Max Euwe
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Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced /ø:wə/) (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess Grandmaster and Mathematician. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937). Euwe also served as President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) from 1970-1978.
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[edit] Early years
Dr Max Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam. He studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam, earning his doctorate in 1924, and taught mathematics, first in Rotterdam, and later at a girls' Lyceum in Amsterdam. He applied his knowledge of mathematics to the question of infinite chess games, using the Thue-Morse sequence.
He won every Dutch chess championship that he participated in from 1921 until 1952, and additionally won the title in 1955. The only other winners during this period were Salo Landau (1936) and Hein Donner (1954). Altogether he won the title a record 12 times. He became the world amateur chess champion in 1928, at The Hague, with a score of 12/15.
[edit] Gaining strength
Euwe played many matches against strong players, from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s. He had a family with three children, so his competitive chess was reduced from what most of the professionals were playing. He could only play on school vacations, so this limited his tournament opportunities. But his playing strength gradually increased, so that by the early 1930s, he was among the top half-dozen players in the world. He lost narrowly to former World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca in a match played in The Netherlands in 1931.
[edit] World Champion
At Zurich 1934, Euwe finished second, behind only World Champion Alexander Alekhine, and he defeated Alekhine in their game. Alekhine was in an eight-year stretch, from 1927-35, where he lost only six games in tournament play.
On December 15, 1935 after 30 games played in 13 different cities around The Netherlands over a period of 80 days, he defeated Alekhine, by 15.5-14.5, becoming the 5th World Chess Champion. His title gave a huge boost to chess in The Netherlands.
Euwe's win was a major upset, and is sometimes attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism. However, Euwe's performances in the great tournaments of Nottingham, 1936 and the AVRO 1938 indicate he was a worthy champion, even if he was not as dominant as the earlier champions. Reuben Fine wrote, "In the two years before the return match, Euwe's strength increased. Although he never enjoyed the supremacy over his rivals that his predecessors had, he had no superiors in this period."[1]
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 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.
[edit] Challenges again
He played in the AVRO tournament of 1938 in The Netherlands, which was to choose a challenger for Alekhine. He also had a major organizational role in this event, which featured the world's top eight players. Euwe played a match with Paul Keres in The Netherlands in 1939-40, losing 8-6.
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 1946, behind Mikhail Botvinnik. But Euwe graciously consented to participate in the five-contestant tournament to select the new world champion held in 1948. The other participants were Paul Keres, Vasily Smyslov, and Samuel Reshevsky. However at 47, Euwe was significantly older than the other players, and well past his best, and he finished last.
His final major tournament was the Candidates' Tournament in Zurich, 1953, in which he finished next to last.
He played for The Netherlands in a total of seven chess Olympiads, from 1927 to 1962, a 35-year-span, always on first board. He scored 10.5/15 at London 1927, 9.5/13 at Stockholm 1937 for a bronze medal, 8/12 at Dubrovnik 1950, 7.5/13 at Amsterdam 1954, 8.5/11 at Munich 1958 for a silver medal at age 57, 6.5/16 at Leipzig 1960, and finally 4/7 at Varna 1962. 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. His lifetime score against Fischer was +1-1=1.
According to Arnold Denker, writing in his book The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories, with his co-author Larry Parr, 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 that strong, the total is very impressive, considering that Euwe was never a true professional player.
[edit] Revered chess leader and author
From 1970 (when he was 69 years old) until 1978, he was president of the FIDE, and played an important role in organising the famous Boris Spassky–-Bobby Fischer title match in Iceland. He died in 1981, age 80, revered around the chess world for his many deep, wide, and long contributions. He had travelled extensively while FIDE President, bringing many new members to the organization.
He also wrote many books on chess, of which the most famous are Oordeel en Plan (Judgement and Planning), and a series about the opening (Chess Archives).
In Amsterdam there is a Max Euwe Plein (square) (near the Leidseplein), where the 'Max Euwe Stichting' is located in an old jailhouse. It has a Max Euwe museum and a large collection of chess books. NOTE: a recent visit to Amsterdam (Oct/2006) shows that while the large chess set and statue is still at Max Euwe Plein, the museum no longer is. Brief web research shows that it moved to a new location in Amsterdam due to a large rent increase.
