Hello, friends! It's time to read another blog!

Today, we will continue the series relating the chess scenario to some of the most significant events in history. The aim of this post is to explore how our beloved game evolved during the same periods of remarkable transformation for humanity.

If you would like to start from the beginning, I have included the links to the first two episodes below. However, please note that each text can be read independently, so you can start with whichever one interests you the most.

• The Chessboard Of The World: 1900-1920

• The Chessboard Of The World: 1920-1940

Once again, I would like to emphasize that these facts may or may not have a direct impact on the game of chess. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to understand the world situations that the players were experiencing while excelling on the board.

Let's start to talk about the period between 1940 and 1960. We all know what the most notorious event was, but apart from the obvious geopolitical changes, there were also major developments in science and health. And, of course, as is always the case in my articles, there is a bit of focus on aviation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. 1944

2. 1950

3. 1952

4. 1953

5. 1957

CONCLUSION

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1944

World - D-Day: Invasion of Normandy

Of course, it would be impossible to discuss this decade without mentioning the Second World War. Initially, I considered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which drew the USA into the conflict. The end of the hostilities in 1945 and the use of atomic weapons in Japan later that same year are also worth noting.

However, I don’t think it is healthy or constructive to keep discussing wars and sad topics here when there are many more interesting things to talk about. Therefore, I have chosen only one event to represent World War II: The famous D-Day.

On 6 June 1944, a massive amphibious assault was launched on five beaches of Normandy. American, British, and Canadian troops fought the Nazi army and retook the French coast. The successful establishment of these footholds completely changed the situation on the Western Front, paving the way for the liberation of Europe.

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Chess - Death Of Vera Menchik

Sadly, 1944 was also the year that the chess world lost Vera Menchik, a Russian-Czechoslovak legend and one of the greatest female players of all time. For those unfamiliar with her, it is important to provide an overview of her career and achievements first, so that you can understand how emblematic she was.

Vera Francevna Mencikova, born on 16 February 1906 in Moscow, Russia, was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champion. She held the title from 1927 to 1944. Unlike today, this honor was not decided in a match, but in round-robin tournaments played by the best in the world, which made it even harder to retain the crown.

Menchik won it eight times, an impressive record that remains unbeaten to this day. She was also the first woman to compete in master-level tournaments alongside the world's best players in open sections. In an era when women primarily competed against each other, this was an incredible feat.

She certainly deserves a blog post all about her, doesn't she? Luckily, my friend @OnyxOrca has written one! Click on the image below to read it.

In this case, the relationship between the two events is very close. I say this because Vera's death was directly caused by the war. She passed away on 26 June 1944, only twenty days after D-Day, when her house was hit by a German flying bomb during an attack on London, England. Tragically, her mother and sister were also killed on the same night.

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1950

World - Begin Of The Korean War

The Korean War began on 25 June 1950. It was fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea), and by its end, became one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

This is considered one of the major proxy wars of the Cold War and divided the peninsula into two different nations. The North was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while the South's main ally was the United Nations Command (UNC), led by the United States.

In total, around 1.6 to 3 million civilians died on both sides. It is estimated that approximately 990,000 South Korean and 1,550,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or seriously wounded during the conflict.

Hostilities ended in 1953 with an armistice, but no peace treaty was signed. This means that the war is officially ongoing, and its consequences can still be felt by both sides to this day.

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Chess - FIDE International Titles

A significant event also occurred in the chess world in 1950. While the Korean Peninsula was engulfed in war, FIDE was creating its titles to recognize some of the world's strongest players. The first ones to be awarded were the Grandmaster (GM) and International Master (IM) titles, which are still in use today.

At the time, the term 'Grandmaster' was already formal in the Soviet Union and had been informally used by the elite players for decades. However, it was only this year that the International Chess Federation made it official.

As there were no defined requirements, they were awarded by a vote at that year's FIDE Congress. The first 27 players to receive the honour of becoming GMs included famous names such as Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, and Miguel Najdorf.

Apart from them, a further 94 players received the title of International Master, and 17 women became Woman International Masters (WIMs), or simply Woman Masters, as no female player at the time was considered strong enough to be a GM.

It was only a few years later, in 1957, that the norms (qualifying standards) were introduced and the rules for becoming a Grandmaster were made clear and equal for everyone. Other titles were created later, such as:

• Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 1976.

• FIDE Master (FM) and Woman FIDE Master (WFM) in 1978.

• Candidate Master (CM) and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) in 2002.

We remain hopeful that the title of Top Blogger will be recognized by FIDE one day, too.

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1952

World -  First Commercial Jet Airliner

Yay! It is finally time for the long-awaited section about aviation (at least for me)! If that does not interest you, leave my blog now! No, just kidding! Everyone is welcome, and I promise you will learn something interesting.

In 1952, UK-based aircraft manufacturer de Havilland launched the world's first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Measuring approximately 28 metres in length and with a wingspan of 35 metres, this aircraft could carry up to 44 passengers in its largest variants.

Unfortunately, the operation was not successful. Within a year of its entry into service, three Comets were lost in highly publicised mid-flight accidents. It was later identified that the pressurised fuselage with square windows was a weak point and favoured the formation of cracks that compromised the plane's structure.

Nevertheless, it represented a milestone in the revolution of the aeronautical industry and defined the course of aviation from then on.

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Chess - First Olympiad Of The USSR

It was also in 1952 that the Soviet Union made its first appearance at the Chess Olympiad, when this event was already in its 10th official edition, or 13th if we count all occasions.

