Much Ado About Nothing

Regina Gerlecka – Sonja Graf
Women’s Super-Tournament; Semmering, 1936
3r4/p7/1k2P3/1Pp3n1/5p2/1PP5/6P1/1K2R3 w - - 1 42

Position after 41. ... Rd5-d8

Gerlecka daringly sacrificed her Knight for two Pawns, trying very hard (but at zero risk) for a win. 42. Re5 Nh7!? Graf is not too happy to share the point and prays for something more. 42. ... Nxe6 43. Rxe6+ Kxb5 would have led (almost inevitably) to a draw. 43. e7 Re8 44. c4 Nf6?? It is hard to justify such a crazy move, unless Sonja was very short of time. She ought to play 44. ... Kc7 45. Rxc5+ Kd7 and accept that the game was closer and closer a draw. 45. Re6+ Ka5?? Very probably, after 45. ... Kb7 46. Rxf6 Rxe7 47. Rxf4 Black, who is two Pawns down, cannot hold water on both wings, but however bad it was, it was... less bad than now. 46. Rxf6?? And Gerlecka misses her golden opportunity to enter the history (but it’s never too late!): 46. Ra6+ Kb4 47. Kc2! Rxe7 48. Ra4 mate. 46. ... Rxe7. Okay, nothing happened. 47. Kc2 Kb4 48. Kd1 Rg7 49. Rxf4 Rxg2 50. Rf7 Kxb3 51. Rxa7 Kxc4 ½ : ½.

Grand Hotel Panhans

Here are the twelve female players participating in the Women’s super-Tournament at Semmering 1936 (1–16 July). From left, top row, above: Rodica Luţia, Róża Maria Herman, Sonja Graf, Regina Gerlecka, Salome Reischer, Catharina Roodzant-Glimmerveen, Gisela Harum, Maud Flandin, Clarice Benini, Anna Katarina Beskow, Klára Faragó, and Edith Mary Ann Michell. Photo: Soerabaijasch Handelsblad, July 18, 1936.

Clarice Benini at Semmering 1936

What She Left Behind

Haagsche Courant, July 10, 1936, p. 4

Just a brief report to take notice of the victory of Clarice Benini (White) against Anna Katarina Beskow in the Women’s super-Tournament at Semmering 1936 (1–16 July).

Clarice Benini in Sumatra

De Sumatra post, No. 169, July 22, 1936

The participation of Sonja Graf and Clarice Benini in the Women’s super-Tournament at Semmering 1936 (1–16 July) didn’t go unnoticed, even by Dutch-Indonesian press!

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

“Sonja Graf had a good position against the Women’s World Champion, but she was too precipitate in sacrificing play, and Vera Menchik turned the tables. Menchik experienced an even more critical situation against the Italian Benini, who entered the endgame a piece up. It might have been a sweet tidbit for Mussolini’s muse, but she ended up losing the game”. Tidskrift för Schack, No. 8-9, August 1937, p. 202

“At the closing ceremony, Clarice Benini (1905–1975) blatantly raised her right arm in a fascist salute and pocketed second prize. Sonja, on the contrary, neatly avoided to honour the Führer with such a gesture, which earned her the sympathy of the public. An act of courage that, if denounced, could have exposed her to the fury of Hitler’s terror regime and made her deported to Nazi concentration and death camps”. Georges Bertola, Sonja Graf – Un combat pour la liberté (2), Europe Échecs, October 12, 2016

Sonja Graf in 1941
Photo: kwabc.org

• Georges Bertola, Sonja Graf – Un combat pour la liberté (1), Europe Échecs, September 23, 2016
• Georges Bertola, Sonja Graf – Un combat pour la liberté (2), Europe Échecs, October 12, 2016

Sonja Graf

Sono Sonja Graf. Sono nata a Monaco, ma quand’ero in Argentina nel 1939, come Campionessa Tedesca, Göbbels mi proibì di rappresentare la Germania. Gli argentini mi cucirono allora una bandiera con impressa la parola “Libre”, e “Libre” fu la mia bandiera! Sonja Graf, The New Yorker, 19 settembre 1964, p. 64.

Sonja Graf (Schach-Echo, 1934, p. 201)

Sonja Graf (Chess, agosto 1935)

Klara Farago – Sonja Graf
Semmering, 1936
Controgambetto Dubois D02

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Cf3 Cc6 5. e3? Era di prammatica 5. Cbd2 (5. ... Ae6 6. g3). 5. ... Ab4+ 6. Ad2 dxe3! 7. fxe3 Ac5 8. Db3 a6 9. Cc3 f6 10. Ce4 De7 11. Cxc5 Dxc5 12. exf6 Cxf6 13. Ad3 0-0 14. 0-0-0 a5 15. Rb1 Ag4 16. h3 Axf3 17. gxf3 Ce5 18. f4 Cxd3 19. Dxd3 Tfd8 20. Dc2 Dc6! L’iniziativa del Nero compensa ad abundantiam il Pedone sacrificato. 21. Thg1 Ce4 22. b3 a4! 23. Db2 Dh6 24. Ac3 Txd1+ 25. Txd1 Dg6! 26. Rc1 axb3 27. axb3 Dg3 28. Dc2? Harakiri! Ma anche dopo la più pervicace 28. Te1 Cc5 l’attacco del Nero continua con elementare violenza. 28. ... Dxe3+ 29. Rb2 Cxc3 De gustibus non est disputandum: il “duale” è 29. ... Dxc3+! 30. Dxc3 Ta2+!. 30. Dxc3

30. ... Ta2+! 0 : 1.

• Michael Negele, Schicksal eines „Fräuleinwunders“ – der Lebensweg der Sonja Graf-Stevenson
• Childhood of Sonja (Susanna) Graf