The Life of Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was born on October 31, 1892, in Moscow, into a wealthy and cultured family. His father was a landowner and member of the Russian nobility; his mother was a woman of considerable intelligence who taught her son chess at around the age of seven. By twelve he was already a formidable player, and at sixteen he competed in his first serious tournament.
Early Career in Russia
Alekhine's rise through Russian chess was swift. He won the Russian championship in 1909 and quickly drew the attention of the chess world with his brilliant combinative play. He studied law in St. Petersburg, but chess increasingly dominated his life. In 1914, at the great St. Petersburg tournament, he finished third behind Lasker and Capablanca — remarkable company for a young man not yet twenty-two.
The First World War interrupted his chess career. Alekhine served on the Russian Red Cross, was wounded, and was briefly taken prisoner. During the Russian Revolution and Civil War that followed, he navigated an extraordinarily dangerous period, at various times aligned with different factions and at real risk of his life. He eventually left Russia permanently in 1921, settling in Western Europe and later taking French citizenship.
Challenging Capablanca
Through the early 1920s, Alekhine compiled one of the most impressive tournament records in chess history, finishing at or near the top of nearly every event he entered. But the world championship remained with Jose Raul Capablanca, who seemed virtually unbeatable. Many in the chess world doubted Alekhine could ever beat Capablanca in a match.
The match, held in Buenos Aires in 1927, proved them wrong. In one of the great upsets of chess history, Alekhine defeated Capablanca convincingly, winning six games to three with twenty-five draws. He had prepared exhaustively for Capablanca's style and neutralized the Cuban's legendary technique while outplaying him in complex middlegame positions.
Years as Champion
As world champion, Alekhine was a formidable and active player. He successfully defended his title against Bogoljubov in 1929 and 1934. He continued to win major tournaments and produce games of breathtaking originality. His book of his best games, annotated by himself, remains one of the classics of chess literature.
He was also, in these years, increasingly difficult personally. He drank heavily, was unreliable in his personal relationships, and made enemies easily. His first three marriages all ended badly. Despite this, his chess remained at an extraordinary level.
The Loss and Regain of the Title
In 1935, in what shocked the chess world, Alekhine lost his world championship title to the Dutch player Max Euwe. He had been in poor physical condition and was widely reported to have been affected by his drinking during the match. He immediately requested a rematch, and in 1937 he regained the title convincingly, winning ten games to four. No world champion before or since has lost the title and then won it back.
The War Years and Death
The years of the Second World War are the most contested chapter of Alekhine's life. Living in occupied France, he continued to play chess and wrote a series of articles for a German-controlled newspaper that contained antisemitic content. The nature of his collaboration with the Nazi occupation, and how much of it was coerced, has been debated ever since. He was effectively ostracized from the chess world in the final years of his life.
He died on March 24, 1946, in Estoril, Portugal, alone in his hotel room. The official cause of death was choking on a piece of meat, though some have disputed this. He was fifty-three. He remained world champion at the time of his death, the only world champion to die while holding the title.
"I have never in my life played the French Defense, which is the dullest of all openings." — Alexander Alekhine
Legacy
Alekhine's games are studied today as masterworks of chess creativity. His attacking play, his ability to create and sustain complex positions, and his long-range strategic vision were all extraordinary. The Alekhine Defense and several variations of other openings bear his name. His annotations remain unsurpassed for their depth and imagination.
Whatever judgment one makes of the man, there is no serious dispute about the chess: Alexander Alekhine was one of the two or three greatest players who ever lived.