Who is the only world champion. Undefeated

He spoke several European languages, had a doctorate in law, took part in hostilities, suffered injuries, was in prison and narrowly escaped being shot. He was married several times, each time to women much older than himself, and one after another he suffered defeats in his personal life. He traveled all over the world without feeling at home anywhere. The meaning of his life was chess.

Alexander Alekhin went down in history not only as the fourth world chess champion, but also as the only world champion so far who retained this title until the end of his days.

He was born 120 years ago, on October 31, 1892, in Moscow, into a wealthy aristocratic family. Mother was the daughter of a Moscow manufacturer, owner of Trekhgornaya Manufactory. Father - the leader of the nobility, a member of the State Duma.

Alexander Alekhine cannot be called a "chess prodigy": by his own admission, he began to seriously study chess only at the age of 12. But by studying theory and gradually gaining experience, by the age of 20 he became one of the strongest chess players in the world.

October 1917 deprived him of the nobility and fortune. And in 1919, in Odessa, where Alekhine came to participate in one of the chess tournaments, he was arrested by the Cheka and sentenced to death. In the west, there were rumors that Alekhine had died. But he was released - someone put in a word for the chess player.

After his release, Alekhine worked for some time in the Odessa provincial executive committee, but with the beginning of the offensive of Denikin's troops he returned to Moscow.

In 1920, he won the All-Russian Olympiad in Moscow, which is considered the country's first championship, and became the first champion of Soviet Russia. And the next year, having married the Swiss journalist Anna Rugg, Alekhine emigrated from the country.

In 1925, Alekhine received French citizenship by naturalization and defended his doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne on the topic "The system of imprisonment in China." But chess remained his life's work. In 1927, the 35-year-old chess player defeated Capablanca to become the fourth world champion.

Out of 88 tournaments in which Alekhine took part, in 62 he was the first. He was an adherent of a bright attacking style of play, an artist who created complex and effective multi-move combinations. Many of the maestro's games were awarded with beauty prizes. “For me, chess is not a game, but an art,” he said.

Some noted his forgetfulness and absent-mindedness in everyday trifles, which contrasted sharply with the phenomenal chess memory: he remembered all the games he played and even after a few years could accurately repeat and analyze them. According to Capablanca, "Alekhine had the most remarkable chess memory that has ever existed."

Alekhine was a big cat lover. His Siamese cat named Chess (translated from English - "chess") was constantly present at the competition as a mascot. It is known, for example, that during a match with the Dutchman Max Euwe, the cat sniffed the board before each game.

It was Euwe who temporarily took the chess crown from Alekhine in 1935. The Russian champion did not put his opponent high and paid for it. Albeit with difficulty, the young Dutchman scored a victory, becoming the fifth world champion. However, under the terms of the contract, Euwe had to confirm his title two years later during a rematch. At the designated time, Alekhine defeated Euwe to smithereens. Having regained the title of champion, he did not concede it to anyone else until his death.

In 1946, at the age of 53, Alekhine died suddenly. They buried him in Paris. The inscription on the monument is extremely simple: “Alexander Alekhin. The genius of chess in Russia and France ”.

In 1970, when the participants in the Match of the Century (USSR versus the rest of the world) were asked to name the best chess player of all time, the majority named Alexander Alekhine.

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Every few years a new world chess champion appears. We have collected all the champions in one place and made a short description of each.

This article contains a complete list of all world chess champions to date. If the article is not relevant, it means that we have not yet had time to add new information. Please write in the comments. Here's a list for quicker navigation:

Title	Who did win	Year
1 world chess champion		1886 – 1894
2 world chess champion		1894 -1921
3 world chess champion		1921 – 1927
4 world chess champion		1927 – 1935, 1937 – 1946
5 world chess champion		1935 – 1937
6 world chess champion		1948 – 1957, 1958 – 1960, 1961-1963
7 world chess champion		1957-1958
8 world chess champion		1960-1961
9 world chess champion		1963-1969
10 world chess champion		1969-1972
11 world chess champion		1972-1975
12 world chess champion		1975-1985
13 world chess champion		1985-1993
14 world chess champion		2006 - 2007
15 world chess champion		2007 - 2013
16 world chess champion		2013 - present v.

