2nd international tournament, Ostend

11-04-1937 > 19-04-1937

 Masters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Tot
1 Grob, Henri SUI 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 6
2 Fine, Reuben USA 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6
3 Keres, Paul EST 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 6
4 List, Paul GER 1 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 5
5 Landau, Salomon NED ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 5
6 Koltanowski, George BEL 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1
7 Tartakower, Ksawery POL 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 4
8 Dyner, Boruch POL 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½
9 Dunkelblum, Arthur BEL ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 3
10 Reynolds, Arthur ENG 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 2

 

Reserves 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Tot
1 Schelfhout, Willem NED ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1
2 Perlmutter, Jacob Baruch POL ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
3 Baert, Arthur BEL 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1
4 Gooris, Emile BEL ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1
5 Wood, Baruch Harold ENG 0 1 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 5
6 Lempert BEL 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 0 1 1 4
7 Devos, Paul BEL 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 4
8 O’Hanlon, John IRL 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 0 0
9 Defosse, Marcel BEL ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 1
10 De Coster, Omer BEL 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 2

This tournament was considerably stronger than the previous edition and the strongest tournament in Belgium for several years. The main tournament must have been a rather thrilling affair, with many unexpected results. The first round saw the confrontation between the two favourites: Fine and Keres. Keres won, but was beaten in rounds three and four by Tartakower and Grob, respectively. For Grob, this was already the third time he won on time in this tournament! In round five, he also defeated Fine, giving him a very comfortable lead. Grob’s losses against List and Koltanowski allowed the favourite to catch up with him in the final round. In fact, the Swiss master was in serious trouble against Dunkelblum, but finally escaped with a perpetual check. The three Belgian players were never in the running. (Dyner was actually Polish, but had been living in Belgium for quite some years.) The games for the main tournament are widely available, probably tracing back to the tournament book [1], a slim volume consisting mostly of exclamation marks. It gives the dates the tournament was played as April 11th through April 19th. As there are nine days and nine rounds, I have assumed that one round was played per day.

One difference with the previous year’s tournament is that there was also a reserves section this time. I found the crosstable for this group in [2], a local newspaper available on the website of the library of Ostend. This crosstable gives the players according to their rank in the Berger table used. With this information, I could determine the round in which each game was played. I have assumed that the reserves section had the same schedule as the masters section, allowing me to determine which players met on what day. [2] gives two games from the reserves section. For some time I wondered whether it was Baruch Harold Wood or Gabriel Wood who played. As [1] says it was the editor of Chess, the former must be right. Note that, like Dyner, Perlmutter was Polish but had been in Belgium for some years. Dunkelblum was also of Polish origin, but I believe he had obtained the Belgian nationality at this point. Unfortunately and for reasons unknown to me, there was no third edition in 1938.

Wanted

  • Almost all games from the reserves section.
  • Lempert’s first name.

Sources

  1. E. J. Diemer, Das internationale schachmeisterturnier Ostende 1937, Deutsche Bücherei der Ungarischen Schachwelt Vol.4
  2. De Duinengalm 16-30/04/1937
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