The

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

of World Chess Champions was the period between March 24, 1946 (the date of

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

's death) and May 17, 1948 (when

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

won a special championship tournament).

History

When Alekhine suddenly died in 1946, the title of World Chess Champion became vacant for the first time in its 60-year history. Since the 19th century, the title was decided by

matches A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

between the current champion and a challenger, who by winning would become the new champion. Alekhine died holding the title, leaving no obvious method for a new player to succeed him. The situation was very confused, with many respected players and commentators offering different solutions, for example:

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

should be declared champion because he was the last player to win a championship match;

should be declared champion because Alekhine had accepted a challenge from Botvinnik before his death; or Euwe should play a match for the title against Botvinnik.

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

, the international chess federation, found it very difficult to organize the early discussions on how to resolve the ''interregnum'' because problems with money and travel so soon after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

prevented many countries from sending representatives – most notably the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The shortage of clear information resulted in otherwise responsible magazines publishing rumors and speculation, which only made the situation more confused. FIDE's discussions mainly favored: A round-robin tournament involving the world's top players, to determine who would be the new World Champion (their first proposal in July 1946 nominated Euwe, Botvinnik,

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

and one of the winners of the

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

tournaments to be held later in 1946). (Most of these were participants in the 1938 AVRO tournament.) Afterwards, a match for the title every 3 years after that, the challenger being selected by a series of tournaments. But some writers suggest that at the 1947 FIDE congress, Euwe was declared World Champion on a vote that took place just before the Soviet Union's delegates arrived, and the Soviet Union immediately supported the proposal for a World Championship Tournament – so Euwe was deposed after a two-hour "reign" as World Champion. Review and summary at and Earlier in 1947 Botvinnik had written an article in which he stated the need to prevent champions from avoiding the strongest challengers and to make sure that the financial arrangements were satisfactory for both players and for whoever was hosting the events; he supported the proposal that the vacant world championship should be filled by the winner of a multi-round all-play-all tournament; and proposed a system for selecting future challengers that was very like FIDE's 1946 proposals and the system that operated from 1948 to 1963. The proposed tournament was very similar in concept to the 1938

AVRO tournament The AVRO tournament was a famous chess tournament held in the Netherlands in 1938, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. The event was a double round-robin tournament between the eight strongest players in the world. Paul Keres and ...

, whose purpose had been to decide who should challenge Alekhine for the title. The World Championship Tournament took place in 1948, the first half in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

and the second in Moscow. Botvinnik won by scoring 14 points out of 20 and making a plus score against each of the other players; in fact he clinched first place some days before the last round ended on May 17, 1948. Thus he became the new world champion and brought the ''interregnum'' to an end. Competitions for the World Chess Championship would be held exclusively under FIDE's auspices for the next 45 years. The Interregnum was a unique period in modern chess history. Although there were gaps in the chain of succession of the title when a new champion did not play against the old one (e.g.

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

after

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

), the Interregnum currently remains the only period in the history of modern chess in which there was no World Champion.

Women

There was a similar interregnum of the Women's World Chess Championship, between Vera Menchik's death in 1944 and

Lyudmila Rudenko Lyudmila Vladimirovna Rudenko (russian: Людми́ла Влади́мировна Руде́нко, uk, Людмила Володимирівна Руденко; 27 July 1904 – 4 March 1986) was a Soviet chess player and the second women' ...

winning the championship in 1950.

References

{{World Chess Championships, state=expanded History of chess World Chess Championships 1946 in chess 1947 in chess 1948 in chess Interregnums

History

Women

See also

References