AVRO 1938

The strongest tournament ever assembled to that point. Keres won, earning the right to challenge Alekhine. Then World War II cancelled the match and changed chess history forever.

The Eight Best Players in the World

The AVRO (Algemene Verenigde Radio Omroep) tournament was designed to be the strongest chess event ever held. Eight players were invited: exactly the eight strongest players in the world. Alekhine (World Champion), Capablanca, Botvinnik, Keres, Fine, Reshevsky, Euwe, and Flohr. The tournament traveled across the Netherlands, with games played in different cities to maximize public exposure.

Paul Keres, the 22-year-old Estonian, won with 8.5/14, tied with Reuben Fine. Capablanca, visibly aging and in declining health, finished seventh. The tournament was supposed to determine Alekhine's next challenger, but within a year, Germany had invaded Poland and World War II consumed Europe. The championship match was never played.

For Keres, the consequences were devastating. He spent the war under Soviet and then German occupation, and after the war, he mysteriously finished second in seven consecutive Candidates tournaments, never getting another shot at the title. Whether Soviet pressure to favor Botvinnik played a role remains one of the great unanswered questions in chess history.