Author: Machgielis (Max) Euwe (1901-1981) and Hans Kmoch edited by B H Wood
Year: 1949
Publisher: Chess
Place: Sutton Coldfield
Description:
164 pages with diagrams and tables. Tall octavo (9 3/4" x 7 1/2") bound in original publisher's dark green cloth with gilt lettering. Magazine portrait of the players tipped to page opposite title. Analysis by Max Euwe, commentaries by H Kmoch. Translated and edited by B H Wood with assistance by J Creevey and J Jackson. First published in Dutch 1947. (Betts: 25-166). First edition.
The "miracle" tournament of Groningen (August-September 1946) - the miracle being that an event of such magnitude could be organized in war-torn Holland a mere fifteen months after the war - set a new trend in international tournaments. Except for Bogoljubow in the early 1920s and Botvinnik in the 1930s, only two Soviet players had been allowed to play abroad between the wars. Rabinovich at Baden-Baden,1925 and Ragozin at Semmering 1937. Here for the first time a whole team of Soviet masters came to tackle the enemy in his own territory - successfully, as it turned out, four of the
Soviet players occupied first, third, sixth and seventh places and the fifth scored 50%. The tournament thus introduced a period of Soviet domination of international chess which lasted about twenty years till Fischer, Larsen and Portisch succeeded in challenging the might of the USSR. The contest immediately developed into a duel between Botvinnik and Euwe, the lead changing several times between these two. At half-way (round 10) Botvinnik had scored 9, Euwe 7 1/2. Denker and Smyslov 7, but five rounds later the score read Euwe 12 1/2, Botvinnik 11 1/2. Both leaders were shaky by now, and after Botvinnik had regained the lead both lost in the last round (one of the most sensational on record) - Botvinnik to Najdorf and Euwe to Kotov. (Golombek: 133)
Condition:
Corners bumped, previous owner's name on front end paper, some slight rippling to cloth, old book seller stamp to front paste down, spine gilt dulled else very good.