Chess has been played for over 125 years. During this long time, the conditions of the game have changed many times, and sometimes even it. Therefore, it is quite natural that the criteria for becoming world chess champions in different eras also differed. For example, in the time of Steinitz, tournaments were held simultaneously in several cities. Or, for example, the strongest chess player might not agree to accept a challenge to a chess match from a potential new champion if, in his opinion, the opponent does not yet have enough skills and abilities to take over the title.

As for today, the conditions and criteria for including participants in the fight for the champion title have changed a lot. Various qualifying tournaments are held in several stages, after which the two strongest players meet and compete with each other. Well, now let's look at the list of world chess champions and short information on each of them about who went through what on the way to the championship.

1 world chess champion

The first chess champion - Wilhelm Steinitz... Place of birth - Prague, year - 1836. Steinitz won this title in 1886, after which he won the game against his main rival - I. Zukertort. Steinitz created a fundamentally new positional chess game, and also made his personal great contribution to the development of this field.

V. Steinitz began to play at the age of twelve, but the young man did not have the opportunity to show his gift. Wilhelm's first success in chess was a victory over his father's constant game partner, a revered rabbi. Seriously, the future champion started playing chess only when he reached the age of 23 after graduating from the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna.

2 world chess champion

The second world chess champion was Emanuel Lasker... He was born in Poland in 1868 and took the title of champion in 1894. Lasker has been the best player on the planet for a whopping 27 years. In addition, he is the author of numerous books on chess.

E. Lasker took over his love for this amazing game from his older brother Berthold Lasker, starting to play at the age of 12. However, the future chess king began to play really, professionally only during his first year at university. Endgame and positional flair were considered the strongest sides of a chess player. During his career as a chess player, he more than once gave up the game for several years to study philosophy and mathematics.

He became the world champion by the results of a match that took place for a long period (from mid-March to the end of May) in 1894 in Philadelphia, Montreal and New York, where, after playing 19 games, he won the first champion - Steinitz.

3 world chess champion

The third world chess champion became Jose Raul Capablanca born in Cuba in 1888. He won his title by defeating Emanuel Lasker in a match in 1921. Often they spoke of him as an outstanding chess machine, since Capablanca was distinguished by his brilliant chess technique. The third champion learned to play at the age of four, just by watching his father's games.

4 world chess champion

The fourth world chess champion was Alexander Alekhin born in 1892. Alekhine learned the rules of the game and the basic moves at the age of seven thanks to his mother and older brother. A. Alekhin was the greatest master of combination and considered chess an art. The chess player achieved his first successes during the Petersburg tournament in 1909, it was then, at the age of sixteen, that a gymnasium student from Moscow won a victory and he was awarded the title of maestro.

A little later, the chess player begins to take part in professional tournaments of a higher level. Alekhine won the match for the title of world champion against Capablanca in 1927 (Buenos Aires). After that, he defended his title two more times, holding it until his death.

5 world chess champion

The fifth world chess champion was Max Euwe born in 1901 in Amsterdam. He learned the basics of the game at the age of 4, began performing in various amateur tournaments - at the age of twelve he became a member of the chess club in Amsterdam. Started playing professionally at the age of 18. Euwe won the championship match against Alekhine in 1935, but after two years he again lost the title to Alekhine.

6 world chess champion

The sixth champion was born in 1911. He first got acquainted with the game at the age of 12, after which he began to study from books. Numerous victories in tournaments and championships of the USSR nominated the young chess player among the best players in the country and soon showed that M. Botvinnik was ready to challenge the title of world champion.

The match-tournament for the champion title took place in 1948 (The Hague-Moscow), and according to its results Botvinnik became the winner, ahead of the chess player who took second place by 3 points. During the tournament, he confidently bypassed all rivals. For achievements in the chess field, Botvinnik was awarded numerous orders.

