Were his opponents captured by the Nazis?
Was he a Jew who previously played to benefit the German government, and after WWII (which he somehow survived) decided not to play the kind of “trick” chess that he had played to benefit the government?
No.
No.
Was Michael in the concentration camp as well?
Did the Nazis kill everyone including him in the concentration camp?
Is this the most depressing 53 Bicycles problem ever?
- No, he was not.
- He wasn’t it it, so no.
- Yes, probably.
Due to potential puzzle fatigue, I’ll ask and answer a question myself.
Did Michael want to put on these huge displays of blind chess mastery(like 1 vs 45 at the same time)?
No, not really.
Was Michael a child when he played the simultaneous games?
No.
We the games part of some kind of publicity stunt to
-
call attention to what was happening to the Jews of Europe.
-
raise money for Jewish refugees after the war.
-
raise money to establish the state of Israel.
-
If any of the above, did he not have the heart for it once its mission was accomplished?
Did someone force him to play?
If so, was it the Nazis?
- No.
- No.
- No.
- Yes.
I’m going to point out that you should have stopped earlier in your question:
Q: Were these games part of a publicity stunt?
A: Yes.
Now, can you all put together a summary of what you think happened? We’re in the area.
So, he was doing these games as a publicity stunt for Germany and/or the Nazi party, then stopped when the Holocaust started, and he wanted nothing to do with either. Is that it?
I’m going to go ahead and start the next.
Recently, a man was injured. As a result of this injury, he lost a part of his body. The part was very important, and its loss caused him some distress, but he was completely unworried, and went about his normal routine.
Was it a part that grows back?
Was it an artificial part that could be replaced?
Was the part healthy and working before the accident?
Grows back: yes
Artificial: no
Healthy and working: yes
Was it hair?
Was it finger/toe nails?
Was it some skin?
Was it a baby tooth?
Was it blood?
I think I know this one.
Was the body part a tooth?
If so, I’ll bow out and let everybody else take a stab at it.
No, but I’ll accept that it has lost interest.
The answer is:
He was using his blindfold chess ability to put on a large self-publicity stunt so he could gain fame. You see, he hoped his fame would reach and spread throughout Europe(he was in Argentina) and his family would be able to know where he was and make contact with him.
Sadly, much of his family was killed in the Holocaust and none reached out to him. He knew many must be dead(it was almost all of them) and afterwards, he never wanted anything to do with blindfold chess again. The pain was too much.
You can read about him here. His true name was Miguel Najdorf. Tragic story all around.
In the article, he says it “was not a publicity stunt”, but he means it was not merely a publicity stunt for publicity sake. He hoped to reach his family his quote is:
‘‘I did this not as a stunt. I hoped that this exhibition would be reported throughout Germany, Poland and Russia and that some of my family might read about it and get in touch with me.’’ But none did so.
I await the answers about hair and tooth, my two guesses. 
Not hair
Not nails
Not skin
Not tooth
Yes to blood
So, he lost some blood, was worried, but soon recovered.
Is that it? Any more to the story that we need to guess?