Max Euwe: Fifth World Chess Champion

2010

Prologue

On December 15, 1935, Dutch grandmaster and professor of mathematics Max Euwe (1901-1981) became the fifth world champion in the history of chess. He was going on 35. He became a national hero; there was even a song in The Netherlands And Euwe is our champion! Laurels and cymbals… Two years passed, and he lost to Alekhine in the rematch. Everything comes around. While Euwe was the world champion for just two years, he was an ex-world champion for 44!

Chess, mathematics, and computers made up Euwe’s life triathlon. He succeeded in each of these areas by virtue of his self-control, ability to see a specific goal, and tremendous capacity to concentrate all of his efforts on achieving the goal. For example, he was adamant and determined at the chessboard. Yet, Euwe, for many years, passed for an amateur among chess professionals despite being known as a true professional among amateurs. From time to time, he would sheath his chess sword and sharpen his quill. His books on chess theory and the practical aspects of the game became bestsellers and are now considered classics.

In 1970, thirty-five years after the conquest of the Chess Olympus, Euwe became the president of Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) as he was approaching his 70th birthday. Like previous presidents, he was blessed with all the virtues necessary for such an honorary appointment: honesty, fairness, knowledgeable, and the art of diplomacy. These qualities were tested by the Spassky-Fischer and the Karpov-Kortschnoi matches. Euwe had to be a politician, an advocate, a diplomat, and remain calm in the whirlwind of the volatile chess world.

Aside from being honest, fair, knowledgeable, and diplomatic, Euwe was gentle and kind by nature. These two qualities were reinforced by teaching mathematics at an all-girls school and having three daughters. Lastly, Euwe was a modest man, and, if anything held him back, it was probably his modesty. Otherwise, he could rightly repeat the words of his hero and mentor Wilhelm Steinitz: I am a part of chess history.

Isaak Linder,

Vladimir Linder

Moscow April 2010

Chapter 1: Life

Early Life

The second son of Cornelius Euwe, a church school teacher, Max was born on May 20, 1901. His given name was Machgielis, but everyone simply called him Max. Soon, Max and Willem (the firstborn in the family) were followed by two sisters, Annie and Tine, and two more brothers, Kees and Bob. The father switched to teaching in a public school and worked part time as a violin and piano teacher.

The Euwe family life was filled with music, school, and chess. Euwe’s mother, Elizabeth, was a passionate chessplayer, and almost every evening the kids watched their parents playing. According to the family legend, Max learned how pieces moved soon after he learned how to walk. At age 4, he was already playing with his parents, and two years later started beating them. But chess and the violin did not captivate his heart; most of all, Max loved outdoor games. He could read, write, and count before he started school. Going to school unexpectedly resulted in additional lessons in economics and a passion for running. His father, in order to save on transportation, ran a considerable distance from home to school, and Max followed him, trying not to fall behind. It taught Euwe a life lesson. Reflecting on his youth, Euwe admitted I am frugal, in the sense that I do not like to waste money because he thought that money should be spent in a useful way.

Elementary school was easy for Euwe. He quickly became one of the best students, as well as one of the top chessplayers in his age group. He taught himself French. Although a superior student, Euwe was held back in the second grade because of his passion for soccer. Meanwhile, he continued to play chess. On Saturdays, Euwe began to attend a junior chess club, Icebreakers. The club members were young people between the ages 16 and 23, but an exception was made for the nine-year-old Euwe. A year later, Max paid a guilder to the cashier of the chess cafe Te Reuter to participate in local tournaments, and, in his first tournament, he won all his games. Around that time, Euwe became interested in creating compositions, some of which were published (see Compositions).

In 1913, Max became a member of the Amsterdam Chess Club and was able to watch a simul given by the famous American master Frank James Marshall. In April and May of 1914, Euwe and other club members eagerly awaited the latest issues of newspapers that were reporting on the international grandmaster tournament in St. Petersburg. He carefully analyzed the games of the chess greats.

In the fall of 1914, Euwe was admitted to the Kuling School, known for its high level of teaching and strict discipline. It was the first time that Euwe had to re-evaluate his priorities: school came first, then chess, and finally soccer. School and chess won out. By 1917, Euwe was playing in the B group for the national championship and won the first-ever monetary prize of twenty-five guilders. Euwe finished school and entered the Department of Mathematics of the University of Amsterdam the following year.

Euwe’s youth in photographs on the poster at the Max Euwe Centrum in Amsterdam. Center: Cornelius Euwe, Max’s father.