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)
[edit] Notable chess games
- Max Euwe vs Efim Bogolyubov, Budapest 1921, French Defence, MacCutcheon Variation (C12), 1-0 With wins like these, the 20-year-old Euwe was building his strength and experience.
- Max Euwe vs Geza Maroczy, Bad Aussee match 1921, game 4, King's Gambit Declined (C30), 1-0 The great Maroczy was a bit past his peak by this stage, spotting Euwe 31 years.
- Siegbert Tarrasch vs Max Euwe, Amsterdam 1923, King's Indian Defence (E90), 0-1 In a battle of the two great amateurs, Euwe foreshadows what is to come with the King's Indian Defence in the years ahead.
- Sir George Thomas vs Max Euwe, Karlsbad 1923, English Opening, Symmetrical Variation (A31), 0-1 In a very sharp tactical game, Euwe displays a style which would become very popular in upcoming years.
- Frank Marshall vs Max Euwe, Bad Kissingen 1928, Torre Attack, King's Fianchetto Defence (A48), 0-1 Euwe again adopts a kingside fianchetto to take off the legendary attacker Marshall.
- Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, Zurich 1934, Queen's Gambit (D31), 1-0 White unleashes a lovely tactic with his 31st move.
- Mikhail Botvinnik vs Max Euwe, Hastings 1934-35, Caro-Kann Defence, Panov-Botvinnik Attack (B13), 0-1 The young Soviet Botvinnik was playing his first tournament in the West, and adopts his favourite line, to no avail.
- Alexander Alekhine vs Max Euwe, Amsterdam 1936, Four Knights' Game (C49), 0-1 Euwe comes out on top after a very hard-fought endgame.
- Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, Zandvoort-Wch 1935 (26th game of the match), Dutch (A90), 1-0 Game called "The Pearl of Zandvoort"; the decisive victory of the match and at the same time a beautiful demonstration of the strength of passed pawns.
- Paul Keres vs Max Euwe, Zandvoort 1936, French Defense: Advance Variation. Nimzowitsch System (C02), 0-1 Struggle around the advanced White Pe5 transforms into an attack against the White King.
- Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match 1937, game 17, Slav Defence, Czech Variation (D19),(1-0) Outstanding precision by the champion.
- Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match 1937, game 29, Queen's Gambit (D40), 1-0 Alekhine called this game Euwe's best of the entire series.
- Yefim Geller vs Max Euwe, Zurich (candidates tournament) 1953 Nimzo-Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation, 0-1 Geller tries to smash Euwe off the board, but Euwe sacrifices a rook for a deadly counterattack.
- Max Euwe vs Robert James Fischer, New York m 1957, Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation (D35), 1-0 The ex-champion teaches the future champion how to attack in a very witty short game.
[edit] Quotes
- "Strategy requires thought; tactics requires observation." - Max Euwe
- "Does the general public, do even our friends the critics realize that Euwe virtually never made an unsound combination? He may, of course, occasionally fail to take account of an opponent's combination, but when he has the initiative in a tactical operation his calculation is impeccable." – Alexander Alekhine
- "If Richard Reti was interested only in the exceptions to positional rules, then Max Euwe believed perhaps a little too much in their immutability." – Alexander Alekhine
- "He is logic personified, a genius of law and order. One would hardly call him an attacking player, yet he strides confidently into some extraordinarily complex variations." – Hans Kmoch
- "Euwe can only breathe freely when he is smothered in work." – Hans Kmoch
- "Euwe resting would not be Euwe. His star is work, work, and more work. Work is his entertainment, his strength and his destiny." – Hans Kmoch
- "There's something wrong with that man. He's too normal." – Bobby Fischer
[edit] References
- World chess champions by Edward G. Winter, editor. 1981 ISBN 0-08-024094-1
- ^ The World's Great Chess Games, Reuben Fine, (McKay, 1976), p.200
[edit] External links
- Max Euwe at ChessGames.com
- http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Euwe.html -- Max Euwe's biography
- Remembering Max Euwe (PDF). Personal reminiscences of GM Genna Sosonko on the 100th anniversary of Euwe's birth.
- World Chess Championship 1937 Max Euwe - Alexander Alekhine
- World Chess Championship 1935 Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe
| Preceded by Alexander Alekhine |
World Chess Champion 1935–1937 |
Succeeded by Alexander Alekhine |
| Preceded by Folke Rogard |
FIDE President 1970–1978 |
Succeeded by Fridrik Olafsson |
