Events in chess in 1939

Chess events in brief

• Last (21st) edition of Howard Staunton's The Chess-Player's Handbook is published.

• 21 August-19 September 1939 - the 8th Chess Olympiad (known at the time as the Hamilton-Russell Cup) is held in Buenos Aires. Germany wins the gold medal (Erich Eliskases on first board), Poland silver (Savielly Tartakower on first board), and Estonia bronze (Paul Keres on first board).^[1]

• The 7th Women's World Championship is held in conjunction with the Olympiad. Vera Menchik-Stevenson (England) retains her title. She won, scoring 18/19, followed by Sonja Graf (16/19), Berna Carrasco (15.5/19), etc.

• Political refugees - At the conclusion of events, many participants decided to stay in Argentina or moved elsewhere in South America, rather than face an uncertain future by returning to Europe in the midst of World War II. The players affected included Miguel Najdorf, Paulino Frydman, Gideon St hlberg, Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt, Ji Pelik n, Karel Skali ka, Markas Luckis, Movsas Feigins, Ilmar Raud, Moshe Czerniak, Meir Rauch, Victor Winz, Aristide Gromer, Franciszek Sulik, Adolf Seitz, Chris De Ronde, Zelman Kleinstein, Sonja Graf and Paulette Schwartzmann.^[2] Most of them were Jewish and had come to Buenos Aires in August 1939 on the Belgian steamer "Piriapolis".^[3] The ship has therefore come to be regarded as the epitome of Noah's Ark for a generation of chess players. Significantly, all members of the German team also chose not to return to Nazi Germany.

• 27 December 1939 - American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation form the United States Chess Federation (USCF).^[4]

