General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

chess championships (''Schachmeisterschaft des Generalgouvernements'') were

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

tournaments held during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in occupied central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Hans Frank, the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

of General Government, was the patron of those tournaments because he was an avid chess player.Hans Frank and Chess – Edward Winter
/ref> The competition began when he organized a chess congress in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

on 3 November 1940. Six months later Frank announced the establishment of a chess school under Chess grandmasters, Yefim Bogolyubov and

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 ...

Historical context

A number of Polish chess players were arrested in January 1940. Jewish players were killed by Germans, e.g.

Dawid Przepiórka Dawid Przepiórka (22 December 1880 – presumed April 1940) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Jewish-Polish chess player of the early twentieth century, who won the first Polish championship. Biography Dawid Przepiórka was born 22 Decemb ...

. Ethnic Poles didn't participate in the tournaments.

Participants

Russia/France *

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 ...

Ukraine/Germany * Paul Felix Schmidt Estonia/Germany *

Klaus Junge Klaus Junge (1 January 1924 – 17 April 1945) was a Chilean-German chess master who was among the world's leading players during World War II. An officer in the Wehrmacht, he died during the Battle of Hamburg (1945), Battle of Welle shortly bef ...

Chile/Germany * Karl Gilg Czechoslovakia/Germany * Josef Lokvenc Austria/Germany * Hans Müller Austria/Germany * Wolfgang Weil Austria/Germany * Paul Mross Poland/Germany * Teodor Regedziński Poland/Germany * Leon Tuhan-Baranowski Poland/Germany * Fedir Bohatyrchuk Ukraine/Soviet Union and other German players /Germany. Regedziński played as ''Theodore Reger'', and Tuhan-Baranowski as ''Lisse''.

Kraków / Krynica / Warsaw 1940

The first General Government Championship was held in

, Krynica and

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in 3–17 November 1940. :

Kraków / Warsaw 1941

The second General Government Championship was held in Kraków and Warsaw in 5–19 October 1941. :

Warsaw / Lublin / Kraków 1942

The third General Government Championship was held in Warsaw,

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and Kraków in 11–24 October 1942. :

Krynica 1943

The fourth General Government Championship was held in Krynica in 25 November–5 December 1943. :

Radom 1944

The fifth General Government Championship was held in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

in February 1944.1944
: