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AVRO (1938) In November 1938, a Dutch radio company AVRO (1) organized and sponsored what was up to that time the strongest tournament (2) ever held. AVRO (Algemeene Vereeniging voor Radio Omroep - literally the General Association for Radio Broadcasting) brought together the World Champion and every one of his major challengers. It ran from the 6th to the 27th of November 1938 with the players based in Amsterdam and each successive round played in a different Dutch town. This tournament schedule proved rigorous for the older competitors and Capablanca and Alekhine did not fare as well as might have been expected. In the end, Keres and Fine finished in joint first place with Keres declared the winner as a result of a better tie-break score. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 =1 Keres ** 1½ ½½ ½½ ½½ 1½ 1½ ½½ 8½ =1 Fine 0½ ** 1½ 11 10 10 ½½ 1½ 8½ 3 Botvinnik ½½ 0½ ** 1½ ½0 1½ ½1 ½½ 7½ =4 Alekhine ½½ 00 0½ ** 1½ ½½ ½1 ½1 7 =4 Euwe ½½ 01 ½1 0½ ** 0½ 01 1½ 7 =4 Reshevsky 0½ 01 0½ ½½ 1½ ** ½½ 1½ 7 7 Capablanca 0½ ½½ ½0 ½0 10 ½½ ** 1½ 6 8 Flohr ½½ 0½ ½½ ½0 0½ 0½ 0½ ** 4½ (1) http://www.avro.nl/, (2) Wikipedia article: AVRO 1938 chess tournament. The main source for this collection was A.V.R.O. 1938 Chess Tournament, 'B.C.M.' Classic Reprint No. 12. ISBN 900846 10 0. Original collection: Game Collection: AVRO 1938, by User: Benzol.  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 56  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Flohr vs Capablanca ½-½ 41 1938 AVRO D19 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch 2. Alekhine vs Reshevsky ½-½ 60 1938 AVRO E20 Nimzo-Indian 3. Euwe vs Keres ½-½ 40 1938 AVRO E00 Queen's Pawn Game 4. Fine vs Botvinnik 1-0 31 1938 AVRO C17 French, Winawer, Advance 5. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 48 1938 AVRO E17 Queen's Indian 6. Reshevsky vs Fine 0-1 37 1938 AVRO E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 7. Euwe vs Flohr 1-0 32 1938 AVRO E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 8. Keres vs Botvinnik ½-½ 26 1938 AVRO E17 Queen's Indian 9. Alekhine vs Euwe 1-0 41 1938 AVRO D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation 10. Flohr vs Keres   ½-½ 23 1938 AVRO E12 Queen's Indian 11. Fine vs Capablanca ½-½ 44 1938 AVRO C17 French, Winawer, Advance 12. Botvinnik vs Reshevsky 1-0 37 1938 AVRO A25 English 13. Keres vs Reshevsky 1-0 44 1938 AVRO C79 Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Defense Deferred 14. Capablanca vs Botvinnik ½-½ 26 1938 AVRO D93 Grunfeld, with Bf4 & e3 15. Flohr vs Alekhine   ½-½ 23 1938 AVRO E15 Queen's Indian 16. Euwe vs Fine 0-1 44 1938 AVRO D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 17. Reshevsky vs Capablanca ½-½ 56 1938 AVRO E37 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 18. Botvinnik vs Euwe ½-½ 41 1938 AVRO A13 English 19. Fine vs Flohr 1-0 28 1938 AVRO C17 French, Winawer, Advance 20. Alekhine vs Keres ½-½ 42 1938 AVRO E58 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 8...Bxc3 21. Keres vs Capablanca 1-0 38 1938 AVRO C09 French, Tarrasch, Open Variation, Main line 22. Alekhine vs Fine 0-1 68 1938 AVRO C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 23. Flohr vs Botvinnik ½-½ 42 1938 AVRO D84 Grunfeld, Grunfeld Gambit Accepted 24. Euwe vs Reshevsky 0-1 56 1938 AVRO D70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense 25. Reshevsky vs Flohr 1-0 44 1938 AVRO D81 Grunfeld, Russian Variation  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 56    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 13 OF 13 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-13-19    whiteshark: Thanks <beatgiant>!! I only checked in the above mentioned book and somehow didn't get the idea to trust our community here. Man, I'm really getting old... Jun-07-22    kingscrusher: Rare audio recoding of Capablanca for this tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzk... Aug-14-24    ewan14: At least Keres finished ahead of Botvinnik before Estonia was invaded Feb-04-25    Petrosianic: I've never been clear how this tournament was tiebroken. Several sources say that Keres won on tiebreak, but not how. Of course Keres wins on Sonnenborn, and head to head. But in an interview, Euwe once told Benko that he thought Keres was given first because Fine was Jewish. What on earth does that mean? Did he think Fine should have won on tiebreak (how?)