Home > Alexander Alekhine

Alekhine was born into a wealthy family in Moscow, Russia: his father was a landowner and a member of the Duma; his mother, who along with his brother taught him chess in 1903, was the daughter of a rich industrialist.

Alekhine's first chess accomplishment was when, in 1909, at the age of seventeen, he won the All-Russian Amateur Tournament in St. Petersburg with a score of twelve wins, two losses and two draws. He was awarded a national master title for this performance. The tournament was held concurrently with the more famous professional international event won by Emanuel Lasker and Akiba Rubinstein. Meanwhile, in the United States, later that year a twenty-three-year-old Cuban by the name of José Raúl Capablanca shocked American chess players by thrashing Frank Marshall in a match. The lives of Alekhine and Capablanca would soon intertwine.

In 1914, after playing a tournament in Saint Petersburg, Alekhine and Capablanca were among the first chess players to gain the title of grandmasterThe title International Grandmaster is awarded to superb chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. It is a lifetime title, in chess literature usually abbreviated as GM or IGM (this is in contrast to WGM for Woman Grandmaster and IM for Internat.

Alekhine became cosmopolitan in his life, living in many countries, and speaking Russian, French, German, and English.

Following the Russian RevolutionThe phrase Russian Revolution can refer to two specific events in the history of Imperial Russia: The Russian Revolution of 1905 which was a series of riots and anti-government violence against Czar Nicholas II, leading to the creation of the Duma, but re, in 1919 he was suspected of espionage and imprisoned in OdessaOdessa or Odesa ( Ukrainian Russian Turkish Hacibey is a Ukrainian portcity on the Black Sea and the center of country's Odes'ka oblast'. Population 1,012,500 (2004). From 1819 1858 Odessa was a free port. In Soviet times it was the most important trade p. He was eventually freed and moved to FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. in 1921, where four years later he became a French citizen and entered the SorbonneLa Sorbonne was the name of the former University of Paris in Paris, France, one among the most ancient in Europe. History It was founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbon, after whom it is named. It is also the name of its main campus in the 5th arrondissement Faculty of lawFaculty of law is another name for a law school or school of law, the terms commonly used in the United States. This term is used in Canada and other Commonwealth countries. It may be distinguishable from law school in the sense that a faculty is a subdiv. Although his thesis on the Chinese prison system went uncompleted, he was known as Dr Alekhine for the rest of his life.

In 1927 he won the title of World chess champion from Capablanca; subsequently, he refused to grant Capablanca a rematch. In 1935 he lost the title to Max EuweMachgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced ur-ver) ( May 20, 1901 November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935 1937). Dr Max Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam. He studied math, a loss that is often attributed to Alekhine's alcohol abuse. He gave up alcohol and regained the title from Euwe in 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,. He held the title until his death.

During World War II, Alekhine played in several tournaments held in Germany or German-occupied territory. In 1941 anti-semitic articles, entitled Aryan and Jewish Chess, appeared under his name in the Pariser Zeitung. Extensive investigations (see Whyld) have not yielded conclusive evidence of the authenticity of the articles. After the war he found that he was persona non grata to tournament organisers.

While planning for a World championship match against Botvinnik, he died in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. His death, the circumstances of which are still a matter of debate, is thought to have been caused either by his choking on a piece of meat or by a heart attack. His burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were transferred to the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France in 1956.

Alekhine was an avid student of the game. Several openings and opening variations are named after him. The Alekhine Defence (1. e4 Nf6 in algebraic notation) is the most important. There is also the Alekhine-Chatard attack (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4), a pawn sacrifice in the French Defence.

Alekhine's name Алехин is pronounced uhl-YAY-kheen. The pronunciation Алёхин (uhl-YOH-kheen) is a common variant, but Alekhine grew angry if his name was said in this way.

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