Max Euwe’s youth coincided with World War I. However, he was lucky to be born in The Netherlands, a country where, according to the apt remark of Heine, everything happens fifty years later. During these years, world champion Emanuel Lasker, world champion contender Siegbert Tarrasch, and grandmasters Savielly Tartakower, Richard Réti, Géza Maróczy lived in The Netherlands for extended periods of time in order to escape the war. Interaction with them was a good learning experience for the 17-year-old. The restaurant Red Lion in Amsterdam became the usual meeting place and chess Eldorado.

In 1919, Euwe took third place in the national championship, then drew the champion Marchand (5-5), and beat the runner-up Meyer (5½-½). In August, he made his international debut in a tournament at Hastings, where he took fourth place. His game against John O’Hanlon made such an impression on the chess world that it was published in many chess magazines.

(1) Euwe – O’Hanlon,John

Hastings 1919

Giuoco Piano [C54]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.d5 The famous Møller Attack. It is considered harmless now, but Black must know what to do. 9…Bf6 10.Re1 Ne7 11.Rxe4 d6 12.Bg5 Bxg5 13.Nxg5 0-0 13…h6 14.Qe2 hxg5 15.Re1 Be6 16.dxe6 f6 17.Re3 with the idea of Rh3 is the other main line.

Student, University of Amsterdam

14.Nxh7 Kxh7? Very risky. With the solid 14…Bf5 15.Rxe7 Qxe7 16.Nxf8 Rxf8, Black runs no risk and can even play for a win. 15.Rh4+ Kg8 16.Qh5 f5 (D)

17.Re1? Euwe brings his last piece into the attack, but he needs to disturb the harmony in Black’s camp first with 17.Qh7+ Kf7 18.Rh6 Rg8 19.Re1 Qf8=. This is now the known main line (19…Bd7? 20.Ree6 Bxe6 21.dxe6+ Ke8 22.Rg6 d5 23.Rxg7+–). 17…Ng6 18.Rh3 (D)

18…f4? This is too optimistic. The prophylactic 18…Rf6 stops White’s attack for good, e.g., 19.Qh7+ (19.Re6 Bxe6 20.dxe6 d5–+; 19.Rg3 Bd7 20.Rxg6 Be8–+) 19…Kf7 20.Be2 f4–+. 19.Re6! Rf6 19…Bxe6? 20.dxe6+– 20.Qh7+ Kf8 20…Kf7 21.Rh6 Bd7 22.h4 f3 23.h5 Ne5 24.Rhxf6+ Qxf6 25.Rxf6+ Kxf6 26.Bd3+– 21.Qh8+ Nxh8 22.Rxh8+ Kf7 23.Rxd8 (D)

23…c6? This allows a small combination, but Black is lost in the long run, e.g., 23…a6 24.Bb3 b5 25.h3 Rf5 26.Bc2 Rxd5 27.Ree8+–. 24.Ree8! Bd7 25.dxc6+ Be6 26.Bxe6+ Rxe6 27.Rxa8 Rxe8 28.Rxe8 Kxe8 29.cxb7 1-0

Euwe played Emanuel Lasker for the first time during the world champion’s February 1920 tour of The Netherlands. Euwe, among the other top Dutch chessplayers, participated in the simultaneous exhibitions and won twice. Lasker complimented the 19-year-old student from Amsterdam. In May 1920, Euwe took fourth place in the tournament in Amsterdam behind the three stars Réti, Maróczy, and Tartakower. After the tournament, Euwe played a short four-game match against Réti and lost 1-3 (see Réti-Euwe match, 1920).

Max Euwe turned 20 in 1921, and it was a defining year. He achieved his first major chess success, becoming the champion of The Netherlands, drew his match with Géza Maróczy (see Maróczy-Euwe match, 1921), and participated in the international competitions in Budapest and The Hague. Euwe earned a degree in mathematics. On one hand, he almost set off on the difficult path of a professional chessplayer. On the other hand, he proved that he was not going to abandon his career in mathematics. His boyhood economics lesson of running behind his father to school guided his decision.

The paucity of financial prizes in chess, such as the eleven guilders prize in the Hague tournament (for the next-to-last place), and financial dependence on his parents forced Euwe to enter graduate school. He soon received his high school teacher diploma. His friend and biographer, Austrian master Hans Kmoch, called Max Euwe a genius of order for a reason. And the notion of order in Euwe’s life meant that he could always choose what was more important to him at the moment, chess or mathematics. At age 20, he realized that math could be his bread and butter and that chess would be the joy and anguish he could not live without.

