Bobby Fishers's Chess Tournaments

Bobby Fischer’s First Chess Tournaments

Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) was probably the greatest chess player who ever lived. How did he get so good so quick? In March 1949, when Bobby turned 6, he learned the game of chess from instructions on a plastic chess set that his sister, Joan (1938-1998), bought at a candy store for $1. At the time, he did not know anyone who played chess and he never saw anyone playing chess. His only chess partners at age 6 was his 11 year old sister and sometimes his mom, Regina. Soon, Joan got tired of the game and his mother was too busy to play. He later discovered a chess book and spent his summer vacation going over the games in this book (Tarrasch’s Best Games of Chess).

In November 1950, Bobby’s mother attempted to place an ad in a newspaper looking for chess opponents for the 7-year-old-Bobby. The ad was never published. However, in January 1951, Hermann Helms (1870-1963) learned of the ad and replied that there was going to be a chess simultaneous exhibition at the Grand Army Plaza Public Library in a few days. Bobby showed up with his new chess board and set that he got for Christmas, but lost in 15 minutes to Senior Master Max Pavey (1918-1957). Bobby burst into tears when he lost, but later admitted that the loss had a great effect in motivating him to get better at chess.

At the event, Bobby met Carmine Nigro (1910-2011), President of the Brooklyn Chess and Checkers Club. Carmine agreed to give Bobby some chess lessons. Bobby also joined the Brooklyn Chess Club. On his first night at the club, he lost every game. Despite the losses, he continued to show up at the club and play chess.

By the end of 1952, Fischer was becoming a fairly good player and started beating Nigro and others at the Brooklyn Chess Club. He was also starting to read every chess book he could find at the public libraries.

Around January 1953, 9-year-old Fischer played Dan Mayers (born in 1922) at the Brooklyn Chess Club. Mayers recorded the game, and it is the first known recorded chess game of Bobby Fischer. However, Fischer got mated in 17 moves.

Mayers (1900) – Fischer (Unrated), Brooklyn Chess Club, January 1953

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.d4 Bb4 6.e5 Ne4 7.Qh5 O-O 8.Ne2 d5 9.Bb3 g6 10.Qh6 Bg4 11.Bd2 Nxd2 12.Kxd2 g5 13.h4 gxh4? [13…Be7] 14.Rxh4 Bf5 15.Rah1 Be7?? [15…f6] 16.Rg4 Bg6 17.Qxh7 mate 1-0

Dan had worked as a physicist at Los Alamos during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. He was the 1939 New York City High School Champion. In 1948, he won the New England Chess Championship. In 1996, he won the British Senior Championship, and in 2004, he won the U.S. Senior championship for players 75 and older. At age 90, he is still playing chess.

By 1954, Fischer was playing a lot of chess at the Brooklyn Chess Club and at the Brooklyn YMCA. In December 1954, he took 3rd-5th place at the Brooklyn CC championship. Two off-hand games were recorded between Fischer and Brooklyn player Jacob Altusky.

Fischer – Altusky, Brooklyn 1954

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Bg5 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 Ng4 9.Nd5 Ngxe5? [9…Re8] 10.Bxe7 Kh8 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bxd8 and Black resigned 1-0

Altusky-Fischer, Brooklyn 1954

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Bg4 7.Bxf7? Kxf7 8.Ng5 Qxg5 and White resigned 0-1

In early 1955 Fischer was playing in a Chess Review correspondence tournament (section 55-P-32). He was mentioned as a new postalite in the May, 1955 issue of Chess Review in the Class B at 1200 section. The August 1955 issue of Chess Review, page, 249 has section 55-P-32 stating “Fischer licks Maxwell, loses to Conger.” The October 1955 issue has section 55-P-32 stating “Reithel tops Fischer.”

Fischer had an 1198 postal rating in the August, 1955 list of Chess Review and a 1082 postal rating in the March, 1956 issue of Chess Review. He remained at 1082 in the August, 1956 issue if Chess Review. He lost one of his postal games in 12 moves to A. Wayne Conger (1418 postal).

Conger (1274) – Fischer (1200), Corr. 1955

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.f4 c5 8.d5 Qa5 9.Qd2 Qc7 10.Bd3 e6 11.Nb5 Qb6 12.Nxd6 and Fischer resigned 1-0

Donald Reithel recalls that he played Fischer in a correspondence game in 1955. Fischer wrote to Reithel that he was a Brooklyn Dodger fan. Fischer did not finish the correspondence game with Reithel because he was starting to play in over-the-board tournaments.

