Tucked away in a corner of the Max Euwe Plaza is a fascinating free museum, unique in the chess world, with a vast archive where you can play a game with the hosts while drinking coffee. Dr Euwe was Holland’s greatest player and a member of the Dutch Resistance. A recently donated chess board unearthed in a German attic depicts the white pieces as a strong heavily armed World War Two German army while the weaker black pieces are armed with mere hand grenades. Carved into the frame of the board are the names in chronological order of the conquered nations. Interestingly, the last name to be engraved is England. A short tram journey away is the ‘flea market’ in the old Jewish quarter which is not far from the Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum) where a chess set, handmade secretly in a safe house, is on display but this time the pieces show a different view of the war. The white pieces wear the soft caps of the Dutch Resistance, the black pieces the helmets of the invading army. The chilled October air on the canals serves to heighten the poignancy of these two museums.
www.maxeuwe.nl/index.php/english/museum
Max Euweplein 30a, 1017 MB Amsterdam
+31 20 6257017
www.verzetsmuseum.org/
Plantage Kerklaan 61-A, 1018 CX Amsterdam, Netherlands
+31 20 620 2535
Google map: bit.ly/VUAA4X
Interestingly the building the chess museum is housed in was also the SS head quarters in Amsterdam. A plaque close to the giant chess board outside explains how political prisoners were not only detained and tortured here but also murdered. There were several attempts to overthrow the powers that be by the resistance. A fascinating but ultimately sorrowful building. Great to see the Chess Museum allowing people inside. I have not ventured in myself although hope to one day. I do hope the building's history is mentioned in the literature.
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