General Government chess tournament
General Government chess championships were Nazi tournaments held during World War II in occupied central Poland. Hans Frank, the Governor-General of General Government, was the patron of those tournaments because he was an avid chess player.
The competition began when he organized a chess congress in Kraków on 3 November 1940. Six months later Frank announced the establishment of a chess school under Chess grandmasters, Yefim Bogolyubov and Alexander Alekhine.
Historical context
A number of Polish chess players were arrested in January 1940. Jewish players were killed by Germans, e.g. Dawid Przepiórka. Ethnic Poles didn't participate in the tournaments.Participants
- Alexander Alekhine Russia/France
- Efim Bogoljubow Ukraine/Germany
- Paul Felix Schmidt Estonia/Germany
- Klaus Junge 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
Regedziński played as Theodore Reger, and Tuhan-Baranowski as Lisse.