Keres narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. He came equal first in the 1938 AVRO tournament, which led to negotiations for a world championship match with Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to World War II. Instead, he played a 14-game match with ex-World Champion Max Euwe in the Netherlands, December 1939 – January 1940. Keres won a hard-fought struggle by 7.5–6.5 (+6 =3 –5). This was a superb achievement: not only was Euwe a former World Champion, but he had enormous experience at match play, far more than Keres.