Euwe in Scotland - 1972

Reprinted from Scottish Chess May 1972, pages 4/5.

MAX EUWE'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND

When Dr Max Euwe was appointed President of the International Chess Federation in 1970, he decided that closer links were desirable between member nations. His secretariat advised all Federations in membership regarding a possible world tour and subsequently all invitations extended to him were accepted.

The new President was World Champion from 1935 to 1937, gaining the title in a match against Dr A. Alekhine which lasted over 67 sessions of play. Alekhine, however, regained the Championship convincinglyin the return match.

Dr Euwe's first journey took him to South America, where he visited 14 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Mexico. His geneal impression was that there was great interest in the game throughout the Continent and this had been further stimulated by the Petrosian-Fischer match in Buenos Aires. The Scottish Chess Association were advised early this year that Scotland would be included in a short tour to the British Isles when Ireland, Wales and Guernsey would also be visited. Surprisingly, F.I.D.E. received no invitation from England.

The Council had arranged a busy schedule for the two day visit, which commenced in Glasgow on 2nd February 1972. The first engagement was at the BBC studios where Dr Euwe was interviewed by Matine [sic - Martine?] Mitchell for the radio programme "Today in Scotland". His recorded remark that chess was perhaps the finest 'anti-drug' for youth today caused some controversy. Later that afternoon he was received by the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir Donald Liddle, who has made several business trips to Holland and was keen to learn about current social and commercial developments in the Netherlands. In the evening, a Simultaneous Display was arranged by the West of Scotland Committee in which the ex-World Champion took on 25 players from Glasgow and District. He won 13 games, drew 8 and lost 4 - a 68% score which compared slightly unfavourably with his record in South America where he played 344 games with an average score of a little over 77%.

Facing Dr Euwe in the front row, left to right:
John Johnstone, Jim Dick, Ian Marks, Alan Shaw, Frank Whitelaw, Tom Russell.
Behind Jim Dick: Steven Hamilton (left), Colin Malcolm (right).
Back row, 2nd from right: Tim Upton; 4th from right Iain Sinclair.
Help in identifying the others would be appreciated.
Picture: Daily Record (and Ian Marks)

The Officials of the Edinburgh Chess Club, who will be celebrating this year the 150th anniversary of the Club's Foundation, invited Dr Euwe for lunch in the Capital on the second day of his visit. After the meal, he had the opportunity to do a little sightseeing and then enjoyed afternoon tea at the Edinburgh club premises. There he signed the much treasured visitors book and was shown the signatures of Capablanca and Alekhine, visitors to the Club in bygone days.

In the evening he returned to Glasgow to meet the SCA Council and discuss with them various aspects of International Chess. Members were keen to learn how sponsorship of International events in Holland proved possible and the Doctor outlined the methods used to procure funds from commercial concerns and local authorities. Coaching players of all grades was another topic discussed at length, and it seems possible that some of the schemes adopted in other countries could be adopted here with advantage.

A most enjoyable and informative evening was brought to a close with a dinner in Dr Euwe's honour. This was attended by the Council and several invited guests. In a short speech after dinner Dr Euwe commented on the excellent administration of the Scottish Junior Chess Association and he hoped that the file he had received detailing the structure and activities of the Junior Association would form a model for other countries anxious to organise chess at school level. He also remarked on the encouragement given to girls chess in Scotland. Apparently there was little evidence of this in other countries he had toured. He concluded with a toast to the continued success of the Scottish Chess Association.

The Doctor left for Dublin early the following morning with the good wishes of Council members who, by then, had a greater awareness of the aspirations of the International Chess Federation.

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Here is one of the games from the display. Ronald Mongredien (now deceased) was a founding member of Bearsden Chess Club. He was related to Augustus Mongrédien (1807-1888), an English amateur who was President of the London Chess Club 1839-70, and also President of the Liverpool CC. He played, and lost, matches with Morphy, Harrwitz and Steinitz. The game score was supplied by Mel Burt of Bearsden CC. He had been given this and other games scores by Alan Mongredien, son of Ronald. (See also Botvinnik.)

