A.V.R.O. 1938

For sale is the book The AVRO 1938 chess tournament was a prestigious event held in the Netherlands, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. It featured the world’s eight strongest players: Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Samuel Reshevsky, Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca, and Salo Flohr. The tournament followed a double round-robin format, with each player facing every opponent twice. The games rotated among ten Dutch cities from November 6 to November 27, 19381. Notably, Keres and Fine tied for first place, but Keres secured victory on tiebreak due to their individual game score of 1½-½ in favor of Keres. Although the tournament aimed to find a challenger for World Champion Alexander Alekhine, World War II disrupted any hopes of an official title match. Interestingly, when FIDE organized the 1948 match tournament for the world title after Alekhine’s death, it invited the six surviving AVRO participants (except Capablanca, who had also passed away) to compete, with Vasily Smyslov replacing Flohr. Capablanca’s health suffered during the event, and his play declined in the second half, attributed to high blood pressure and related circulatory disorders. The longest game was a 68-move win by Fine over Alekhine, while the shortest was a 19-move draw between Flohr and Fine. Of the 56 games played, White won seventeen, Black won seven, and thirty-two ended in draws. The tiebreak method used was the Sonneborn–Berger score. Despite its unofficial status, the AVRO 1938 remains a memorable chapter in chess history.

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