Albert Becker (chess player)

In 1929, he tied for 5-7th in Karlovy Vary, and also inaugurated the Vera Menchik Club as the first member.

[1] In July 1931, Becker played for Austria at fourth board (+10 –3 =1) in the 4th Chess Olympiad in Prague.

The event (13.Kongreß des Deutschen Schachverbandes in der Tschechoslowakei) was won by Salo Flohr.

In August 1936, he played for Austria at second board (+11 –2 =5) in unofficial Olympiad in Munich.

Albert Becker was a Captain of the German team in the 8th Chess Olympiad at Buenos Aires 1939.

[3] In September 1939, when World War II broke out, he along with all members of the German team (Eliskases, Michel, Engels, Becker, Reinhardt) and many other participants of this Olympiad decided to stay permanently in Argentina.

[4] In 1944, Alberto Becker took 3rd, behind José María Cristiá and Pablo Michel, in Buenos Aires (La Regence).

When Vera Menchik entered the Carlsbad 1929 chess tournament, at a time it was unusual for a woman to play against masters, Becker is said to have joked that any player she defeated would join the "Vera Menchik Club".

This story may be apocryphal, however, given that the earliest known source for it is a book printed in 1980, 51 years after when it is said to have occurred.

[5] In addition to Becker, the "club" eventually included Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, Abraham Baratz, Eero Böök, Edgard Colle, Max Euwe, Harry Golombek, Mir Sultan Khan, Frederic Lazard, Jacques Mieses, Stuart Milner-Barry, Karel Opočenský, Brian Reilly, Samuel Reshevsky, Friedrich Sämisch, Lajos Steiner, George Alan Thomas, William Winter, and Frederick Yates.