Alexander Alekhine

This article is an extract from the chess website bestofchess.com.... you can read the full article by clicking on the link below. A citizen of Russian and a PhD holder, Alexander Alekhine rose to the highlight after he beat a renown chess champion Jose Raul Capablanca; the invincible Human Chess Machine. In his 20s he was already an accomplished chess player globally and had won so many tournaments to his name. He had a good positional edge and a remarkable endgame skill like Jose Raul, however he was considered more fierce and imaginative in his attacks.

He was born of aristocratic parents in 31st October 1892 Moscow, Russia. He was to be introduced to chess by his mother where his interest was sparked. Later on his older brother and sister honed this thirst in him until chess became part and parcel of his life. The first ever chess tournament he played came in 1902 while he was still a 10 year old boy. This was a correspondent tournament in which he shown brilliantly; his first tournaments opened doors for him to participate in other correspondet tournaments which even got him a feature on a local chess magazine; The Chess Review.

His first ever club tournament came in 1907 when was introduced to the Spring Tournament at a chess club in Moscow. Once he got acquainted to the chess atmosphere of the club, he went back to the same club during autumn and was so aggressive with the champions in the club till he tied at the 11th and 13th mark. However when he went back during the spring season, he was able to secure the top position, at just the age of 15 years. His career as a professional chess player had fully sprouted and Alexander Alekhine was set to surprise the entire world.

1909, he was privileged to play in the Saint Petersburg chess tournament organized for amateur players in Russia. He proved to be no amateur at all as he proceeded to win over all the opponents he was facing in that tournament. Later on he placed in two other separate chess clubs; the Moscow Chess Club and the St Petersburg chess club. In 1911, he later decided to join the Imperial Law School for Nobles in St. Petersburg which placed him at a vantage point to continue playing at the St. Petersburg Chess Society. Match 1912 saw the aggressive Russian player taking the top spot in the St Petersburg winter tournament.  Later in the year he also scooped the 1st category prize in the same club which created a chance to fame for the budding chess player.

His prowess was fully grown, employing deadly moves on the chess board that made his name spread out to entire Russia and beyond. By then the world’s best chess players had already known his name and he had the privilege of facing some of them in the 1914 major Chess Tournament at the Russian Empire capital. These were Emanuel Lasker and Jose Raul Capablanca.  He came third after these two champions though it was acknowledged widely in both word of mouth and writing that he had become a Grandmaster of Chess in his own style.

There was more victory in 1914 when he became the lead chess player at the International Mannheim Tournament held in Mannheim, Germany. He garnered 9 wins, got one draw and one loss in the entire tournament.  He made about 11,000 Euros in that tournament. But after his chess season came to a halt when World War 1 broke out disrupting everything. Some the players in Russia got detained until September of 1914 when they were released and allowed to go back home, Alexander Alekhine was one of the detainees lucky to return home.

Upon landing on Russian Soil, he started a project of raising money to aid the release and return of the other Russian players who were still held up in Germany. He took as many tournaments as he could to make the money; he once more won the Moscow Chess club championship in 1915, later on winning a small match against Alexander Evensohn and later on played a blindfold match versus five opponents at the military hospital that was located at Tarnopol. In the later year of 1918, he again took the prize in a Moscow match dubbed The Triangular Tournament.

His quest was a noble one anyone would have said, but his quest to free his partners in Germany landed him in a bit of trouble with the authorities. He was detained for allegations of being a spy for the whites against Russia. The situation became so intense until rumors went round that this top Russian chess player had been killed when the Russian managed to drive the German troupes away from Ukraine.

It was all but a hoax when everything settled and this budding chess player was able to reappear and prove again that he was a champion among champions.  He easily beat his opponents to take the first position at the Moscow City Chess, but they could not declare him a winner since he was not living in that city. Nevertheless he moved on to won the All Russian Championship of 1920 held the same city. This match was commemorated as the first USSR match after Russia regained its peace.

As Alexander Alekhine’s life revolved around chess, he also didn’t fail to be a social being as he married his first wide Batayeva in March 1920. However this love flame took a short time to burn as they divorced in the next year. The Russian chess player then took a job as a Communist intern and was later given a job in the Education department. In his daily life at the office, he met a Swiss journalist Anneliese Ruegg whom he fell in love with and married her in 1921.

Through his new wife he was able to leave Russia to travel abroad and this was the last he was ever seen in his country. Shocking enough the second love flame died out as well and he left his new wife in Paris and headed to Berlin.

In 1933, Alexander Alekhine saw his title as World Champion of Chess taken from under his feet by a new rival, Max Euwe.