Chess in the Third Reich

"How the Game Was Played, Glorified, and Abused in Nazi Germany, 1933–1945"

The USSR is famous as the first totalitarian state to promote chess. Less well known is that Nazi Germany was the second. The Third Reich gave chess a tremendous financial and propaganda boost in hopes of making Germany a dominant chess power. Yet this aspect of the Nazi era has received scant attention in later German literature, and even less in English. This book fills that gap.

Using a multitude of German sources, the author has crafted a narrative showing how the Nazis completely remade German chess into a monolithic structure to showcase the supposed cultural and intellectual superiority of the “master race.” Many games by German masters are presented—Bogoljubow, Richter, Sämisch, Rellstab, Kieninger, Junge, and more—and by others who came under Nazi rule: Alekhine, Keres, Eliskases, et al. Important political figures are featured: Otto Zander, Erhardt Post, Hans Schemm, Josef Goebbels, and especially Hans Frank. Politics affecting chess are detailed, both external (e.g., the annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia) and internal (rivalry between the Grossdeutscher Schachbund and Kraft durch Freude), as of course are the effects of the war and persecution of Jews.

About the Author

Taylor Kingston has been a chess enthusiast since his teens, and was a correspondence master in the 1980s. His historical articles have appeared in Chess Life, New in Chess, Inside Chess, Kingpin, and ChessCafe.com, and he has authored biographical works on Edgard Colle and Carlos Torre. He lives in Paso Robles, California.

Table of Content:

