66 Facts About Alexander Alekhine

In 1921, Alexander Alekhine left Soviet Russia and emigrated to France, which he represented after 1925.

Alexander Alekhine played first board for France in five Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in each.

Alexander Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and negotiations dragged on for years without making much progress.

Meanwhile, Alexander Alekhine defended his title with ease against Efim Bogoljubov in 1929 and 1934.

Alexander Alekhine was defeated by Max Euwe in 1935, but regained his crown in the 1937 rematch.

Negotiations with Botvinnik for a world title match were proceeding in 1946 when Alexander Alekhine died in Portugal, in unclear circumstances.

Alexander Alekhine is the only World Chess Champion to have died while holding the title.

Alexander Alekhine is known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style, combined with great positional and endgame skill.

Alexander Alekhine is highly regarded as a chess writer and theoretician, having produced innovations in a wide range of chess openings and having given his name to Alekhine's Defence and several other opening variations.

Alexander Alekhine was born into a wealthy Russian family in Moscow, Russia, on October 31,1892.

Alexander Alekhine's father, Alexander Ivanovich Alekhin, was a landowner and Privy Councilor to the conservative legislative Fourth Duma.

Alexander Alekhine was introduced to chess by his mother, his older brother Alexei, and his older sister Varvara.

Alexander Alekhine's first known game was from a correspondence chess tournament that began on December 3,1902, when he was ten years old.

Alexander Alekhine participated in several correspondence tournaments, sponsored by the chess magazine Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie, between 1902 and 1911.

In 1908, Alexander Alekhine won the club's Spring Tournament, at the age of 15.

Alexander Alekhine played first board in two friendly team matches: St Petersburg Chess Club vs Moscow Chess Club in 1911 and Moscow vs St Petersburg in 1912.

In January 1914, Alexander Alekhine won his first major Russian tournament, when he tied for first place with Aron Nimzowitsch in the All-Russian Masters Tournament at St Petersburg.

Alexander Alekhine played several matches in this period, and his results showed the same pattern: mixed at first but later consistently good.

Alexander Alekhine made his way back to Russia by the end of October 1914.

When conditions in Russia became more settled, Alexander Alekhine proved he was among Russia's strongest players.

Shortly after, Alexander Alekhine was given permission to leave Russia for a visit to the West with his wife.

From 1921 to 1927, Alexander Alekhine won or shared first prize in about two-thirds of the many tournaments in which he played.

Alexander Alekhine thought the greatest obstacle was not Capablanca's play but the requirement under the 1922 "London rules" that the challenger raise a purse of US$10,000, of which the defending champion would receive over half even if defeated.

Alexander Alekhine broke his own world record on February 1,1925, by playing twenty-eight games blindfold simultaneously in Paris, winning twenty-two, drawing three, and losing three.

Nevertheless, Alexander Alekhine had to wait for a new law on naturalization which was published on 10 August 1927.

Capablanca entered the match with no technical or physical preparation, while Alexander Alekhine got himself into good physical condition and had thoroughly studied Capablanca's play.

Immediately after winning the match, Alexander Alekhine announced that he was willing to give Capablanca a return match, on the same terms that Capablanca had required as champion: the challenger must provide a stake of US$10,000, of which more than half would go to the defending champion even if he was defeated.

Grandmaster Robert Byrne wrote that Alexander Alekhine consciously sought lesser opponents for his subsequent championship matches, rather than give Capablanca another chance.

From April to June 1934, Alexander Alekhine faced Bogoljubov again in a title match held in twelve German cities, defeating him by five games.

In 1933, Alexander Alekhine swept an exhibition match against Rafael Cintron in San Juan, but only managed to draw another match with Ossip Bernstein in Paris.

From 1930 to 1935, Alexander Alekhine played first board for France at four Chess Olympiads, winning the first brilliancy prize at Hamburg in 1930, gold medals for board one at Prague in 1931 and Folkestone in 1933, and the silver medal for board one at Warsaw in 1935.