Donald Reithel said, “In 1955 I played Bobby in postal chess – a prize tourney in Chess Review. I remember him as a typical American kid: Brooklyn Dodger fan, somewhat opinionated about school and somewhat desirous to exchange ideas and thoughts. He also liked listening to the radio and religiously was reading and studying the Bible.”

The winner of the postal section was S. Frankel with 5 wins and 1 draw. Fischer defeated J. Maxwell (1048), lost to Conger (1274) and Reithel (1256), and withdrew and lost to Frankel (1068), J. Ellis (1126), and V. Mattern (1256).

On May 21-22, 1955, Fischer played in his first U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) tournament. He scored 2.5 points (out of 6) in the 5th U.S.Amateur Championship in Lake Mohegan, New York (played at the Mohegan Country Club). Carmine Nigro took him to the event. Fischer, age 12, only wanted to watch, but was persuaded to play by Nigro. Nigro paid the $5 entry fee for Bobby and his USCF membership. The time control was 50 moves in 2 hours. The only known Fischer game from this event was Humphrey-Fischer in round 6. Fischer drew that game, but could have won it. Fischer won 2, drew 1, and lost 3. He tied for 33rd place. The event was won by Clinton L. Parmalee (sometimes spelled Parmelee) of New Jersey and organized by Kenneth Harkness (1896-1972). There were 75 entrants. The event was open to anyone except rated masters (masters were anyone rated 2300 or over). The event was covered in the June 5, 1955 issue of Chess Life and in Chess Review, June, 1955, page 164. Fischer’s post-tournament provisional USCF rating was 1826.

Albert B. Humphrey (1780) – Bobby Fischer (Unr), Lake Mohegan, NY, Rd 6, May 22, 1955

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.h3 Nbd7 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 a5 9.Be2 b6 10.O-O Ne8 11.Qc2 Nc5 12.Nh2 f5 13.f3 f4 14.Bf2 Qg5 15.Kh1 Bd7 16.Rg1 Nf6 17.g4 fxg3 18.Rxg3 Qh6 19.Nd1 Nh5 20.Rg1 Bxh3 21.Be3 Nf4 22.Nf2 Bf6 23.Rg3 Bd7 24.Nfg4 Bxg4 25.Rxg4 Qg7 26.Rag1 Be7 27.Qd2 Rf7 28.R1g3 Raf8 29.Bxf4 Rxf4 30.Rh3 Qf7 31.R4g3 Bh4 32.Rg4 Bf2 33.Bd1 1/2-1/2

– Bill Wall

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Celebrities, movies and Chess

Celebrities, Movies, and Chess 3

Antonio Banderas (born in 1960) plays chess. In the 1995 movie, Assassins, Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas) plays chess with Robert Rath (Sylvester Stallone). In the 2008 movie, The Other Man, Ralph (Antonio Banderas) plays chess with Paul (Liam Neeson).

Adam Baldwin (born in 1962) plays chess in real life. In 1987, he starred inFull Metal Jacket. While on the set, he played about 50 games of chess with Stanley Kubrick. When Baldwin was asked if he had a great memory fromFull Metal Jacket, he responded, “Beating Stanley Kubrick at chess.” There is a photo of him playing blitz chess with William Windom in 1988. In the 1992 movie, Deadbolt, Alec (Adam Baldwin) plays chess with Marty Hiller (Justine Bateman) and Jordan (Chris Mulkey).

Ian Bannen (1928-1999) was a Scottish character actor who played chess in a few films. In the 1973 movie, The Mackintosh Man, Ronald Slade (Ian Bannen) plays chess with Joseph Reardon (Paul Newman). In the 1997 British TV series, Original Sin, Gabriel Dauntsey (Ian Bannen) plays chess with Francis Peverell (Amanda Root).

Harry Belafonte (born in 1927) is a chess player. He was recently interviewed and said, “Every day for me is a chess game, another day at the board.” In the 2006 movie, Bobby, Nelson (Harry Belafonte) plays chess with the doorman, John Casey (Anthony Hopkins ).

Ralph Bellamy (1904-1991) was an actor for 62 years and played chess in a few movies. In 1939, in the movie, Blind Alley, Dr. Anthony Shelby (Ralph Bellamy) plays chess with gangster Hal Wilson (Chester Morris). In the 1976 TV film, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Dr. Ernie Guther (Ralph Bellamy) plays chess with Todd (John Travolta).

Jim Belushi probably plays chess in real life. In 1984, he did a funny sketch on Saturday Night Live playing a chess coach called Donald Ramp. In the 1988 movie, Red Heat, Chicago detective Art Ritzik (Jim Belushi) plays chess with his chess computer. He takes some chess advice from Russian Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

William Bendix (1906-1964) played chess in real life. In the 1947 movie,The Web, Lt. Damico (William Bendix) plays chess with Robert Regan (Edmond O’Brien). He was friends with Arnold Denker and Herman Steiner.

Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) is perhaps the most well known chess-playing actor. He learned chess as a teenager in New York City. In 1929, after the stock market crashed, he hustled chess players for money in New York City parks and at Coney Island. He was known to have played chess and hustle in Times Square as late as 1933. In the 1942 movie, Casablanca, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) played chess with Captain Louis Renault (Claude Reins). All the chess playing scenes were his idea. He wanted a character that was a chess player that drank too much. There were some chess scenes of Bogart studying a chess game while Peter Lorre looked on, but these scenes did not make the final cut in the film. During the making ofCasablanca, Bogart played several games with Paul Henreid (1908-1992), who played Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. According to Henreid, Bogart didn’t win a single game from him. During World War II, Bogart played correspondence chess with sever GIs overseas. One of his chess postcards to one of the troops sold for $2,500 in a recent Hollywood auction. In 1944, during the making of Passage to Marseille, Bogart played many of the actors and film crew during breaks. In the June-July 1945 issue of Chess Review, Bogart and his new wife, Lauren Bacall, appeared in the cover while Bogart played Charles Boyer a game of chess during a break in the making of The Confidential Agent. Bogart showed up on the set almost every lunch hour in the set to play Boyer a game of chess. In the 1949 movie, Knock on Any Door, attorney Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) is playing chess with Susan Perry (Candy Toxton) and Mr. Elkins (Curt Conway). During breaks of his films, Bogart played a lot of chess with his make-up artist, Karl Silvera. In the early 1950s, Marlon Brando would drive over to Bogart’s elegant mansion in Holmby Hills, and the two would play chess for hours. In the 1955 movie, The Left Hand of God, Jim Carmody/Father O’Shea (Humphrey Bogart) checkmates Dr. Dave Sigmond (E.G. Marshall). In 1956, Bogart, as Black, drew former U.S. chess champion Sammy Reshevsky in a 70 board simultaneous exhibition in Los Angeles. The game lasted 28 moves in a bishop and pawns vs knight and pawns endgame. A few years earlier, Bogart lost to George Koltanowski in a blindfold exhibition in San Francisco. When Bogart was dying of cancer, his only activity with friends was playing chess. His most common chess partner in his last days was screenwriter and film director Richard Brooks, who probably was Bogart’s last chess opponent in late 1956.

Calculation in chess

Calculation in Chess

Recently, Jacob Aagaard wrote a new book called Grandmaster Preparation – Calculation. It is a very instructive book with lots of advice for chess players at all levels. In 2004, he wrote Excelling at Chess: Calculation. His new book is updated with lots of diagrams and positions to work through from recent games.

The main advice seems to be concentration and deeply analyzing a position. If the position is of a positional nature, there is not much to calculate. For tactical positions, however, you must learn to calculate.

Aagaard recommends that you keep your ideas simple, which will assist you in focusing on the most important aspects of the position. Forget about that complicated idea about the tree of analysis, recommended by Kotov in Think Like a Grandmaster.

Calculation is only a tool to aid in the decision-making process in choosing a move. It is not important what you see on the chess board, but what you play, Making better decisions is what improving in chess is all about.

The first step is to come up with candidate good moves to choose from. You may see a few candidate moves right away, but there is no guarantee that they are the best candidate moves. You need to train yourself for additional ideas to come up with a bigger list of interesting moves.

Look for combinations. Almost all combinations are based on some well-known pattern that has been played many times before. In order to be good at calculation, you need to spend some significant amount of time solving combinations.

Pay attention to your opponent’s ideas and counter-chances. Look for his threats. Focus on your opponent’s intentions to attack or defend. Try to see tricky plans and traps for your opponent, so you can prevent them in time.

If you come up with two similar decisions on what move to make, you need to compare these decisions and work out the difference. Look at the advantages of one move over another as well as some subtle idea that makes the difference in choosing the best move.

Be able to analyze what’s wrong with a move rather that what’s good about it, especially when trying to defend your position.

When everything else has failed, try setting a trap. Make a move that your opponent is likely to make a mistake if he doesn’t find the best move. It may not work every time, but if you are desperate, or running out of time, you may try to play trappy chess.

Calculate forcing moves first. They are usually easier to calculate than quiet moves that are not so forcing.

Only analyze necessary variations. Calculate slower but more accurate. This will save you a lot of time and it is more practical for effective decision-making. Your analysis should show quality, not quantity, so make sure you are calculating the right variations. And sometimes you have to calculate more slowly and check out every legal move in a position to make sure you don’t miss anything. That is very true in correspondence chess.

