Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced /ø:wə/) (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937).
Dr Max Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam. He studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam and taught mathematics, first in Rotterdam, 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 became Dutch chess champion in 1921 and remained so until 1935. He became amateur chess champion in 1928. On December 15, 1935 after 30 games played in 13 different cities over a period of 80 days, he defeated reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine. His title gave a huge boost to chess in The Netherlands.
He lost the title to Alekhine in 1937. After Alekhine´s death in 1946, Euwe was considered by some to have a moral right to position of world champion, but he graciously consented to participate in the five-contestant tournament to select the new world champion held in 1948 in which he finished last.
Although being more than forty years older than Bobby Fischer, Euwe still had the stamina and endurance to have an equal score (+1-1=1) between the two of them.
From 1970 (when he was 69 years old) until 1980, he was president of FIDE, and played an important role in organising the famous Boris Spassky-Bobby Fischer match.
He also wrote many books on chess, of which the most famous are Oordeel en Plan (Evaluate and plan) and a series about the opening.
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.
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.
Quotes
- "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
References
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