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Max Euwe
Full name Machgielis Euwe
Country Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
Born May 20, 1901(1901-05-20)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Died November 26, 1981 (aged 80)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Title Grandmaster
World Champion 1935–1937

Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced /ø:wə/) (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, Mathematician, and author. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Events 43 BC - The Second Triumvirate alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ("Octavian" later "Caesar Augustus" Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The title Grandmaster is awarded to extremely strong Chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. See also Development of the World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the Board game Chess Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 43 BC - The Second Triumvirate alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ("Octavian" later "Caesar Augustus" Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. The title Grandmaster is awarded to extremely strong Chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937). See also Development of the World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the Board game Chess Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978. Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national Chess federations around the Euwe was also a highly-regarded chess writer.

Contents

Early years

Dr Max Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam. The Watergraafsmeer is a Polder in The Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629 Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west He studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam, earning his doctorate in 1926,[1] and taught mathematics, first in Rotterdam, and later at a girls' Lyceum in Amsterdam. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and The University of Amsterdam ( Universiteit van Amsterdam in Dutch) is a comprehensive research University located in the heart of the city of Amsterdam Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west He published a mathematical analysis of the game of chess from an intuitionistic point of view, in which he showed, using the Thue-Morse sequence, that the then current official rules did not exclude the possibility of infinite games. In the Philosophy of mathematics, intuitionism, or neointuitionism (opposed to Preintuitionism) is an approach to Mathematics as the constructive See also Thue-Morse constant In Mathematics and its applications the Thue-Morse sequence, or Prouhet-Thue-Morse sequence, [1]

Early career

Euwe won every Dutch chess championship that he participated in from 1921 until 1952, and additionally won the title in 1955 - his 12 titles are still a record. The Dutch Chess Championship was officially established in 1909 although unofficial champions stretch back to the 1870s The only other winners during this period were Salo Landau in 1936, when Euwe, then world champion, did not compete, and Jan Hein Donner in 1954. Salo (Salomon Landau (born 1 April 1903, Bochnia, Galicia, Austria-Hungary – died 15 November 1943, Johannes Hendrikus "Jan Hein" Donner ( July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988) was a Dutch Chess grandmaster [2] He became the world amateur chess champion in 1928, at The Hague, with a score of 12/15. The World Amateur Chess Championship was a tournament organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE. [3]

Euwe had a young family and could only play competitive chess during school vacations, so his opportunities for international chess competition at the top level were limited. But he performed well in the few tournaments and matches for which he could find time from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s. Fine comments, "Euwe's main international successes came in the form of narrow defeats" - but these were in matches against the world's best: Alekhine (1926), Capablanca (1931) and Spielmann (1935); and Euwe drew a match with Flohr in 1932. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October Rudolf Spielmann ( 5 May 1883 - 20 August 1942) was an Austrian - Jewish Chess player of the romantic school Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr ( November 21, 1908 &ndash July 18, 1983) was a leading Czech and later Soviet Chess His playing strength gradually increased, so that by 1932 he and Flohr were regarded as Alekhine's most credible challengers. [4]

At Zürich 1934, Euwe finished second, behind only World Champion Alexander Alekhine, and he defeated Alekhine in their game. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October Alekhine was in an eight-year stretch, from 1927-35, where he lost only six games in tournament play.

World Champion

Sculpture of Euwe in Amsterdam by artist José Fijnaut

On December 15, 1935 after 30 games played in 13 different cities around The Netherlands over a period of 80 days, Euwe defeated Alekhine, by 15. Events 533 - Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 5-14. 5, becoming the fifth World Chess Champion. See also Development of the World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the Board game Chess Alekhine quickly went two games ahead, but from game 13 onwards Euwe won twice as many games as Alekhine. [5] His title gave a huge boost to chess in The Netherlands. This was also the first world championship match in which the players had seconds to help them with analysis during adjournments. [6]

