Mikhail Botvinnik won the five-player championship tournament, beginning the era of Soviet domination of international chess that would last over twenty years without interruption.

FIDE found it very difficult to organise the early discussions on how to resolve the interregnum due to problems with money, communication and travel (for example, World War II prevented many countries from sending representatives – most notably the Soviet Union).

The shortage of clear information resulted in otherwise responsible magazines publishing rumors and speculation, which only made the situation more baffling.

These players were: ex-champion Max Euwe (from the Netherlands); Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres and Salo Flohr (from the Soviet Union); and Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky (from the USA).

The proposal was modified slightly, in that the Soviet Union was allowed to replace Flohr with Vasily Smyslov, a young player who had emerged during the World War II years and was obviously stronger.

[3] The Soviets brought a large contingent of about twenty-one including the players Botvinnik, Keres, and Smyslov; their seconds Viacheslav Ragozin, Alexander Tolush, and Vladimir Alatortsev respectively; correspondents Igor Bondarevsky, Salo Flohr, and Andor Lilienthal; member of the adjudication committee Alexander Kotov; leader of the group Postnikov; a private doctor from Moscow; and Botvinnik's wife and young daughter.

In a subsequent two-part interview with Kingston, Soviet grandmaster and official Yuri Averbakh said that: Stalin would not have given orders that Keres should lose to Botvinnik; Smyslov would probably have been the candidate most preferred by officials (he was a Russian Gentile while Botvinnik was Jewish, at a time of rising antisemitism among the Soviet elite);[9] Keres was under severe psychological stress as a result of the multiple invasions of his home country, Estonia, and of his subsequent treatment by Soviet officials up to late 1946; and Keres was less tough mentally than his rivals.