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Menchik vs. Euwe, Hastings 1931/32

Vera Menchik, the women's world champion, beats Max Euwe for the second year running. Four years later Euwe became world champion, and he became one of the best-known members of the Vera Menchik Club.

  • WhiteVera Menchik
  • BlackMax Euwe
  • WhereHastings
  • WhenWinter 1931/32
  • EventHastings Christmas Congress 1931/32, round 2
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningSlav Defense (D18)
  • Length56 moves

Every Christmas and New Year, a chess congress is held in Hastings on the south coast of England. Vera Menchik was the first woman to play in its top section. She took part seven times, from 1929/30.

At the 1930/31 congress she had beaten the Dutchman Max Euwe, who won the tournament. The win was reported in newspapers around the world. A year later they met again, in the second round, and this time Menchik had White.

There was already a joke about her. According to the story, the Austrian master Albert Becker had suggested at a tournament in Carlsbad in 1929 that anyone who lost to Menchik should become a member of the “Vera Menchik Club”. The joke backfired: Becker himself lost to her and became its first member.

The players

Vera Menchik (1906–1944) was born in Moscow to a Czech father and an English mother and moved to England in 1921. She joined the Hastings chess club, and in 1927 she became the first women's world champion. She kept the title until her death in 1944.

Max Euwe (1901–1981) from the Netherlands was a mathematics teacher and one of the best players in the world. Four years later, in 1935, he beat Alexander Alekhine and became world champion.

Read more about Vera Menchik and Max Euwe among the great chess players.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Vera Menchik has the white pieces, Max Euwe the black.

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Play like Menchik

Guess the moves Menchik played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

Play like MenchikPlay like Euwe

The moments that decided it

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After 10…c5: Euwe's mistake. Next move, White gives check on b5.
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After 12.e4: the black king is stuck on e7.

The end

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The final position after 56.Kd3. Black resigned after 56.Kd3.

Why the game is famous

Menchik beat Euwe for the second year running, and it was her best Hastings congress: she scored 4 out of 9, shared fifth place among ten players and also beat Mir Sultan Khan, who finished fourth. The game is better known for who won it than for the chess, but it is a fine win: Menchik takes her chance after the mistake in the opening and then holds the position together for forty moves.

Euwe became one of the best-known members of the Vera Menchik Club and has even been called its president. Of four tournament games against her, he won one, drew one and lost two. Later he became both world champion and president of the world chess federation FIDE.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 The Slav Defense. The English magazine Chess wrote in 1944: “Probably no player had more experience with the Slav than Euwe who played both sides of it in no less than 19 world championship games.” 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 Na6 7. Bxc4 Nb4 8. O-O e6 9. Ne5 Bd6 10. Qe2 c5 “A rare blunder for a future world champion,” wrote the chess journalist W. Ritson Morry in Chess. That is right: now White is clearly better. With 10…h6, for example, White would have had only a small advantage. 11. Bb5+ Check. Euwe moves his king to e7 and can no longer castle. 11… Ke7 12. e4 The pawn attacks the bishop on f5, and the black king is stuck in the middle. 12… Bg6 13. Nxg6+ hxg6 14. e5 Now the knight on f6 is attacked. Ritson Morry wrote that Euwe soon had to choose between submitting to a hot attack and losing a piece. 14… cxd4 15. Rd1 Bc7 16. exf6+ gxf6 Euwe has given a piece for two pawns. He fights for a long time, but Menchik does not loosen her grip. 17. g3 a6 18. Be3 Bb6 19. Bc4 Kf8 20. Ne4 Kg7 21. Rac1 Rh5 22. Bf4 e5 23. g4 Rh8 24. Bg3 Qe7 25. Nd2 Rhe8 26. Qe4 Qd7 27. Nf3 Qc6 28. Qxc6 Nxc6 29. Bd5 Rac8 30. Be4 Rc7 31. Ne1 Rec8 32. Nd3 Ne7 33. Rxc7 Rxc7 34. Kf1 Rc4 35. Bxb7 Rxa4 Black has taken another pawn and now has more pawns, but White is still a piece up. 36. Rc1 g5 37. f3 Ra2 38. Be1 a5 39. Bd2 f5 40. gxf5 a4 41. Ke1 a3 42. b4 Kf6 43. Ba6 g4 44. Bc4 Rxd2 Euwe gives his rook for the bishop and pins his hopes on his passed pawns on a3 and d4. 45. Kxd2 gxf3 46. Nc5 Kxf5 47. Bxf7 Bd8 48. Be6+ Kf6 49. Bg4 Nd5 50. Bxf3 Nxb4 51. Be4 Be7 52. Nd3 Na2 53. Rc6+ Kg5 54. Rg6+ Kh4 55. Nxe5 Nc3 56. Kd3 Euwe resigned. White is a rook up for a pawn, and the king stops the d-pawn.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Hastings Christmas Congress 1931/32, round 2"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1931.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vera Menchik"]
[Black "Max Euwe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D18"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 Na6 7. Bxc4 Nb4 8. O-O e6 9. Ne5 Bd6 10. Qe2 c5 11. Bb5+ Ke7 12. e4 Bg6 13. Nxg6+ hxg6 14. e5 cxd4 15. Rd1 Bc7 16. exf6+ gxf6 17. g3 a6 18. Be3 Bb6 19. Bc4 Kf8 20. Ne4 Kg7 21. Rac1 Rh5 22. Bf4 e5 23. g4 Rh8 24. Bg3 Qe7 25. Nd2 Rhe8 26. Qe4 Qd7 27. Nf3 Qc6 28. Qxc6 Nxc6 29. Bd5 Rac8 30. Be4 Rc7 31. Ne1 Rec8 32. Nd3 Ne7 33. Rxc7 Rxc7 34. Kf1 Rc4 35. Bxb7 Rxa4 36. Rc1 g5 37. f3 Ra2 38. Be1 a5 39. Bd2 f5 40. gxf5 a4 41. Ke1 a3 42. b4 Kf6 43. Ba6 g4 44. Bc4 Rxd2 45. Kxd2 gxf3 46. Nc5 Kxf5 47. Bxf7 Bd8 48. Be6+ Kf6 49. Bg4 Nd5 50. Bxf3 Nxb4 51. Be4 Be7 52. Nd3 Na2 53. Rc6+ Kg5 54. Rg6+ Kh4 55. Nxe5 Nc3 56. Kd3 1-0

Download .pgn

Sources

  • PGN Mentor, Euwe.pgn
  • Wikipedia: Vera Menchik (the game with notes from Chess, August 1944, after Tanner 2016)
  • Edward Winter: The Vera Menchik Club (the story of Becker, “the Viennese master”, and Euwe as the club's president)
  • Wikipedia: Hastings International Chess Congress

The moves compared in two sources (PGN Mentor and Wikipedia): identical, 111 half-moves. Euwe resigned after 56.Kd3. Round 2 according to Wikipedia. We have not found the exact day; PGN Mentor gives 1931, and the congress was played over the turn of the year 1931/32. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 14, 2026