As the 20th century entered its final third, it was already apparent that the Soviet Union (USSR) had raised chess standards to a level to which other nations could only aspire. The USSR had produced an uninterrupted line of world champions stretching from 1948 to 1970. Since its earliest participation, the USSR had completely dominated team chess events such as the Chess Olympiad and European Team Championship. So pronounced was the gulf between the Soviet national side and their closest competitors, a sterner challenge was required to gauge the full extent of their supremacy. Such a challenge presented itself in 1970, when Max Euwe (the president of FIDE at the time) announced a match to pit the USSR's strength against the collective might of the rest of the world.