World Chess Hall of Fame to Induct Four New Members. All of Them Are Jewish.
By Jonathan Zalman.. Paula Kalmar-Wolf, Alla Kushnir, Viktor Korchnoi, and Edward Lasker will be honored in a March 28 ceremony in St. Louis. The next time you’re in St. Louis—a wonderful city full of ribs and frozen custard and woods and blues—visit the U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame, housed under one roof just a few blocks from Forest Park. It’s an interesting place with fantastic galleries and a learning center and a quirky gift shop; it’s fun for the whole family, if you’re into the whole chess thing. In March, the World Chess Hall of Fame will honor four new members during a ceremony that will also kick off the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Championships. The 2017 inductees are: Paula Kalmar-Wolf, Alla Kushnir, Viktor Korchnoi, and Edward Lasker. These four will join the Hall’s 27 members, including José Raúl Capablanca, Bobby Fischer, Alexander Alekhine, Emanuel Lasker, and Vera Menchik. Here are a few fast facts about the Hall’s four new members, all of whom are Jewish:
Paula Kalmar-Wolf was an Austrian chess master who didn’t begin playing chess until she was in her thirties. She finished third in the 1927 Women’s World Chess Championship, and second in the tournament in 1930 and 1931. She died in 1931 from diabetes. Her second husband was Heinrich Wolf who died in 1943 on account of the Nazis. Read the full story.