Consider whether or not it is necessary to calculate a variation deeply and calculate only what you have to. Aagaard quotes trainer Mark Dvoretsky that “new ideas at the start of a variation are a good deal more important than refinements at the end of it.”

When you think you have made up your mind, make your move. If you keep thinking after you have decided on what move you want to make, you may change your mind and make a weaker move as well as run into time trouble. If you have made a definite conclusion, you don’t need to waste time analyzing deeper.

One good tip that Aagaard recommends is to calculate one half move longer. He says to make it a habit to look for candidates for a brief moment to avoid any nasty surprises or traps against you.

Look for clear simple solutions in winning positions and look for the opposite in lost positions.

When you go over a game, get into the habit of moving pawns and pieces in your mind more often. Avoid moving your pieces on the board right away when you are analyzing your games.

– Bill Wall

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Chess and Schools

Schools and Chess

The Annenberg Foundation is one of the biggest contributors to chess in America’s public schools. In New York, the Annenberg Foundation gave $200,000 to implement the in-school weekly program in eight New York City schools as part of the Chess-In-The-Schools (CIS) program. A list of other sponsors is listed at http://www.chessintheschools.org/s/index.cfm?SSID=16

Since 1986, Chess-in-the-Schools, a non-profit organization, have touched 400,000 students in the New York City public schools. In 2007, 20,000 students were involved in the Chess-in-the-Schools program. In 2008, Chess-in-the-Schools raised over $1 million to support chess in New York schools. In 2009, college bound high school seniors involved in CIS received 84 college acceptances and more than $525,000 in scholarships and financial aid.

The Manhattan School for Children is an Annenberg Challenge School and an Annenberg New York City Partnership for the Arts School. One of its clubs it sponsors and supports is the American Chess Foundation Chess Club.

The Annenberg Foundation donates to the Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League, comprised of 24 high school teams from around the city. The Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League has 220 active chess clubs with 3,000 participants playing weekly.

The Annenberg foundation provided financial assistance to the HEAF (Harlem Educational Activities Fund) chess club in Harlem, located at the Police Athletic League/Phipps Center.

In Chicago, the Chess Academy is an approved on-site after-school enrichment provider for Chicago Public Schools. It is an approved Professional Development Provider by the Illinois State Department of Education. Also in Chicago, the Renaissance Chess Foundation works with the Chicago’s Mayor’s Office of Special Events to provide chess activities at community events. They also act as a consultant to the Chicago Public Schools Chess Programs.

In 2008, the Department of Education invested $120,000 for chess in 100 public schools and expanded this fall to 100 more.

The United States Chess Federation estimates 500,000 students in the public school system are being taught some aspect of chess.

America’s Foundation for Chess (AF4C) has developed a program called First Move. It is being taught in 26 states at the 2nd and 3rd grade level. It uses chess as a learning tool to teach higher level thinking skills, advanced math and reading skills. It also uses chess to build self-esteem in students. First Move was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show.

In Washington State, King County (Seattle) provided $25,000 to fully fund the AF4C First Move chess curriculum in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms.

In Philadelphia, the 7th largest school system in the country, 18 of the 280 public schools have added the AF4C First Move chess program to their curriculum. Additionally, the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football league has made a commitment to chess in the Philadelphia schools as part of its Eagles Youth Partnership After-Schools Activities Partnership (ASAP) program.

The Maryland State Department of Education granted $10,000 to 24 public schools to support a Chess in Maryland Schools (CMS) program.

In 2007, the University of Aberdeen sponsored a Chess in the Schools and Communities International Conference (CISCCON).

In the UK, the British Schools Chess Championship has been held every year since 1958. At its height in the 1970s, over 1,000 teams took part. In 2008, there were 135 teams. In 2007, there were only 93 teams, the lowest ever.

In Detroit, the Michigan First Credit Union (formerly the Detroit Teachers Credit Union) has donated $20,000 to chess in the Detroit Public Schools. The Detroit public schools have produced several national scholastic chess champions.

In Baltimore, about 1,200 students are playing chess in 60 public schools as part of the Baltimore Kids Chess League, which started four years ago with 20 schools. The effort is sponsored by the Abell Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Each school gets about $2,000 in grants to support chess. In 2007, the Maryland State Department of Education provided 24 chess programs with up to $10,000 each in grant funding to support a Chess in Marylands Schools program. Statewide funding for chess in the schools totaled $255,000 with 750 students participating.

