1944 in chess

Chess events in brief

• 27 June 1944 – Vera Manchik-Stevenson, first official Women's World Chess Champion, represented Russia, Czechoslovakia, and England, who was widowed the previous year, still holding the title, her younger sister, Olga Menchik-Rubery, and their mother were killed in a V-1 rocket bombing raid which destroyed their home at 47 Gauden Road in the Clapham area of South London. According to some sources, Kent was the place of their death.

  Tournaments

• Radom, won by Efim Bogoljubow ahead of Fedor Bogatyrchuk, February 1944.
• Mar del Plata won by Herman Pilnik and Miguel Najdorf ahead of Paul Michel and Carlos Guimard, 15–31 March 1944.
• La Plata won by Najdorf followed by Gideon Ståhlberg, Julio Bolbochán, etc.
• Buenos Aires won by Moshe Czerniak.
• Rio de Janeiro won by Erich Eliskases.
• New York City, won by Arnold Denker, April – May 1944.
• Moscow, won by Mikhail Botvinnik followed by Vasily Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky, Salo Flohr, etc., 21 May – 17 June 1944.
• Kraków won by Rudolf Teschner, start 27 May 1944.
• Posen, Reichsgau Wartheland,, won by Hans Müller.
• Brunn, won by Karel Opočenský.
• Paris, won by César Boutteville.
• Lidköping won by Stig Lundholm, 26 June – 1 July 1944.
• Gijon won by Alexander Alekhine ahead of Antonio Medina, 14–23 July 1944.
• Boston, won by Samuel Reshevsky ahead of Anthony Santasiere, 29 July – 10 August 1944.
• Stockholm won by Erik Lundin ahead of Gösta Danielsson, 21–31 August 1944.
• Ivanovo won by Alexander Kotov and Viacheslav Ragozin, 20 September – 8 October 1944.
• Riga, won by Paul Keres, 25 December 1944 – 9 January 1945.
• Moscow, won by Smyslov followed by Ragozin, Andor Lilienthal, Flohr, December 1944 – January 1945.

  Matches

• Carlos Guimard defeated Juan Iliesco in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
• Héctor Rossetto beat Juan Iliesco in Nueve de Julio.
• Erich Eliskases beat João de Souza Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Stepan Popel drew with Fedor Bogatyrchuk in Kraków, General Government.
• Paul Keres beat Folke Ekström in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Alexander Alekhine won against Ramón Rey Ardid in Saragossa, Spain.
• On 2 December 1944 Bletchley Park defeated the Oxford University Chess Club in a twelve-board team match 8 : 4. C.H.O'D. Alexander, Harry Golombek, James Macrae Aitken, and I. J. Good played the top four boards for the Bletchley Park team.

  Births

• 12 January – Vlastimil Hort in Kladno, Czech GM
• 19 February – Chen Zude, President of the Chinese Chess Association
• 6 April – Florin Gheorghiu, Romania's first GM, nine-time winner of the Romanian Championship
• 6 April – Jude Acers in Long Beach, California, American chess player
• 16 April – Nikolai Shalnev, German GM
• 18 April – Albin Planinc in Briše, Slovenian GM
• 27 April – Heikki Westerinen in Helsinki, Finnish GM, four-time winner of the Finnish Championship
• 5 May – Roman Dzindzichashvili in Tbilisi, Russian/American GM, two time US Champion
• 26 May – Ljuba Kristol in Leningrad, Israeli ICCGM, two-time World Correspondence Champion
• 1 July – Davorin Komljenović, Croatian GM
• 4 July – Albert Kapengut in Kazan, Soviet chess player and coach
• 4 July – Silvino García Martínez, Cuban GM
• 5 September – Jørn Sloth in Sjørring, Danish GMC, World Correspondence Champion 1975–1980
• 7 September – Sam Sloan in Richmond, Virginia, American chess player and writer
• 25 September – Vitaly Tseshkovsky in Omsk, Russian GM and two-time winner of the USSR Championship
• 15 November – Hans Ree in Amsterdam, Dutch GM and chess writer
• Rani Hamid, Bangladeshi WIM, three-time winner of the British Women's Championship

  Deaths

• Wilhelm Orbach, German master, died in Auschwitz.
• Jorgen Moeller, Danish master, died in Denmark. Nordic Chess Champion, the Moeller Attack in the Giuoco Piano and the Moeller Defense in the Ruy Lopez.
• Nikoly Rudnev, Ukrainian master, died probably in Uzbekistan.
• 3 February – Albert Hodges, 1894 US Chess Champion
• ca. 9 February Dawid Daniuszewski, Polish master, died in the Lodz Ghetto.
• ca. 9 February Salomon Szapiro, Polish master, died in the Lodz Ghetto.
• 12 April – Roberto Grau died in Buenos Aires. South American and Argentine Champion.
• 3 June – Adolf Zinkl, Austrian master, died in Vienna.
• 27 June – Vera Menchik, the 1st Women's World Chess Champion, died in a German bombing raid, London, England.
• 27 June – Olga Menchik, the younger sister of Vera, died in a German bombing raid, London, England.
• 2 November – Karol Irzykowski, Polish master, died in Żyrardów.
• 9 November – Frank James Marshall, American grandmaster, died in Jersey City, USA.
• 29 December – Endre Steiner, Hungarian master, died in a Nazi concentration camp.