Name: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
Country: Russia, France
Title: World Champion
Born: October 31, 1892 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died: March 24, 1946 (aged 53) Estoril, Portugal
WCC: 1927–1935 & 1937–1946
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Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was born in Moscow, Russia in 1892. He was the son of aristocratic parents. His mother taught him to play chess and he soon developed a great passion for the game. He gained the title of master at St Petersburg in 1909.
In 1914 he came third in the St Petersburg tournament behind Lasker and Capablanca and it was around this time he began to think seriously about challenging the world champion, Capablanca. However, the outbreak of the war occurred while he was playing in the Mannheim tournament in 1914 and interrupted his chess plans.
During Alekhine's time there were more chess players than ever before. The term "grandmaster" has only been a formal title since 1950 but it had been applied to players of world championship standard since the 19th Century. Formerly there had never been more than three or four players of this standard around at the same time. Now there were at least twenty. Consequently, when Alekhine refused to play Capablanca because of a personal feud there were plenty of other players willing to take his place.
In 1929 and 1934 he played Russian, Bogolyubov for the world champion beating him easily. However in 1935, the Dutchman, Euwe challenged him. Alekhine, who had a liking for alcohol was frequently drunk during his games with Euwe and consequently lost his title. However in a rematch, after giving up alcohol, he defeated Euwe by 10 wins to 4 with 11 draws making him the first man to ever regain the world champion.
In 1938 a tournament sponsored by AVRO (Algemene Verenigde Radio Omroep), a wireless company, was held in the Netherlands to determined the next world champion challenger. The eight strongest players in the world were invited to play. Estonian, Paul Keres and American, Ruben Fine were the joint winners. Mikhail Botvinnik came third. In fourth place were Alekhine and Euwe and Capablanca who had suffered a minor stroke during the tournament came seventh. However, Botvinnik had the backing of Russia and as a result he could offer greater financial rewards to Alekhine. Hence Alekhine accepted Botvinnik's challenge for the world champion.
The outbreak of the war interrupted the world championship preparations but when the war ended negotiations resume. The match preparations were near completion when Alekhine had a heart attack and died in Portugal in 1946.
An interview with Alexander Alekhine
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Alexander Alekhine was one of the most glorious and tragic of the world's great Chess Champions. This segment covers his birth in Moscow, 1892 until the eve of his World Championship match with the legendary Jose Raul Capablanca in Buenos Aires, 1927.
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This segment covers the Alekhine-Capablanca championship match in 1927, the Alekhine-Bologjubow championship in 1929, and Alekhine's remarkable string of four major tournament victories starting with San Remo, in which he achieved an unprecedented performance rating of 2812.
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This segment covers the years 1932-1936, during which Alekhine finds Grace Wishart, the love of his life, defends his title against Efim Bogoljubow, loses his title to the great Dutch master Max Euwe, and then struggles- by his standards- in a series of tournaments leading up to his disaster at Nottingham 1936, where Capablanca exacts revenge: sharing first prize and beating Alekhine over the board in their first game since the 1927 championship match.
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This segment covers the Euwe-Alekhine World Championship rematch, the AVRO 1938 Supertournament, the outbreak of World War II, and the Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad 1939.
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This final segment covers Alekhine's chess career in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe, his controversial Anti-Semitic articles, his tournaments in Spain and Portugal, and his mysterious death just before his World Title Match with Mikhail Botvinnik.
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Grave of Alexander Alekhine in Paris, France
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