The below is a list of events in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

in the year 1944.

Chess events in brief

* 27 June 1944 – Vera Manchik-Stevenson, first official

Women's World Chess Champion The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wh ...

(since 1927), represented Russia (1927), Czechoslovakia (1930–37), and England (1939), who was widowed the previous year, still holding the title, her younger sister, Olga Menchik-Rubery, and their mother were killed in a V-1 rocket bombing raid which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham area of South London. According to some sources, Kent was the place of their death.

Tournaments

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

(the 5th GG-ch), won by

Efim Bogoljubow Efim Bogoljubow ( or ), also known as Ewfim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, ( (); also Romanized ''Bogoljubov'', ''Bogolyubov''; uk, Юхим Дмитрович Боголюбов, Yukhym Dmytrovych Boholiubov; April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952) ...

ahead of

Fedor Bogatyrchuk Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk (also ''Bogatirchuk'', ''Bohatirchuk'', ''Bogatyrtschuk'') ( uk, Федір Парфенович Богатирчук; , ''Fyodor Parfenyevich Bogatyrchuk''; 27 November 1892 – 4 September 1984) was a Ukrainian-Can ...

, February 1944. * Mar del Plata won by

Hermann Pilnik Hermann Pilnik (8 January 1914, Stuttgart, Germany – 12 November 1981, Caracas, Venezuela) was a German Argentine chess Grandmaster. Career In 1929, he won the championship of Stuttgart. Pilnik emigrated from Germany to Argentina in 1930. ...

and

Miguel Najdorf Miguel Najdorf (born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf) (15 April 1910 – 4 July 1997) was a Polish–Argentinian chess grandmaster. Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was ...

ahead of Paul Michel and

Carlos Guimard Carlos Enrique Guimard (6 April 1913 – 11 September 1998) was an Argentine chess Grandmaster. He was born in Santiago del Estero. His granddaughter Isabel Leonard is a celebrated mezzo-soprano. Biography Guimard was thrice Argentine Cha ...

, 15–31 March 1944. * La Plata won by Najdorf followed by

Gideon Ståhlberg Anders Gideon Tom Ståhlberg (26 January 1908 – 26 May 1967) was a Swedish chess player. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He won the Swedish Chess Championship of 1927, became N ...

Julio Bolbochán Julio Bolbochán (Buenos Aires, 20 March 1920 – Caracas, 28 June 1996) was the Argentine chess champion in 1946 and 1948. He learned the game from his older brother, Jacobo Bolbochán, later an International Master. He represented Argenti ...

, etc. *

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

won by

Moshe Czerniak Moshe Czerniak (born Moizes Czerniak, also knowns as Miguel Czerniak; he, משה צ'רניאק; 3 February 1910 – 31 August 1984) was a Polish-Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title of International Master (IM) by FIDE in 1952. Biog ...

. *

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

won by

Erich Eliskases Erich Gottlieb Eliskases (15 February 1913 – 2 February 1997) was a chess player who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition. In the late 1930s he was considered a potential contender for the World Championship. ...

. * New York City (the U.S. Chess Championship), won by

Arnold Denker Arnold Sheldon Denker (February 21, 1914 – January 2, 2005) was an American chess player and author. He was U.S. champion in 1944 and 1946. In later years he served in various chess organizations, receiving recognition from the United States ...

, April – May 1944. * Moscow (the 13th

USSR Chess Championship The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1921 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winner ...

), won by Mikhail Botvinnik followed by

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

Isaac Boleslavsky Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky ( uk, Ісаак Єфремович Болеславський, russian: Исаак Ефремович Болеславский; 9 June 1919 – 15 February 1977) was a Soviet chess player and writer. Early caree ...

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

, etc., 21 May – 17 June 1944. *

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

won by

Rudolf Teschner Rudolf Teschner (16 February 1922, Potsdam – 23 July 2006, Berlin-Steglitz) was a German chess master and writer. Teschner was seven times Champion of Berlin. In 1948, he won an East-Zones Championship in Bad Doberan, and later in 1951 took the ...

, start 27 May 1944. * Posen,

Reichsgau Wartheland The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...

, (''Reichsmeisterschaft "Kraft durch Freude"''), won by Hans Müller. * Brunn (the Bohemia and Moravia Chess Championship), won by Karel Opočenský. * Paris ( Championship of the City), won by César Boutteville. *

Lidköping Lidköping () is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had about 40 000 inhabitants in 2021. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidkö ...

(the

Swedish Chess Championship The first Swedish Champion was Gustaf Nyholm, who won two matches against winners of national tournaments: Berndtsson in Göteborg and Löwenborg in Stockholm in 1917. Up until 1931 Swedish Chess Championships decided by match play. In the 1930s, G ...

) won by Stig Lundholm, 26 June – 1 July 1944. *

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

won by

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

ahead of Antonio Medina, 14–23 July 1944. *

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(the 45th U.S. Open), won by

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

ahead of

Anthony Santasiere Anthony Edward Santasiere (December 9, 1904January 13, 1977) was an American chess master and chess writer, who also wrote extensively on non-chess topics. Santasiere was a middle school mathematics teacher by profession. Santasiere won the 19 ...

