Groningen 1946

Barely fifteen months after the guns fell silent, the northern Dutch city of Groningen staged the first major international chess tournament of the post-war world. It became a duel between the future and the past: Mikhail Botvinnik, the Soviet standard-bearer soon to be crowned World Champion, edged the beloved former champion Max Euwe by a single half-point in a finish that swung to the very last round.

◇A tournament out of the ruins

It was remarkable that the Netherlands could bring together twenty of the world's leading masters so soon after liberation. Groningen 1946 was the first major international tournament after the Second World War, and the field came from everywhere: Soviet, Western European, Scandinavian and American players, back at the same board again.

The Soviet Union sent a powerful delegation, and it announced the new order emphatically: four of its representatives finished in the top seven. Botvinnik led them, with the young Vasily Smyslov third and Isaac Boleslavsky and Salo Flohr close behind — the opening statement of the Soviet dominance that would define the next half-century.

◇Botvinnik and Euwe, half a point apart

The result hung in the balance to the finish. With four rounds to play Euwe held a one-point lead, but it was not safe: he drew his next three games while Botvinnik reeled off three straight wins to move ahead by half a point. Both leaders then lost in the final round — but Euwe's collapse in an even position against Alexander Kotov was the more costly, handing Botvinnik clear first on 14½ to Euwe's 14.

It was Botvinnik's first outright tournament victory outside the Soviet Union, a result that reinforced his standing as the man to beat for the vacant world title he would claim at The Hague and Moscow in 1948. For Euwe, playing before his own countrymen, it proved the last great success of a distinguished career.

“The first major international chess tournament to be held after World War II.”