In August/September 1946 (13 August–7 September), just a few months after the end of the Second World War, a major international chess tournament was held in Groningen, the Netherlands: the Staunton Memorial Tournament. Some may wonder why a memorial tournament honouring the great English player and organizer was held in Groningen of all places. The reason lies with Groningen's venerable chess club, the Staunton Chess Society, which was founded in November 1871 and named after Howard Staunton. Incidentally, the club's namesake was still alive when it was founded. He died three years later, at the age of 63.

The Background

During the war, a small five-player chess tournament was held in Groningen in March 1941. The participants were Salomon (Salo) Landau, at the time the strongest player in the Netherlands after Max Euwe, Hans Kmoch, J.H. Kruit and two members of the Staunton club, Chr. Scholtens and A.H. Roose. Salo Landau won the tournament. It was his last. In 1942, he and his family were deported; in 1944, they were all murdered by the Nazis.

Salo Landau, left, playing Johannes van den Bosch, c. 1930 | Photo source: Chess Club Utrecht

During the course of this five-player tournament, the club's approaching 75th anniversary in 1946 was discussed, and the idea of holding an anniversary tournament was born – provided external circumstances would allow it. During the war and the German occupation, staging such a tournament was out of the question, but after Nazi Germany capitulated in May 1945 and the Netherlands had been liberated, the idea was taken up again.

The tournament was then organized jointly by members of the Staunton Club and the NOSBO (Noordelijke Schaakbond, Groningen en Drenthe). Max Euwe helped with the selection of participants. He had excellent international contacts and was able to provide addresses.

The Field Takes Shape

The organizers wanted the anniversary tournament in Groningen to feature a broad international mix of world-class players. Their first choices were the players from the 1938 AVRO tournament, the last major tournament before the war. Capablanca and Alekhine, however, had since died. Max Euwe was certain to take part.

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Max Euwe became the fifth World Chess Champion after beating Alexander Alekhine in the 1935 World Championship match. A maths teacher by profession, Euwe remained an amateur throughout his life, but was still the best chess player in the Netherlands, and one of the world's best players. Euwe holds the record for the most Dutch national championships, with twelve. After winning the World Championship, Euwe was also the world's best player for a while. He lost the title again in 1937 in the rematch against Alexander Alekhine.
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Some of the invitations were sent directly to the players, while others were issued through the national federations. The Soviet Union, which shortly before had decisively defeated the USA in a radio match and was already preparing to assume supremacy in chess, sent no fewer than five of its leading players. It was the first time that a substantial number of Soviet players had taken part in a tournament outside the Soviet Union. Mikhail Botvinnik and Salo Flohr were two more of the desired participants from the AVRO tournament. Alexander Kotov, Vassily Smyslov and Isaak Boleslavsky also made the journey to Groningen.

The Soviet players on their way to Groningen, stopping over in Berlin | Photo: chess.gpntb.ru via Douglas Griffin

Paul Keres, who had played in tournaments in German-controlled territory during the Second World War, was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union.

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Botvinnik's results in the last major tournaments before the war had marked him out for greater things. In fact, he had arranged a match for the World Championship with Alexander Alekhine, which was due to take place in Nottingham in August 1946. Alekhine's somewhat mysterious death on 24 March 1946 in exile in Estoril meant that the match was no longer possible, leaving Botvinnik free to play in other tournaments.

Flohr, Botvinnik, Kotov and Boleslavsky strolling through Groningen with Steiner.

Cenek Kottnauer took part from Czechoslovakia, Laszlo Szabo from Hungary and Milan Vidmar from Yugoslavia. In the new political landscape of post-war Europe, the home countries of these three players now belonged to the Soviet sphere of influence. Kottnauer moved to England in 1953.

Alberic O’Kelly de Galway had made the short journey from Belgium to Groningen. France was represented by the two great “characters” Savielly Tartakover and Ossip Bernstein, both of whom had originally come from Eastern Europe. Martin Christoffel took part from Switzerland, while Gösta Stoltz and Erik Lundin represented Sweden.

Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky were unable or unwilling to take part from the USA, but reigning US champion Arnold Denker and Herman Steiner made the journey. The young Daniel Yanofsky from Canada was another interesting participant from North America.

The Polish-born Mieczyslaw (later Miguel) Najdorf, who had been stranded in Argentina after the 1939 Chess Olympiad, had already taken Argentine citizenship in 1944 and now represented his new home country, as did Carlos Guimard.

There were no players from England, as the British Championships were being held there at the same time. German and Italian players were not wanted in the tournament.

In the end, the organizers had assembled a select and highly international field of 20 players, including several legends from an earlier era and a number of promising young players. Max Euwe was a former World Champion, while Mikhail Botvinnik and Vassily Smyslov were two future World Champions.

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The players

One Player Too Many – What Now?

The organization of the tournament under the leadership of the highly energetic Johann Hollander seems to have been rather chaotic. Communication was, of course, cumbersome and time-consuming in those days, and particularly with regard to the Soviet players, there was considerable uncertainty for a long time as to whether they would take part and, if so, how many of them would come. Eventually, the field appeared to be complete with 20 players. But then the organizers were surprised when five Soviet players arrived instead of the expected four. They now had one player too many.

Lodewijk Prins had originally been scheduled as the second Dutch participant. Since there was no question of withdrawing the invitation of a player who had travelled from abroad, the local player Prins was asked to give up his place. He refused. Euwe and Botvinnik then both offered to withdraw, but the organizers were unwilling to do without either of these top players.

Lodewijk Prins was offered compensation of 1,000 guilders for withdrawing, as well as free board and lodging in Groningen for the duration of the tournament. When Prins rejected the offer, however, he was simply removed from the tournament. Prins subsequently sued the organizing Staunton club for 2,500 guilders.

A further problem arose when Johann Hollander, who was also treasurer of the Staunton Chess Society, went bankrupt. This had serious consequences for the club as well, since Hollander had kept the club's funds in his private account. And because the Staunton Chess Club was not regarded as a legal entity, its members – at least those involved in organizing the tournament – had to bear personal responsibility for the financial losses.

The Harmonie in Groningen

But now to chess ...

The tournament was played in the Great Hall of the Harmoniegebouw. The building was demolished in 1973. Only the façade was preserved and is now part of the University of Groningen. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Hotel Frigge.

The tournament attracted enormous public interest in Groningen. The game between Max Euwe and Mikhail Botvinnik in round 10 drew an audience of 1,000 spectators. The game ended in a draw.

The tournament quickly developed into a two-horse race between Max Euwe and Mikhail Botvinnik. Both had started with four wins from the first four rounds. In round five, Euwe conceded his first draw against Najdorf, while Botvinnik continued his winning streak against Vidmar. In round six, Botvinnik drew with Denker, while Euwe defeated Szabo.

The race for first place thus continued neck and neck. Before the final two rounds, i.e. after round 17, Botvinnik and Euwe were tied on an impressive 13½ points. Up to that point, Botvinnik had lost only to Kotov and Yanofsky, while Euwe had lost only to Smyslov.  

In the penultimate round, Euwe dropped half a point against Tartakower, while Botvinnik defeated Guimard and thus went into the final round with a half-point lead. There, however, Botvinnik lost his game against Najdorf.

Euwe, however, also lost – to Kotov.

And so Mikhail Botvinnik did, after all, emerge as the tournament winner.

The prizegiving

Smyslov, Najdorf and Szabo took the next places. Alexander Kotov had beaten both of the tournament leaders, but lost too many games against other players and finished in the middle of the field.

Fortunately, there is also a video of this event: