Events in

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

in 1933: *The

5th Chess Olympiad The 5th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and (unofficial) women's tournament, as well as several events desig ...

(known at the time as the Folkestone Team Tournament or the Hamilton-Russell Cup) is held in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

. The United States wins the gold medal, Czechoslovakia silver, and Sweden bronze. *The

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first Women's professional wrestling world championship in the world. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she ...

is held in conjunction with the Olympiad.

Vera Menchik Vera Francevna Mencikova (, ''Vera Frantsevna Menchik''; ; 16 February 1906 – 26 June 1944), was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in England. She was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champ ...

(Czechoslovakia) easily retains her title. *The Bulgarian Championship is inaugurated in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

. *''

Chess Review ''Chess Review'' was an U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Until April 1941 it was called ''The Chess Review''. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but l ...

'' is established by

Isaac Kashdan Isaac Kashdan (November 19, 1905, in New York City – February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles) was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion (1938, 1947). He played five times for the United States in chess Oly ...

. The leading American chess magazine for most of its run, the ''Chess Review'' would be published from January 1933 until November 1969 when it merged with ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "m ...

'' to form ''Chess Life & Review''.

Tournaments

* Hastings Christmas Congress, held 28 December 1932 to 6 January 1933, is won by

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

(Czechoslovakia) for the second consecutive year, scoring 7/9 with no losses.

Vasja Pirc Vasja Pirc ( ; ) (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defence. Pirc was champion of Yugo ...

(Yugoslavia) is second with 6½ followed by

Mir Sultan Khan Sultan Khan ( Punjabi and , 1903 – 25 April 1966; often given the erroneous honorific ''Mir Sultan Khan'' or ''Mir Malik Sultan Khan'') was a chess player from British India, and later a citizen of Pakistan, who was the strongest Asian player ...

with 6. *Masters tournament in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

is won by

Esteban Canal Esteban Canal (April 19, 1896 – February 14, 1981) was a leading Peruvian chess player who had his best tournament results in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Chiclayo, Peru, he later lived in Italy, and died in Varese. As a chess player Canal wa ...

with 10/14, followed by

Pál Réthy Pál Réthy (28 January 1905, Deva – 27 December 1962, Budapest) was a Hungarian chess master. Born in Deva, Transylvania (then Austria-Hungary, now Romania), he lived in Hungary after World War I. He took 7th at Vienna 1926 ( Rudolf Spielmann w ...

with 9½,

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich Lilienthal Reuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ...

with 9,

Lajos Steiner Lajos Steiner (14 June 1903, in Nagyvárad ( Oradea) – 22 April 1975, in Sydney) was a Hungarian–born Australian chess master. Steiner was one of four children of Bernat Steiner, a mathematics teacher, and his wife Cecilia (née Schwarz) ...

with 8½, and

Erich Eliskases Erich Gottlieb Eliskases (15 February 1913 – 2 February 1997) was a chess player who represented Austria, Germany and Argentina in international competition. In the late 1930s he was considered a potential contender for the World Championship. ...

with 8. *United States Team Tournament held to select players to join Frank Marshall and

on the US

Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

team is won by

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 ...

with 8/11, followed by

Arthur Dake Arthur William Dake (April 8, 1910 – April 28, 2000) was an American chess player. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada. Biography Born Artur Darkowski, his father was of Polish and his mother of Norwegian ancestry (Edwar ...

and A.C. Simonson tied at 7½. *

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

is the site of a National Masters tournament in June, won by

Efim Bogoljubow Efim Bogoljubow, also known as Efim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow (April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952), was a Russian-born German Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Early career Bogoljubow learned how to play chess at 15 years old, and dev ...

. The tournament is organized by the ''Grossdeutsche Schachbund'', a new state-supported chess federation with Nazi Propaganda Minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

serving as honorary chair. The editors of ''

'' decry the virtual exclusion of Jews from German chess, not only from tournaments but also from chess cafés and playing rooms. *

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

held September 23 to October 1 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

is won by

with 12/13 over

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 late 1 ...

with 11 and

with 9½. Fine scored +10−1=0, the only loss being to Reshevsky.

Matches

*57th Varsity Match in April is won by

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

over

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, 5–2. Cambridge leads the overall series by 26 matches to 25, with 6 ties. *

(Czechoslovakia) beats Henry Grob (Switzerland), 4½–1½. *

defeats

+4−2=3 in a match held in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the Marshall Chess Club and the

Manhattan Chess Club The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan, New York City was the second-oldest chess club in the United States (next to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco) before it closed. The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen m ...

