The history of chess part four - chess origins
International chess play ended with the outbreak of war in Europe, although in Russia, in 1940, a tournament called "International" was put on and resulted in a tie between Igor Bondarevsky of Rostov and Andreas Lilienthal of Budapest. In 1942, there was staged in Munich, Germany, the "European Championship Tournament." This was won by Goosta Stoltz of Sweden; Dr. Alekhine tied for second with Erik Lunden of Sweden. The other contestants were from Germany and Denmark.
Geoffrey Mott-Smith of New York, a leading authority, advises on the following post-war developments in the game:
"The first international team match to be conducted by radio was between the United States and the U.S.S.R., Sept. 1-4, 1945. The American team consisted of Arnold S. Denker, Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Israel Horowitz, Isaac Kashdan, Herman Steiner, Albert Pinkus, H. Seidman, Abraham Kupchik and Anthony Santasiere. The Russians were Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov, I. Boleslaysky, Salo Flohr, A. Kotov, Bondarevsky, Lilienthal, V. Ragozin, N. Makogonov and David Bronstein.
"Each man played two games with his opposite number on the other team. The Russian team won by 151/2 to 41/2. The sensation of the event was the defeat of Reshevsky and Fine, considered America's strongest players, by the official No. 2 and No. 3 players of Russia. U.S.S.R. has an elaborate system of national ranking based on achievement; it involves less personal judgment than does the United States tennis ranking. The United States has no system of national ranking in chess.
"In September, 1946, a new era of international team matches was inaugurated when an American team traveled to Russia to play a face-to-face match. Again ten Americans faced ten Russians, each pair of same number playing two games. The American team was Reshevsky, Fine, Denker, Horowitz, Kashdan, Steiner, Pinkus, A. Kevitz, A.W. Dake and 0. Ulvestad. The Russian team was made up of Botvinnik, P. Keres, Smyslov, Boleslaysky, Kotov, Flohr, Ragozin, Bondarevsky, Lilienthal and Bronstein.
