting to note
that one of the legendary players
who took part in that Olympiad
the famous Andor Lilienthal
who actually played against
Aleksandras Ziselis Machtas
in that very Olympiad
was in the Summer of 2009
still alive at the age of 99 !

Incidentally 99 was also
the exact number of players
who took part back in 1935
in the Warsaw Olympiad.
Only one of them though
was a bank manager ...

for more on that click here