Euwe with his family, 1948

Family

The marriage to Caro Bergman on August 3, 1926 had the most beneficial effect on Max Euwe’s life and his creative output in science, education, and chess. Over the next eight years, three daughters, Elsa, Caroline, and Fietie, were born. Happy, Euwe was confidently climbing the Chess Olympus and became one of the world’s strongest grandmasters. World champion Alekhine recognized Euwe’s right to a world championship match.

The support of a loving family played a unique role in maintaining his cool and restraint in the most difficult moments of this important match. A bad start in the match – 3-6 after the first nine games – could have demoralized just about anyone, but not Max Euwe. Inspired by the support of his whole country and especially by the love from those four women, he, to the surprise of the entire chess world, was able not only to equalize the score, but to move ahead. After this historic victory, he became the fifth world champion (See Euwe-Alekhine Match, 1935). Caro stepped on the stage to be the first to congratulate him. Back home, Max Euwe went to the bedroom of his eldest daughter Elsa. She opened her eyes and asked:

Did you win, Daddy?

Yes, baby. Daddy won.

In spite of the frequent foreign travel, Max Euwe was always a caring father and husband. His daughters adored and respected him, trying always to follow his example, and to help him in his numerous activities. For example, during World War II, Euwe suddenly decided to take Russian language lessons from a student of Slavic studies, Charles van het Reve, despite his coming from a Communist family. The lessons were held at Euwe’s home, and his whole family attended. In 1946, at the opening of the international tournament in Groningen, Euwe, Elsa, Caroline, and Fietie sang, in Russian, a popular Soviet song Song of the Motherland by I. Dunayevsky.

Euwe had eleven grandchildren, prompting Salo Flohr, on the occasion of Euwe’s 70th birthday, to say that Euwe was a grandfather of a whole soccer team.

Personality

Max Euwe was one of the very few people with no character flaws. It would be difficult to list all of his good qualities. Modesty unquestionably comes first. While not the attribute that helps anyone looking to make history, in combination with talent, persistence, and diligence, it did not prevent Euwe from becoming famous.

At age 25, a nice, tall young man named Max Euwe, who was little known even in his native country, brilliantly defended his dissertation. And in another ten years, by beating a seemingly invincible Alexander Alekhine, he planted the Dutch flag on the Chess Olympus!

On the day of his victory, Euwe allowed himself a glass of whiskey for the first time. What would his students say! Only a few years earlier they struggled to choose a Christmas gift for him. We could not think of anything, said Mrs. Timman, the mother of the famous grandmaster Jan Timman. It was too hard to come up with a suitable gift for a man who did not smoke or drink. We asked him for help, and he, in his usual quiet manner, replied: A necktie would do!" From his early years, a tie was an essential element of Dr. Euwe’s attire.

Euwe obviously knew how to work hard. But he also knew how to relax. During his preparation for competitions, he was able to ignore everything mundane. He would go for a picnic if his students suggested it. Mrs. Timman recalled that [o]ne day after the exams, we all gathered at our vacation house, and Euwe and his wife spent a whole day with us. A sandwich-eating competition between Euwe and one of the students ended with a score of 14-13, and the more experienced party won. When I was watching this match, I came to the conclusion that it is better to just surrender to such a competitor. He could even combine work and relaxing. In the summer of 1932, Euwe arrived at the tournament in Bern, Switzerland with his wife, his niece, and a gramophone. This fact did not get past the organizers and made it into the tournament digest: From the hotel room occupied by Euwe’s family, through the balcony door, for hours we could hear singing, then a joyful march, and then dance tunes. At the tournament Euwe finished second, and was the only participant who did not to lose a single game.

A necktie, an essential element of Dr. Euwe attire from his early years

It is not surprising that he was admired and respected by his peers. In the memoirs devoted to Euwe, chessplayers who knew him well celebrated his energy, diligence, integrity, availability, desire to serve the community, friendliness, and honesty. Vassily Smyslov recounted, I happened to observe Euwe at home when I visited him. He was a good influence. His cheerful and kind disposition, his friendliness were telling me what a nice person he was, someone who enjoyed the love and respect of others.