• Preface 1
• Foreword by Herbert Bastian 3
• Analytical Methodology and Technical Details 4
• Frequently Used Abbreviations, Acronyms and Chess Terms 5
• Annotation Symbols 6
• Chapter I—Germans in Chess: A Proud Heritage 7
• Chess in Europe Up to the Mid–19th Century 7
• 1851: German Ascendancy Begins 7
• 1871–1894: Germany and German Chess Are Unified 10
• The Effects of World War I 10
• Chapter II—Chess in the Weimar Republic, 1918–1932 13
• Political Parties and Chess Organizations in the 1920s 13
• ­High-Level German Chess in the 1920s 14
• The Last Years of Freedom, 1930–1932 18
• Chapter III—Chess in the Third Reich, the Early Years 22
• 1933–1934: The Nazis Take Over 22
• Gleichschaltung: First Steps 22
• German Chess and Anti–Semitism in the Third Reich 26
• GSB Promotional Efforts in 1933–34 29
• Chess and Politics in the USSR 1923–1934 30
• Bad Pyrmont 1933 and After: Gleichschaltung in Full 31
• The GSB and FIDE 32
• Reorganization of the National Championship 33
• The Blood Purge 38
• The Dolfuss Assassination and Failed Austrian Coup 39
• ­Alekhine–Bogoljubow II 40
• The Bundesform Pieces 42
• Bad Niendorf 1934 Tournament 43
• Two Important Deaths 43
• 1935: Rearmament, ­Re-Zoning, Olympic Preparation, a New Champion 44
• German Politics in 1935 44
• German Chess in 1935 45
• Germany Prepares for Two Olympiads 48
• A New World Champion 57
• Chapter IV—The Ominous and (Almost) Glorious Year of 1936 59
• On the Geopolitical Front 59
• 1936 in German Chess 60
• Sämisch’s Blindfold Exhibition 61
• Richter’s Rigorous Labors 63
• Moscow 1936 International Tournament 65
• Olympic Training Events 66
• The Final Olympic Team Selections 77
• The Jewish Question: To Play or Not to Play? 77
• August 1936: The Olympiad Begins 78
• Federation Business at Munich 91
• The Rest of 1936 92
• Chapter V—The “Unsurprising” Year 1937 94
• On the Geopolitical Front 94
• German Chess in 1937 94
• Political Friction: The GSB in Conflict with the KdF 95
• The Demise of the KJV 97
• Germany and FIDE in 1937 97
• Major German Tournaments of 1937 97
• Euwe Visits Germany 108
• Germans on the International Scene 111
• Chapter VI—The Momentous Events of 1938 113
• The Anschluss of Austria 113
• Trouble Again with Kraft durch Freude 117
• The Death of Otto Zander 119
• German and International Chess through September 1938 120
• Appeasement at Munich: the Dismemberment of Czechoslovakia 128
• The Chess Variant Wehrschach 130
• Kristallnacht 133
• Chapter VII—1939: Annexation, Consolidation, Aggression, and Amputation 134
• On the International Front 134
• German Chess through July 1939 134
• The ­Eliskases–Bogoljubow Match 134
• Changes to the National Championship 139
• Choosing and Transporting the Olympic Teams 143
• The ­Mieses–Lasker Exchange 145
• The ­Nazi–Soviet ­Non-Aggression Pact 145
• The 1939 FIDE Olympiad Begins 146
• Germany Invades Poland, World War II Begins 149
• Immediate Effects on the Olympiad 150
• A Hollow Victory 151
• Attempted Coup in the General Assembly 157
• In the Aftermath of the Olympiad 159
• Military Developments in Late 1939 161
• Chapter VIII—1940: Sitzkrieg, Blitzkrieg, Alekhine Occupied, KdF Active and Hans Frank Ascendant 163
• Germany Attacks in the West 163
• Alekhine’s Anguish 164
• GSB Chess in 1940 165
• GSB Wertungsturniere and Kriegsmeisterschaft 165
• Willi Schlage Memorial 168
• Kraft durch Freude Chess in 1940 168
• ­Schach-Echo Magazine 169
• Schach ist schön, Schach bringt Freude! 173
• KdF Master Tournaments 174
• Hans Frank’s First Steps Toward Empire 176
• Racial Cleansing of the Lehrbuch des Schachspiels 180
• Chapter IX—1941–1942: The ­Alekhine–Frank Collaboration 183
• An Intellectual Gangster’s Vision 183
• Alekhine’s ­Two-Pronged Strategy 184
• Teyssou’s Additional Factor 187
• Germany Invades Russia 188
• Munich 1941 Europa Tournament and the Incipient Europaschachbund 192
• Alekhine’s New Arrangement 202
• Salzburg 1942 and the Official Founding of the Europaschachbund 203
• 1942 GSB Championship 206
• Munich 1942: The Europaschachbund and Europameisterschaft 208
• Paul Keres, a Pawn in Limbo 212
• A ­Keres–Alekhine World Championship Match? 214
• Goebbels Throws a Fit, but Hans Frank Carries On 214
• Diemer, Dyckhoff and Post on Klaus Junge 216
• The Military Situation in the Latter Half of 1942 221
• The Prague Tournament, December 1942 222
• KdF Activity in 1942 224
• Chapter X—1943: The Beginning of the End 225
• Surrender at Stalingrad 225
• Demise of the Deutsche Schachblätter 225
• The Effects of Bombing on German Chess 226
• GSB Headquarters Bombed 230
• Alekhine in 1943 230
• Hans Frank’s Fading Fiefdom 235
• Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel 236
• Kraft durch Freude Expands Its Influence 239
• Europaschachbund Events 244
• The Military Situation at the End of 1943 245
• Chapter XI—1944: Shutting Down 246
• Grossdeutscher Schachbund Activity 246
• Frank’s Flight from Reality 251
• Kraft durch Freude’s Last Reichsschachturnier 253
• The Deutsche Schachzeitung and Frank Call It Quits 254
• Chapter XII—1945: Aftermath, Epitaphs and Evaluation 256
• Final Defeat and Its Aftermath 256
• Epitaphs 257
• Chess in the Third Reich: A Final Evaluation 258
• Appendix: Munich 1936 Olympiad ­Round-by-Round Results and Standings 263
• Chapter Notes 267
• Bibliography 275
• Indexes:
• Index of Players (to game numbers) 277
• Index of Openings by Name
• (to game numbers) 278
• Index of Openings by ECO Code (to game numbers) 279
• General Index (to page numbers) 280<BR