Тимур Гареев

In 1939, while playing a tournament in South America, Najdorf had learned of Hitler’s invasion of his country, and with his fellow (Jewish) team mates, chose to stay in Argentina. Seeking to reach out to his family, of whom he had no news, he construed that news of a world blindfold record would be carried by newspapers around the globe, and seeing this news, any surviving family would know he was well, and seek him out. In 1943, he broke the previous record with a fantastic 40 boards, but with no happy end. Having already learned of his wife and child’s demise before 1945, he still hoped to connect with family and friends, and in 1947, established a new record with 45 boards in a massive display in São Paulo, Brazil.