The strength varied, but they did have some famous players: Alexander Alekhine (1944 and 1945), Max Euwe (1951), Bent Larsen (1956) and at other times Nicolas Rossolimo, Klaus Darga, J.H. Donner, Lodewijk Prins, Arturo Pomar and Albrec O’Kelly.
The Spanish player Antonio Rico played in all of the tournaments and finished first ahead of Alekhine in 1945, but other times he finished last! In 1950, the French lady champion Chantal Chaude de Silans was the only female to ever take part in these Tournaments.
Euwe had the distinction of being the first world champion to be considered an amateur. As a youngster he showed an aptitude for mathematics and after he received his Ph.D in 1923 he devoted most of his time to teaching.
Unfortunately, Euwe had a tendency to make blunders which sometimes caused him to post poor results. Chessmetrics ranks Euwe as number one in the world for 14 months between January 1936 and November 1937 with his all time high rating being 2768. Largely unappreciated, Euwe was still a world champion and that means something. If you ever come across his old book From My Games grab it! Otherwise, you can play over all the games from the book on Chessgames.com HERE.
In this game against Rossolimo, Euwe concluded with a couple of nice sacrifices.
Nicolas Rossolimo - Max Euwe
Result: 0-1
Site: Gijon
Date: 1951.07.19
Giuoco Piano
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗c4 A Rossolimo favorite! 3...♗c5 4.c3 ♕e7 5.d4 ♗b6 6.O-O d6 7.h3 ♘f6 8.♖e1 O-O 9.♘a3 ♔h8
9...h6 10.♗b3 a6 11.♘c4 ♗a7 12.♘e3 ♕d8 white is slightly better. Grosar,A (2470)-Gostisa,L (2470)/Slovenia 1993
9...♖e8 10.♘c2 h6 11.♗d3 ♕f8 12.a4 a6 Stevanic,D (2013)-Sekulic,D (2218)/Nova Gorica 2017. Here, too, white is slightly better.
10.♘c2 ♘d8 11.b3 ♗e6 12.♗d3 ♘g8 13.♘e3 White can probably safely take the e-Pawn, but OTB it might probably didn't look like a good idea.
13.dxe5 dxe5 14.♘xe5 This does not win a P as it might appear at first glance. 14...♗xf2+ 15.♔xf2 ♕c5+ 16.♘d4 ♕xe5 17.♕f3 white stands slightly better.
13...f6 14.♘d5 ♕f7 15.c4
15.♕c2 This is better as after 15...♘e7 16.a4 c6 (16...♗xd5 17.exd5 a5 18.♗a3 ♘xd5 19.♗xh7 white is better.) 17.♘xe7 ♕xe7 18.a5 ♗c7 19.c4 White's position has more potential.
15...♗xd4 16.♘xd4 exd4 White has the pair of Bs and his position is the mpre free, so he seems to have the better prospects, On the other handf, black's position, though badly cramped, has no weaknesses. 17.♗c2 c6 18.♘f4 After this plausible retreat white's position begins to drift downhill very quickly.
18.♕d3 This leads to complications that favor white because of black's badly cramped position. 18...g6 (18...cxd5 19.exd5 g6 20.dxe6 ♘xe6 21.♗b2) 19.♕xd4 cxd5 20.exd5 ♗f5 21.♗xf5 gxf5 22.♕f4 ♕d7 23.♗a3 ♘f7 24.♖e6 ♖ae8 25.♖ae1 ♘g5 26.♖xe8 ♖xe8 27.♖xe8 ♕xe8 28.♗xd6 with an unbalanced position. In Shootouts white scored +2 -0 =3
18...c5∓19.♕d3 g5 20.♘d5 ♘c6 21.♕g3 (21.f4!?∓) 21...♘e5−+22.h4 gxh4 (22...g4!?23.♗f4 ♖ad8 24.♖ab1−+) 23.♕xh4 ♕g6 Black is threatening a N fork on f3. It's amazing at how quickly the situation has turned around and now black is better! 24.♔h1 This avoids the N fork, but it meets with disaster as Euwe's position suddenly explodes with great force.
24.♗d1 Now white threatens Nc7 and Nxe6 so... 24...♕f7 25.♘f4 and black is only slightly better.
24...♗xd5 25.cxd5 ♘e7 26.f4 ♖g8 27.♕h3 ♘g4 28.♔g1 Black to play and win. 28...♘xd5 29.♗d3 (29.exd5 ♕xc2 followed by doubling Rs on the g-file wins easily.) 29...♘de3 30.♗d2 Black to play and win. 30...♘f2 31.♔xf2 (31.♕f3 ♕xg2+ 32.♕xg2 ♖xg2#) 31...♕xg2+ 32.♕xg2 ♖xg2+ 33.♔f3 ♖ag8 34.e5
34.f5 avoids immediate mate, but that's all. 34...♖8g3+ 35.♔f4 ♘g4 and white suffers catastrophic material loss.
34...♖8g3+ White resigned (34...♖8g3+ 35.♔e4 d5#) Powered by Aquarium
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