7 world chess champion

A Soviet chess player also became the seventh champion. He learned the rules of the game from his father at the age of six. Smyslov met with Botvinnik three times during the world championship matches. Smyslov received the title of the planet's strongest chess player in 1957, but a year later he lost to Botvinnik in a rematch.

Smyslov was the winner of a large number of World Olympiads, European team championships, as well as one world championship.

8 world chess champion

He became the eighth world chess champion, who was born in 1936 in Riga. From early childhood, Tal showed genius in many ways - at the age of three he could read well, at the age of 5 he multiplied three-digit numbers, had an amazing memory, after graduating from the first grade he went straight to the third. There were many such achievements in Tal's childhood.

Mikhail Tal learned to play chess at the age of 10, already at the age of 16 he became the champion of Latvia, at the age of 21 - the champion of the USSR. Tal became the youngest world champion, winning this title in 1960 over Botvinnik. The hallmarks of Tal's play were aggressiveness and a constant willingness to take risks, which allowed him to achieve victory, despite the fact that soon, a year later, he lost again.

9 world chess champion

Tigran Petrosyan- the ninth world chess champion. Was born in 1929 in Georgia. The boy learned to play at the age of 11, at the age of 16 he becomes the champion of Georgia in chess. The chess player begins to play professionally after moving to Moscow.

Petrosyan won a victory over M. Botvinnik in 1963, he kept his champion title for a period of 6 years. Petrosyan was awarded numerous medals and orders for his achievements in chess.

10 world chess champion

Boris Spassky- the tenth world chess champion. Spassky learned the basics of the game at the age of 5. For the first time he became a participant in the championship of the Soviet Union in 1955, during the same period he was awarded the title of grandmaster (at the age of 17). Thus, the chess player at that time became the youngest grandmaster in the entire history of chess. Spassky defeated Petrosian in 1969 and held the title of tenth champion for 3 years.

11 world chess champion

He received the title of the eleventh world chess champion, who was considered a child prodigy and a genius. He learned to play at the age of six. By the age of twelve, Fischer became the champion of America, at the age of 15 - an international grandmaster. No one before him at such an early age achieved such high results. Fischer became World Champion in 1972, after defeating B. Spassky.

12 world chess champion

Anatoly Karpov- the twelfth world chess champion. The chess player, born in 1951, learned to play when he was only 4 years old. He became a strong master at the age of 15, at the age of 18 he became a champion in a youth tournament, and received the title of grandmaster at 19. Before Karpov became the world chess champion, he was the winner of many international competitions. He received the title of 12th world champion in 1975. significantly surpassed other famous chess players in the history of the number of victories that were won by them in numerous international tournaments, matches and competitions.

13 world chess champion

A well-known chess player in the USSR and Russia Garry Kasparov is the thirteenth world chess champion. Place of birth - Baku, year - 1963. At the age of thirteen, he became the champion of the country in the youth tournament (in which 18-year-old chess players participated). At the age of 17, Kasparov receives the title of grandmaster. The confrontation between the 12th and 13th champions - Karpov and Kasparov - was one of the most powerful in the entire history of chess. In total, these two great chess players have played as many as 5 matches for the world title. As a result, according to the results of the match, which lasted from September 1 to November 10, 1985, the chess player defeated Karpov with a score of 13:11, which earned him the title of 13th world chess champion.

14 world chess champion

Vladimir Kramnik is the fourteenth world chess champion. He was born in 1975 in the city of Tuapse (Krasnodar Territory). In 1991 the chess player becomes the world champion in the youth tournament. In the late 90s, the 13th world champion Kasparov chose his opponent in the person of Kramnik, who at that time was second in the ratings. Their chess duel took place in 2000, as a result of which Kramnik won a victory and received the title of the 14th champion. After that, in 2004 and 2006, he defended his title twice, defeating Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov.