As FIDE president, Euwe did much to promote chess all over the world. In his books, he sought to raise the overall skill level among chessplayers. He devoted his life to chess and believed in the noble role of chess for mankind. After retiring from his post as FIDE president, grandmaster Arnold Denker wrote, Euwe had more time to reflect on the future of chess. He believed that the royal game [would] soon become a subject in the schools and talked about its benefits for the whole world.

Euwe could be strong and resolute in the face of indifference and betrayal. For example, Euwe was very negative towards Alekhine because of his silence and inaction on the behalf of Gerard Oskam and Salo Landau, two colleagues of Euwe and Alekhine who were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, despite Euwe writing Alekhine urging him to intercede on their behalf. Euwe had many friends, but one would be hard pressed to name a single enemy.

Mathematician

At age 17, Euwe entered the Department of Mathematics of the University of Amsterdam. Well-known professors Brouwer and Wijsenbeek were among his teachers. Euwe later called the former the greatest Dutch mathematician of all time. The latter had been invited from Graz University, Austria and was widely known for his research in vector and tensor analysis. It was also the area mathematics that Max Euwe selected.

After four years of study, Euwe received his high school teacher diploma, and, two years later, on November 7, 1923, Euwe passed the doctoral exam and received congratulations from Tijdschrift, the Dutch Chess Union magazine:

Doctor of Mathematics Max Euwe

After all the good words about him as a chessplayer, we would like to applaud him for his glorious achievement in the scientific field. Euwe proved that work and chess – a great game! – can go hand in hand. A lyceum in Winterswijk, a small town where he taught for six months, became the first appointment for the young high school teacher. Euwe devoted 1925 to working on his dissertation, which he successfully defended on April 28, 1926.

After receiving his doctorate in mathematics, Euwe felt liberated. He devoted the next three years to chess, participating in nine tournaments and six matches. Having quenched his thirst for chess, he again became an exemplary teacher. Euwe taught mathematics for thirty years until, he confessed, he felt that he could no longer keep up with the new developments in the field. In 1955, Euwe switched to cybernetics.

Cybernetics and Euwe

In 1948, Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), an American scientist, published his revolutionary paper that introduced the civilized world to an emergent new science, cybernetics. Two years later, his fellow countryman, Claude Shannon, formulated the principles of computer programming for chess and introduced the probabilistic justification for the algorithms that could be used in a chess code. Max Euwe, who had stopped playing in tournaments, was swept up by the wave of enthusiasm for cybernetics in the mid-1950s. Between 1956 and 1959, he worked as a consultant for Remington Rand, and, from 1959 until he retired, he headed a research center. Chess turned out to be the most sensitive indicator of computer development. Is it feasible to simulate the functioning of the human brain? Could a chess program beat a human being? Could it play as well as a grandmaster?

In 1961, Euwe was appointed chairman of a European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) committee. The goal of the committee was to explore the capability of computers to play chess. The committee included three other mathematicians, a philosopher, and a programmer. Euwe was wearing three hats: of a mathematician, of a computer expert, and of a chessplayer. By that time, computers had played no more than 10-20 games, and they had ended after 12-15 moves as a result of simple blunders. For two years, the Euratom Committee developed and improved the chess abilities of computers.

The main goal was to restrict the calculations of a solution tree because, at that time, computers were incapable of performing a complete search of all possible variations (brute force calculation). The program was limited to the moves that dealt with material relations, including checkmates to both kings, said Euwe afterwards. To determine which moves to make, the computer used a minimax algorithm where a pawn was 10 points, a bishop and a knight 30 points each, a rook 45 points, a queen 85 points, and a king 100 points. While developing the algorithm, the committee concluded that numbers could describe other aspects related to the attack on the king as well, yielding an overall assessment of the position, taking into account all factors, including material, tactical, and positional.

Euwe acknowledged that this work took much longer than a few months. Exploring the computers’ potential led him to conclude in 1968: I think that computers will reach candidate master strength in 100-150 years. Perhaps that is why Max Euwe never felt optimistic about computers’ playing development, unlike Mikhail Botvinnik.

Three years later, Euwe was convinced that it was easier to write about a chess computer than actually play against it. And not because the computer is too strong, but because it is well prepared for all kinds of surprises. A computer’s incredibly fast pace makes a series of decent moves, and I am still of an opinion that it could successfully capitalize on a serious mistake, Euwe told the magazine Shakhmaty v SSSR (7/1971) regarding his match against a computer. One of the games with Euwe’s comments is given below. Euwe recalled that [t]he computer recorded the names of the players, White – the computer CDC 6600, Black – M. Euwe, and made its first move 1. e2-e4. It also started the clock. The time control for each game was 10 minutes. Thus, it was blitz.