Euwe's win was a major upset, and is sometimes attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism. But Salo Flohr, who was helping Euwe during the match, thought over-confidence was more of a problem than alcohol for Alekhine in this match, and Alekhine himself said he would win easily. Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr ( November 21, 1908 &ndash July 18, 1983) was a leading Czech and later Soviet Chess [7][8] Former World Champions Vassily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov analyzed the match for their own benefit and concluded that Euwe deserved to win and and that the standard of play was worthy of a world championship. Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov (Васи́лий Васильевич Смысло́в (born March 24, 1921, in Moscow) is a Russian Chess Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij (Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian French Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Анатолий Евгеньевич Карпов born May 23, 1951) is a Russian Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov (Га́рри Ки́мович Каспа́ров) (born as Garry Kimovich Weinstein on April 13 1963 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet [7] Vladimir Kramnik, ex-champion and still a strong contender, said that Euwe won the 1935 match on merit and that the result was not affected by Alekhine's drinking before or during the match. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник (born June 25, 1975) is a Russian Chess grandmaster [9]

Euwe's performances in the great tournaments of Nottingham 1936 and the 1938 AVRO tournament indicate he was a worthy champion, even if he was not as dominant as the earlier champions. Nottingham 1936 is often considered one of the strongest chess tournaments of all time "reminiscent of the unsurpassed quality of the of the first great Hastings tournament Reuben Fine wrote, "In the two years before the return match, Euwe's strength increased. Reuben Fine ( October 11 1914  &ndash March 26 1993) was one of the best Chess players in the world from the mid 1930s through Although he never enjoyed the supremacy over his rivals that his predecessors had, he had no superiors in this period. "[4]

Euwe lost the title to Alekhine in a rematch in 1937, also played in The Netherlands, by a rather one-sided margin of 15. 5-9. 5. Alekhine had given up alcohol to prepare for the rematch, although he would start drinking again later. Alekhine got back to the sort of form he had shown from 1927-1935, when he dominated chess. The match was a real contest initially, but Euwe's play collapsed near the end and he lost four of the last five games. [10][9] Fine, who was Euwe's second in this match, attributed the collapse to nervous tension, possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm appearance. [4]

The two world title matches against Alekhine represent the heart of Euwe's career. Altogether, the two played 86 competitive games, and Alekhine had a +28 -20 =38 lead, according to chessgames. com. Many of Alekhine's wins came early in their series; he was nine years older, and had more experience during that time. Then in the return match, Alekhine won by six points. So, during the period 1925-1935, the two were very closely matched.

Later career

Euwe finished equal fourth with Alekhine and Reshevsky in the AVRO tournament of 1938 in The Netherlands, which featured the world's top eight players and was an attempt to decide who should challenge Alekhine for the world championship. Samuel Herman (Sammy Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski, November 26, 1911, Ozorków near Lodz, (then Russian Empire Euwe also had a major organizational role in the event. [8]

He played a match with Paul Keres in The Netherlands in 1939-40, losing 6. Paul Keres ( January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was an Estonian Chess grandmaster. 5-7. 5.

After Alekhine's death in 1946, Euwe was considered by some to have a moral right to the position of world champion, based at least partially on his clear second place finish in the great tournament at Groningen in 1946, behind Mikhail Botvinnik. Groningen is the capital city of the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (mʲixaˈiɫ̺ mʌiˈs̺ʲɛjɛvʲiʧʲ bʌt̺ˈvʲin̺n̻ʲik Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник) ( &ndash May But Euwe consented to participate in a five-player tournament to select the new champion, the World Chess Championship 1948. The 1948 World Chess Championship was a tournament played to determine a new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in [8] However at 47, Euwe was significantly older than the other players, and well past his best, and he finished last. [11]

His final major tournament was the Candidates' Tournament in Zurich, 1953, in which he finished next to last. The Candidates Tournament was a triennial Chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE as the final contest to determine the challenger for the Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the

He played for The Netherlands in a total of seven chess Olympiads, from 1927 to 1962, a 35-year-span, always on first board. An Olympiad is a period of four years associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. He scored 10. 5/15 at London 1927, 9. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. 5/13 at Stockholm 1937 for a bronze medal, 8/12 at Dubrovnik 1950, 7. ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the ||-||-||-||-||-||-||} Dubrovnik (ˈdǔbro̞ːʋniːk Dalmatian: Ragusa; Latin: Ragusium, also Rhausium, Rhaugia; 5/13 at Amsterdam 1954, 8. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west 5/11 at Munich 1958 for a silver medal at age 57, 6. Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. 5/16 at Leipzig 1960, and finally 4/7 at Varna 1962. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong Varna (Варна is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv His aggregate was 54. 5/87 for 62. 6 per cent.