15 world chess champion

Viswanathan Anand- a native of India, in the period from 2007 to 2013 was the world chess champion, becoming the fifteenth holder of this title. Ananda was taught to play chess by his mother at the age of six, and since then the boy has shown good results in this sport. Already at the age of fourteen, Anand received the title of International Master, becoming the youngest holder of the latter in India.

Moving quickly up the ladder of chess achievements, in 2007 he won the title of world chess champion. The tournament was held in Mexico. In the following years (2008, 2010 and 2012) the chess player confirmed his title. At the moment, Anand is the only champion in three different styles of play: a knockout system, a round robin tournament and head-to-head matches with competitors.

16 world chess champion

Magnus Carlsen- Norwegian, sixteenth (and currently the last) world chess champion. He won the world title in 2013 by fighting the fifteenth world champion - Viswanathan Anand. The young champion began playing chess at the age of five with his father, and became seriously interested in playing at eight, starting to study special literature and play the game for 2-3 hours a day.

Possessing extraordinary abilities, Magnus quickly developed professional skills. Experts predicted the title of champion for Magnus back in 2004. World-class grandmasters note that Magnus is not a unique strategist, but his ability to find solutions where others would agree to a draw, and subtly feel the psychology of an opponent is amazing.

So far, he remains the first and only champion in three categories at the same time: classic game, blitz and rapid.

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhin. Born on October 19 (31), 1892 in Moscow - died on March 24, 1946 in Estoril (Portugal). Chess genius, fourth world chess champion. Doctor of Law.

Alexander Alekhin was born on October 31, 1892 in Moscow. By birth - a nobleman. His father is Alexander Ivanovich Alekhin (1856-1917), his mother is Anisya Ivanovna (nee Prokhorova) (1861-1915), who came from the family of the textile manufacturer Prokhorov, the owner of Trekhgornaya Manufactory. The ancestors on both parental lines in the fourth - third generation are peasants of the Starooskolsk district of the Kursk province. The family owned an estate near Kastorny, in the Zemlyansky district of the Voronezh province. In 1904, Alekhin Sr. became the leader of the nobility of the Zemlyansky district, then the Voronezh province, later - a deputy of the fourth State Duma.

Alexander learned to play chess at the age of 7 - his mother showed him the moves of the pieces. He became seriously interested in chess at the age of 12. He began playing in tournaments by correspondence, together with his older brother Alexei (1888-1939). He won his first tournament victory in 1905 - in a correspondence gambit tournament organized by the Chess Review magazine. In 1908 he became the champion of Moscow, in the same year he made his debut on the international arena: the tournament of the German Chess Union (Dusseldorf), shared the 4th-5th place.

In 1909 he received the title of "Maestro" at the All-Russian Amateur Tournament.

In 1910, Alekhine successfully performed at a very representative tournament in Hamburg, ahead of several grandmasters, although he did not enter the number of prize-winners, in 1911 he divided 8-11 places in Karlsbad (26 players participated), having won over Widmar, one of the strongest in this tournament. ...

1913 - takes first place in a fairly representative tournament in Scheveningen (11.5 out of 13 points), ahead of D. Yanovsky, one of the contenders for the world championship.

In 1914 Alekhine graduated from the School of Law, received the rank of titular counselor and was appointed to the Ministry of Justice. In the same year, at the international tournament in St. Petersburg, he took third place after the world champion Lasker and Capablanca. As P. Romanovsky recalled, it was in 1914 that Alekhine told him that he was starting to prepare for the world championship match with Capablanca. To the surprised remark that the world champion is Lasker, Alekhine confidently replied that Capablanca would soon replace Lasker. It should be noted that Alekhine is credited with another similar forecast that came true - the prediction of Botvinnik's leadership, made by him in the late 1930s.

In the summer of 1914 Alekhine took part in a tournament in Mannheim. Confidently going in the first place, he, most likely, would have become the winner, but on August 1, the war began. The tournament was interrupted, Alekhine, who was awarded the first place as the undisputed leader of the tournament, was interned in Germany along with other participants.