Tournaments

• Hastings International Chess Congress won by L szl Szab ahead of Max Euwe, 1938/39.
• Sydney (the Australian Chess Championship), won by Gary Koshnitsky, 1938/39.
• Wanganui (the New Zealand Chess Championship), won by John Dunlop, 1938/39.
• Riga (the Latvian Chess Championship), won by Vladimirs Petrovs, 1938/39.
• Warsaw won by Mieczys aw Najdorf ahead of Dawid Przepi rka, 1938/39.
• Karlsruhe won by Anton Kohler, Efim Bogoljubow and Eisinger Jr, 26 December 1938 - January 1939.
• Leningrad-Moscow won by Salo Flohr ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, January 3 - February 1, 1939.
• Amsterdam (KNSB), won by Euwe, Szab and Flohr
• Amsterdam (VARA), won by Salo Landau and Euwe.
• Baarn (I) (Quadrangular), won by Flohr.
• Baarn (II) (Quadrangular), won by Euwe.
• Beverwijk (Quadrangular), won by Nicolaas Cortlever.
• Amsterdam (the 12th Dutch Chess Championship), won by Landau.
• Birmingham won by Lodewijk Prins ahead of Paul List and H.E. Price.
• Budapest won by Zolt n von Balla and Szab .
• Kemeri–Riga won by Flohr ahead of Gideon St hlberg and Szab , March 1939.
• Warsaw won by Najdorf ahead of Paulin Frydman.
• Lodz won by Izaak Appel and Jakub Kolski, ahead of Teodor Regedzi ski, March 1939.
• Lvov (Championship of the City), won by Izak Sch chter ahead of Henryk Friedman.
• Minsk (the Belarusian Chess Championship), won by Gavril Veresov.
• Leningrad (the Leningrad City Chess Championship), won by Georgy Lisitsin.
• L beck won by Alfred Brinckmann, start 2 April 1939.
• Krefeld won by Georg Kieninger and Ludwig Engels, start 6 April 1939.
• Bad Warmbrunn won by Rudolf Keller, Paul Michel and Ludwig Rellstab, start 7 April 1939.
• Aberdeen (the Scottish Chess Championship), won by Max Pavey, April 1939.
• Margate won by Paul Keres ahead of Jos Ra l Capablanca and Flohr, 12 21 April 1939.
• Leningrad (the 11th USSR Chess Championship), won by Mikhail Botvinnik ahead of Alexander Kotov, April 15 - May 16, 1939.
• Stuttgart (Europa-Turnier) won by Bogoljubow ahead of Kurt Richter, start 15 May 1939.
• Montreux (the Swiss Chess Championship), won by Henri Grob.
• Paris won by Nicolas Rossolimo ahead of Savielly Tartakower.
• Rome (the Italian Chess Championship), won by Mario Monticelli ahead of Vincenzo Castaldi.
• Zagreb (the Yugoslav Chess Championship), won by Milan Vidmar ahead of Vasilije Tomovi .
• Prague won by Ji Pelik n ahead of Karel Opo ensk , Franti ek Schubert and Karel Skali ka.
• Buenos Aires (the Argentine Chess Championship, Torneo Mayor), won by Ion Traian Iliescu followed jointly by Carlos Maderna, Luis Piazzini, and Jos Gerschman.
• London (Championship of the City), won by George Alan Thomas.
• London (League Congress), won by William Winter.
• Durban (the South African Chess Championship) won by Wolfgang Heidenfeld.
• Oslo (the 19th Nordic Chess Championship), won by St hlberg and Erik Lundin.
• Helsinki (the Finnish Chess Championship), won by Osmo Kaila.
• Copenhagen (the Danish Chess Championship, play-off), won by Holger Norman-Hansen.
• Stockholm (the Swedish Chess Championship), won by St hlberg ahead of Rudolf Spielmann and Nils Bergkvist.
• Gothenburg won by Flohr and Spielmann.
• Tallinn (the Estonian Chess Championship), won by Ilmar Raud.
• Jerusalem (Championship of the City), won by Moshe Czerniak, June 1939.
• Berlin (the Berlin City Chess Championship), won by M lbitz ahead of Paul Mross, June 1939.
• Bad Elster won by Erich Eliskases followed by Josef Lokvenc, Herbert Heinicke and Michel, start 4 June 1939.
• Vienna won by Eliskases ahead of Hans M ller, start 11 June 1939.
• Bad Harzburg won by Eliskases ahead of St hlberg, start 25 June 1939.
• Bad Oeynhausen (the 6th German Chess Championship), won by Eliskases followed by Lokvenc, Karl Gilg, etc., start 9 July 1939.
• Ventnor City won by Milton Hanauer ahead of Fred Reinfeld, 8 16 July 1939.
• New York (the 40th U.S. Open, American Chess Federation Championship), won by Reuben Fine followed by Reshevsky, Israel Albert Horowitz, etc., 17 29 July 1939.
• Bournemouth won by Max Euwe ahead of Ernest Klein and Flohr, August 1939.
• Rosario won by Petrovs, followed by Eliskases, Vladas Mik nas, etc., 21 28 September 1939.
• Montevideo (Millington Drake Tournament) won by Alexander Alekhine ahead of Harry Golombek and Vera Menchik, 21 29 September 1939.
• Buenos Aires (Circulo) won by Keres and Miguel Najdorf, ahead of St hlberg and Czerniak, 2 19 October 1939.
• New York (the 23rd Marshall Chess Club Championship), won by Fine followed by Hanauer, Frank James Marshall, David Polland, Herbert Seidman, Edward Lasker, etc.
• Hampstead won by Imre K nig and Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, December 1939.
• Dnipropetrovsk (the 11th Ukrainian Chess Championship), won by Isaac Boleslavsky, 12 31 December 1939.
• Moscow (the Moscow City Chess Championship), won by Andor Lilienthal ahead of Vasily Panov and Vasily Smyslov, 1939/40.
• Hastings International Chess Congress won by Frank Parr, 1939/40.

