Editing Alexander Alekhine (section)

===1937–1939===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Alexander Alekhine.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Alekhine around 1945]] -->
[[Max Euwe]] was quick to arrange a return match with Alekhine, something [[José Raúl Capablanca]] had been unable to obtain after Alekhine won the world title in 1927. Alekhine regained the title from Euwe in December 1937 by a large margin (+10−4=11). In this match, held in the Netherlands, Euwe was seconded by Fine, and Alekhine by [[Erich Eliskases]]. The match was a real contest initially, but Euwe collapsed near the end, losing four of the last five games.<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov"/><ref name="chessgamesAlehineEuwe1937Table">{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54136 |title=Alekhine vs. Euwe 1937 |publisher=chessgames.com |access-date=2008-05-20 |archive-date=2008-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018235839/http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54136 |url-status=live }}</ref> Fine attributed the collapse to nervous tension, possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm appearance. Alekhine played no more title matches, and thus held the title until his death.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/>

1938 began well for Alekhine, who won the [[Montevideo 1938 chess tournament]] at Carrasco (in March) and at [[Margate]] (in April), and tied for first with Sir [[George Alan Thomas]] at [[Plymouth]] (in September). In November, however, he only tied for 4th–6th with Euwe and Samuel Reshevsky, behind Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, and Mikhail Botvinnik, ahead of Capablanca and Flohr, at the [[AVRO tournament]] in the Netherlands. This tournament was played in each of several Dutch cities for a few days at a time; it was therefore perhaps not surprising that rising stars took the first three places, as the older players found the travel very tiring, though Fine was dismissive of this explanation because the distances were short.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/>

Immediately after the AVRO tournament, Botvinnik, who had finished in third place, challenged Alekhine to a match for the world championship. They agreed on a prize fund of US$10,000 with two-thirds going to the winner, and that if the match were to take place in Moscow, Alekhine would be invited at least three months in advance so that he could play in a tournament to get ready for the match. Other details had not been agreed when World War II interrupted negotiations, which the two players resumed after the war.<ref name="KharitonBattleThatNeverWas">{{cite web |url=http://ryxi.com/games/78-639-lev-khariton-the-battle-that-never-was-read.shtml |title=Lev Khariton:The Battle That Never Was |author=Khariton, L. |date=2004-12-29 |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-date=2005-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051123104452/http://ryxi.com/games/78-639-lev-khariton-the-battle-that-never-was-read.shtml |url-status=dead }} Based on Botvinnik's memoirs.</ref>

Keres, who had won the AVRO tournament on [[List of chess terms#Tiebreaks|tiebreak]] over Fine, also challenged Alekhine to a world championship match. Negotiations were proceeding in 1939 when they were disrupted by World War II. During the war Keres' home country, [[Estonia]], [[Occupation of the Baltic States|was invaded]] first by the [[USSR]], then by Germany, then again by the USSR. At the end of the war, the Soviet government prevented Keres from continuing the negotiations, on the grounds that he had collaborated with the Germans during their occupation of Estonia (by Soviet standards).<ref name="=KingstonKeresBotvinnik1">{{cite web |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb1.txt |title=The Keres-Botvinnik Case: A Survey of the Evidence |author=Kingston, T. |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126150822/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb1.txt |archive-date=January 26, 2008}}</ref>

Alekhine was representing France at first board in the [[8th Chess Olympiad]] at [[Buenos Aires]] 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe. The assembly of all team captains, with leading roles played by Alekhine (France), [[Savielly Tartakower]] (Poland), and [[Albert Becker (chess player)|Albert Becker]] (Germany), plus the president of the Argentine Chess Federation, [[Augusto de Muro]], decided to go on with the Olympiad.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gawlikowski, Stanisław |title=Olimpiady szachowe 1924–1974 |publisher=Wyd. Sport i Turystyka. Warszawa |year=1978 |pages=102 (Polish edition)}}</ref>

Alekhine won the individual silver medal (nine wins, no losses, seven draws), behind Capablanca (only results from finals A and B—separately for both sections—counted for best individual scores).<ref name="olimpbase1939Intro"/> Shortly after the Olympiad, Alekhine swept tournaments in [[Montevideo]] (7/7) and [[Caracas]] (10/10).

At the end of August 1939, both Alekhine and Capablanca wrote to Augusto de Muro regarding a possible world championship rematch. Whereas the former spoke of a rematch as a virtual certainty, even stating that the Cuban was remaining in Buenos Aires until it came about, the latter referred at length to the financial burden in the aftermath of the Olympiad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter28.html|title=Chess Notes by Edward Winter|website=www.chesshistory.com|access-date=2021-10-29|archive-date=2017-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211194614/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter28.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Supported by Latin-American financial pledges, José R. Capablanca challenged Alexander Alekhine to a world title match in November. Tentative plans—not, however, backed by a deposit of the required purse ($10,000 in gold)—led to a virtual agreement to play at Buenos Aires, Argentina, beginning on April 14, 1940.