Paavo Visa Kivi (* Tuesday, 27 June 1905, Suomussalmi  -  † Saturday, 28 October 1990, in Espoo)

He was a strong chess player at master level, and an International Judge of chess composition tournaments.

He also was a significant Finnish study composer.

Visa Kivi was Finland's most distinguished endgame composer at least until Pauli Perkonoja.

Chess & Chess composing

Kivi was also a master-level chess player, specializing in study composing. He received the title of "National Task Master" in 1947 and the title of "International FIDE Master" in 1990, just a few weeks before his death. He was a founding member of the Workers' Chess Federation, the Central Finnish Chess Federation and the Finnish Chess Federation.

Website chessgames.com

On Website chessgames.com is a chess-game ( (Helsinki 1949) ), where Kivi played with White against OSMO ILMARI KAILA​ (another study composer and strong chessplayer) which is worthy to take a look.

Chess game (Helsinki 1949)

White: Visa Kivi

Black: Osmo Ilmari Kaila

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 dxc4 5.Bxc4 e6 6.Nc3 Nd7 7.d5 e5 8.Nf3 a6 9.O-O Ngf6 10.d6 Nb6 11.Bxf7+ Kxf7 12.Qb3+ Kg6 13.Nxe5+ Kh5 14.Ne2 Qe8 15.Qf3+ Bg4 16.Qxg4+ Nxg4 17.Ng3+ Kh4 18.Nf3#! 1-0  

Professional career outside of chess: Visa Kivi's father was a sculpture teacher from Suomussalmi. He graduated from Kallio High School in Helsinki in 1925 and graduated with a degree in economics from the School of Business in 1930. In 1943, he received a Bachelor of Philosophy from the University of Helsinki, majoring in sociology. From 1930 he worked as an employee at the Kansanvalta publishing house and joined the Finnish Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1934. From 1936 to 1939 he was manager of the Helsinki City Slaughterhouse and from 1939 to 1945 he was a savings bank inspector at the Ministry of Finance. After the war, Kivi was appointed CEO of Kansanvalta in 1945. He invested notably in the development of the company's own Työväen Kirjapaino (later Paasipaino). When the Finnish Social Democrats acquired a new printing works in the late 1950s, it was the first in the Nordic countries to operate both letterpress and gravure printing.

Kivi was a member of the board of directors of the Helsinki Workers' Savings Bank from 1937 to 1945 and a member of the board of directors from 1952 to 1970, a member of the board of directors of Rautatiekirjakauppa Oy from 1946 to 1972, a member of the supervisory board of Alko from 1950 to 1973, a member of the board of directors of United Restaurants from 1950 to 1974, a member of the board of directors of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau from 1953, a member of the board of directors of the Finnish Information Bureau from 1956 to 1971, and a member of the board of directors of the Finnish Workers' Savings Bank from 1971 to 1976. He was also a member of the board of the Workers' Press Association from 1946 to 1972 and chairman from 1954 to 1971, and a member of the board of the Workers' Studies Fund Foundation from 1949 to 1976, serving as chairman from 1960 to 1976. He was also a member of the board of the Kultareuna Association from 1959 to 1971, the boards of the Newspaper Association, the Employers' Association of the Graphic Industry, and the Central Association of the Graphic Industry from 1960 to 1971, the delegation of the People's Education Fund from 1955 to 1972, and the delegation of the Väinö Tanner Foundation from 1962.

Finnish activist

Paavo Visa Kivi was also a Finnish activist in the social democratic labor movement who served as treasurer of the newspaper Suomen Sosialidemokraatti and managing director of its publisher Kustannus Oy Kansanvalta from 1945 to 1971. He also held numerous other positions of trust. He was awarded the title of Industrial Advisor in 1971. In 1984, Kivi was made an honorary member of the Social Democratic Party.

Source: schachstudienkomponisten.fandom.com