In California, the Berkeley Chess School (BCS) offers chess free of charge to 500 children from Oakland’s underserved public elementary schools. The BCS Oakland Chess Program provides weekly classes to 500 3rd-thru-5th graders from five low-income schools in Oakland. Sponsors include the Hellman Family Foundation and a grant from the Irene S. Scully Family Foundation.

In October, 2008, elementary school children in the USA played a chess match with astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who was on the International Space Station.

Idaho included a budget up to $60,000 to finance chess instruction in their schools.

In March 2012, the European Parliament endorsed the ‘Chess in European schools’ program, a cooperation between the European Chess Union (ECU) and the Kasparov Chess Foundation.

An unfortunate incident occurred in the Washington, D.C. public school system in 2007. $73,000 was donated to support chess in the public schools. However, a school business manager ripped off most of the money. He used the school’s ATM card more than 100 times to steal from the public school chess fund.

Chess and World War II

Chess and World War II

World champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was supposed to play a title match with Paul Keres in 1940, but World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939.
When World War II broke out, George Koltamowski (1903-2000) of Belgium was in Central America. He then came to the US and became a US citizen. Many of his family members died in concentration camps.
Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), a Kiev master, fled to Poland after the start of World War II, and died there after the Nazi invasion.
David Przepiorka (1880-1940), a Polish master, died in a mass execution in Palmry, outside Warsaw around April 1940. During the Nazi invasion of Poland, his apartment was destroyed and he moved to share an apartment with another chess player in Warsaw. He was arrested after a Gestapo raid of his apartment. The Jews were later rounded up an executed.
On September 23, 1940, the Germans bombed the National Chess Centre in London, which burnt down. It may have been the largest chess club in the world with over 700 members. The contents of the chess center were entirely destroyed. It opened in September 1939, the same month as the start of World War II. Vera Menchik, world women’s champion, was its manager. The National Chess Centre was re-opened in 1952.
The finals for the 13th Soviet Championship was set for the fall of 1941. In June, 1941, one of the semi-finals was being held at Rostov-on-Don. During the 9th round, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Moscow officials wanted the tournament to continue, but some of the players left for home and others were ordered to induction centers. The 13th Soviet Championship resumed in 1944.
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) may have been killed on September 3, 1941, during the siege of Leningrad. He was on a barge on Lake Ladoga, east of Leningrad, when a German aircraft bombed the barge. He was the only one killed on the barge, which was displaying Red Cross flags. Other sources say that he was a victim of Stalin’s purges since Alexander was part of the Old Guard of revolutionists.
Genrikh Kasparyan (1910-1995) spent the first year of the war on the Crimean front in some of the heaviest fighting of World War II.
In November, 1941, Viktor Korchnoi’s father was killed in battle east of Leningrad. His father was part of a volunteer defense unit.
During the siege of Leningrad, officials ordered the evacuation of all children, which included four-year-old Boris Spassky (1937- ). Spassky learned to play chess on a train evacuating from Leningrad.
In 1941 Karel Treybal, one of the strongest Czech players of his period, was executed by the Nazis in Prague.
In 1942 Ilya Rabinovich, Leonid Kubbel, Mikhail Kogan (chess historian), Samuil Vainshtein (chief arbiter), and Alexei Troitzky starved to death during the siege of Leningrad.
During World War II, many prisoners of war spent much of their time playing chess. Chess sets and boards were sent to POWs and were used to hide maps, and sometimes a compass.
Prisoners in German concentration camps made chess sets out of candle wax and soap, which they colored, and wood.
A prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp made a chess set out of rye bread for an SS guard. The king piece on the brown German side was crafted to resemble Hitler.
Chess was popular in the air raid shelters during the Blitz against Britain.
During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada. Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions.
During World War II, the world chess federation (FIDE) headquarters was transferred to Buenos Aires, Argentina. During that time, Augusto de Muro, president of the Argentine Chess Federation, became president of FIDE.
Reuben Fine spent most of his time during World War II as a translator (he spoke 7 languages) in Washington D.C., and worked on mathematical models to predict movements of enemy submarines.
British Master Harry Golombek was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Sonja Graf was the ladies woman champion of Germany, but she was not allowed to play on the German chess Olympiad team by a Nazi edict. She went on to play at large under the banner of “Liberty.”
Chess masters in England were recruited as code breakers. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was also known as the Gold, Cheese and Chess Society. Harry Golombek, Stuart Milner-Berry, and C.H. O’D Alexander (promoted to Colonel) were on the team which broke the German Enigma code.
During World War II, Alexander Alekhine served briefly as an interpreter in the French army.