, 29 July – 10 August 1944. * Stockholm won by Erik Lundin ahead of

Gösta Danielsson Gösta Erik Vilhelm Danielsson (24 June 1912, Helenelund – 17 October 1978, Knivsta) was a Swedish chess master. Career He took 4th at Stockholm 1934 ( Erik Lundin won), tied for 3rd-4th at Falun 1934 (Lundin and Olof Kinnmark won), tied for 3r ...

, 21–31 August 1944. * Ivanovo won by

Alexander Kotov Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov (Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Ко́тов; – 8 January 1981) was a Soviet chess grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet chess champion, a two-time world title Candidate, and a prolific write ...

and

Viacheslav Ragozin Viacheslav Vasilyevich Ragozin (russian: Вячесла́в Васи́льевич Раго́зин; 8 October 1908 – 11 March 1962) was a Soviet chess player, writer and editor. He was world champion in correspondence chess and held the title ...

, 20 September – 8 October 1944. * Riga (the

Baltic Chess Championship The first Baltic Chess Congress took place in Riga, Latvia (then Russian Empire), in 1899. The winner was Robert Behting, the elder brother of Kārlis Bētiņš, who won a play-off game with Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz. The second Baltic Chess Congr ...

), won by

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

, 25 December 1944 – 9 January 1945. * Moscow ( Championship of the City), won by Smyslov followed by Ragozin,

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich Lilienthal Reuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against te ...

, Flohr, December 1944 – January 1945.

Matches

defeated

Juan Iliesco Juan Traian Iliesco (born Ion Traian Iliescu) (18 April 1898 in Brăila, Romania – 2 February 1968 in La Plata) was a Romanian Argentine chess master. He played several times in Argentine championships (''Torneo Mayor''). In 1931, he took 12t ...

(6 : 2) in Mar del Plata, Argentina. *

Héctor Rossetto Héctor Decio Rossetto (8 September 1922 in Bahía Blanca, Argentina – 23 January 2009 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentinian chess player. He earned the title of International Master in 1950 and the Grandmaster title in 1960. He was a five-ti ...

beat

(4,5 : 0,5) in Nueve de Julio (23rd ARG-ch). *

beat João de Souza Mendes (7 : 3) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. * Stepan Popel drew with

(2 : 2) in Kraków, General Government. *

beat

Folke Ekström Nils Johan Folke Ekström (12 October 1906, in Lund – 25 January 2000, in Saltsjobaden) was a Swedish International Master (IM) of chess and of correspondence chess (IMC). He won the Swedish Championships in 1947 and 1948; Swedish Corresponde ...

(5 : 1) in Stockholm, Sweden. *

won against Ramón Rey Ardid (2,5 : 1,5) in Saragossa, Spain. * On 2 December 1944

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

defeated the

Oxford University Chess Club The Oxford University Chess Club (OUCC) was founded at the University of Oxford in 1869.

in a twelve-board team match 8 : 4. C.H.O'D. Alexander,

Harry Golombek Harry Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He was born in Lambeth to ...

James Macrae Aitken James Macrae Aitken (27 October 1908 – 3 December 1983) was a Scottish chess player. Aitken was born in Calderbank, Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1938 he received a PhD from Edinburgh University on the topic of 'The Trial of George Buchanan Befor ...

, and I. J. Good played the top four boards for the Bletchley Park team.Chess Notes 4034. The code-breakers
by Edward Winter; based on a report from ''

CHESS Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

'', February 1945, p. 73.

Births

* 12 January –

Vlastimil Hort Vlastimil Hort (born 12 January 1944) is a German chess Grandmaster. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's strongest players and reached the 1977–78 Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship, but never qualified ...

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

, Czech GM * 19 February – Chen Zude, President of the

Chinese Chess Association The Chinese Chess Association (CCA) (中国国际象棋协会) is the governing body of chess in China, one of the federations of FIDE, and a member of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). It is the principal authority over all chess events in Chi ...

* 6 April –

Florin Gheorghiu Florin Gheorghiu (born 6 April 1944) is a Romanian chess player and has been a university lecturer in foreign languages. Born in Ploiești, on 6 April 1944, while the American bombers attacked the country's capital, his prodigious talent for the ...

