A Century of Chess: Zurich 1934

It was very well, in the early 30s, to get excited about new talent — Botvinnik, Stahlberg, Lilienthal, etc — but lest anybody doubt who was tops Alekhine put in a terrifying performance in a mixed-quality tournament on the heels of his world championship win. He scored +11 to take a first by a clear point — continuing a run in which, of the last 12 international events he had taken part in dating back to 1927, he finished first all but once. In playing over his games from this tournament, it's nice to pay attention to his endgame — a sometimes-underestimated aspect of Alekhine's play. 

But from the perspective of chess history the real importance of this tournament is the second place finish of Max Euwe, which teed up Euwe for his 1935 challenge of Alekhine and for probably the greatest of all chess upsets. His sharp win over Alekhine in their individual game was the sensation of the tournament and a good illustration of what Euwe brought to chess — deep theoretical research, strategic vision, and tactical wherewithal. 

Euwe's success came at the expense of Salo Flohr, who by this time had really emerged as the rightful challenger to Alekhine. Flohr's style by now had evolved to a kind of hyper-minimalism, cutting through all possible complications in a position and winning by the most direct path. 

This tournament doubled also as old timer’s day with Emanuel Lasker and Osip Bernstein making appearances and finishing high in the leaderboard. Lasker really was a marvel of aging. At age 65, playing in his first tournament in nearly a decade, he finished with a score of +5 and won a gorgeous game from Max Euwe, at this point a year out from the world title. 

His score, however, was slightly miseading. He won against Euwe and beat up on the local Swiss but was a step behind the world's elite. 

Meanwhile, the poor Swiss players were basically cannon fodder for the elite, neatly filling out the bottom of the crosstable while the internationals took the top half.

Sources: Alekhine discusses several of his game from this tournament in My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937.