The 8th Chess Olympiad (Spanish: La 8a Olimpíada de ajedrez), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), comprised an open tournament,[1] as well as a Women's World Championship contest.
Due to certain political events, prominent Austrian players Erich Eliskases and Albert Becker were playing under the German flag and official sources referred to the Czechoslovak team as 'Bohemia & Moravia'.
Leading roles were reportedly taken by World Champion Alexander Alekhine (France), Savielly Tartakower (Poland), Albert Becker (Germany) and the president of the Argentine Chess Federation, Augusto de Muro.
After considerable deliberation and negotiation, a total of six matches (GER-POL, GER-FRA, GER-PAL, B&M-POL, B&M-FRA, and ARG-PAL) were declared drawn 2–2 by mutual forfeit and this allowed the remainder of the competition to be played out to a conclusion.
The players affected included Miguel Najdorf, Paulino Frydman, Gideon Ståhlberg, Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt, Jiří Pelikán, Karel Skalička, Markas Luckis, Movsas Feigins, Ilmar Raud, Moshe Czerniak, Meir Rauch, Victor Winz, Aristide Gromer, Franciszek Sulik, Adolf Seitz, Chris De Ronde, John Francis O'Donovan, Zelman Kleinstein, Sonja Graf and Paulette Schwartzmann.