Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine, one of the greatest chess players was born onOctober 31, 1892 in Moscow Russia. He became the fourth world champion by defeating Jose Raul Capablanca in the year 1927. He was known for his innovative variations and strong endgames.

Early career in chess

Alexander was born in a rich family and was taught to play chess by his mother. His first known match was from a correspondence tournament which he played at the young age of 10! After that he won the all-Russia amateur chess championship at St. Petersburg. From then on he played in stronger tournaments. Many of them were outside Russia. At first his results were mixed, but later he established himself as one of the best chess players in all of Russia. In his first major victory he tied with Aron Nimzowitsch in the All Russian masters tournament. He played several tournaments in the same perios and his results were the same. They were mixed at first but consistent later on.



Grandmaster Alekhine

In April 1914 he stood third behind Jose Raul Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker in the St. Petersburg championship. It is here that Tsar Nicholas II gave the title grandmaster to the top five finalists.



The two world wars and his career

World War I

He was playing the Manheim tournament in Germany when the war broke out. Alekhine and 11 other Russian players were detained in Germany. Alekhine and three others were soon let go. The others returned later. He was leading the tournament with 9 wins and was to recieve 1100 marks as the prize. After he returned to Russia he held exhibtions to free the chess players interned in Germany. Rumours were moving around in the west stating that Alekhine was killed!

World war II

He joined the french army as a sanitation officer. Then in June 1940, France fell. Alekhine escaped to Marseilles. He seeked permission to get into Cuba promising to play against Capablanca. But he was denied. He had to cooperate with the Nazis who had looted his castle and also had to protect his wife. He tied the first place with Paul Felix Schmidt in the Salzburg 1942 tournament. He also took part in tournaments in Munich, Prague and Warsaw.

1927-1935 world champion-first reign

He defeated Capablanca in the year 1927 to become the world champion. This championship took place between September and November. This was the longest world chapionship before the Kasparov-Karpov 1984 championship.

Loss of the title 1935

In the year 1935 Alexander Alekhine challenger Max Euwe. Max Euwe defeated Alekhine and snatched the title. Max Euwe became the fifth world champion. He held the title for 2 years and the title shifted back to Alekhine in the year 1937.

1937-1946 World champion-second reign

Alekhine challenged Max in 1937 just 2 years after he had lost the title to the same person. Alekhine just won. He kept the title till 1946. He was to have a return match against Jose Raul Capablanca who held the title 19 years ago.

Alekhine's death

Alekhine was in Estoril, Portugal. He was thinking of the rematch with Capablanca. On March 24 1946 he died in his hotel room. The cause of his death is uncertain. Some say he was murdered. Some say he choked on a piece of meat. But the most believed story is that he had a heart attack.