The 1937
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013.
The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...
was played between
Max Euwe
Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...
and
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns.
By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...
in the
Netherlands
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from October 5 to December 4, 1937. Alekhine regained his title in a rematch of the
1935 championship match.
This was the last World Championship where the world champion had control of the title and could set match conditions; Alekhine died in 1946 and
FIDE stepped in to take control of the World Championship. This was also the last World Championship to take place before the
outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
two years later; the tournament would resume in
1948.
Results
The first player to win six games ''and'' score more than 15 points would be champion.
Euwe led by 1 point after game 5 but Alekhine scored 4½ points from the next 5 games to take a virtually insurmountable lead. Over the next 10 games Euwe managed to reduce the deficit by 1 point before Alekhine again scored 4½ points from the next 5 games to win the title.
Alekhine won the Championship.
References
External links
1937 World Chess Championshipat the Internet Archive record of Graeme Cree's Chess Pages
{{World Chess Championships, state=expanded
1937
1937 in chess
Chess in the Netherlands
1937 in Dutch sport