8th Chess Olympiad

The 8th Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), comprised an 'open' [ Although commonly referred to as the "men's division", this section is open to both male and female players. ] tournament, as well as a Women's World Championship contest. The main Olympiad event took place between August 21 and September 19 1939 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and coincided with the outbreak of World War II.

Introduction

There was a record number of entries, with twenty-seven teams taking part. This compared with the nineteen nations participating at the previous Olympiad; the substantial increase being mostly due to the interest shown by other Central and South American nations, including Cuba, led by Jose Raul Capablanca on top board.

Due to certain political events, prominent Austrian players Erich Eliskases and Albert Becker were playing under the German flag and official sources referred to the Czechoslovak team as 'Bohemia & Moravia'. Regrettably, two of the teams that did not compete were those that finished first and second at Stockholm, namely the United States and Hungary. Indeed, some nations found the cost of sending a team such a distance for a lengthy period, prohibitively expensive.

Following the Preliminaries, the teams were split into Final Group A or Final Group B, with the former contesting the Hamilton-Russell Cup and the latter playing for the 'Copa Argentina', a trophy presented by the Argentine President.

Preliminaries

The preliminaries were played from August 21st - August 31st, 1939. There were three groups of seven teams and a group of six. From an all-play-all format, the four top finishers in each group went forward to Final A, the remainder to Final B. Group winners were Bohemia & Moravia (tied with Poland, Group 1), Latvia (Group 2), Argentina (Group 3) and Sweden (Group 4).

Finals

The finals commenced on September 1, the date of the commencement of World War II. This led to much confusion amongst the European teams, although most players wanted to continue. The England team, despite having qualified for Final A, were the only team to return home immediately and their place was not filled. Concerning the remaining delegations, a crisis assembly was called to vote on how to proceed; this comprised of team captains, the hosts and organisers. Leading roles were reportedly taken by Alexander Alekhine (France), Savielly Tartakower (Poland), Albert Becker (Germany) and the president of the Argentine Chess Federation, Augusto de Muro. The verdict was to continue with the Olympiad. [Gawlikowski, Stanisław (1978). "Olimpiady szachowe 1924 - 1974", Wyd. Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa.]

The political ramifications rumbled on however, when it became apparent that six of the scheduled Finals matches could not be played due to tensions aroused by the war. After considerable deliberation and negotiation, a total of six matches (GER-POL, GER-FRA, GER-PAL, B&M-POL, B&M-FRA, ARG-PAL) were declared 2-2 results by mutual forfeit and this allowed the remainder of the competition to be played out to a conclusion. [ [http://www.olimpbase.org/1939/1939in.html 8th Chess Olympiad: Buenos Aires 1939—Information–Basic data–Tournament review–Individual medals–Interesting games–Trivia] ]

The results of the Finals were as follows:

Final A

:

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 a World War. The players affected included 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 and Paulette Schwartzmann. [ [http://ar.geocities.com/carloseadrake/AJEDREZ/Asilados_1939.htm List of players who remained in Argentina in 1939 (notes in Spanish)] ] Most of them were Jewish and had come to Buenos Aires in August 1939 on the ship "Priapolis". 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 (Eliskases, Michel, Engels, Becker, Reinhardt) also chose not to return to Nazi Germany.

Notes

References

* [http://www.olimpbase.org/1939/1939in.html 8th Chess Olympiad: Buenos Aires 1939] OlimpBase
*"Chess Olympiads", Arpad Foldeak (Corvina Press, 1966) - pp. 160-180

ee also

1st unofficial Chess Olympiad (Paris 1924)
2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad (Budapest 1926)
3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad (Munich 1936)