The competition took place in Helsinki, Finland, from 9 to 31 August, with twenty-five teams participating. Just please don't ask me if they flew there in a de Havilland Comet, because this information is very difficult to confirm.

The reason why the USSR took so long to join was mainly due to ideological disagreements and its poor relationship with the Western world. Fortunately for chess fans at the time, these issues were resolved, enabling them to finally watch the world's best players compete on the biggest stage.

Unsurprisingly, the debut was nothing less than outstanding. With a true dream team of Paul Keres, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, and Efim Geller, they scored 21 points, finishing the tournament over one point ahead of Argentina in second place.

This marked the beginning of a true Olympiad dynasty, with the Soviets winning almost every edition until 1990. The only exceptions were in 1976, when they again decided to boycott the event, held in Israel, and in 1978, when the Hungarian team won.

Moreover, if Russia is considered the 'natural' successor to the USSR after the nation was dissolved in 1991, its hegemony lasted until 2002. If all countries that were part of the former Soviet Union are considered, however, it only ended in 2014, with China taking the title.

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1953

World - Discovery Of DNA's Structure

In 1953, a scientific revolution occurred when molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double helix structure of DNA, after having analysed X-ray diffraction patterns from previous studies. This discovery enabled them to explain how DNA could carry and replicate genetic information.

For this achievement, they were both awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine, alongside Maurice Wilkins (Kiwi proud!), who had also provided crucial data to help Watson and Crick develop their model. However, they did not receive this honour until many years later, in 1962.

I think DNA is well-known enough for most people to be familiar with some of its main applications. But if you are still unsure of its importance, it is used in various fields, including medicine for gene therapy and the development of new drugs, forensics to help investigators identify individuals, and agriculture for gene manipulation of plants to make them adapt to different environments.

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Chess - Zürich Candidates Tournament

For this year, I would like to talk about one of the strongest and most important chess tournaments in history: the 1953 Candidates Tournament, which took place in Zurich, Switzerland. This was the qualifying event for the 1954 World Chess Championship, with the winner going on to play reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a match.

The participants included some very famous names, such as David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Miguel Najdorf, Tigran Petrosian, Samuel Reshevsky, and, of course, the ultimate winner, Vasily Smyslov.

The format was a double round-robin, exactly the same as today. However, even back then, there were accusations that the Soviets were manipulating the results to prevent Reshevsky from becoming champion. As expected, these allegations were never proven.

You can find Smyslov’s game against Paul Keres below, which was crucial to secure him the title and the chance to become the next challenger for the biggest crown.

He won very dominantly, scoring 18 points in 28 games and finishing two points ahead of second place. Unfortunately, Smyslov failed to beat Botvinnik in 1954. However, he eventually became world champion later in his career, so all is well that ends well.

In addition, Zurich 1953 is famous not only for the strength of the players and the high quality of the games, but also because two renowned books about the tournament were released, which are considered to be among the best ever published on the subject. One was written by David Bronstein and the other by Miguel Najdorf.

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1957

World - Launch Of The First Satellite

We must not forget that the 1950s also marked the beginning of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. As well as competing for geopolitical influence and resources over the whole planet, both countries were involved in what became known as the Space Race.

And the kickoff of this race was on 4 October 1957 at 19:28:34 UTC, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Its mission lasted 22 days, ending when it fell back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958. While this period would be considered brief nowadays, it was revolutionary at the time, marking the beginning of a new era.

It would be unnecessary to talk about the benefits and transformations that satellites have brought, since they influence everything in our lives today. But for people with no sense of direction, like me, the GPS has certainly been the biggest one.

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Chess -Fischer's First U.S. Championship

Another significant event in 1957 that would have a profound impact on the chess world for decades to come was the emergence of Bobby Fischer, one of the greatest players in history. The young star, who was only 14 years old at the time, won his first U.S. Chess Championship that year, scoring 10.5/13.

The previous year, he had already played what became known as the 'Game of the Century' against Donald Byrne, so he was not completely unknown. Nevertheless, winning an entire round-robin tournament at such a tender age is far more challenging than playing one single brilliant game.

Despite the presence of many strong players, including the favorite Samuel Reshevsky, Fischer finished the tournament undefeated, shocking the country and the whole world. And this was only the beginning. He went on to win this title seven more times in his career, winning eight out of eight.

You can find one of the most important games he played in this event below, against James Sherwin, who finished in third place.

It is interesting to note that, just as with satellites and the Space Race, Fischer is also closely associated with the Cold War. He was used by the USA as propaganda to show that Americans could excel in mental sports just as well as the Soviets.

We all know the outcome of this dispute, when, despite having fewer resources, he faced and beat Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Championship Match, consolidating his status as a chess legend worldwide.

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CONCLUSION

Usually, the conclusion should be about the text you have just read, but today I am going to change the subject completely and use it to express my condolences for Diogo Jota, a former Liverpool FC player who sadly died in a road accident in Spain on 3 July.

In the car with him was his brother, André Silva, also a football player. Jota had just won the Premier League with Liverpool and the Nations League with the Portuguese national team. He leaves behind three young children and his wife, Rute Cardoso, whom he married just 11 days before this tragedy.

Although I did not even know him personally, I believe that every fan of the team or the sport felt emotionally attached to him and was shocked to hear the news. It took me at least a week to accept what had happened.

I would like to thank Diogo for the happy times he brought me, and take this opportunity to wish his family and friends strength in getting through this difficult time. Although his life was shorter than we would have liked, it was certainly valuable. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you in two weeks.