Chess at the Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria

Source: see below 

A quick note: chessbase, from whose web page I took this clip, has a long and interesting article on Chess at the Jewish Museum of Vienna. Did you know Simon Wiesenthal was an arthitect and designed a coffee house with a chess room?

Chess for the Immigrants

Source: Davar 4/2/1940, p. 5

Our frequent correspondent notifies us that Davar published an appeal for those (then) illegal immigrants to Palestine who were caught by the British and put in the Atlit camp required books and games: 'books of all kinds, especially Hebrew primers, and games of all kinds, especially chess and domino'. 

Game Theory

From posters of a conference on game theory in Bar Ilan University. Chess is as always fascinating to game theorists:

The "Old Timers' Club"

Source: Shachmat vol. 17 no. 6-7 (June-July 1978), no p. #

A frequent correspondent noted that in 1978, there was an 'Old Timer's Get Together' with the following photo. It is one of the photos which has the most of the Israeli players and organizers in one photo. Included are among those who were active in the 60s or before: 

Standing: 1st from right: Yosha; 2nd: Wolfinger; 3rd: Itzchak Aloni ('previous champion'); 4th: Rabinovich-Barav ('previous secretary');6th: Smiltiner; 10th: Mohilever ('previous secretary'); 14th: Rauch; 17th: van Amerongen; 19th: Porat ('champion'); 21st: Gelfer; 23rd: Kagan ('champion'); 24th: Luba Kristol ('hidden'); 25th: Rivka Lichtenfeld ('championess'); 26th: Avner; 30th: Czerniak.

Sitting: 1st from right: Dyner; 6th: Peretz; 7th: Levant; 9th: Bleiman.

Weiz Cup: first League Championship in Palestine

Source: see below

A frequent correspondent notified us of the Weiz cup, which took place in 1938. This was, in effect, the first league championship in Israel. Our correspondent gives us Marmosoh's contemporary report in Davar, 29/4/1938, p. 3 (top cutting). We note Fascher notes the exact details 20 year later, in La'merchav,  29/4/59, p/ 6 (bottom cutting).

Marmorosh notes this was a four-team event (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and 'the settlements', i.e., the agricultural smaller communities). Each team had 8 players ; Haifa won. Fascher add the name is because the prize -- a silver cup -- was donated by Menachem Weiz. 

Almost "anybody who was anybody" in Palestinian chess played -- with some exceptions. Marmorosh notes that, in Haifa, the 'top players' Rabinovich-Barav and Enoch didn't play, but the team still 'surprised everybody' and (eventually) won. Fascher adds that, in Tel Aviv, Blass and Rauch didn't play, either, and in Jerusalem, Burnstein was missing. 

Fashcer also notes this was the third major achievement of the Palestine Chess Federation (est. 1934), after the individual Palestine championships and the Warsaw Olympiad. 

Chess Humor

Source: Al Ha'mishmar 13/6/1963 p.2

A frequent correspondent notifies us of an interesting contest which took place during the 1963 Natanya tournament: a chess humor context, 'on the initiative of Geffen Public Relations Ltd., responsible this year for promoting vacation tournaments to the general public'. The winners were B. Ben-Menachem, 'the oldest contestant', with (of all people) Itzchhak Aloni, the Israeli champion, second, and V. Kahana third. 

Czeniak - Mecking in a Report about Hastings 1966/67

Above is film by British Movietone of Hastings, 1966/1967. There is a short view (about 15 seconds) of Czerniak playing Mecking. Czerniak ended last, with 3/9, in that event.