In 1957 Euwe played a short match against 14-year-old future world champion Bobby Fischer, winning one game and drawing the other. Robert James "Bobby" Fischer ( March 9 1943 – January 17 2008) was an American -born Chess Grandmaster His lifetime score against Fischer was +1-1=1.

Euwe won a total of 102 first prizes in tournaments during his career. While it is true that many of those were local and were not very strong, the total is very impressive, considering that Euwe was never a true professional player. [12]

FIDE President

From 1970 (when he was 69 years old) until 1978, he was president of the FIDE. Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national Chess federations around the As president Euwe usually did what he considered morally right rather than what was politically expedient. On several occasions this brought him into conflict with the Soviet Chess Federation, which thought it had the right to call the shots because it contributed a very large share of FIDE's budget and Soviet players dominated the world rankings - in effect they treated chess as an extension of the Cold War. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the These conflicts included:[7]

Of course Euwe lost some of the battles with the Soviets. For example in 1973 he accepted the Soviets' demand that Bent Larsen and Robert Hübner, the two strongest non-Soviet contenders (Fischer was now champion), should play in the Leningrad Interzonal tournament rather than the weaker one in Petropolis. Jørgen Bent Larsen (born March 4 1935, Thisted) is a Danish Chess Grandmaster. Robert Hübner (born November 6, 1948 in Cologne, West Germany) is a respected German Chess Grandmaster, chess writer Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation Petrópolis, also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 65 km from Rio de Janeiro. Unsurprisingly Larsen and Hübner were eliminated from the competition for the World Championship because Korchnoi and Karpov took the first 2 places at Leningrad. [7] Some commentators have also questioned whether Euwe did as as much as he could have to prevent Fischer from forfeiting his world title in 1975. [7]

Despite the turbulence of the period most assessments of Euwe's performance as president of FIDE are sympathetic:[7]

He died in 1981, age 80, of a heart attack. Revered around the chess world for his many contributions, he had travelled extensively while FIDE President, bringing many new members into the organization.

Assessment of Euwe's chess

Euwe was noted for his logical approach and for his knowledge of the openings, in which he made major contributions to chess theory. [4] Paradoxically his two title matches with Alexander Alekhine were displays of tactical ferocity from both sides. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October But the comments by Kmoch and Alekhine (below) may explain this: Euwe "strode confidently into some extraordinarily complex variations" if he thought logic was on his side; and he was extremely good at calculating these variations. On the other hand he "often lacked the stamina to pull himself out of bad positions". [4]

Alekhine was allegedly more frank in his Russian-language articles than in those he wrote in English, French or German. In his Russian articles he often described Euwe as lacking in originality and in the mental toughness required of a world champion. Gennadi Sosonko thought Euwe's modesty was a handicap in top-class chess (although Euwe was well aware of how much stronger he was than "ordinary" grandmasters). Gennadi (Gennady Genna Borisovich Sosonko (Геннадий Борисович Сосонко born 18 May 1943, Troitsk, Russia) is a [7]

Vladimir Kramnik also says Euwe anticipated Botvinnik's emphasis on technical preparation, [9] and Euwe was usually in good shape physically because he was a keen sportsman. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник (born June 25, 1975) is a Russian Chess grandmaster Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (mʲixaˈiɫ̺ mʌiˈs̺ʲɛjɛvʲiʧʲ bʌt̺ˈvʲin̺n̻ʲik Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник) ( &ndash May

