Alekhine and His Cat
Among chess anecdotes, one of the most charming involves Alexander Alekhine and his cat. The story, widely repeated and probably at least partly true, says that Alekhine would often travel to tournaments with a Siamese cat named Chess. The cat would sit near the board during games, and Alekhine credited its presence with bringing him good luck.
The Siamese Cat in Tournament Play
Contemporary accounts suggest that Alekhine did indeed travel with a Siamese cat during some tournament seasons in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Whether the cat's name was literally "Chess" has been disputed; some accounts give other names. What seems clear is that Alekhine kept cats throughout his life and was genuinely fond of them.
The image of the brooding, brilliant chess champion attended by a Siamese cat became part of his legend, and photographs from tournament visits sometimes show Alekhine with the animal. It fitted his somewhat theatrical public persona.
Superstition and Focus
Alekhine was not unusual among chess players of his era in having superstitions and idiosyncratic habits. Lasker smoked cigars during games. Other players had specific pre-game routines or requirements. The concentration required for top-level chess is so demanding that players often developed habits and rituals to help them achieve the necessary mental state.
Alekhine was also known for his extreme preparation habits, his methodical physical conditioning before important matches (particularly for the 1937 rematch against Euwe), and his detailed post-game analysis. The cat was one element of a broader personal routine.
Chess Folklore
The story of Alekhine's cat has passed into chess folklore and is one of the details that humanizes what might otherwise be a somewhat forbidding historical figure. It reminds us that even the most formidable intellects are also people with ordinary affections for pets and small domestic comforts.
Alekhine's personal life was in many ways difficult — several marriages, heavy drinking in certain periods, the political shadows of the wartime years — and the image of the champion traveling with his Siamese cat offers a gentler and more sympathetic view of the man.