? Or did he mean there shouldn't have been any tiebreaks? Were tiebreaks announced in advance? And how was the money divided? Equal split, or did Keres get a bigger share? The world title situation was meaningless, as Alekhine had announced before the end of the tournament that he wouldn't feel obligated to play the winner, and Flohr was still FIDE's "official" challenger. Wikipedia says that Keres won on head-to-head tiebreaks, but without a cite, that's meaningless. I once checked Chess Review, but their tournament coverage is usually awful. Just random annotated games with very little to say about the event as a whole. (Much like a Gotham Chess or Finegold video, in fact). Beyond describing both Keres and Fine as "the winners", Chess Review had nothing to say. They didn't even mention that there'd been a tiebreak, much less how it was done. Feb-04-25    whiteshark: <Petrosianic> I would also prefer to read a tournament announcement, but the following explanation is the closest I can come to it: "The AVRO Tournament 1938 comes to an end. After 13 of 14 rounds Paul Keres and Reuben Fine have 8.0/13 each and lead the field. In the last round they play against each other. The winner of this game will also win the tournament. <In case of a draw Keres is first on tiebreak because he won against Fine in round 7.>" (Fine vs Keres, 1938) Source: https://en.chessbase.com/post/avro-... Feb-04-25    beatgiant: <Petrosianic> The Wikipedia article actually has the following: "Paul Keres and Reuben Fine tied for first place, with Keres winning on tiebreak by virtue of his 1½-½ score in their individual games.... "The tiebreak method was the Sonneborn–Berger score.[2]" The citation goes to an article in ChessBase here: https://en.chessbase.com/post/avro-... And this indeed says that the tiebreak was the SB score, and the reason Keres had a better SB score was his plus against Fine. The point is, SB score rewards wins against top-scoring opponents, and there wasn't any third top-scoring player Fine could beat to catch up with Keres. Unfortunately, that ChessBase article isn't a proper source. I don't even see an author's byline, much less any sources cited. Feb-04-25    unferth: A wire-service story in the Nov. 28 1938 Winnipeg Tribune is headlined "International Chess Tourney Ends in Tie" and says, "Paul Keres of Estonia and Reuben Fine of New York agreed to draw after 19 moves and will receive equal shares of the first and second prize money." The Dec. 7 Atlantic City Press says, "Keres and Fine tie for first place with Botvinnik third! The great tournament is completed and the two youngest players share first and second prize money." The Montreal Gazette of Dec. 8 calls them "co-winners" and also notes, "The current issue of 'Chess' contains the following not very surprising news. 'The world championship match between Dr. Alekhine and Flohr is dead. The money which was to have financed it has been diverted into the hands of the Teuton. ... More, therefore, may emerge from the AVRO tournament than was until very recently expected. Dr. Alekhine has declared himself willing to play a match for the world's championship against the first prize winner on conditions to be determined later. The AVRO corporation may finance such a match.'" The Kensington News and West London Times of Dec. 9 says, "The result means that the suggested match between Flohr and Alekhine will not take place. Capablanca is also too lowly placed to be considered for the championship. What is going to happen? Will Fine and Keres play a short match to decide who will challenge Alekhine? That seems the correct procedure under the current system. It seems a pity that Alekhine, Fine, Keres and Botvinnik cannot compete in a tournament for the championship." From contemporary accounts, at least, it looks as though the prize money was split and the titled shared, with no formal tiebreak process. Feb-04-25    beatgiant: <unferth> I checked the NY Times and it, too, said Fine and Keres shared first and said nothing about any tiebreak. (Dec. 25, 1938, p. 57) "Begun at Amsterdam, it also ended there in an exciting tie for first place between the two youngsters of the tournament -- Reuben Fine of New York, 24, and Paul Keres of Paernau, Estonia, 22. Keres was not defeated by any of his opponents, but Fine made up for this by winning more games than his clever rival." Feb-05-25    unferth: whoops, just found this from the Dec. 4, 1938 London Observer: AFTER AVRO This tremendous struggle organized by a Dutch broadcasting company has produced some of the most beautiful chess that has ever been played. The joint winners, Reuben Fine of the United States, aged twenty-four, and Paul Keres, of Estonia, aged twenty-two, deserve their surprising victory; the former for his enterprise (he won six games, drew five, and lost three), and the latter for his powers of resistance (three wins, eleven draws, and no losses). Salo Flohr (Czecho-Slovakia) is out of the championship picture, not because of his poor score of nine draws and five losses, but for financial reasons. Keres becomes the challenger, and Alekhine has agreed to play him in 1940 for the world title. Fine is not slighted, since it was agreed that ties in the Avro meeting should be split by the Sonnenborg-Berger scaling: and this system gave Keres (who beat Fine individually) the first prize. Feb-05-25    Troller: Skakbladet issue 1 1939 has this: <...Keres and Fine shared first and second prizes (1000 and 750 guilders respectively) but the right to challenge Alekhine for the World Championship was won by Keres after Sonnenborg-Berger's system...Keres will not make use of this right at the moment, as he wants to finish his mathematical studies first...