Alekhine played in Nazi chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg, Warsaw, and Prague.
Ossip Weinstein was a top Russian master and editor of the Soviet chess magazine Shakmatny Listok before World War II. He became a civilian casualty of the German bombardment of Leningrad during World War II.
Akiba Rubinstein was put in an insane asylum during World War II to protect him from the Germans.
Miguel (Mendel) Najdorf’s entire Polish family died in German concentration camps during World War II. Najdorf tried to communicate to his family that he was alive in Argentina by giving large chess simultaneous exhibitions for publicity.
During World War II, Savielly Tartakover escaped the German occupation in France and served as a Lieutenant Colonel (named Cartier) under Charles de Gaulle. After World War II, he was granted French citizenship.
During World War II, Svetozar Gligoric saw action as a Yugoslav partisan against the Germans. He was considered a war hero.
During World War II, Arnold Denker gave simultaneous exhibitions at military bases and aboard aircraft carriers.
Top Hungarian chess master Bora Kostic spent some time in a German concentration camp.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov was a decorated veteran of World War II and grandmaster strength.
Walter Korn fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, and came to the USA.
During World War II, Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, ordered German chess masters to visit hospitals and barracks to play exhibition chess matches. The same thing was happening with chess masters in the Soviet Union.
During World War II, the Japanese confiscated chess books from prisoners, thinking they were military code.
During World War II, Alexander Kotov was made a chief engineer and created the first breech-loading mortar. He was awarded the Order of Lenin at a Kremlin ceremony for his work.
Hungarian champion Laszlo Szabo was in a Hungarian Forced Labor unit where he was captured by the Russian army. He was a prisoner of war until after the end of World War II.
Larry Evans learned chess from his older brother. His brother was later killed in action as a bomber crew member during World War II.
Arvid Kubbel was a noted chess problemist. For over 30 years, the Soviets said he died in the siege of Leningrad. Instead, he died of nephritis in a Soviet gulag.
During World War II, Paul Keres of Estonia participated in several German and German-sponsored chess tournaments. When the Red Army liberated his country, Soviet authorities planned to execute Keres. Mikhail Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin, and Keres was spared. During World War II, it was rumored that Keres was killed. This was reported in Chess Review.
World women’s chess champion Vera Menchik died in 1944 at the age of 38 during a German V2 bombing raid on the city of London. Her sister Olga also died from the bombing raid.
Klaus Junge was an officer in the 12th SS-battalion defending Hamburg. When he was asked to surrender, he stood up, shouted “Sieg Heil!” and was shot just three weeks before the end of World War II.
After World War II, world champion Alexander Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments because of his Nazi affiliation.
Soviet master Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov was shot just after World War II began for the Soviets. He was shot on suspicion of being a German spy only because there was a German general named Schneiderman.
The first sporting event after World War II was the USA vs. USSR radio chess match in September, 1945. The Russians won.
One of the world’s strongest chess players was a Latvian named Vladimir Petrov. After World War II, the Soviets occupied Latvia. The Soviets suspected that Petrov collaborated with the Nazis. Petrov was sent to Siberia and never returned.
The Latvian master Karlis Ozols was accused to have taken part in atrocities during World War II. After the war, he fled to Australia. He became Australian champion in 1958. Ozols was a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Latvian militia who carried out mass executions of Jews in Latvia.
Prominent chess players lost during World War II included Polish master Isaak Appel (1905-1941), Hungarian master Zoltan Balla (1883-1945), Moscow chess champion Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942), Russian master Fyodor Fogelevich (1909-1941), Henryk Friedman (1903-1943), Polish master Achilles Frydman (1905-1940), Polish champion Eduard Gerstenfeld (1915-1943), Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941), Klaus Junge (1924-1945, Lev Kaiev (1913-1942), Mikhail Kogan (1898-1942), Josek Kolski (1900-1941), Plish master Leon Kremer (1901-1940), Arvid Kubbel (1889-1942), Leonid Kubbel (1892-1942), Salo Landau (1903-1943), Benjamin Levin ( -1942), Moishe Lowekl (1881-1940), Kiev master Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), Moscow Champion Isaak Maisel ( -1943, Mikhail Makogonov (1900-1943), Olga Menchik (1908-1944), Vera Menchik (1906-1944), Latvian champion Vladimir Petrov (1907-1945), Mikhail Platov (1883-1940), David Przepiorka (1880-1940), Ilya Rabinovich (1878-1943), Vesevold Rauzer (1908-1941), Nikolai Riumin (1908-1942), Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov ( -1941), Byelorussian champion Vladimir Silich (1906-1943), Vasily Solkov ( -1944), Endre Steiner (1901-1944), Mark Stolberg (1922-1943), Polish master Abram Szpiro (1910-1941), Karel Treybal (1885-1941), Alexei Troitzky (1866-1942), Samuil Vainstein (1894-1942), Boris Vaksberg ( -1942), Otaker Votruba (1894-1943), Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943), and Lazar Zalkind (1886-1945).
During World War II, prominent chess players that died included Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942), and Frank Marshall (1877-1944).
– Bill Wall

