Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns.
Machgielis "Max" Euwe was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.
Paul Keres was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. As Estonia was repeatedly invaded and occupied during World War II, Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments.
Reuben C. Fine was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mid-1930s until his retirement from chess in 1951. He was granted the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, when titles were introduced.
Efim Bogoljubow also known as Efim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow was a Russian-born German chess grandmaster.
Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournaments of the pre-World War II years, and by the late 1930s was considered a contender for the World Championship. However, his patient, positional style was overtaken by the sharper, more tactical methods of the younger Soviet echelon after World War II.
Salo (Salomon) Landau was a Dutch chess player, who died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Klaus Junge was one of the youngest Chilean-German chess masters. In several tournaments during the 1940s he held his own among the world's leading players. An officer in the Wehrmacht, he died during the Battle of Welle shortly before the end of World War II.
Paul Felix Schmidt was an Estonian and German chess player, writer and chemist.
Braslav Rabar was a Croatian-Yugoslavian chess International Master (1950) and chess writer. He was Yugoslav champion in 1951, and in 1953 again tied for the tournament lead, but lost a playoff match. He played for Yugoslavia in three chess Olympiads, winning a total of five medals. Rabar was a co-inventor of the classification systems for the Chess Informant publications.
Jan Foltys was a Czech chess International Master.
Gösta Stoltz was a Swedish chess grandmaster.
Erik Ruben Lundin was a Swedish chess master.
Alfred M. Ehrhardt Post was a German chess master and functionary.
The Interregnum of World Chess Champions lasted from the death of incumbent World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine on 24 March 1946, until Mikhail Botvinnik won a specially organized championship tournament to succeed him on 17 May 1948.
Paul Mross was a Polish–German chess master.
Below is a list of events in chess in the year 1941.
The main organiser of Salzburg 1942, Ehrhardt Post, the Chief Executive of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund, intended to bring together the six strongest players of Germany, the occupied and neutral European countries; world champion Alexander Alekhine, former champion Max Euwe, challenger Paul Keres, former challenger Efim Bogoljubov, winner of European tournament at Munich 1941 Gösta Stoltz, and German champion Paul Felix Schmidt. Euwe withdrew due to "illness". Actually, Euwe refused to participate because Alekhine was invited. His place was occupied by German sub-champion, the eighteen-years-old Klaus Junge. They made Salzburg 1942 the world's second, after a tournament purporting to be the first European Championship (Europameisterschaft) in Munich, strongest tournament in 1942.
The below is a list of events in chess in the year 1942.
European Individual Chess Championship 1942 was chess tournament purporting to be the first European Championship (Europameisterschaft). It was held in Munich, 14–26 September 1942, organised by Ehrhardt Post, the Chief Executive of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund.
Sweden 
France 
Germany 
Denmark 
Bohemia and Moravia)
Hungary 
Independent State of Croatia 
Slovakia 
Netherlands 
Switzerland 