> At the end of the piece, it is speculated that Flohr's result <is probably the final blow to his dreams about a World Championship match>. The piece is presumably written by the editor who most likely was not present at the tournament. But the specific mention of S-B seems credible. Feb-05-25    Petrosianic: <unferth>: Excellent research. Feb-05-25    Petrosianic: <unferth>: <Keres becomes the challenger, and Alekhine has agreed to play him in 1940 for the world title.> Is that confirmed? I've heard it before, but Keres never mentions it in his March 1941 article in Chess Review, when he evaluates all the top challengers. Keres doesn't claim any priority for himself at all in that. On the other hand, I don't know exactly when it was written, and the Soviet Annexation of Estonia in August 1940 might have limited what he could say on that subject. I imagine it's probably true, but have never checked it out. Feb-05-25    Petrosianic: Chess Review, March 1940: <Keres is the winner of the great Semmering Tournament and co-winner of the even more formidable Avro Tournament.> No mention of him having been slated to play Alekhine this year, and reports him as only co-winner of AVRO. That might mean that the London Observer was wrong or it might mean that, being a US magazine, Chess Review sugar-coated it. There's a Fred Reinfeld article called "World Championship Run Around" in Chess Review, October 1940, that talks about a possible Capablanca-Alekhine match, but also makes no mention of any Keres-Alekhine match. Feb-05-25    Petrosianic: Okay, here's a confirmstion of Alekhine-Keres: <ALEKHINE: "The present situation is this: after the tournament was over, Keres challenged me to a match, adding that he would prefer not to play before the end of 1940. Accepting in principle, I communicated to hlm my financial conditions, which are virtually the same as those of the first match against Dr. Euwe and of the projected match, against Flohr; I also conveyed my decision in future to defend my title in one place only. Practical experience of the last matches, and especially of the AVRO Tournament, has shown me the impossibility of playing my best if there are journeys to be made during the contest. It is now for the Challenger and those who may support him to reply; in any case, there remains the possibility of another match for the title in 1939.> -- Chess Review, January 1939 So, according to this, Keres challenged Alekhine, not because he won AVRO, necessarily, but just because he challenged. Alekhine accepted <in principle>, but nothing was definite, and Alekhine even held out the possibility of playing somebody else before Keres. Alekhine accepted a lot of things in principle that never actually happened. Feb-05-25    sudoplatov: EDO has a good description of the method used for comparing across generations. I am not sure this is best, but it is described. The ratings are highly correlated with Chessmetrics and my own amateur opinions. Feb-06-25    stone free or die: I agree, and I really much prefer the visual styling and presentation of the data. Streamlined, effective, and attractive. Feb-06-25    stone free or die: There was this early mention of the winner of AVRO qualifying as challenger for the WCC, < TO PLAY CHESS (SCHAKEN) Eight grandmasters meet each other Chess-playing Netherlands awaits an unprecedented pleasure in the month of November The AVRO has succeeded in placing the strongest players, namely the grandmasters of the world, against each other in a doubles tournament. In addition to Dr. Aljechin and Dr. Euwe, the following will participate in this tournament: Capablanca, Flohr Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Fine and Keres. <<As a special feature, we would like to inform you that the grandmaster who emerges as the winner of this tournament will thereby obtain the right to compete for the world title. This chess event thus rises far above the significance of an ordinary demonstration.>> Of the 14 games that this tournament will consist of, the eighth game will be played in Tivoli in Utrecht on Thursday 17 November, and the first game will take place in Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon 6 November. The playing times are on weekdays from 6:00 to 11:00 pm and on Sunday afternoons from 12:00 to 5:00 pm. The games will be easy to follow by installing special demonstration boards. Thanks to this tournament, chess will once again be in the spotlight in the month of November.