1932 in chess

• Canadian Chess Federation replaces the Canadian Chess Association, and for the first time all major cities in Canada are represented.
• Buchholz system for tie-breaking in tournaments is developed by Bruno Bucholz.

  Tournaments

• Hastings 1931/2 won by Salo Flohr scoring 8/9, followed by Isaac Kashdan with 7½. Further back were Max Euwe at 5½ and Mir Sultan Khan at 4½.
• London "Sunday Referee" tournament featured five players from Hastings with the addition of Alexander Alekhine, Savielly Tartakower, and Géza Maróczy. Alekhine won 9/11, followed by Flohr at 8 and Kashdan and Khan tied at 7½.
• Berne featured the most important tournament of the year, with ten Swiss players and six foreign masters. Alekhine won scoring 12½/15, followed by Euwe and Flohr at 11½, Sultan Khan at 11, and Ossip Bernstein and Efim Bogoljubov at 10½.
• Pasadena won by Alekhine 8½/11, followed by Kashdan at 7½, and Arthur Dake, Samuel Reshevsky, and Herman Steiner at 6.
• Mexico City hosts the first international chess tournament held in Mexico. Alekhine and Kashdan share first with 8½/9, followed by Captain José Joaquín Araiza at 6.
• Hungarian Championship won by Géza Maróczy 13/17 ahead of Esteban Canal at 12, Endre Steiner at 11, and Lajos Steiner and Andor Lilienthal tied at 10½.
• British Championship won by Sultan Khan 8½/11, followed by C.H.O'D Alexander, at 8, G.A. Thomas at 7, R.P. Michell at 6½, and Theodore Tylor and defending champion Frederick Yates tied at 6.
• Bad Sliač won by Salo Flohr and Milan Vidmar tied at 9½/13, followed by Vasja Pirc at 8½ and Esteban Canal, Géza Maróczy, and Rudolf Spielmann at 8.
• Western Chess Association Championship at Minneapolis won by Reuben Fine with 9½, followed by Samuel Reshevsky at 9, Fred Reinfeld at 8½, and Herman Steiner at 7½.
• Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna is won by Albert Becker with 9/11, ahead of Ernst Grünfeld with 7½ and Erich Eliskases and Baldur Hönlinger tied at 7.

  Matches

• Max Euwe and Salo Flohr draw a match played in Amsterdam and Prague.
• Rudolf Spielmann wins a match in Semmering against Efim Bogoljubov, 4 to 3 and 3 draws.
• Spielmann defeats Gosta Stoltz in a match in Stockholm by 4½-1½.
• Flohr beats Sultan Khan 2 to 1 and 2 draws.
• Euwe beats Spielmann 2 to 0 and 2 draws.

  Exhibitions

• George Koltanowski played 160 boards simultaneously at Antwerp, with 135 wins, 18 draws, and 6 losses.
• Koltanowski also holds the blindfold simultaneous record with 30 boards, winning 20 and drawing 10 with no losses.
• Alexander Alekhine played 60 teams of five players each in Paris, winning 37, drawing 17, and losing 6.
• José Raúl Capablanca played 66 teams of five players each in Havana, winning 46, drawing 16, and losing 4.

  Births

• Fufi Santori in Santurce, Puerto Rico
• January 16 – Victor Ciocâltea in Bucharest, Romanian GM and many time Romanian Champion
• March 23 – Larry Evans in Manhattan, American GM and four-time winner of the U.S. Championship
• April 21 – Lora Yakovleva in Perm, Women's World Correspondence Champion
• June 15 – Hrvoje Bartolović in Zagreb, problemist
• July 2 – Leopold Mitrofanov in Leningrad, problemist
• August 11 – István Bilek in Budapest, Hungarian GM
• September 14 – Carlos Jauregui in Santiago, Chilean-Canadian player
• November 1 – Yair Kraidman in Haifa, Israeli GM

  Deaths

• January 12 – Daniël Noteboom, 21, Dutch player, namesake of the Noteboom Variation of the Slav Defense
• April 20 – Edgard Colle, 34, Belgian player, namesake of the Colle System
• April 22 – Alexander Fritz, 79, German player, namesake of the Fritz Variation of the Two Knights Defense
• April 22 – Sándor Takács, 39, Hungarian player
• June 15 – Louis van Vliet, 77, Dutch player
• November 4 – Rudolf Loman, 71, Dutch player, winner of several unofficial Dutch Championships
• November 10 – Frederick Yates, 48, English chess player and six-time British Champion
• November 25 – Fritz Riemann, 73, German player
• November 16 – Hermanis Matisons, 38, Latvian player and problemist