The beginning of Euwe’s article on his match with the computer published in the magazine Shakhmaty v SSSR (7/1971)

(2) SDS 6000 – Euwe

1971

Vienna Game [C27]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxe4 I went for this sacrifice because I thought that the computer would not expect it, and I was correct, which became clear as further development showed (Euwe). 4.Nxe4?! 4.Qh5 is the main line. 4…d5 5.Bb5+ Probably, this variation was not in the computer memory, since this useless check was not listed in any reference book (Euwe). 5…c6 6.Bd3 dxe4 7.Bxe4 Bd6 7…Bc5 is played more often. 8.d4 This move was the result of the commendable control of the squares in general and central squares in particular (Euwe). 8…exd4 9.Qxd4 0-0 9…Qe7!? 10.Ne2 Nd7 is also good because 11.Qxg7? runs into 11…Be5–+. 10.Nf3 Qe7 11.Bg5?! 11.0-0= 11…f6 12.Be3 Na6?! Euwe misses the chance to seize the initiative with 12…f5! 13.Bd3 f4 14.Bc4+ Be6 15.0-0-0 fxe3 16.Bxe6+ Qxe6 17.Qxd6 Qxa2 18.fxe3 Nd7 19.Qa3 Qxa3 20.bxa3 Nf6 13.0-0-0 Bc7 (D) 13…Bc5 14.Qc3 Re8 15.Bxc5 Nxc5 16.Bd3=

14.c4?? Losing a piece by force. The computers really have improved greatly since then! A normal move like 14.Bd3 keeps the position balanced. It is evident that, in addition to the development and control of the squares, a computer is also ‘thinking’ about other things. With the last move, White prepares the light-square bishop’s retreat with the goal of creating a mating threat by Qd3 or Qe4 (Euwe). 14…Be6? Probably Euwe did not search for a direct win, which is found in 14…Rd8 15.Qc3 Rxd1+ 16.Rxd1 Qxe4–+ 15.Bc2 Nb4 16.Bb1?! The zwischenzug 16.Qc5! is more precise: 16…Qxc5 17.Bxc5 Bf4+ 18.Kb1 Nxc2 19.Bxf8 Bf5 20.Nh4 Be4 21.f3 Na3+ 22.Ka1 Nc2=. The computer is consistently following its plan (Euwe). 16…Rad8 (D)

17.Qe4? The queen will run into problems after Euwe’s reply. White has three better alternatives: either 17.Qh4 g5 18.Qe4 f5 19.Bxg5 fxe4 20.Bxe7 Bf4+ 21.Nd2 Rxd2 22.Rxd2 Bxd2+ 23.Kxd2 Rxf2+ 24.Kc3 Nd3 25.Bxd3 exd3 26.Bc5; or 17.Qxa7 Ra8 18.Qc5 Qxc5 19.Bxc5 Bf4+ 20.Nd2 Nxa2+ 21.Kc2 (21.Bxa2? Rxa2 22.Bxf8? Bf5–+); or 17.Qc5 Bd6 18.Qh5 g6 19.Qh4 when Black is only slightly better in all three cases. Here the computer decided against 17.Qxa7 and 17.Qc5, which, with correct play for Black, would not give any benefits to White. Apparently, the computer was relying on the mate threat (18.Qxh7+ and 19.Bg6#) (Euwe). 17…f5! 18.Qh4 Qxh4 19.Nxh4 (D)

19…b6? 19…Bxc4–+ is simple and very strong. 20.b3 f4 21.Bd4 c5 22.Bc3 Nc6 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.a3 While I was pondering my next move, something unexpected happened: the computer declared that I lost on time because ten minutes had passed. It appeared, however, that all the time necessary to move pieces and press keys on the keyboard was entirely subtracted from my time. I requested extra time, and the computer experts observing the game agreed. I got ten additional minutes and, just in case, began to play faster (Euwe). 24…Re8 25.Bc2?! 25.Re1 is more logical. 25…Nd4 25…Be5 26.Bxe5 Nxe5 27.g3= 26.f3? (D) A tactical blunder. Re1 is better. Then I was going to play 26 …Bd8 (Euwe). 26.Bxd4 cxd4 27.Re1= is called for.

26…g5? Euwe mixes up the move order.