> https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=... [Emphasis added] Feb-06-25    stone free or die: How come <Missy> hasn't tagged each round with the proper <Site>? Remember how important s/he considers having the actual city for the <Site> (no compound Site tags for he/r). I'll start: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Ha... . Feb-06-25    stone free or die: One more: https://www.tivolivredenburg.nl/wp-... Feb-06-25    stone free or die: Likely the same building but inside (on a different occasion of course) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe... Feb-10-25    GrahamClayton: Games took place in 10 different Dutch cities - Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Zwolle, Haarlem, Utrecht, Arnhem, Breda & Leiden. Feb-10-25    Retireborn: According to the Brandreth & Sherwood book:- Amsterdam, rounds 1, 7, 14 The Hague, rounds 2, 12 Rotterdam, rounds 3, 11 Groningen, round 4 Zwolle, round 5 Haarlem, round 6 Utrecht, round 8 Arnhem, round 9 Breda, round 10 Leiden, round 13 Feb-11-25    Petrosianic: <stone free or die: There was this early mention of the winner of AVRO qualifying as challenger for the WCC,> I wonder how they dared say that without having it in writing? Presumably they had some kind of verbal agreement with Alekhine, which he reneged on. But it's kind of the organizers fault for jumping the gun. Feb-11-25    beatgiant: <Petrosianic> <Presumably they had some kind of verbal agreement with Alekhine, which he reneged on.> As related above, Alekhine didn't refuse to play a match with Keres, but rather gave Keres his financial conditions for it. If the AVRO organizers wanted it to happen, presumably they'd need to put up the money. As for <daring to say> that the event would let the winner challenge for the title, how risky do you imagine it was? How to select the next challenger was an ongoing controversy in the chess world at the time, and the article sourced above is evidence of nothing more than an opinion on that. Feb-11-25    stone free or die: I've found a newspaper article at the start of the tournament with Alekhine's clarification: <The world title With regard to this tournament, according to Alekhine, in recent weeks statements have been made about the title question that were not entirely in accordance with the facts. The matter concerning the preferential right of the winner of this tournament to challenge that world champion to a title fight has two sides, a formal and a practical one. As for the formal side, the contract with the A.V.R.O. states that I declare myself prepared to play a match for the world championship with the winner of the tournament under conditions and time to be determined. However, I reserve the right to play for the title with other chess masters first. One must, said Alekhine, clearly understand that this clause has not created any new rights, apart from preferential rights. Had it been otherwise, I would not have been able, for example, after signing the contract with the A.V.R.O. to conduct negotiations in South America about a title fight and later to sign a contract for the title fight with the Czech Chess Federation and Grandmaster Flohr. I am of the opinion that a tournament, however much it may be, may not be a decisive factor with regard to the question of the world championship. As regards the practical side of the matter, Aljechin also noted that since his match with Flohr will not be able to take place due to the recent political events in Czechoslovakia, he is free at the moment and therefore feels obliged to accept in principle a challenge for a title fight from any recognized master. If after this tournament the winner challenges me personally or through a representative and the organization of the fight is guaranteed with reasonable sporting and financial conditions based on previous title fights, then I will of course accept this challenge. The winner must not think, however, that he has acquired the right to postpone the match for a certain time, to a period that suits him and that I would not accept another challenge in the meantime. Such a thing would be unfair to the other masters As for the sporting conditions, according to Aljechin, a world champion has duties towards the chess community, but he also has some rights. One of these rights is that he can refuse to play in a country where public opinion is not well-disposed towards him. If I mention this important point, I must immediately add that I have no particular country in mind. On behalf of all foreign masters, I express here the wish, concluded Aljechin, that chess life in the Netherlands, partly through this tournament, may grow and flourish. > 1938-11-05 - Delftsche Courant - p7c4 https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=... (Not sure why google translate used two transliterations of his name...) Note that Alekhine rates tournament play as not qualifying on merit as a consideration for WCC: <I am of the opinion that a tournament, however much it may be, may not be a decisive factor with regard to the question of the world championship.> Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 13) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 13 OF 13 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. 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