Nottingham 1936 chess tournament
The Nottingham 1936 chess tournament was a 15-player round robin tournament held August 10–28 at the University of Nottingham. It was one of the strongest of all time.
Dr. J. Hannak wrote in his 1959 biography of Emanuel Lasker that "when it comes to awarding the plum for 'the greatest chess tournament ever', in 1936, the Nottingham Tournament was certainly just that".[1] W. H. Watts in the Introduction to the tournament book called Nottingham 1936 "the most important chess event the world has so far seen".[2]
It is one of the very few tournaments in chess history to include five past, present, or future world champions (Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe and Botvinnik).[3][4] A number of other prominent players, such as Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr, were in the tournament.
According to the unofficial Chessmetrics ratings, the tournament was (as of March 2005) one of only six tournaments in history that had the top eight players in the world playing.[5] (Chessmetrics gives the top eight at the time as, in order: Euwe, Botvinnik, Alekhine, Flohr, Capablanca, Reshevsky, Fine, Bogoljubow).[6]
The event is also notable for being Lasker's last major event,[7][8] and for Botvinnik achieving the first Soviet success outside the Soviet Union.
In parallel with the main tournament, the venue also played host to the 1936 British Women's Championship. The event was won by Edith Holloway (1868-1956), age sixty-eight and a former winner in 1919.[9]
Results
Nottingham 1936[10] # Player 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 Result 1 
Mikhail Botvinnik (Soviet Union)x ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 10 2 
José Raúl Capablanca (Cuba)½ x ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 10 3 
Max Euwe (Netherlands)½ ½ x ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 9½ 4 
Reuben Fine (United States)½ ½ ½ x ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 9½ 5 Samuel Reshevsky (United States)½ 0 0 ½ x 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 9½ 6 
Alexander Alekhine (France)½ 0 1 ½ 0 x 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 9 7 
Salo Flohr (Czechoslovakia)½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 x 1 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 8½ 8 Emanuel Lasker (Soviet Union)½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 x ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 8½ 9 .svg.png.webp)
Milan Vidmar (Yugoslavia)0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ x 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 6 10 .svg.png.webp)
Efim Bogoljubow (Germany)0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 x ½ 1 1 1 1 5½ 11 
Savielly Tartakower (Poland)0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ x 0 0 1 1 5½ 12 
Theodore Tylor (United Kingdom)0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 x ½ ½ ½ 4½ 13 C.H.O'D Alexander (United Kingdom)0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 ½ x ½ ½ 3½ 14 George Alan Thomas (United Kingdom)0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ x ½ 3 15 William Winter (United Kingdom)½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ x 2½
References
- Dr. J. Hannak, Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 297.
- A. Alekhine, The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament, Dover Publications, 1962, p. ix. ISBN 0-486-20189-9.
- Hannak wrote in 1959, "it is certainly the only tournament in chess history that could boast the attendance of as many as five world champions, past, present, and future". Hannak, p. 297.
- Since then, Moscow 1971 and the 1973 Soviet Chess Championship both included five world champions: Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky. Chess Informant, Volume 12, Šahovski Informator, 1972, p. 235. B. Cafferty and M. Taimanov, The Soviet Championships, Cadogan Books, 1998, p. 160. ISBN 1-85744-201-6.
- "Formulas". Chessmetrics.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-19.
- Event Details: Nottingham, 1936, Chessmetrics
- Hannak, pp. 297, 299.
- J. Sonas, Chessmetrics Player Profile: Emanuel Lasker. ChessMetrics.com. Retrieved on 2009-01-17.
- K. Whyld, Guinness Chess, The Records, Guinness Books, 1986, p. 91. ISBN 0-85112-455-0.
- Alekhine, The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament, p. 289.