Max Euwe: The Biography

I was hesistant for a while before actually purchasing this book. After all, it's hard to know if you will really enjoy a book before perusing through it yourself. On top of that, Max Euwe is known as one of the "lightweights" of the world champions as he only held the title for two years. But I'm glad I finally did! What a wonderful book. The guys at New in Chess have once again produced an outstanding treatise. I would say that this book is up there with Winter's biography of Capablanca. Munninghoff really brings Euwe to life. It's hard to imagine a better biography on this player being produced. The format of the book is also very attractive as it is laid out in double-column fashion with several diagrams and great photos. Strongly recommended for lovers of chess history and biographies in general.

Max Euwe was one of the finest players ever to come to the game of chess. He was also a living proof that one could indeed be a World Champion of the game without being an egotistical prime-donna. For lovers of the game and its history this is a fascinating read.

I totally agree with a previous reviewer: this read really brings Euwe to life. I could imagine the different moments of Euwe's life, thanks to the inspired writing of the author. Really recommended for anyone that even remotely likes chess history and/or biographies. Furthermore, the book has a good selection of games, the majority of them with analysis by Euwe himself. It is a paperback, but aside from that, production is first rate, clear text and diagrams. Cons? Well, no hardcover as I said, and only if this had all known Euwe games, with analysis, it would be 5 stars.

A very good read, especially for chess players who have an interest in chess history. The annotated games (there are 50) are very well written and interesting. Max Euwe was a worthy world chess champion, he also scored good wins over other world champions and is often overlooked as if he won it almost by accident. This book puts these assumptions to rest. I would recommend this book to chess players.