The 1935 World Chess Championship was played between challenger Max Euwe and title-holder Alexander Alekhine. It was played in various cities and towns in the Netherlands from October 3 to December 16. Euwe was the winner by overcoming a three-point deficit as late as the ninth game.
Results
The first player to win six games and score more than 15 points would be champion.
Game 1: Alekhine-Euwe, 1-0
The first game of the match was won by Alekhine in 30 moves. The defending champion began the game with his Queen's Pawn, and Euwe chose the Slav Defense in response. Inaccurate play by Euwe (most notably 17...Qa5?, allowing the active continuation 18.Nd4 Bc8 19.b4!, a temporary pawn sacrifice which, if accepted, would have granted Alekhine significant activity) gave Alekhine a sizeable edge in view of Euwe's awkward piece placement and Alekhine's extra queenside space. 24...Qa5? allowed Alekhine to make a favourable piece exchange, leaving Euwe with a passive bishop restricted by its own pawns against Alekhine's excellently placed knight on f5. Euwe found himself powerless to prevent Alekhine's pieces from reaching their optimal squares, eventually culminating in the final blow 29.Nh6+!, where 29...gxh6 would have allowed 30.Qxh7#. This left only 29...Kh8, but after 30.Qxc5 Euwe resigned, as the aversion of immediate mate can only be achieved through decisive surrendering of material. For example, 30...Re8 allows 31.Qd5 or 31.Qc4, threatening a smothered mate with 32.Qg8+ Rxg8 33.Nf7#. 31...gxh6 prevents this, but enables 32.Qf7, when mate on h7 or g7 is indefensible.
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 Be6 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. O-O Be7 14. Qc2 Rd8 15. Rfd1 O-O 16. Nb5 Rxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Qa5 18. Nd4 Bc8 19. b4 Qc7 20. b5 c5 21. Nf5 f6 22. Ne3 Be6 23. Bd5 Bxd5 24. Rxd5 Qa5 25. Nf5 Qe1+ 26. Kg2 Bd8 27. Bxe5 fxe5 28. Rd7 Bf6 29. Nh6+ Kh8 30. Qxc5 1-0
Game 2: Euwe-Alekhine, 1-0
Euwe won Game 2 in 45 moves. Euwe played 1.d4 and Alekhine responded with the Grunfeld Defense. Euwe opted for the Russian Variation, an ambitious attempt to seize the centre without allowing the exchange of knights that occurs in the main line Exchange Variation. Alekhine pursued quick development, resulting in a complicated early middlegame in which both players committed errors. 13...Nd6? is given as a mistake by Euwe, who instead gives 13...Nd4! 14.f4 Bd6 15.fxe5 Bxe5 as equal. He is also critical of his own 15.Be3?, preferring the immediate clarification of the central tension with 15.fxe5. Alekhine gave up a pawn with 15...Ng4 in return for an unopposed dark-squared bishop, which soon found its way to the influential posting of g5. However, Euwe also gained the half-open h-file for his rook, in addition to a central and kingside space advantage. Alekhine sought counterplay on the queenside with 27...c6, seeking to open lines towards Euwe's king. Euwe countered this by castling and moving his king to relative safety on h3. He chose to give up his newly created passed b6 pawn in return for another one on d5, but this allowed Alekhine a chance to get back in the game with 39...Rc8!, as 40.Rxc8 Qxc8 41.Qf7+ Kh8 leads to nothing special for white. Instead, Alekhine played 39...Rxc6?, allowing Euwe's pawn to take a significant step towards promotion and clearing the a2-g8 diagonal. Euwe immediately exploited this latter aspect with 41.Bc4, the sealed move. When play resumed after the adjournment, Euwe continued to pressure the black position with 42.Qh1!, threatening 43.Kg2+ Kg7 44.Rf7+ winning the black queen. Alekhine avoided this, but soon erred further with 43...Qe8?, possibly overlooking Euwe's 45.Qb7!, when 45...Rxc4 allows 46.Rxh7+ Kxh7 47.c8=Q+ (a discovered check from the queen on b7) 47...Qe7 48.Qxe7+ Bxe7 49.Qxc4 with a huge advantage in material. Therefore, Alekhine resigned.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Be6 6. Qb5+ Nc6 7. Nf3 Rb8 8.Ne5 Bd7 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. d5 Nd4 11. Qd3 e5 12. e3 Nf5 13. e4 Nd6 14. f4 Qe7 15.Be3 Ng4 16. Bxa7 Ra8 17. h3 Rxa7 18. hxg4 Bg7 19. Qe3 Ra5 20. f5 Bf6 21. a4 Bh4+ 22. g3 Bg5 23. Qf3 O-O 24. b4 Raa8 25. Ra2 Ne8 26. Rb2 Nf6 27. Be2 c6 28. dxc6 bxc6 29. O-O Rad8 30. Kg2 Rd4 31. b5 cxb5 32. axb5 Rb8 33. fxg6 fxg6 34. b6 Qb7 35. Kh3 Rd6 36. Nd5 Kg7 37. Rc2 Nxd5 38. exd5 Rxb6 39. Rc6 Rxc6 40. dxc6 Qe7 41.Bc4 Kh6 42. Qh1 Rb2 43. Rf7 Qe8 44. c7 Rc2 45. Qb7 1-0