Meet the Masters: Eight Great Chess Players and Their Most Characteristic Games

First published in 1940. Arguably the strongest tournament of all time was AVRO 1938, held in The Netherlands. This competition contained no fewer than four past present and future world champions, while the players in this event continuously held the supreme title with just two one year breaks from 1921 to 1963. In this book the Dutch World Champion Dr Max Euwe previews the AVRO Tournament and gives his insights into the particular strengths and weaknesses of such titans as Fine, Keres, Botvinnik, Alekhine, Capablanca and Reshevsky. Dr Max Euwe is the only world champion to have come from Holland, where his triumph created something like nationwide chess fever. An apostle of order and logic, and a man possessed of a steely determination to win, Euwe seized the chess crown from the volatile Alekhine in 1935 - only to lose it back in the rematch of 1937. Nevertheless, Euwe held his own against such giants as Botvinnik, Fine, Fischer, Geller and Alekhine himself, in most cases giving as good as he got. Euwe went on to become president of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and in this capacity he officiated at the celebrated 1972 championship between Fischer and Spassky. Euwe is the most active world champion on the Hardinge Simpole list, having written or contributed to no fewer than five titles, including Modern Chess Theory, Chess Treasury of the Air, WCC 1937, and My Best Games.