Chess books by Euwe

He wrote over 70 chess books, far more than any other World Champion; some of the best-known are "The Road to Chess Mastery", "Judgement and Planning in Chess", "The Logical Approach to Chess" and "Strategy and Tactics in Chess Play". [8][3] Former Soviet grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko used Euwe's "Practical Chess Lessons" ("Practische schaaklessen") as a textbook when teaching in the Leningrad House of Pioneers, and considers it "one of the best chess books ever". Gennadi (Gennady Genna Borisovich Sosonko (Геннадий Борисович Сосонко born 18 May 1943, Troitsk, Russia) is a [7]

Other

In Amsterdam there is a Max Euwe Plein (square) (near the Leidseplein) with a large chess set and statue, where the 'Max Euwe Stichting' is located in a former jailhouse. The Leidseplein is a square in central Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It has a Max Euwe museum and a large collection of chess books.

His granddaughter, Esmee Lammers, has written a children's book called Lang Leve de Koningin (Long live the Queen), which is popular among the youth. It is a fairytale about a young girl who learns to play chess and at the same time finds her father. Lammers filmed the story in 1995. (IMDB Entry)

When the then FIDE president Max Euwe gave a simultaneous exhibition in Kathmandu, Baburam Bhattarai played against him and beat the former world champion, Max Euwe in 23 moves with a brilliant queen sacrifice. Afterwards, Dr. Euwe was reported in local media as saying, "Alekhine lives in Nepal!". [citation needed]

Notable chess games

Quotations

References

  1. ^ Euwe, M. (1929), “Mengentheoretische Betrachtungen über das Schachspiel”, Proc. Konin. Akad. Wetenschappen (Amsterdam) 32 (5): 633–642 .
  2. ^ Schaakkampioenen van Nederland.
  3. ^ a b Max Euwe, ex-chess champion, led the game's World Federation (November 28, 1981). Euwe's obituary
  4. ^ a b c d e Fine, R. (1952). The World's Great Chess Games. Andre Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover).  
  5. ^ Alekhine vs Euwe 1935. chessgames. com.
  6. ^ Winter, E. . Chess Notes (5202).
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Gennadi Sosonko (2001). Gennadi (Gennady Genna Borisovich Sosonko (Геннадий Борисович Сосонко born 18 May 1943, Troitsk, Russia) is a Remembering Max Euwe Part 1. The Chess Cafe.
  8. ^ a b c d Münninghoff, A. (2001). Max Euwe: The Biography. New in Chess. ISBN 978-1588630025.   Review and summary at McKim, D. K. (2006). Max Euwe: The Biography. Jeremy Silman. Jeremy Silman (born August 28 1954) is an American International Master of Chess. and BCM Chess Book Reviews : July 2001. British Chess Magazine (July 2001).
  9. ^ a b c Kramnik, V. (2005). Kramnik Interview: From Steinitz to Kasparov. Vladimir Kramnik. Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник (born June 25, 1975) is a Russian Chess grandmaster
  10. ^ Alekhine vs Euwe 1937. chessgames. com.
  11. ^ The World Chess Championship 1948. British Chess Magazine. Blurb for Golombek's book about the tournament. Harry Golombek OBE ( March 1[[ 911]]– January 7 1995) was a British Chess International Master and honorary grandmaster The 1948 World Chess Championship was a tournament played to determine a new World Chess Champion following the death of the previous champion Alexander Alekhine in }}
  12. ^ (1995) The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories. San Francisco: Hypermodern.  

Further reading

External links


Preceded by
Alexander Alekhine		 World Chess Champion
1935–1937		 Succeeded by
Alexander Alekhine
Preceded by
Folke Rogard		 FIDE President
1970–1978		 Succeeded by
Friðrik Ólafsson
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October See also Development of the World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the Board game Chess Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин) (October Bror Axel Folke Per Rogard ( July 6, 1899 – June 11, 1973) was a Swedish lawyer and Chess official Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national Chess federations around the Friðrik Ólafsson (born January 26, 1935) is an Icelandic Chess Grandmaster and former president of FIDE.
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