The Clare Benedict Cup was a chess tournament for national teams from Western and Northern Europe, which took place 23 times from 1953 to 1979.

Overview and History

Foundation

Clare Benedict (1871–1961), author and patron, was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but moved to Switzerland in 1945, where she founded the tournament.[1] She was a distant relative of author James Fenimore Cooper.

Benedict spent her twilight years on Lake Lucerne and met Max Euwe, who helped Clare in finding Alois Nagler (a Swiss chess player) and the Chess Society of Zurich, the ideal partners who appreciated her vision of a peaceful nations tournament in an exalted and sophisticated atmosphere.[2][3]

Tournament Style

The Clare Benedict Cup was organized as a round-robin tournament, where everyone plays against each other.[3] Each team was made up of four players plus a substitute. They played using only five boards at the first tournament in 1952. In the original rules it stated that six teams participated. However, in recent years this has increased to up to eight teams. The teams were first evaluated by game points.[3]

In 1954 in Zurich, they changed the tournament style from the teams playing against each other to a single player tournament consisting of 12 players. The German Grandmaster Lothar Schmid took first place followed by Erwin Nievergelt from Switzerland and finally ex-champion Max Euwe.

Participating Countries

Country Participations Wins Hosts
 Belgium200
 Denmark411
 Germany21122
 England1822
 France200
 Italy1000
 Netherlands2150
 Norway100
 Austria2311
 Scotland100
 Sweden200
  Switzerland23115
 Spain1712

Results

# Year Host City 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place
11953Mont Pèlerin  Netherlands Austria  Switzerland
21955Mont Pèlerin  Netherlands  Switzerland Austria
31956Lenzerheide  Germany Netherlands Italy
41957Bern  Germany Netherlands Austria
51958Neuchâtel   Switzerland Spain Germany
61959Lugano  Germany Spain Austria
71960Biel  Germany England  Switzerland
81961 Neuhausen  Austria Germany England
91962Bern  Germany Spain England
101963Luzern  Germany Netherlands England
111964Lenzerheide  Germany Netherlands Austria
121965 Berlin  Germany Spain Netherlands
131966 Brunnen  Netherlands Spain Germany
141967Leysin  Germany Spain England
151968Bad Aibling  Germany Netherlands England
161969Adelboden  Netherlands  Switzerland Germany
 England
 Spain
171970Paignton  Spain England Germany
181971Madrid  Netherlands England Spain
191972Wien  Germany Netherlands Spain
201973Gstaad  Germany England Denmark
211974Cala Galdana  England Germany  Switzerland
221977Kopenhagen  Denmark England Sweden
231979Cleveland  England Germany Netherlands

References

  1. ↑ Di Felice, Gino (2016). Chess Competitions 1971-2010. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-6207-7.
  2. ↑ Richard Forster: Schachgesellschaft Zürich 1809 bis 2009. Chess Club, Zürich 2009, ISBN 9783033019171
  3. 1 2 3 Wojciech Bartelski & Co (2018). "Clare Benedict Chess Cup". OlimpBase. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
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