Max Euwe is the 5th official world chess champion, the 3rd FIDE president (1970-78), mathematician and writer. He wrote more than 70 chess books greater than any other world chess champion, some of the best known are “The Road to Chess Mastery”, “Strategy and Tactics” etc.
He was born on May 20, 1901 at Amsterdam, Netherland. His parents taught him about chess at the age of 5, and soon he able to beat them. He played his 1st tournament at the age of 10.
In 1926, he started a family, so the opportunity for competitive chess was so limited. But it was not an obstacle to pursue his chess career. He performed well in the few tournaments and matches. He became the world amateur chess champion in 1928. He played matches against many strong players.
In 1933, Alekhine challenged him in a title match and he accepted. The match was set in various towns in Netherlands from October 3 – December 16, 1935. The fund set was NLG10,000 (or equivalent to $6,700). The winner will be the one who got the 15 points including the draws and 6 wins. The result was 9 wins 13 draws and 8 losses in favor of him. His title pushed chess to its peak in the Netherland. They went to rematch in 1937 at the same place but Alekhine regained the title. Some said that his win against Alekhine was not on his strength but due to Alekhine’s alcoholism and overconfidence. But his performance in Nottingham 1936 indicated that he was a worthy champion.
He won a total of 102 first placed in tournaments, it was impressive even those tournaments were not so strong considering his time and allotment for chess. He got 13 titles in the Dutch Chess Championship and still in the record.
In 1970 until 1978, he was elected as president in FIDE. He did what he considered morally right than what was politically expedient. On many occasions this brought conflict with the USSR Chess Federation (the one that had very large contribution in FIDE budget) and resulted in cold war. One of these was the participation of Bobby Fischer in the 1972 World Chess Championship match, the 1976 Chess Olympiad in Israel, etc.
In November 26, 1981, he died and buried at Driehuis Velsen Crematorium in Noord-Holland, Netherland.
There are 1671 games listed in the chessbase.
Let’s look of his best games which feature in our GMG page.
https://www.chess.com/blog/GMG29/strategy-requires-thought
By Coach Gerald Ferriol