Editing World Chess Championship (section)

====FIDE, Euwe and AVRO====
{{main|FIDE|Max Euwe|AVRO 1938 chess tournament}}
[[File:Max Euwe 1963.jpg|thumb|[[Max Euwe]] became the World Champion by defeating [[Alexander Alekhine]] in 1935 but lost a rematch in 1937.]]
Attempts to form an international chess federation were made at the time of the 1914 [[St. Petersburg]], 1914 [[Mannheim]] and 1920 [[Gothenburg]] Tournaments.<ref name="WallFIDEHistory" /> On 20 July 1924 the participants at the Paris tournament founded [[FIDE]] as a kind of players' union.<ref name="WallFIDEHistory">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/fide.htm | title=FIDE History
 | author=Wall | access-date=15 September 2008
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803194904/http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/fide.htm|archive-date=3 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="FIDEHistory">{{cite web | url=http://www.fide.com/fide | title=FIDE History | publisher=FIDE | access-date=15 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114072659/http://www.fide.com/fide | archive-date=14 November 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Seirawan1998WhoseTitle">{{cite journal | title=Whose Title Is it, Anyway? | author=[[Yasser Seirawan|Seirawan]], Y. | journal=GAMES Magazine | date=August 1998 | url=http://www.edcollins.com/chess/whose-title.htm | access-date=15 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210171408/http://www.edcollins.com/chess/whose-title.htm | archive-date=10 December 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> FIDE's congresses in 1925 and 1926 expressed a desire to become involved in managing the world championship. FIDE was largely happy with the "London Rules", but claimed that the requirement for a purse of $10,000 was impracticable and called upon [[José Raúl Capablanca|Capablanca]] to come to an agreement with the leading masters to revise the Rules. In 1926 FIDE decided in principle to create a title of "Champion of FIDE" and, in 1928, adopted the forthcoming 1928 [[Efim Bogoljubov|Bogoljubow]]–[[Max Euwe|Euwe]] match (won by Bogoljubow) as being for the "FIDE championship". [[Alexander Alekhine|Alekhine]] agreed to place future matches for the world title under the auspices of FIDE, except that he would only play Capablanca under the same conditions that governed their match in 1927. Although FIDE wished to set up a match between Alekhine and Bogoljubow, it made little progress and the title "Champion of FIDE" quietly vanished after Alekhine won the [[World Chess Championship 1929|1929 world championship match]] that he and Bogoljubow themselves arranged.<ref name="WinterChessNotesArchive17">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html#4056._FIDE_championship
 | title=Chess Notes Archive [17]
 | author=Winter, E.
 | access-date=15 September 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509142325/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html#4056._FIDE_championship
 | archive-date=9 May 2008
| url-status=live
 }} Winter cites: Resolution XI of the 1926 FIDE Congress, regarding the "London Rules"; page 5 of the 1926 Congress' minutes about the initial decision to set up an "official championship of FIDE"; ''Schweizerische Schachzeitung'' (September 1927) for FIDE's decision to await the result of the Capablanca–Alekhine match; the minutes of FIDE's 1928 congress for the adoption of the forthcoming 1928 Bologjubow–Euwe match as being for the "FIDE championship" and its congratulations to the winner, Bologjubow; the minutes of FIDE's 1928 congress for Alekhine's agreement and his exception for Capablanca; a resolution of 1928 for the attempt to arrange an Alekhine-Bogoljubow match; subsequent FIDE minutes for the non-occurrence of the match (under FIDE); and the vanishing of the title "Champion of FIDE".</ref>

While negotiating his 1937 World Championship rematch with Alekhine, Euwe proposed that if he retained the title, FIDE should manage the nomination of future challengers and the conduct of championship matches. FIDE had been trying since 1935 to introduce rules on how to select challengers, and its various proposals favored selection by some sort of committee. While they were debating procedures in 1937 and Alekhine and Euwe were preparing for their rematch later that year, the [[Royal Dutch Chess Federation]] proposed that a super-tournament (AVRO) of ex-champions and rising stars should be held to select the next challenger. FIDE rejected this proposal and at their second attempt nominated [[Salo Flohr]] as the official challenger. Euwe then declared that: if he retained his title against Alekhine he was prepared to meet Flohr in 1940 but he reserved the right to arrange a title match either in 1938 or 1939 with [[José Raúl Capablanca]], who had lost the title to Alekhine in 1927; if Euwe lost his [[title]] to Capablanca then FIDE's decision should be followed and Capablanca would have to play Flohr in 1940. Most chess writers and players strongly supported the Dutch super-tournament proposal and opposed the committee processes favored by FIDE. While this confusion went unresolved: Euwe lost his title to Alekhine; the [[AVRO tournament]] in 1938 was won by [[Paul Keres]] under a tie-breaking rule, with [[Reuben Fine]] placed second and Capablanca and Flohr in the bottom places; and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 cut short the controversy.<ref name="WinterWorldChampionshipDisorder">{{cite web
 | title=World Championship Disorder
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/disorder.html
 | access-date=15 September 2008
| author=Winter, E.
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208193807/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/disorder.html
 | archive-date=8 December 2008
| url-status=live
 }}</ref>