A World Chess Championship was played between challenger Max Euwe and title-holder Alexander Alekhine in various cities and towns in the Netherlands from 3 October to 16 December 1935.

The defending champion began the game with his Queen's Pawn, and Euwe chose the Slav Defense in response.

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.

Alekhine pursued quick development, resulting in a complicated early middlegame in which both players committed errors.

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.

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.

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.

The placement of Alekhine's bishop provoked Euwe into playing the weakening 19...f5, after which White's advantage was clear.

Opening play followed Game 2 until Alekhine deviated with 5...Bg7, which remains the most common move in top-level chess.

Euwe's lack of kingside development gave Alekhine just enough time to activate his pieces and strike with 15...c5!, sacrificing a pawn for the bishop pair and keeping the white king stuck in the centre for the moment.

Euwe would have secured the possibility of moving his bishop from d2 to either e3 or f4, thus defending his knight on e2 with his queen and preparing to castle.

Pieces were gradually exchanged off until the players reached an endgame where Alekhine had a slightly more active position, but was unable to make any use of this due to his shattered queenside structure.

Euwe opted for the quiet 4.e3, obtaining a slight edge out of the opening due to his space advantage in the centre.

This fact granted Alekhine the bishop pair, but Euwe generated counterplay along the open d-file, trapping the white king in the centre with his actively placed queen on d3.

was a key error, allowing Alekhine to alleviate the pressure by exchanging queens, greatly reducing the relevance of his king's central location and magnifying the importance of the bishop pair in the open position.

Instead, the endgame resulting from 23.Qxe4 dxe4 as played in the game is lost for Black in view of White's bishop pair, greater activity and superior pawn structure.

One reason is that the natural 11.Rc1 as played by Euwe forces Bd7 anyway, whereas after 10...Bd7 Black can meet 11.Rc1 with 11...c5, opening up an attack on the white queen.

In this game, after 12.Ne5, Alekhine felt obliged to capture on b2, temporarily going up a pawn but falling further behind in development.

Black would be forced to give up the rook for the new queen, leaving Euwe up the exchange and a pawn, with a winning endgame.

For the fourth consecutive game where Alekhine had the white pieces, the players entered the Winawer Variation of the French Defense.

The move essentially forces black to sacrifice the g7 pawn for activity, resulting in sharp play.

is a significant positional mistake, allowing Euwe to create a target on e4 to attack and set up a bind on the central and queenside dark squares.

Alekhine was forced into increasingly desperate measures to shake Euwe's control, sacrificing a pawn with 21...e5 to allow his light-squared bishop to develop.

was too hasty, and after 29.gxh4 Qxh4 30.Ng6, he was losing the exchange, an advantage which Euwe swiftly converted, ending the game with 41.Rxc6!

Alekhine deviated with 4.e3, the so-called Quiet Variation and 5.cxd5 further indicated his unambitious intentions, as the resulting pawn structure is symmetrical and the position offers limited chances for either side to outplay the other.

Alekhine chose to give up a piece to rid white of his centre, but Euwe comfortably consolidated and efficiently converted.