Dr M. Euwe - Ronald Mongredien - Glasgow (Simultaneous display), 02.02.1972
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 c6 7.0-0 Re8 8.e4 e5 9.h3 Qc7 10.Be3 h6 11.Qd2 Kh7 12.Rad1 Nbd7 13.Rfe1 a6 14.Rc1 b6 15.Red1 Bb7 16.Kh2 Rad8 17.Qc2 Ng8 18.b4 Nb8 19.a4 Ba8 20.dxe5 dxe5 21.c5 b5 22.axb5 axb5 23.Ra1 Bb7 24.Qb3 Rd7 25.Rxd7 Qxd7 26.Rd1 Qc7 27.Bf1 Ba6 28.Ne1 Rf8 29.Rd6 Bf6 30.f4 Kg7 31.Nd3 Nd7 32.Be2 Be7 33.fxe5 and adjudicated a win for White by Dr Euwe. Fritz gives +- with about "3 pawns"... 33...Nxe5 34.Bd4 f6 35.Nd5 cxd5 36.Rxa6 Qc8 37.Qa2 Nc6 38.Bg4 1-0

And here is Iain Sinclair's draw.

Dr M. Euwe - Iain J. Sinclair, Glasgow (Simultaneous display), 02.02.1972

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 d6 5.Nbd2 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Rb8 9.Nf1 b5 10.Bg5 b4 11.c4 Bg4 12.Ne3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Qe8 14.Rb1 Nd7 15.Nd5 e6 16.Ne3 Nd4 17.Be2 Nb6 18.b3 a5 19.Nc2 Qd7 20.Nxd4 Bxd4 21.Be3 Bg7 22.d4 Qc6 23.Bf3 Qc7 24.Qd2 e5 25.dxc5 dxc5 26.Red1 Rfd8 27.Qe2 f6 28.Bg4 Kf7 29.f3 Bf8 30.Qf2 Rxd1+ 31.Rxd1 Rd8 Adjudicated as a draw. Iain thinks White is slightly better, but if he would have been able to manoeuvre his knight to d4 'before anything too nasty happens I should be fine.' ½-½

Additional game, received from Jim Anderson, February 2014.

Dr M. Euwe - Jim Anderson, Glasgow (Simultaneous display), 02.02.1972

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 6. c4 Nb6 7. exd6 cxd6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Be3 N8d7 10. b3 Nf6 11. Nc3 O-O 12. h3 Bf5 13. Nh4 Ne4 14. Nxf5 Nxc3 15.
Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. Qc2 Nxe2+ 17. Qxe2 d5 18. c5 Nc8 19. Bf4 Rd8 20. b4 Qe8 21. Rfe1
a6 22. a4 Na7 23. Reb1 b5 24. axb5 Nxb5 25. Qd2 Rd7 26. Ra5 Rda7 27. Rba1 Qd7
28. Be5 h6 29. Qe3 f6 30. Bf4 g5 31. Bg3 Qc6 32. Qd3 Kg7 1-0

Jim comments that he was amused to see the comment on Ronald Mongredien's scoresheet, as shown above: “adjudicated a win for white - was this justified?”!! The reason is that Jim felt aggrieved then - and still does now - that when a halt was called to play at the end of the night his game was also adjudicated a win for Dr Euwe (by Gerald Bonner), much to Jim's chagrin. Craig Pritchett felt that decision was inapproporiate, as there was still so much play left in the position. However, the result stood.

Neither did Dr Euwe endear himself to Jim on a personal level. At the start of the game Jim expected to shake hands with the former world champion, only to have his gesture ignored as the Grandmaster made his first move.

WANTED: Any other games from the display.

Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland

updated 25/5/2023