Efim Bogoljubov - World War I: Interned in Germany

World War I: Interned in Germany

In July/August 1914, he played in Mannheim tournament (the 19th DSB Congress), and tied for 8–9th in that event, which was interrupted by World War I. After the declaration of war against Russia, eleven "Russian players" (Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Fedor Bogatyrchuk, Alexander Flamberg, N. Koppelman, Boris Maliutin, Ilya Rabinovich, Peter Romanovsky, Peter Petrovich Saburov, Alexey Selezniev, Samuil Weinstein) from the Mannheim tournament were interned by Germany. In September 1914, four of the internees (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were allowed to return home via Switzerland. The remaining Russian internees played eight tournaments, the first held in Baden-Baden (1914) and all the others in Triberg (1914–17). Bogoljubow took second place, behind Alexander Flamberg, in Baden-Baden, and won five times in the Triberg chess tournament (1914–16). Durıng World War I, he stayed in Triberg im Schwarzwald, married a local woman and spent the rest of his life in Germany.