Matches

• Erich Eliskases defeated Efim Bogoljubow (11.5 : 8.5) in Germany (various places), January 1939.
• Sonja Graf beat Fenny Heemskerk (4 : 0) in Amsterdam.
• Sonja Graf beat Catharina Roodzant (3 : 1) in Rotterdam.^[5]
• Salo Landau drew with Theo van Scheltinga (5 : 5) in Amsterdam.
• Salo Landau drew with L szl Szab (5 : 5) in Amsterdam.^[6]
• Max Euwe beat Salo Landau (7.5 : 2.5) in Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague.
• Roberto Grau defeated Carlos Guimard (7.5 : 5.5) in La Plata, Argentina (the 17th ARG-ch).^[7]
• Octavio Trompowsky beat Walter Cruz (5.5 : 2.5) in Rio de Janeiro (BRA-ch).^[8]
• Paul Keres won against Max Euwe (7.5 : 6.5) in The Netherlands (various places) in 1939/40.^[9]

Team matches

• 15 16 April, Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary), Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia: Germany vs. Hungary 26 -13 (13 -6 , 13-7)

(Eliskases 1 Barcza; Bogoljubow 11 E.Steiner; Kieninger Rethy; Gilg 1 Vajda; P.Michel 1 Szily; Rellstab 1 Tipary; Richter 11 F ster; Heinicke 1 T rok; Kohler Balla; A.Becker 1 Negyessi; Zollner 00 Balogh; L.Schmitt 1 Sark zy; Lokvenc 1 St.Gecsei; Schlage 0 Sebestyen; Bl mich Bakonyi; Hahn 1 Sooky; R.Keller Laszlo; Krassnig 1 Szentkiralyi-Toth; Platt 1 Vargha; H.Keller 1 R g)

• 28 29 May, The Hague: Netherlands vs. England 10-10 (4 -5 , 5 -4 )

(Euwe 0 Alexander; Landau 10 Thomas; Van den Bosch 1 Milner-Barry; Cortlever 00 Broadbent; Van Scheltinga Golombek; G.S.Fontein 0 Winter; De Groot 1 E.G.Sergeant; Muhring 11 B.H.Wood; Mulder 0 Parr; J.H.C.Fontein 1 Lenton) ^[10]

Births

• 7 January Ivan Radulov in Burgas, Hungarian GM
• 29 January Hans-Joachim Hecht in Luckenwalde, German GM, two-time German Champion
• 29 January Li Shongjian, Chinese chess player
• 1 March Leroy Dubeck in Orange, New Jersey, President of the United States Chess Federation (1969 1972)
• 14 March Stewart Reuben, British chess player, organiser, and arbiter
• 1 June Yaacov Bernstein, Israeli chess player
• 27 August T deviin it men, Mongolian IM
• 15 November Charles Kalme in Riga, American IM

Deaths

• 1939 - Katarina Beskow-Froeken died in Sweden. Women's World Sub-Champion in 1927.
• 1939 - Iosif Januschpolski (Yanushpolsky) died.
• 2 February 1939 - Bernhard Gregory died in Berlin, Germany.
• 8 February 1939 - Salomon Langleben died in Warsaw, Poland.
• 11 February 1939 - Jan Kv ala died in Czecho-Slovakia.
• 28 May 1939 - Hans Fahrni died in Ostermundingen, Switzerland. 1st to play 100 simultaneously, 1911.
• 7 August 1939 - Paul Kr ger died in Germany.
• August 1939 - Alexei Alekhine killed by NKVD in the Soviet Union.
• September 1939 - Jan Kleczy ski, Jr. died of a heart attack during a bombing of Warsaw (World War II).
• September 1939 - Karol Piltz died during the siege of Warsaw.
• after 17 September 1939 - Kalikst Morawski died during the Soviet occupation of Lvov.
• 26 September 1939 - Ott Bl thy died in Budapest. Created longest problem, 290 moves.
• 4 October 1939 - Ludvig Collijn died in Stockholm. President of the Swedish Chess Association from 1917 to 1939.

References

External links

• 1939 crosstables