Editing Max Euwe (section)

==World Champion==
[[File:Max euwe 05.jpg|thumb|Euwe (seated), 1935]]
In 1933, Max Euwe challenged Alekhine to a championship match.<ref name="Münninghoff2001EuweBiography">{{cite book|title=Max Euwe: The Biography|last=Münninghoff|first=Alexander|author-link=Alexander Münninghoff|publisher=New in Chess|year=2001|translator=Piet Verhagen|isbn=9056910795|quote= Inexplicably, one of these letters does not get an immediate reply. It is an invitation from no less a person than Alekhine: he wants to play a match against Euwe, similar to their 1927 encounter – but this time on a big passenger ship to the Dutch Indies and back, with a lot of pomp and circumstance. Five games on the way there, five during the return voyage. The stake: the world championship if need be.|page=101}}</ref> Alekhine accepted the challenge for October 1935. Earlier that year, Dutch radio sports journalist [[Han Hollander]] asked Capablanca for his views on the forthcoming match. In the rare archival film footage where Capablanca and Euwe both speak, Capablanca replies: "Dr. Alekhine's game is 20% bluff. Dr. Euwe's game is clear and straightforward. Dr. Euwe's game—not so strong as Alekhine's in some respects—is more evenly balanced." Then Euwe gives his assessment in Dutch, explaining that his feelings alternated from optimism to pessimism, but in the previous ten years, their score had been evenly matched at 7–7.<ref>[http://www.geschiedenis24.nl/speler.program.7099385.html Han interviews Dutchman Max Euwe and Capablanca], ''Dutch Public Broadcasting'' archives, 18 May 2012 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928055630/http://www.geschiedenis24.nl/speler.program.7099385.html |date=28 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuyMzb5_tlU |title = Max Euwe And Capablanca(The Chess Machine) !RARE FOOTAGE!|publisher = Uploaded to Youtube by user FWCC1. Original publisher unclear, though other (unreachable) source suggests a Dutch public broadcasting agency.}}</ref>

On December 15, 1935, after 30 games played in 13 different cities around the Netherlands over a period of 80 days, [[World Chess Championship 1935|Euwe defeated Alekhine by 15½–14½]], becoming the fifth [[World Chess Champion]]. Alekhine quickly went three games ahead, but Euwe managed to even out and eventually win the match.<ref name="chessgamesAlehineEuwe1935Table">{{cite web | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54135 | title=Alekhine vs Euwe 1935 | website=Chessgames.com}}</ref> His title gave a huge boost to chess in the Netherlands. It was also the first world championship where the players had {{chessgloss|second|seconds}} to help them with analysis during {{chessgloss|adjournments}}.<ref name="WinterChessNotes5202">{{cite web |url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter39.html#5214._Ernst_Klein_C.N._5202 |title=5214. Ernst Klein (C.N. 5202)|last=Winter|first= Edward|website=Chess Notes|author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)}}</ref>

Euwe's win was regarded as a major upset – he reportedly had believed that beating Alekhine was unlikely<ref name="Sosonko2001RememberingEuwePart1" /> – and is sometimes attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism.<ref>{{cite book | author=Donner|first= J. H. | title=The King: Chess Pieces | year=2006 | page=91 | publisher=New in Chess | isbn=90-5691-171-6 | author-link=Jan Hein Donner|quote=Euwe defeated this giant but it was immediately clear that the chess world simply wasn't having it. General opinion internationally held it that Alekhine had once again been having a drop too much.}}</ref> But [[Salo Flohr]], who helped Euwe during the match, thought Alekhine's over-confidence was more of a problem than alcohol; Alekhine himself said he would win easily.<ref name="Sosonko2001RememberingEuwePart1" /><ref name="Münninghoff2001EuweBiography" /> Former world champions [[Vasily Smyslov]], [[Boris Spassky]], [[Anatoly Karpov]], and [[Garry Kasparov]] later analysed the match and concluded that Euwe deserved to win and that the standard of play was worthy of a world championship.<ref name="Sosonko2001RememberingEuwePart1" /> Former World Champion [[Vladimir Kramnik]] has said that Euwe won the 1935 match on merit and that the result was not affected by Alekhine's drinking before or during the match.<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov">{{cite web |url = https://e3e5.com/article.php?id=1012|title = Vladimir Kramnik: From Steinitz to Kasparov |last = Barsky|first= Vladimir |date = 2004-07-30 |access-date = 2020-01-15 |website=e3e5.com}}</ref>

[[File:Salo Flohr Max Euwe 1969.jpg|right|thumb|[[Salo Flohr|Flohr]] (left) and Euwe, 1969]]

Euwe's performance in the great tournament of [[Nottingham 1936 chess tournament|Nottingham 1936]] (equal third, half a point behind [[Mikhail Botvinnik|Botvinnik]] and Capablanca, half a point ahead of Alekhine) indicated he was a worthy champion, even if he was not as dominant as the earlier champions. [[Reuben Fine]] wrote, "In the two years before the return match, Euwe's strength increased. Although he never enjoyed the supremacy over his rivals that his predecessors had, he had no superiors in this period."<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames">{{cite book | last=Fine|first= Reuben | title=The World's Great Chess Games | year=1952 |location=London| publisher=André Deutsch| isbn=0-679-13046-2}}</ref>

[[World Chess Championship 1937|Euwe lost the title to Alekhine in a rematch in 1937]], also played in the Netherlands, by the lopsided margin of 15½–9½. Alekhine had given up alcohol and tobacco to prepare for the rematch, although he resumed drinking later. He returned to the sort of form he had shown from 1927 to 1934, when he dominated chess. The match was a real contest initially, but Euwe's play collapsed near the end, and he lost 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 | website=Chessgames.com}}</ref> Fine, who was Euwe's second, attributed the collapse to nervous tension, possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm appearance.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames" />

The two world title matches against Alekhine represent the heart of Euwe's career. Altogether, they played 86 competitive games, and Alekhine had a +28−20=38 lead. Many of Alekhine's wins came early in their series; he was nine years older, and had more experience during that time. The rematch was also one-sided in Alekhine's favour.

Until American-born [[Bobby Fischer]] won the title in 1972, Euwe was the last World Chess Champion not born in the [[Russian Empire]] or [[Soviet Union]].