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Chess and World War II

Chess and World War II

World champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was supposed to play a title match with Paul Keres in 1940, but World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939.
When World War II broke out, George Koltamowski (1903-2000) of Belgium was in Central America. He then came to the US and became a US citizen. Many of his family members died in concentration camps.
Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), a Kiev master, fled to Poland after the start of World War II, and died there after the Nazi invasion.
David Przepiorka (1880-1940), a Polish master, died in a mass execution in Palmry, outside Warsaw around April 1940. During the Nazi invasion of Poland, his apartment was destroyed and he moved to share an apartment with another chess player in Warsaw. He was arrested after a Gestapo raid of his apartment. The Jews were later rounded up an executed.
On September 23, 1940, the Germans bombed the National Chess Centre in London, which burnt down. It may have been the largest chess club in the world with over 700 members. The contents of the chess center were entirely destroyed. It opened in September 1939, the same month as the start of World War II. Vera Menchik, world women’s champion, was its manager. The National Chess Centre was re-opened in 1952.
The finals for the 13th Soviet Championship was set for the fall of 1941. In June, 1941, one of the semi-finals was being held at Rostov-on-Don. During the 9th round, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Moscow officials wanted the tournament to continue, but some of the players left for home and others were ordered to induction centers. The 13th Soviet Championship resumed in 1944.
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) may have been killed on September 3, 1941, during the siege of Leningrad. He was on a barge on Lake Ladoga, east of Leningrad, when a German aircraft bombed the barge. He was the only one killed on the barge, which was displaying Red Cross flags. Other sources say that he was a victim of Stalin’s purges since Alexander was part of the Old Guard of revolutionists.
Genrikh Kasparyan (1910-1995) spent the first year of the war on the Crimean front in some of the heaviest fighting of World War II.
In November, 1941, Viktor Korchnoi’s father was killed in battle east of Leningrad. His father was part of a volunteer defense unit.
During the siege of Leningrad, officials ordered the evacuation of all children, which included four-year-old Boris Spassky (1937- ). Spassky learned to play chess on a train evacuating from Leningrad.
In 1941 Karel Treybal, one of the strongest Czech players of his period, was executed by the Nazis in Prague.
In 1942 Ilya Rabinovich, Leonid Kubbel, Mikhail Kogan (chess historian), Samuil Vainshtein (chief arbiter), and Alexei Troitzky starved to death during the siege of Leningrad.
During World War II, many prisoners of war spent much of their time playing chess. Chess sets and boards were sent to POWs and were used to hide maps, and sometimes a compass.
Prisoners in German concentration camps made chess sets out of candle wax and soap, which they colored, and wood.
A prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp made a chess set out of rye bread for an SS guard. The king piece on the brown German side was crafted to resemble Hitler.
Chess was popular in the air raid shelters during the Blitz against Britain.
During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada. Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions.
During World War II, the world chess federation (FIDE) headquarters was transferred to Buenos Aires, Argentina. During that time, Augusto de Muro, president of the Argentine Chess Federation, became president of FIDE.
Reuben Fine spent most of his time during World War II as a translator (he spoke 7 languages) in Washington D.C., and worked on mathematical models to predict movements of enemy submarines.
British Master Harry Golombek was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Sonja Graf was the ladies woman champion of Germany, but she was not allowed to play on the German chess Olympiad team by a Nazi edict. She went on to play at large under the banner of “Liberty.”
Chess masters in England were recruited as code breakers. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was also known as the Gold, Cheese and Chess Society. Harry Golombek, Stuart Milner-Berry, and C.H. O’D Alexander (promoted to Colonel) were on the team which broke the German Enigma code.
During World War II, Alexander Alekhine served briefly as an interpreter in the French army.
Alekhine played in Nazi chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg, Warsaw, and Prague.
Ossip Weinstein was a top Russian master and editor of the Soviet chess magazine Shakmatny Listok before World War II. He became a civilian casualty of the German bombardment of Leningrad during World War II.
Akiba Rubinstein was put in an insane asylum during World War II to protect him from the Germans.
Miguel (Mendel) Najdorf’s entire Polish family died in German concentration camps during World War II. Najdorf tried to communicate to his family that he was alive in Argentina by giving large chess simultaneous exhibitions for publicity.