In 1934 Alexander Alekhine married his fourth wife, Grace Freeman, sixteen years his senior.

Alexander Alekhine was the American-born widow of a British tea-planter in Ceylon, who retained her British citizenship to the end of her life and remained Alekhine's wife until his death.

Hans Kmoch wrote that Alexander Alekhine first drank heavily during the tournament at Bled in 1931, and drank heavily through the 1934 match with Bogoljubov.

In 1933, Alexander Alekhine challenged Max Euwe to a championship match.

Kmoch wrote that Alexander Alekhine drank no alcohol for the first half of the match, but later took a glass before most games.

Alexander Alekhine regained the title from Euwe in December 1937 by a large margin.

Alexander Alekhine played no more title matches, and thus held the title until his death.

Alexander Alekhine was representing France at first board in the 8th Chess Olympiad at Buenos Aires 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe.

Alexander Alekhine won the individual silver medal, behind Capablanca.

Shortly after the Olympiad, Alexander Alekhine swept tournaments in Montevideo and Caracas.

Unlike many participants in the 1939 Chess Olympiad, Alexander Alekhine returned to Europe in January 1940.

Alexander Alekhine tried to go to America by traveling to Lisbon and applying for an American visa.

Alexander Alekhine believes that Alekhine was murdered outside his hotel room, probably by Soviet agents.

Alexander Alekhine's burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were transferred to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, Paris, France, in 1956.

Alexander Alekhine's gravestone suffered heavy damage by a cyclone on 26 December 1999.

Alexander Alekhine was one of the greatest attacking players and could apparently produce combinations at will.

Alexander Alekhine's games have a higher percentage of wins than those of any other World Champion, and his drawn games are on average among the longest of all champions'.

When Fine beat him in some casual games in 1933, Alexander Alekhine demanded a match for a small stake.

Alexander Alekhine has never been a hero of mine, and I've never cared for his style of play.

Alexander Alekhine played gigantic conceptions, full of outrageous and unprecedented ideas.

Alexander Alekhine composed a few endgame studies, one of which is shown in the diagram, a miniature.

Alexander Alekhine wrote over twenty books on chess, mostly annotated editions of the games in a major match or tournament, plus collections of his best games between 1908 and 1937.

Alexander Kotov's research on Alekhine's games and career, culminating in a biography, Alexander Alekhine, led to a Soviet series of Alekhine Memorial tournaments.

Botvinnik wrote that the Soviet School of chess learned from Alexander Alekhine's fighting qualities, capacity for self-criticism and combinative vision.

Chess historian Edward Winter investigated a game Alexander Alekhine allegedly won in fifteen moves via a queen sacrifice at Sabadell in 1945.

Alexander Alekhine praised rival chessplayer Capablanca for taking the world title from "the Jew Lasker".

Alexander Alekhine is reported to have expressed similar views in an interview to the Czech media Svet in 1942.

Articles which Alexander Alekhine claims were purely scientific were rewritten by the Germans, published and made to treat chess from a racial viewpoint.

Yakov Vilner, a Jewish master, saved him by sending a telegram to the chairman of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars, who knew of Alexander Alekhine and ordered his release.

Alexander Alekhine accepted and apparently used chess analysis from Charles Jaffe in his World Championship match against Capablanca.

Jaffe was a Jewish master who lived in New York City, which Alexander Alekhine often visited, and upon his return to New York after defeating Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine played a short match as a favour to Jaffe, without financial remuneration.

Denker wrote that Alexander Alekhine treated the younger and virtually unproven Denker to dinner on many occasions in New York during the 1930s, when the economy was very weak because of the Great Depression.

Alexander Alekhine gave chess lessons to 14-year-old prodigy Gerardo Budowski, a German Jew, in Paris in spring 1940.

Grace Alexander Alekhine was the women's champion of Paris in 1944.

Alexander Alekhine played top board for France in all these events.