Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns.
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.
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.
Jan Foltys was a Czech chess International Master.
Gösta Stoltz was a Swedish chess grandmaster.
The 1948 World Chess Championship was a quintuple round-robin tournament played to determine the new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946. The tournament marked the passing of control of the championship title to FIDE, the International Chess Federation which had been formed in 1924. Mikhail Botvinnik won the five-player championship tournament, beginning the era of Soviet domination of international chess that would last over twenty years without interruption.
Alfred M. Ehrhardt Post was a German chess master and functionary.
Alfred Brinckmann was a German chess International Master, author and functionary from Kiel.
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.
Groningen 1946 was the first major international chess tournament to be held after World War II. Held at Groningen in August and September 1946, it was considered a miracle that the Netherlands could stage such an event just fifteen months after the end of the war.
Below is a list of events in chess in the year 1941.
The below is a list of events in chess in the year 1942.
The below is a list of events in chess in 1943.
The Second Europaturnier was held from 8 to 14 September 1941 in Munich. The event was organised by Ehrhardt Post, the Chief Executive of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund. The First Europaturnier had taken place in Stuttgart in May 1939.
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.
Russia/
France 
Estonia 
Germany 
Chile/
Ukraine/
Sweden 