During World War II, Savielly Tartakover escaped the German occupation in France and served as a Lieutenant Colonel (named Cartier) under Charles de Gaulle. After World War II, he was granted French citizenship.
During World War II, Svetozar Gligoric saw action as a Yugoslav partisan against the Germans. He was considered a war hero.
During World War II, Arnold Denker gave simultaneous exhibitions at military bases and aboard aircraft carriers.
Top Hungarian chess master Bora Kostic spent some time in a German concentration camp.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov was a decorated veteran of World War II and grandmaster strength.
Walter Korn fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, and came to the USA.
During World War II, Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, ordered German chess masters to visit hospitals and barracks to play exhibition chess matches. The same thing was happening with chess masters in the Soviet Union.
During World War II, the Japanese confiscated chess books from prisoners, thinking they were military code.
During World War II, Alexander Kotov was made a chief engineer and created the first breech-loading mortar. He was awarded the Order of Lenin at a Kremlin ceremony for his work.
Hungarian champion Laszlo Szabo was in a Hungarian Forced Labor unit where he was captured by the Russian army. He was a prisoner of war until after the end of World War II.
Larry Evans learned chess from his older brother. His brother was later killed in action as a bomber crew member during World War II.
Arvid Kubbel was a noted chess problemist. For over 30 years, the Soviets said he died in the siege of Leningrad. Instead, he died of nephritis in a Soviet gulag.
During World War II, Paul Keres of Estonia participated in several German and German-sponsored chess tournaments. When the Red Army liberated his country, Soviet authorities planned to execute Keres. Mikhail Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin, and Keres was spared. During World War II, it was rumored that Keres was killed. This was reported in Chess Review.
World women’s chess champion Vera Menchik died in 1944 at the age of 38 during a German V2 bombing raid on the city of London. Her sister Olga also died from the bombing raid.
Klaus Junge was an officer in the 12th SS-battalion defending Hamburg. When he was asked to surrender, he stood up, shouted “Sieg Heil!” and was shot just three weeks before the end of World War II.
After World War II, world champion Alexander Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments because of his Nazi affiliation.
Soviet master Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov was shot just after World War II began for the Soviets. He was shot on suspicion of being a German spy only because there was a German general named Schneiderman.
The first sporting event after World War II was the USA vs. USSR radio chess match in September, 1945. The Russians won.
One of the world’s strongest chess players was a Latvian named Vladimir Petrov. After World War II, the Soviets occupied Latvia. The Soviets suspected that Petrov collaborated with the Nazis. Petrov was sent to Siberia and never returned.
The Latvian master Karlis Ozols was accused to have taken part in atrocities during World War II. After the war, he fled to Australia. He became Australian champion in 1958. Ozols was a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Latvian militia who carried out mass executions of Jews in Latvia.
Prominent chess players lost during World War II included Polish master Isaak Appel (1905-1941), Hungarian master Zoltan Balla (1883-1945), Moscow chess champion Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942), Russian master Fyodor Fogelevich (1909-1941), Henryk Friedman (1903-1943), Polish master Achilles Frydman (1905-1940), Polish champion Eduard Gerstenfeld (1915-1943), Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941), Klaus Junge (1924-1945, Lev Kaiev (1913-1942), Mikhail Kogan (1898-1942), Josek Kolski (1900-1941), Plish master Leon Kremer (1901-1940), Arvid Kubbel (1889-1942), Leonid Kubbel (1892-1942), Salo Landau (1903-1943), Benjamin Levin ( -1942), Moishe Lowekl (1881-1940), Kiev master Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), Moscow Champion Isaak Maisel ( -1943, Mikhail Makogonov (1900-1943), Olga Menchik (1908-1944), Vera Menchik (1906-1944), Latvian champion Vladimir Petrov (1907-1945), Mikhail Platov (1883-1940), David Przepiorka (1880-1940), Ilya Rabinovich (1878-1943), Vesevold Rauzer (1908-1941), Nikolai Riumin (1908-1942), Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov ( -1941), Byelorussian champion Vladimir Silich (1906-1943), Vasily Solkov ( -1944), Endre Steiner (1901-1944), Mark Stolberg (1922-1943), Polish master Abram Szpiro (1910-1941), Karel Treybal (1885-1941), Alexei Troitzky (1866-1942), Samuil Vainstein (1894-1942), Boris Vaksberg ( -1942), Otaker Votruba (1894-1943), Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943), and Lazar Zalkind (1886-1945).
During World War II, prominent chess players that died included Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942), and Frank Marshall (1877-1944).
– Bill Wall

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