Peter Fyfe died in Glasgow, Frantisek Schubert died in Bohemia, Kalikst Morawski, a Polish master, died probably in Siberia. Willi Schlage, Wilhelm Hilse and Walter John died in Germany.
Despite the growing war tensions and the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 chess continued to become popular in Holland and there was a steady round of interesting master events that took place.
Quite a few of the leading papers published
long accounts of all the games of the 1939/40 Keres-Euwe match with each game appearing with detailed notes the day after it was played; Keres won 7.6-6.5.
There was a quadrangular tournament held in Delft. The participants were:
Hans Kmoch (1894-1973), an Austria, Dutch, Aerican IM. After the war was over Kmoch and his wife moved to the United States, settling in New York City. Kmoch served as the Secretary and manager of the Manhattan Chess Club and was a popular columnist for Chess Review magazine. In 1956, he wrote his most famous book, Pawn Power in Chess which, I think, is still worth reading.
Max Euwe (1901-1981) was world champion from 1935-1937. I am not sure of the year, but sometime in the late 1950s Dr. Euwe visited Cleveland, Ohio and I was pleased to get his autograph; he was a very gracious gentleman.
Johannes van der Bosch (1906-1994) was a Dutch nobleman, lawyer, banker and chess master. He thrice represented The Netherlands in the Olympiads in the 1930s. He was born in Austria-Hungary and for many years was Holland’s number two players behind Euwe.
Salo Landau’s story is sickening. Born in Austria-Hungary in 1903, for many tears he was Holland’s leading player behind Euwe. In September 1942, Landau tried to escape the clutches of Nazis by by fleeing to Switzerland with his family, but they were caught on September 28th in Breda, The Netherlands near the border with Belgium and sent to Westerbork transit camp.
From there Landau was sent to a concentration camp in Graditz. He died there sometime between December 1943 and 31 March 1944. His wife and young daughter, whose hiding place was betrayed, were sent to Auschwitz in September 1944, where they were gassed on October 12, 1944.
[Event "Delft"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1940.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Max Euwe"]
[Black "Salo Landau"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B74"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1940.??.??"]
{B74: Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6.
Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 Nc6 9. f4 Bd7 10. Kh1 Rc8 11. Nb3 a6 12. Bf3 Qc7 (
12... b5 {as in Anuprita,P (2081)-Foudzi,S (2162) Bikaner 2004 leads to
equality after} 13. a3 Be6 14. Nd4 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Qc7 16. Rf2 Rfd8 17. Rd2 Nd7
18. Bxg7 Kxg7) 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Na5 (14... Nb8 {Intending toi reposition
the N.} 15. c3 a5 16. a4 Na6 17. Be2 Nc5 {with equal chances. Parma,B (2540)
-Velimirovic,D (2520) Belgrade 1978}) 15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. c3 Rc4 17. Qd2 b5 18.
Rfe1 Rfc8 {So far all the moves have been routine. At the time this move was
questioned because it was believed that Landau had overlooked the following
reply which wins material. Perhaps that is true, but the position remains
equal after this move. The real mistake comes later. That said, therr was a
better move.} (18... b4 {This gives black a more active position than he gets
after the text.} 19. cxb4 Qxb4 20. Rac1 Qxd2 21. Bxd2 Ra4 22. Rxe7 Bb5 23. Bc3
Rxa2) 19. Qf2 {Threatening Bb6.} Qd8 {Here is the mistake that lands black in
trouble...his position becomes too passive.} (19... b4 20. Bb6 Qb5 21. Be2 bxc3
22. b3 R8c5 {This hidden resource saves the day!} 23. Bxc4 (23. Bxc5 {is
innacurate...} Qxc5 24. Qxc5 Rxc5 {and black is better.}) 23... Qxb6 24. Rxe7
c2 25. Rc1 Qd8 26. Re2 Bf5 {Black has a solid position and here is no way for
white to force an advantage even though he is the exchange uo.}) 20. Be2 Ra4
21. Bd1 {[%mdl 2048] White has all the play.} Re4 {The plan is to sacrifice
the exchange which eliminates his poorly placed R and white's well positioned
B.} (21... Rac4 {is adequately met by} 22. Bb3 R4c7 23. Bb6) 22. Bc2 Rxe3 (
22... Rec4 {does not work out well...} 23. Bb6 Qf8 24. Bb3) 23. Rxe3 {This
small slip allows black to equalize.} (23. Qxe3 b4 24. Qxe7 bxc3 25. b4 Bb5 26.
Qxd8+ Rxd8 27. Re7 {with a promising position.}) 23... b4 {Grabbing his share
of counterplay and leading to an exciting finish.} 24. f5 {[%mdl 32] White
counters on the K-side.} (24. cxb4 Bd4 25. Qe1 Bxe3 26. Qxe3 Rxc2 {and wins.})
24... bxc3 25. fxg6 {How should black recapture? It's a case of make the wrong
decision and lose or make the right decision and make it a dog fight.} cxb2 {
[%mdl 8192] This is the wrong decision! The P on b2 turns out to be no real
threat.} (25... hxg6 {could have resulted in a whole other outher outcome after
} 26. Rf1 Qe8 27. Qe1 cxb2 28. Rxe7 Qd8 29. Rfxf7 {Double Rs on the 7th rank...
what could be better than that for white? Black has at least two continuations;
both result in head whirling complications.} Qxe7 (29... Bf8 30. Rxd7 Qe8 31.
Qf1 Rxc2 32. Rc7 Re2 33. Rb7 {with equal chances.}) 30. Rxe7 Rxc2 31. Rxg7+
Kxg7 (31... Kh8 32. Rh7+ Kxh7 33. Qe7+) 32. Qe7+ {with a draw.}) 26. gxf7+ {
...and wins.} Kf8 27. Rae1 Bf6 28. Bxh7 Rc1 29. Qg3 Bg7 30. Bb1 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1
Qa5 32. Rf1 Qc3 33. Qg6 {Black resigned.} (33. Qg6 Bb5 34. Qh7 e6 35. Qg8+ Ke7
36. f8=Q+ Bxf8 37. Qxf8+ Kd7 38. Rf7#) 1-0
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