Grob's Schachkalender 1946

111 pages with diagraphs, tables and photographs. Duodecimo (7" x 4 3/4") bound in original publisher's wrappers. Signed by Efim Bogoljubow. First edition.

Book owned by Efim Bogoljubow, with his ownership signatures; the book has a transcription of two of his games from 1946 as well as notes on the rear cover.

Efim Bogoljubow also known as Efim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow (1889-1952) was a Russian-born German chess grandmaster. In 1911, Bogoljubow tied for first place in the Kiev championships, and finished 9–10th in the Saint Petersburg (All-Russian Amateur) Tournament, won by Stepan Levitsky. In 1912, he took second place, behind Karel Hromádka, in Vilna (Vilnius) (Hauptturnier). In 1913/14, Bogoljubow finished eighth in Saint Petersburg (All Russian Masters' Tournament – eighth Russian championship; Alekhine and Aron Nimzowitsch came joint first).

After the war, Bogoljubow won many international tournaments; at Berlin 1919, Stockholm 1919, Kiel 1921, and Pistyan (Pieštany) 1922. He tied for 1st–3rd at Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) 1923. He sent his winnings from Pistyan to Triberg, where his wife used them to buy a house. The Bogoljubows made an income by renting rooms to tourists and visitors.

In 1926, Bogoljubow emigrated to Germany, and thereafter became a "non-person" in the Soviet Union: mention of his name was forbidden. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Bogoljubow was no longer allowed to play for the German national team or in German championships. Accounts of Bogoljubow's opinion of the Nazis differ between sources. Hans Kmoch claims that he insisted to play with the swastika flag at Zandvoort 1936, but Fedor Bogatyrchuk claimed that he did not like to wear it, and that Bogoljubow was "only formally" a member of the Nazi party. Bogatyrchuk is quoted by Bogoljubow's biographer, Sergei Soloviov, as saying: "It was not a secret at all that E.D. [Bogoljubow] did not like the Bolsheviks, but I think only a few people knew that he was treating Hitler's wild ideas with at least equal revulsion and contempt."

Condition: Signature and inscription to front cover, edge wear with bumped corners. lightly soiled else good to very good.