8th Chess Olympiad
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The 8th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 24 and September 19, 1939 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The finals began on September 1, the day of the outbreak of World War II. This led to much confusion, especially amongst the European teams. Some players withdrew from the competition, including three members of English team because of which England left the competition immediately. Most of delegates thought the Olympiad should be abolished. However the hosts were very pushy about continuing the event and the assembly of all team captains, with leading roles played by Alexander Alekhine (France), Savielly Tartakower (Poland), and Albert Becker (Germany), plus the president of the Argentine Chess Federation, Augusto de Muro, decided to go on with the Olympiad.[2] Poland-Germany and France-Germany were set 2-2 by default since these were with in the state of war with each other. German officials pressed the Czechs to abolish their matches with Poland and France since formally Czechoslovakia, or Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia as they were referred to, were part of Germany and the Germans finally succeeded. Palestine announced boycott of the Germans and refused to play them. Unfortunately the German team did not want to accept this solution since they had counted on an easy win over Palestine and stated that nothing other than 4-0 would satisfy them. The negotiations were in deadlock. Fortunately for all, the Argentinians, one of the competition favourites, offered their match vs Palestine to be halved by default. This matched the 2-2 default score offered in the Palestine-Germany match, which was enough to satisfy the Germans. This meant that a total of six matches (GER-POL, GER-FRA, GER-PAL, B&M-POL, B&M-FRA, ARG-PAL) and 24 games were declared even by mutual forfeit, and one team (England) that missed the finals entirely.[3]
The final results were as follows:
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[edit] Final A
The prizes for best individual results (only results from finals counted for best individual scores) went to José Raúl Capablanca (Cuba), Heinz Foerder (Palestine/Israel) and Miguel Najdorf (Poland), Ludwig Engels (Germany), Gunnar Friedemann (Estonia), and Isaias Pleci (Argentina), from board 1 to 5 respectively.
[edit] Final B
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# Country Players Points 17 
IcelandMöller, Ásgeirsson, Guðmundsson, Þorvaldsson, Arnlaugsson 28 18 
CanadaMorrison, Yanofsky, Opsahl, Holowach, Helman 28 19 
NorwayRojahn, Larsen, Rebnord, Austbø 27 20 
UruguayRotunno, Hounie Fleurquin, Gulla, Roux-Cabral, Olivera 26 21 
BulgariaTsvetkov, Neikirch, Kiprov, Kantardzhiev, Karastoichev 25.5 22 
EcuadorPonce, Morales, Sierra, Suarez Dávila, Ayala 21 23 
GuatemalaVassaux, Asturias, Cruz Bulnes, Salazar 15.5 24 
IrelandO'Hanlon, O'Donovan, Kerlin, Minnis, Nash 15.5 25 
PeruDulanto, Pinzón Solis, Castro de Mendoza, Soto, Cayo 14 26 
BoliviaCordova, Baender, Rodríguez Hurtado, Zavala, Reyes Velasco 10 27 
ParaguayDíaz Pérez, Espínola, Laterza, Boettner, Aponte 9.5
The prizes for best individual results in Final B (officially recognized as Copa Argentina) went to Ernst Rojahn (Norway), Daniel Yanofsky (Canada), Jón Guðmundsson (Iceland), Mikhail Kantardzhiev (Bulgaria) and Guðmundur Arnlaugsson (Iceland), from board 1 to 5 respectively.
[edit] Women's World Chess Championship
The seventh Women's World Chess Championship took place during the Olympiad. The final results were as follows:[4],[5],[6]
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# Player Points 1 
Vera Menchik (England)18 2 
Sonja Graf (Germany)16 3 
Berna Carrasco (Chile)15.5 4 Elfriede Rinder (Germany)15 5 
Mona May Karff (United States)14 6 
Milda Lauberte (Latvia)12 7 
María Teresa Mora (Cuba)11 8 
Catharina Roodzant (Netherlands)11 9 
B. Janečkova (Czechoslovakia)9 10 
Paulette Schwartzmann (France)9 11 
Ingrid Larsen (Denmark)8.5 12 
Dora Trepat de Navarro (Argentina)8 13 
Ingeborg Andersson (Sweden)7.5 14 Maria Berea de Montero (Argentina)7 15 
Salome Reischer (Palestine)7 16 .svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png)
Marianne Stoffels (Belgium)7 17 M. A. de Vigil (Uruguay)6 18 
Elena Raclauskiene (Lithuania)3.5 19 Ruth Bloch Nakkerud (Norway)3 20 Anabelle Lougheed (Canada)2
[edit] Trivia
In September 1939, when World War II broke out, many participants of the 8th Chess Olympiad (Miguel Najdorf, Paulino Frydman, Gideon Stahlberg, Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt, Jiří Pelikán, Karel Skalička, 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, Paulette Schwartzmann, etc.) had decided to stay permanently in Argentina.[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- ^ Gawlikowski, Stanisław (1978). Olimpiady szachowe 1924 - 1974, Wyd. Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa.
- ^ 8th Chess Olympiad: Buenos Aires 1939—Information–Basic data–Tournament review–Individual medals–Interesting games–Trivia
- ^ Tables 1939—Players and games
- ^ I campionati del mundo feminile (The World Chess Championship for Women)
- ^ Campeonato Mundo femenino (Women's World Championship) Buenos Aires 1939
- ^ List of players who remained in Argentina in 1939 (notes in Spanish)
[edit] References
- 8th Chess Olympiad: Buenos Aires 1939 OlimpBase
[edit] See also
1st unofficial Chess Olympiad (Paris 1924)
2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad (Budapest 1926)
3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad (Munich 1936)
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