Munich 1941 chess tournament
The Second Europaturnier was held from 8 to 14 September 1941 in Munich. The event was organised by Ehrhardt Post, the Chief Executive of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund. The First Europaturnier had taken place in Stuttgart in May 1939.
Results
[edit]The event was won by Gösta Stoltz,[1] who scored a spectacular victory with 1½ points ahead of Alexander Alekhine and Erik Lundin. Stoltz won 1,000 Reichsmarks and received a trophy that was donated by Bavarian Ministerpräsident at the time Ludwig Siebert. The trophy was made of Meissen porcelain and worth close to $1,000.[2]
The results and standings:[3][4]
# Player Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Total 1 Gösta Stoltz 
Swedenx ½ 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 12 2-3 Alexander Alekhine 
France½ x ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 10½ 2-3 Erik Lundin Sweden0 ½ x 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 10½ 4 Efim Bogoljubow 
Germany1 0 1 x ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 9½ 5-6 Bjørn Nielsen 
Denmark0 1 ½ ½ x 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 9 5-6 Kurt Richter Germany0 0 0 1 0 x ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 9 7 Jan Foltys Germany (
Bohemia and Moravia)0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ x 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 8 8 Pál Réthy 
Hungary½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 x 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 7½ 9-10 Braslav Rabar 
Independent State of Croatia0 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 x ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 7 9-10 Georg Kieninger Germany½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ x ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 7 11 Géza Füster Hungary0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ x 0 1 0 0 1 6½ 12 Paul Mross Germany (General Government)0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 x ½ 1 ½ 1 6 13 Karel Opočenský Germany ( Bohemia and Moravia)0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ x ½ 1 ½ 5½ 14-15 Ivan Vladimir Rohaček 
Slovakia½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ x ½ 0 4½ 14-15 Nicolaas Cortlever 
Netherlands0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ x 1 4½ 16 Peter Leepin 
Switzerland0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 x 3
Max Euwe's rejection
[edit]Former world champion Max Euwe declined the invitation due to "occupational obligations" as manager of a groceries business. He would later decline the invitation to a similar event, Salzburg 1942 chess tournament due to illness. It is speculated that the real motive was the invitation of Alexander Alekhine, who had written antisemitic articles. Among others, Alekhine had written about the "Jewish clique" around Euwe in the World Chess Championship 1935.[5][6]
References
[edit]- ^ Alekhine's account of the Munich tournament
- ^ "Chess Notes by Edward Winter". Chesshistory.com. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
- ^ [1] Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ All matches played at Munich 1942.
- ^ "Salzburg 1942". Endgame.nl. 1942-06-18. Archived from the original on 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
- ^ "Alekhine and the Nazis". 2009-10-28. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-24.