A Small, Unimportant Tournament in 1937

    Following Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933, the Nazis transformed Germany into a one-party dictatorship that implemented racial, political and social policies. German Jews felt the effects of legislation that transformed them into outcasts and enemies of the state. 

    When 1937 rolled around the Aryanization of the economy started when Jewish business owners were forced to sell their businesses, in most cases at proces considerably below their valus. Additionally, Jews were prohibited from working in any office in Germany. 

    Buchenwald concentration camp opened and yhe first 300 prisoners arrived on July 16. By the end of the month, there were 1,000 inmates and the number climed to 80,000 in March 1945. 

    While that was happening in Germany, in the U.S. the Neutrality Act of 1935 expire, but it’s replacement did include a concession to President Roosevelt that permits Allied nations to pay cash for American goods and then transport the goods in their own ships. 

    Roosevelt tried to warn the world of the growing threat to international security that was being jeopardized, but he was accused or trying to circumvent the neutrality laws of America. In late 1937, Germany and Japan signed a military pact. Anf the Japanese Army launched the massacre of Nanking and ot’s estimated that over 300,00 people were brutally murdered. 

    Against that backdrop a long forgotten small and unimportant double round tournament was played in the three cities of Bad Nauheim, Stuttgart and Garmisch.   

    The four players were the world champion Max Euwe, former world champion Alexander Alekhine, former world champion challenger Efim Bogoljubow and German champion Friedrich Saemisch. Shortly after this event, Alekhine won a rematch against Euwe for the world championship.

 

[Event "Bad Nauheim-Stuttgart-Garmisch"] [Site ""] [Date "1937.07.26"] [Round "5"] [White "Max Euwe"] [Black "Efim Bogoljubov"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E36"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "1937.07.18"] {E36: Nimzo-Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 {This game was played in the early days of the Nimzo and at the time this was the most popular move; today it's considered the Classical (or Capablanca) Variation which has largely been replaced by the Rubinstein Variation *4.e3. In this Classical line white plans to acquire the two Bs without getting doubled c-Pawns. Even though white ains the two Bs black should open the game quickly to exploit their lead in development.} d5 {Black immediately plays in the center.} 5. a3 Be7 {A rare sideline that statistically has not worked well for black, so 5...Bxc3 us better.} 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 {Oddly, in my ChessBase opening database this is the main line, but Stockfish's first coice is 7.Bxf6} Nbd7 8. e3 O-O 9. Nf3 c6 {Black would get more play with 9...c5} 10. Rd1 Ne8 (10... b6 11. Be2 Bb7 12. O-O dxc4 13. Bxc4 c5 14. dxc5 Qc8 {is about even. Gurevich,D (2540)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2565) Dordrecht 1998}) 11. Bg3 {[%mdl 32]} Nd6 12. c5 Nf5 13. Bf4 b6 14. b4 bxc5 15. bxc5 Qa5 16. Bd3 Nh4 17. Nxh4 Bxh4 18. Bd6 {It's rather unusual to see a B rather than a N on such an advanced outpost.} Re8 19. O-O e5 {Rather than this advance black should have challenges the B on d6 with 19...Be7 with equal chance. Now after all the jockying for position of the last several moves white now gets a nore active position.} 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21. Bf5 exd4 22. exd4 Nf8 {[%mdl 32]} 23. Bxc8 Raxc8 24. Rd3 Bf6 25. Rfd1 Ne6 {Threatening the d-Pawn.} 26. Ne2 {[%mdl 8192] This is a serious tactical blunder. Now it's Black To Play And Win.} (26. h3 {and white has nothing to worry about; black can only mark time with moves like 26...h5 or 26...Kh8, but he should avoid} Nxd4 27. Rxd4 Bxd4 28. Rxd4 {when altgough the winning process was long and arduous white scored 5-0 in Shootouts.} Qxa3) 26... Nxd4 {[%mdl 512] Taking advantage of white's weak back rank.} 27. Rxd4 (27. Qd2 Nxe2+ 28. Kf1 Nc3 {Black has won a piece.} 29. Rxc3 Qxc3 30. Qxc3 Bxc3) 27... Bxd4 28. Rxd4 {White is lost, but this gross oversight allows a rare occurrence in play at this level...a checkmate} Qe1# {Of all the World Chapions Euwe pribably had more games containing gross blunders like in this game than any of them. Even so, Chessmetrics estimated him to have been the world's #1 ranked player for 14 different months in 1936 and 1937.} 0-1