Max Euwe: Fifth World Chess Champion

by Isaak Linder

Overview

The Gentleman Champion The fifth book of the World Chess Champions series focuses on the life and career of the Dutchman Max Euwe. This soft-spoken professor of mathematics rocked the chess world in 1935 when he defeated the seemingly irresistible force, Alexander Alekhine, to become world champion. Many chessplayers thought this was an upset of the first magnitude. Hardly. Euwe was at his prime and the best in the world at the time. In fact, Euwe posted a plus score against Alekhine in the four games they played between the 1935 and 1937 matches. As noted by Andy Soltis in his foreword, “These pages are rich in detail, and not just about Euwe. There are extensive mini-biographies of Alekhine, Botvinnik, Bogoljubow, Spielmann, Capablanca, Paul Keres, Géza Maróczy, Flohr, Vera Menchik and Réti – as well as less known players such as Edgard Colle, Jan Hein Donner and Salo Landau. The photos and drawings – and those caricatures – are also remarkable.” The venerable fifth world champion was also a first-class arbiter, author and chess diplomat. As an author, he is regarded as one of the two or three finest chess writers for the average player. He was also president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at the time of the Fischer-Spassky title match in 1972. Were it not for Euwe’s persuasive, patient handling of the difficult negotiations between the Russians and Americans, it is very likely that the match would not have taken place at all. Join Russian historians Isaak and Vladimir Linder as they take you on a journey exploring the life and games of the gentleman world champion, Max Euwe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936490578
Publisher:	Russell Enterprises, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/14/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

The late Isaak Linder was one of the world's premier chess historians.

Table of Contents

Foreword Andy Soltis 6

Publisher's Note

Acknowledgments 10

Signs & Symbols 10

A World about the Authors Yuri Averbakh 11

Prologue 12

Chapter 1 Life

Early Life 13

Family 17

Personality 17

Mathematician 19

Cybernetics and Euwe 19

FIDE President 24

Tours 27

Arbiter 28

Curious Stories 28

Chapter 2 Matches, Tournaments, Opponents

Matches 35

Tournaments 35

Hastings Tournaments 36

Amsterdam Tournaments 42

Réti, Richard 45

Réti-Euwe Match, 1920 50

Budapest Tournaments 51

Maróczy, Géza 53

Maróczy-Euwe Match, 1921 57

Colle, Edgard 58

Colle-Euwe Matches 61

Weisbaden Tournament, 1925 63

Alckhine, Alexander 65

Alekhine-Euwe Match, 1926/27 70

World Olympiads 73

Bad Kissingen Tournament, 1928 77

Bogoljubow, Efim 80

Bogoljubow-Euwe Matches 83

FIDE Championship, 1928 86

Carlsbad Tournament, 1929 87

Landau, Salo 89

Landau-Euwe Matches 90

Consultation Games 92

Capablanca, José Raúl 94

Capablanca-Euwe Match, 1931 99

Bern Tournament, 1932 102

Flohr, Salo 102

Flohr-Euwe Matches 106

Spielmann, Rudolf 108

Spielmann-Euwe Match, 1932 112

Leningrad Tournament, 1934 114

Keres, Paul 116

Keres-Euwe Match, 1939/40 121

Zurich Tournament, 1934 125

World Championship Matches 128

Euwe-Alekhine Match, 1935 130

Euwe-Alekhine Match, 1937 140

Zandvoort Tournament, 1936 145

Nottingham Tournament, 1936 148

Bad Nauheim Tournament, 1938 151

Dutch Championships 153

AVRO Tournament, 1938 155

Botvinnik, Mikhail 158

London Tournament, 1946 164

Zaandam Tournament, 1946 165

Groningen Touruament, 1946 167

World Championship Match-Tournament, 1948 172

Donner, Johannes 176

Beverwijk Tournaments 179

Correspondence Chess 179

Chapter 3 Chess - Play and Novelties

Attack 182

Chess Aphorisms and Thoughts 185

The Study of Openings 186

Defense 189

Famous Games 191

Combinations 195

Compositions 198

The Middlegame 201

Losses 205

The Endgame 207

Aesthetics 209

Chapter 4 Writer and Journalist

Journalist 213

Writer 214

Chapter 5 Timeless

Epilogue 217

Literature 219

World Champions about Euwe 221

Significant Dates in the Life and Work of Max Euwe 225

Tournament and Match Record 231

Player Index 236

Opening Index 238