[England held the first chess tournament after World War II, Hastings 1945-46. Tartakower won it with +9-1=1, and he had some comments on this.]

Once demobilised and returned to civilian life what could a chessmaster of more than fifty-eight years of age do except ... continue.

Continue to practise the art of chess, possibly the only art that could make us relive the time when the solution of all vital problems was not deemed to lie in the black market or ideological propaganda.

Since, however, it would be vain to close one's eyes to the fact that the aesthetic ideal of today is influenced by social themes in every domain, I tried to create for myself a new style which I may term 'neo-pragmatic' (from the Greek word 'pragma', work or performance), and which represents a sort of chess 'stakhanovism', trying to obtain maximum effects from the reasoned co-ordination of all the four factors in chess: time, space, material and force.


England can pride itself on having been the first country to hold an international chess tournament after the Second World War— Hastings 1945-46—and I can equally be proud of having obtained first prize in this event (with 9½ points out of 11), thus heightening the value of the 'old generation' which several critics already wished to characterise as 'old iron'!

My success was explained by some well-wishing chroniclers from the psychological point of view as due to my will to win; whilst from the technical point of view emphasis was laid on my creative and imaginative treatment of the endings which procured for me many an additional half point (against Denker, Prins, Sir George Thomas and E. G. Sergeant).

Nevertheless, in my opinion the true cause of my triumph resided in the moral basis I had imposed on myself throughout the contest. As I had rightly supposed, the effects, or, at any rate, the depressing recollection of the great miseries, losses and anguish that were suffered during the war with Hitler still weighed heavily on the spirits of all the participants, even including those coming from the neutral countries (Sweden, Switzerland) or from fortunate America.

Consequently, I resolved to concentrate all my efforts on not thinking about it at all; that is to, say, on banishing from my memory for the duration of the tournament, all these phantoms of the recent past: and this ensured my tranquility of spirit and serenity of mind, both attributes so vitally necessary for any victory in the realm of sport.

Source: Tartakower, S. G. (1985, 107). My Best Games of Chess 1931-1954. New York: Dover Publications.

Crosstable of Hastings 1945-46: hastings

Much of the period was written by Dr. Reuben Fine.
The books were probably Chess Review Books, later Dover,
probably from Chess Review articles.
Fine wrote about Alekhine and the Nazis. Or so he believed.
Alekhine resided in Portugal.
Somewhere along the line, Botvinnik was supposed to play Alekhine.
But Alekhine passed away. There is much material available on the web.
I posted the information along with others in Chessville.
For a listing of post war tournaments and the period before and after
see List of strong chess tournaments - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
I recall reading in the US Army Library in the 60's either, in Berlin, Ge, or
Ft. Jackson, SC Parnau 1947, and several other tournaments. I have an idea how those chess books ended up in a US Army library and that is for another time.

Well, a few comments on the Hastings victory tournament 1945-46. This was the tournament That Alekhine was denied access to because of his alledgedly Nazi leanings. Tartakower won it but it wasn't exactly a star studded affair. He played GA Thomas 64 years, PW Sergeant 73, Jaques Mieses 80, and minor players such as M Christoffel, JM Aitkens, Paul Devos. Euwe was there along with Denker and Steiner from America. It was a good win but not highly lauded in the history books. Several very strong American chess players---Reshevesky, Denker, Fine and others said they would not play in England if Alekhine was invited. Euwe was also strongly against Alekhine. During the war Euwe sent Alekhine letters imploring him to help certain Chess players the Nazi's had in concentration camps for extermination. Alekhine wouldn't or couldn't help these players and they died. This embittered Euwe for many years.

I can't wait...seriously! I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Fine wrote about the era in question. There was a library in NYC that had a good chess library. Probably the library that Fine went to himself years earlier. There was also the CCNY library which had all of Fine's and Reinfeld's books. Some with a small publication and never made it to a mass printing.
There was a question at the time about Alekhine's Nazi involvement.
It appears that involvement may have been false.
There was also a question about Bogolyubov's involvement with the Nazis.
A statement that he placed players who beat him into concentration camps.
Bogolyubov indicated after the war that the statement was false.
Keres also played in German tournaments. But the Soviets indicated he was rehabilitated.
Looking at Bill Wall's list on deceased chess players it appears two players were listed as being exterminated by the Nazis. Both were Polish. Also add: David Przepiorka, Heinrich Wolf.
Another player died in the siege on Stalingrad.

Sad that many wanted to simply be on the side that they thought was winning. I suppose not much has changed...

Much of the following was posted on the Alekhine thread in this website.
Alekhine and the Nazis:
Alekhine and the Nazis
Alexander Alekhine and the Nazis - Chess.com
Was Alekhine a Nazi? by Edward Winter
Bogoljubow and the Nazis: (From Wikipedia):
In Lessons from My Games: A Passion for Chess, Reuben Fine claims that 'Bogoljubow had some of his rivals put in concentration camps by the Nazis when they arrived on the scene in Germany.' Are there any other sources to support this claim, and who were these 'rivals'?
See:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch01.pdf

Fascinating stuff! I’ve often wondered about the Latvian Vladimir Petrov

Vladimirs Petrovs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Supposedly he died in 1943 while in a Soviet corrective labor camp from an inflammation of the lungs. Yet once GM Edmar Mednis was discussing Petrov and when asked whatever happened to him, Mednis simply said, “The Russians shot him.” Guess we’ll never know.

Vladimir Petrov. There was a book I saw in the CCNY library or another library on Kemeri 1937. Also a Reinfeld book on Keres 1934-1937. There was also a Dover book on Russian chess players. Petrov games were there.
Petrov was not the same player of the Petrov Opening.
For those who did not go to Wikipedia, and the link inside of wikipedia:
Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on February 25, 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times. In particular, its Article 58-1 was updated by the listed sub-articles and put in force on June 8, 1934.
This article introduced the formal notion of the enemy of workers: those subject to articles 58-2 — 58-13 (those under 58-1 were "traitors", 58-14 were "saboteurs").
Penal codes of other republics of Soviet Union also had articles of similar nature.

I always thought the Alekhine police death photo was unusual. The police report said he choked to death on a piece of meat. Now this has a ring of truth to it---if you believe the reports of Alekhine, when eating alone, would wolf down his food, not even using silverware. However, the death photo shows Alekhine, sittin in his easy chair, in heavy overcoat, the empty dishes stack up, all the food is gone! Is this the way a man chokes to death? Did he choke to death on the very last bite (there is not a single morsel left on the table)? Was there no heat in his room (overcoat)? Would not a man choking to death be running around hysterically, knocking over tables, beating on the walls, breaking dishes? I cant help but believe he died by some other means.
I'm new to the forum and you may have already gone over these questions.