Lot 2094

Description

Silver lined with ebonised wood. The chessboard with 64 partly blackened chess fields, the elevated edge with raised inscription (tr.) "Honorary challenge award by the City of Munich" on the upper side, flanked by two Munich escutcheons with national eagles, the lateral and lower edges with laurel branches in relief. Mark of fineness "925" with crescent moon and crown, the master’s mark "Eug. Scherrer(?) München" misstruck and barely legible. Dimensions approx. 45.5 x 45.5 x 1.5 cm, overall weight 2.9 kg.
Rare and beautifully preserved chess award by the City of Munich. Allegedly, this honorary challenge award was endowed on the occasion of the inofficial Chess Olympics in Munich in 1936. In 1933, the Greater German Chess Association resigned from the World Chess Federation FIDE, among other reasons because only "Aryan" players were supposed to be eligible to join Germany’s chess team, which was not permitted by FIDE. On the centennial of the Munich Chess Club founded in 1836, the Greater German Chess Association hosted the inofficial Chess Olympics and agreed to admit also national teams with Jewish players, whereupon FIDE members were free to join. Sponsored by the City of Munich, the Bavarian Prime Minister Ludwig Siebert and the Ministry of Propaganda, this major event, which was staged immediately after the Berlin Summer Olympics, took place in the Munich district Theresienhöhe with a record number of 21 participating nations and was a success in terms of sports policy. The winner was Hungary, followed by Poland (each team with numerous chess masters of Jewish descent) and Germany. The ensuing approchement with FIDE led to the re-entry of the Greater German Chess Association into the World Federation and its participation in the official Chess Olympics in Argentina 1939.

Condition: I - II Questions about the lot?