Analyzing the 1935 World Chess Championship (Alekhine vs. Euwe)

I am putting out a video series analyzing the entirety of the 1935 World Chess Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe. I was prompted to do this for a couple of reasons. First, I had been meaning to read through Purdy's book on the two matches between Alekhine and Euwe, which was sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust, and I finally picked it up and have been reading through it. Second, and perhaps more important, very little attention has been given to these matches in the chess world (at least in English) which I think is due to the fact that these players are games are underrated in the development of chess. Further, Euwe won this match. He was not expected to win this match, and there were worries that he would be embarrassed by Alekhine in his home country given that the games were played in the Netherlands. Euwe was down a few points in the early parts of the match and came back to win.  This match is full of exciting, good chess, and I hope to show this in my videos. Here's a very brief recap of what I've covered so far:

In the first game Alekhine plays a Queen's Gambit and Euwe chooses to defend with the Slav. Euwe plays a suspicious move with 11...Be6 which gives White an advantage (better for Black was either 11...g5! or 11...f6!, the latter having being played successfully by Capablanca). From this point Alekhine slowly improves his position with each sequence of moves until Euwe is down a pawn and his structural weaknesses lead to resignation.

In Game 2 Euwe strikes back! Alekhine had prepared a very interesting sideline in the Grunfeld Defense that backfires after a natural yet suspicious bishop move in the opening that gains tempo for Black. Alekhine plays this Grunfeld line again in two later games from the tournament but does not repeat the same bishop move. There’s a lot to say about this very interesting Grunfeld opening, along with Euwe’s interesting sideline that he plays that still has very good results for White at the top level. Alekhine's 5...Be6 not only leads to White getting the bishop pair, but leads to White having a lasting positional advantage and a strong center. Euwe has a winning position with a dangerous passed pawn but misses the crushing 37.Ra2! in time trouble, which loses the pawn. However, he quickly creates another passed pawn and Alekhine's king is too vulnerable to keep the game going much longer.

In Game 3 Alekhine plays an interesting sideline against the French Winawer Variation that was almost unknown at the time (still rarely played today, but has good results in master games). Alekhine is convinced that White gets sufficient compensation for the bishop pair despite doubling pawns in the opening. There is a fantastic and flashy bishop maneuver consisting of four consecutive moves made by Alekhine (starting with 17.Bh5!) that forces a weakening of Black's structure and is full of tactical threats. Alekhine's positional advantage proves too much for Euwe to handle, and Euwe resigns in a rook ending down two pawns.

I hope you will join me as I continue my coverage of this match. My video on Game 4 will be uploaded today, and I plan on releasing a video each day through the entire match.