The Nottingham 1936 chess tournament was a 15-player round robin tournament held August 10–28 at the University of Nottingham. It was one of the strongest of all time.

Dr. J. Hannak wrote in his 1959 biography of Emanuel Lasker that "when it comes to awarding the plum for 'the greatest chess tournament ever', in 1936, the Nottingham Tournament was certainly just that".Dr. J. Hannak, Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 297. W. H. Watts in the Introduction to the tournament book called Nottingham 1936 "the most important chess event the world has so far seen".A. Alekhine, The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament, Dover Publications, 1962, p. ix. .

It is one of the very few tournaments in chess history to include five past, present, or future world champions (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe and Botvinnik).Hannak wrote in 1959, "it is certainly the only tournament in chess history that could boast the attendance of as many as five world champions, past, present, and future". Hannak, p. 297. (Since then, Moscow 1971 and the 1973 USSR Chess Championship both included five world champions: Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky).Chess Informant, Volume 12, Šahovski Informator, 1972, p. 235. B. Cafferty and M. Taimanov, The Soviet Championships, Cadogan Books, 1998, p. 160. .

A number of other top players were also in the tournament. According to the unofficial Chessmetrics ratings, the tournament was (as of March 2005) one of only six tournaments in history that had the top eight players in the world playing."Formulas" Chessmetrics.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-19. (Chessmetrics gives the top eight at the time as, in order: Euwe, Botvinnik, Alekhine, Flohr, Capablanca, Reshevsky, Fine, Bogoljubow).Event Details: Nottingham, 1936, Chessmetrics

The event is also notable for being Lasker's last major event,Hannak, pp. 297, 299.J. Sonas, Chessmetrics Player Profile: Emanuel Lasker. ChessMetrics.com. Retrieved on 2009-01-17. and for Botvinnik achieving the first Soviet success outside the Soviet Union.

According to D. Kandelaki, the head of the Soviet trade mission in Berlin, in a secret letter to General Levin in Moscow dated 27th November 1936, the German Foreign Ministry had complained about an article in Issue #17 of the trade agency's magazine “Soviet Economy and Foreign Trade” mentioning the chess tournament. The trade mission replied to the German Foreign Ministry that they would avoid publishing articles about chess tournaments in future.Deutschland und die Sowjetunion 1933-1941 – Dokumente aus Russischen und Deutschen Archiven (Document 590)

In parallel with the main tournament, the venue also played host to the 1936 British Women's Championship. The event was won by Edith Holloway (1868-1956), age sixty-eight and a former winner in 1919.K. Whyld, Guinness Chess, The Records, Guinness Books, 1986, p. 91. .

Results {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;" |+ Nottingham 1936Alekhine, The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament, p. 289. !#!!Player !!01!!02!!03!!04!!05!!06!!07!!08!!09!!10!!11!!12!!13!!14!!15!!Score |- | 1||align=left| |x||½||½||½||½||½||½||½||1||1||1||1||1||1||½|| 10 |- | 2||align=left| |½||x||½||½||1||1||0||½||1||½||½||1||1||1||1|| 10 |- | 3||align=left| |½||½||x||½||1||0||½||0||1||½||1||1||1||1||1|| 9½ |- | 4||align=left| |½||½||½||x||½||½||½||1||½||1||½||1||1||½||1|| 9½ |- | 5||align=left| |½||0||0||½||x||1||½||1||1||1||½||1||1||1||½|| 9½ |- | 6||align=left| |½||0||1||½||0||x||1||½||½||1||1||½||1||½||1|| 9 |- | 7||align=left| |½||1||½||½||½||0||x||1||1||1||½||0||0||1||1|| 8½ |- | 8||align=left| |½||½||1||0||0||½||0||x||½||1||½||1||1||1||1|| 8½ |- | 9||align=left| |0||0||0||½||0||½||0||½||x||1||½||½||1||½||1|| 6 |- |10||align=left| |0||½||½||0||0||0||0||0||0||x||½||1||1||1||1|| 5½ |- |11||align=left| |0||½||0||½||½||0||½||½||½||½||x||0||0||1||1|| 5½ |- |12||align=left| |0||0||0||0||0||½||1||0||½||0||1||x||½||½||½|| 4½ |- |13||align=left| |0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0||0||0||1||½||x||½||½|| 3½ |- |14||align=left| |0||0||0||½||0||½||0||0||½||0||0||½||½||x||½|| 3 |- |15||align=left| |½||0||0||0||½||0||0||0||0||0||0||½||½||½||x|| 2½

References

External links Nottingham 1936 on Chessgames.com “Photographs of Nottingham, 1936” by Edward Winter