, Romania's first GM, nine-time winner of the Romanian Championship * 6 April – Jude Acers in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, American chess player * 16 April – Nikolai Shalnev, German GM * 18 April –

Albin Planinc Albin Planinc (also spelled Planinec) (8 or 18 April 1944 – 20 December 2008) was a Slovenian-Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster. He was born in a working-class family in Briše near Zagorje in the Central Sava Valley, in German-occupied Slove ...

in Briše, Slovenian GM * 27 April – Heikki Westerinen in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finnish GM, four-time winner of the

Finnish Championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

* 5 May – Roman Dzindzichashvili in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Russian/American GM, two time US Champion * 26 May –

Ljuba Kristol Ljuba Danielovna Kristol ( he, לובה דניאלובנה קריסטול; russian: Любовь Даниэловна Кристол; born May 26, 1944, in Leningrad) is a Russian-born Israeli chess player who holds the ICCF title of Lady Grandma ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Israeli ICCGM, two-time World Correspondence Champion * 1 July – Davorin Komljenović, Croatian GM * 4 July –

Albert Kapengut Albert Zinovievich Kapengut (born 4 July 1944, in Kazan, Tatarstan) is a Soviet chess master (since 1962). A holder of the International Master title, he is best known as a respected teacher, theoretician, writer, and member of the successful stude ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

, Soviet chess player and coach * 4 July – Silvino García Martínez, Cuban GM * 5 September –

Jørn Sloth Jørn Sloth (born 5 September 1944 in , Thy, Denmark) is a Danish chess player who holds the chess titles of FIDE Master and Correspondence Chess Grandmaster International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster is a correspondence chess title created ...

in Sjørring, Danish GMC, World Correspondence Champion 1975–1980 * 7 September –

Sam Sloan Samuel Howard Sloan (born September 7, 1944) is an American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he won a case ''pro se'' before the United States Supreme Court, becoming the last non-lawyer to argue a case in front of the cour ...

in Richmond, Virginia, American chess player and writer * 25 September –

Vitaly Tseshkovsky Vitaly Valeryevich Tseshkovsky (russian: Виталий Валерьевич Цешковский; 25 September 1944, Omsk – 24 December 2011, Krasnodar) was a Russian chess Grandmaster and a former champion of the USSR. Tseshkovsky (Cieszkow ...

in Omsk, Russian GM and two-time winner of the USSR Championship (died 2011) * 15 November –

Hans Ree Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Dutch GM and chess writer *

Rani Hamid Rani Hamid (born 14 July 1944) is a Bangladeshi chess player who became the country's first Woman International Master in 1985. She has become the national champion a total of 20 times. She is the current national champion crowned on the 38th Wo ...

, Bangladeshi WIM, three-time winner of the British Women's Championship

Deaths

* Wilhelm Orbach, German master, murdered in Auschwitz. * Jorgen Moeller, Danish master, died in Denmark. Nordic Chess Champion (1899 and 1901), the Moeller Attack in the Giuoco Piano and the Moeller Defense in the Ruy Lopez. *

Nikoly Rudnev Nikoly (Nikolay) Nikolaevich Rudnev (Rudniev) (1895–1944) was a Ukrainian–Uzbekistani chess master. Born in Kharkiv, he played in the Mannheim 1914 chess tournament (''Hauptturnier B''). After World War I and Bolshevik Revolution, he was sent ...

, Ukrainian master, died probably in Uzbekistan. * 3 February –

Albert Hodges Albert Beauregard Hodges (July 21, 1861 – February 3, 1944) was an American chess master who was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Chess career Hodges was one of the better-known American chess masters of the late 19th century. In 1894 he los ...

, 1894 US Chess Champion * ca. 9 February Dawid Daniuszewski, Polish master, died in the

Łódź Ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of ...

. * ca. 9 February Salomon Szapiro, Polish master, died in the

. * 12 April – Roberto Grau died in Buenos Aires.

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and Argentine Champion. * 3 June –

Adolf Zinkl Adolf Julius Zinkl (10 June 1871 – 3 June 1944) was an Austrian chess master. Tournament results Born in Bohemia, he settled in Vienna, where he played in many tournaments in the 1890s. He took 4th in 1892/93, shared 2nd (''Quadrangular'') i ...

, Austrian master, died in Vienna. * 27 June –

Vera Menchik Vera Francevna Mencikova (russian: Вера Францевна Менчик, ''Vera Frantsevna Menchik''; cz, Věra Menčíková; 16 February 1906 – 26 June 1944), was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in En ...

, the 1st

, died in a German bombing raid, London, England. * 27 June –

Olga Menchik Olga Menchik (Menčíková, Menčik) Rubery (1908, Moscow – 26 June 1944, Clapham, London) was a Czech–British female chess master. Born in Moscow to a Czech father and a British mother, she was younger sister to Vera Menchik. They all move ...

, the younger sister of Vera, died in a German bombing raid, London, England. * 2 November – Karol Irzykowski, Polish master, died in Żyrardów. * 9 November –

Frank James Marshall Frank James Marshall (August 10, 1877 – November 9, 1944) was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century. Chess career Marshall was born in New York Cit ...

, American grandmaster, died in Jersey City, USA. * 29 December –

Endre Steiner Endre (Andreas) Steiner (27 June 1901 – 29 December 1944) was a Hungarian chess player, born in Budapest. Endre Steiner played for Hungary in five official and one unofficial Chess Olympiads. * In 1927, he played at first reserve board at 1st ...

, Hungarian master, murdered in a Nazi concentration camp.

References

External links

1944 crosstables
{{chess 20th century in chess Chess by year