. *Flohr and

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (; ; – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer sci ...

draw a match held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, 2 wins, 2 losses and eight draws each.

Exhibitions

*The National Chess Federation (United States) organized a chess program for the

1933 Chicago World's Fair A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Exposit ...

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

played a

blindfold A blindfold (from Middle English ') is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. While a properly fitted blindfold prevents sight even if the eyes are open, a poorly tied or trick blindfo ...

simultaneous exhibition A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition (commonly chess or Go) in which one player (typically of high rank, such as a grandmaster or dan-level player) plays multiple games at a time with a number of other pl ...

on a record-setting 32 boards, winning 19, drawing 9, and losing 4. This broke the previous record of 30 simultaneous blindfold games set by George Koltanowski in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Alekhine also played three games of living chess, in which the chess pieces were people in medieval costumes arrayed on a large outdoor board. The last of these games, held on June 19, was against

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author ...

. A masters tournament was planned for the Fair but was canceled due to lack of funds. The scheduled Intercollegiate Tournament was held and was won by Lieutenant John O. Matheson of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

Births

Burt Hochberg Burt Hochberg (1933 – May 13, 2006) was an expert on chess and other games and puzzles. He authored and edited many books on chess, and served as editor of both ''Chess Life'' (from December 1966 until October 1979 inclusive), and ''GAMES'' mag ...

, American chess writer and editor *February 3 — Raúl Sanguinetti in

Paraná, Entre Ríos Paraná () is the capital city of the Argentine province Entre Ríos, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe, capital of the neighbouring Santa Fe Province. The city has a population of 268,889 inhabit ...

, Argentinian GM *March 5 –

Evgeni Vasiukov Evgeni Andreyevich Vasiukov (, March 5, 1933 – May 10, 2018) was a Russian chess player, one of the strongest in the world during his peak. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1961. During his career, he won the Moscow Champio ...

, Russian/Soviet GM *May 29 – Nikola Padevsky in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, Bulgarian GM *September 30 –

János Flesch János Flesch (30 September 1933 – 9 December 1983) was a chess Grandmaster, chess writer and coach, born in Budapest, Hungary. He is best known for claiming a world record simultaneous blindfold exhibition when he played 52 opponents in Budap ...

, Hungarian GM *October 7 –

Jonathan Penrose Jonathan Penrose, (7 October 1933 – 30 November 2021) was an English chess player, who held the titles Grandmaster (1993) and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1983). He won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, English GM and Correspondence GM *October 15 – Zadok Domnitz in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

*October 15 –

James Sherwin James Terry Sherwin (born October 25, 1933) is an American-born corporate executive and International Master in chess. Biography Born in New York City in 1933, Sherwin attended Stuyvesant High School, Columbia College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Col ...

, American IM *November 12 –

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. As one of the most decorated players in the history of Chess Olympiad, Ivkov was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal t ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbian/Yugoslavian GM *November 13 – Bukhuti Gurgenidze in

Surami, Georgia Surami ( ka, სურამი) is a small town (''Daba (settlement), daba'') in Georgia (country), Georgia’s Shida Kartli region with a population of 7,492 as of 2014. It is a popular mountain climatic resort and a home to a medieval fortress. ...

, Georgian/Soviet GM *November 15 – Egon Varnusz in

, Hungarian FM and chess writer

Deaths

*March 7 – Hermann von Gottschall, 70, German player *March 27 – William Samuel Viner, 52, Australian player *April 23 – Henry William Barry, 54, American problemist and problem editor of the ''

American Chess Bulletin The ''American Chess Bulletin'' was a chess periodical that was published monthly (November–April) and bi-monthly (May–October) from 1904 to 1962. It was published from New York City. The editor was Hermann Helms (1870–1963), who founded t ...

'' *July 22 – Adolf Georg Olland, 66, leading Dutch player *October 17 –

Johann Berger Johann Nepomuk Berger (11 April 1845, Graz – 17 October 1933) was an Austrian chess master, theorist, endgame study composer, author and editor. In September 1870, he won the first tournament in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at Graz. In 1875, ...

, 88, Austrian player, theorist, and endgame composer

References

External links

1933 crosstables
{{chess 20th century in chess Chess by year