Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled "Aljechin") (in Russian, Александр Александрович Алéхин), (October 31 or November 1, 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a chess master and a former World Chess Champion. He was known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style. Botvinnik wrote on Alekhine: "Capablanca was the greatest talent, but Alekhine was greatest in his achievements."

Contents 1 Early life 2 Chess career 2.1 World Chess Champion 2.2 Contributions 3 Pronunciation 4 Nazi controversy 5 Other games besides chess 5.1 Table tennis 5.2 Bridge 6 Quotations 7 Writings 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

Early life

Alekhine was born into a wealthy family in Moscow, Russia: his father was a landowner and a member of the Duma; his mother, who along with his brother taught him chess in 1903, was the daughter of a rich industrialist.

Chess career

Alekhine's first chess accomplishment was when, in 1909, at the age of seventeen, he won the All-Russian Amateur Tournament in St. Petersburg with a score of twelve wins, two losses and two draws. He was awarded a national master title for this performance. The tournament was held concurrently with the more famous professional international event won by Emanuel Lasker and Akiba Rubinstein. Meanwhile, in the United States, later that year a twenty-three-year-old Cuban by the name of José Raúl Capablanca shocked American chess players by thrashing Frank Marshall in a match. The lives of Alekhine and Capablanca would soon intertwine.

In 1914, after finishing 3rd behind Lasker and Capablanca in a tournament in Saint Petersburg, Tsar Nicholas II named Alekhine as one of the five original grandmasters. Alekhine also served in World War One, and was wounded. He became cosmopolitan in his life, living in many countries, and speaking Russian, French, German, and English.

Following the Russian Revolution, in 1919 he was suspected of espionage and imprisoned in Odessa. He was eventually freed and moved to France in 1921, where four years later he became a French citizen and entered the Sorbonne Faculty of law. Although his thesis on the Chinese prison system went uncompleted, he was sometimes known as "Dr Alekhine". From 1921 to 1927, Alekhine amassed an excellent tournament record, winning or sharing 12 out of 20 first prizes in the tournaments he played.

World Chess Champion

In 1927 he won the title of [[World chess champion from Capablanca, to surprise of almost all the chess world. After that, if Capablanca was invited to tournaments, Alekhine would insist on greater money; otherwise he would refuse to play. Although Capablanca was clearly the leading challenger, Alekhine carefully avoided granting a rematch, although a right to a rematch was part of the agreement. Instead, he played matches with Efim Bogoljubow (a top player, but not considered a serious threat) in 1929 and 1934, winning handily both times. After defeating Capablanca, Alekhine dominated chess for quite some time. He lost only 7 out of 238 games in tournament play from 1927 through 1935.

In 1935 he lost the title to Max Euwe. The loss is largely attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism as also corroborated by some players. In 1936, since he was no longer world champion, he couldn't oust Capablanca from Nottingham, and Capablanca won both their individual game and the tournament (tied with Mikhail Botvinnik).

Alekhine gave up alcohol and regained the title from Euwe in 1937 by a large margin. He played no more title matches, so he held the title until his death.

While planning for a World championship match against Botvinnik, he died in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. His death, the circumstances of which are still a matter of debate, is thought to have been caused either by his choking on a piece of meat or by a heart attack. His burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were transferred to the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France in 1956.

Contributions

Alekhine was an avid student of the game. Several openings and opening variations are named after him. The Alekhine Defence (1. e4 Nf6 in algebraic notation) is the most important. There is also the Alekhine-Chatard attack (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4), a pawn sacrifice in the French Defence.

Many chess players were admirers of Alekhine's style, such as Max Euwe who said, "Alekhine … is a poet who creates a work of art out of something that would hardly inspire another man to send home a picture post-card." Gary Kasparov said that Alekhine was his early inspiration. But Bobby Fischer, although listing in his "Top 10" of all time, wrote:

Never a hero of mine. His style worked for him, but it could scarcely work for anybody else. His conceptions were gigantic, full of outrageous and unprecedented ideas. It's hard to find mistakes in his games, but in a sense his whole method was a mistake.[1]

Pronunciation

Alekhine's name Алехин is pronounced ahl-YEKH-een. The pronunciation Алёхин (ahl-YOKH-een) is a common variant, but Alekhine grew angry if his name was said in this way.

Nazi controversy

During World War II, Alekhine played in several tournaments held in Germany or German-occupied territory. In 1941 anti-semitic articles, entitled Aryan and Jewish Chess, appeared under his name in the Pariser Zeitung. Extensive investigations (see Whyld) have not yielded conclusive evidence of the authenticity of the articles, although British chess historian Edward Winter wrote:

Although, as things stand, it is difficult to construct much of a defence for Alekhine, only the discovery of the articles in his own handwriting will settle the matter beyond all doubt.[2]

After the war he found that he was persona non grata to tournament organisers.

Other games besides chess

Table tennis

It is less well-known that Alekhine was also an avid table tennis player, and claimed it to be his favourite way of relieving tension before a chess game. But Harry Golombek, who admired Alekhine's chess and was personally friendly with him, claimed:

Alekhine was also a feeble table tennis player ... I can still see him in my mind's eye playing a gently clumsy game of table-tennis and spooning the ball up with his bat rather like someone participating in an egg-and-spoon race. ["World Champions I have Met."]

Bridge

Golombek also claimed in the same article:

What conclusion one should draw from the fact that Alekhine was a very weak bridge player whereas Capablanca was an efficient and capable bridge player I don't exactly know.

Quotations

• "Chess first of all teaches you to be objective."
• "The fact that a player is very short of time is, to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime." (On the Zeitnot problem).
• "With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we'll never see again." - On his great rival, Capablanca.

Writings

• Alekhine, Alexander (1985). My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937, Dover. ISBN 0-486-24941-7. Originally published in two volumes as My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 and My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937
• Alekhine, Alexander (1992). 107 Great Chess Battles 1939-1945, Dover. ISBN 0-486-27104-8.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1968). The Book of the Hastings International Masters' Chess Tournament 1922, Dover. ISBN 0-486-21960-7.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1961). The Book of the New York International Chess Tournament 1924, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20752-8.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1962). The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20189-9.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1973). The World's Chess Championship, 1937, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20455-3.

References

• Winter, E. G. (ed.) (1981). World Chess Champions, Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024094-1.
• Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess, Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.

Further reading

• Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games, Dover. ISBN 0-48-628674-6.
• Kotov, Alexander (1975). Alexander Alekhine, R.H.M. Press. ISBN 0-89058-007-3.

Preceded by: José Raúl Capablanca	World Chess Champion 1927–1935	Succeeded by: Max Euwe
Preceded by: Max Euwe	World Chess Champion 1937–1946	Succeeded by: Mikhail Botvinnik

See also: List of chess players, World chess championship

External link

• Alekhine's games at chessgames.com
• Alexander Alekhine Rare Interview Sound clip
• 80 crucial positions from his games
• Kmoch, Hans (2004). Grandmasters I Have Known: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine. Chesscafe.com