He spent some time in the Ludwigshafen prison - he was imprisoned in it because of a photograph, where he was filmed in the uniform of a student of the School of Law, which was mistaken for the uniform of an officer of the Russian army.

On August 5, 1915, in the Moscow chess circle, he gave a session of simultaneous play on four boards, (+ 2 = 2), soon won a consulting game with black against V. Rozanov and N. Tselikov. On October 2, he held a show in the Moscow circle (+ 23-5 = 4), and on October 24 - in Serpukhov, again in favor of the captured Russian chess players (+ 16 = 2). In the club tournament of the Moscow Chess Club in October-December, he confidently took 1st place (+ 10 = 1). For the game against N. Zubarev he received a special prize.

In April 1916 Alekhine came on tour to Odessa. On April 13 he gave a session (+ 17-1 = 2), the collection from which went to the benefit of those in captivity. On April 15th he gave a blindfold session on eight boards. The session lasted until 4:30 am on April 16, the result is + 7-1. On April 19, he won the game against V. Vladimirov and N. Laurent, on April 21, he had a joint session with P. List (+ 11-1 = 3). On April 25 he won against B. Verlinsky, giving him a pawn and a move head start. From Odessa Alekhine went to Kiev. There he started with a session on 20 boards (+ 17-3). On May 2, 6 and 8 he played games with Kiev maestro Evenson, lost the first of them and won the second and third. On May 4 he gave a blindfold session on 8 boards, having won all the games, on May 10 he conducted another session on 20 boards.

Along with his chess activities, Alekhine completed his legal education. In 1916, he volunteered for the front, despite the fact that for health reasons (due to heart disease) he was not subject to conscription. Was the commander of the Red Cross detachment. Received the Order of St. Stanislaus and two medals. Was twice shell-shocked. After the second concussion, he ended up in the hospital, where he played blindly with visiting local chess players, in particular, gave a blindfold session on five boards. Upon completion of treatment, he returned to Moscow.

On September 13, 1916 in Moscow Alekhine gave a session on 37 boards (+ 28-3 = 6). Here, on October 4 in Odessa, he conducted a blind session on 9 boards, the collection from which went to the Odessa-Serbia aid fund. All games were won; the session took less than 4 hours. On his next visit to Odessa, Alekhine played a series of easy games with B. Verlinsky. On November 25 and December 2, 1916 in Moscow he played with A. Rabinovich. On December 4, in Petrograd, he won blindly against A. Velikhov. In February 1917, in Moscow, he played two consulting games at the same time, against two pairs of strong amateurs, drawing one of them and winning the second. On February 8 he played another game with A. Rabinovich. On February 23, 1917, a revolution began in Petrograd, and Alekhine's chess activity was interrupted for three years.

In 1919-1920, Alekhin studied for some time at film courses, worked as an investigator in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, then as a translator in the apparatus of the Comintern (he was fluent in several European languages). During these years, he met and married the Swiss journalist Anna-Lisa Ruegg (Ruegg), who represented the Swiss Social Democratic Party in the Comintern.

In 1921, Alekhine and his wife legally left Soviet Russia in order to collect the prize fund for the world championship match by participating in tournaments. One of the reasons for leaving was that Alekhine's wife was a foreigner. Formally, leaving Russia was not considered emigration. Until 1924, Soviet publications published Alekhine's articles, in Soviet Russia he was perceived precisely as "a Russian chess player temporarily living abroad." Alekhine's wife gave birth to a son - Alexander (in 2002 he was alive, lived in Basel, in 1992 he came to Russia to the opening of the tournament in honor of the centenary of his father's birth).

In Europe Alekhine immediately began to actively and rather successfully perform in tournaments. At the London tournament in 1922, he took second place, which was not satisfied - Capablanca, who had already become the world champion by that time, won with a margin of one and a half points. In the same place, Alekhine was forced, in order to hope for a match for the chess crown, to sign the London Protocol, which, in particular, required the applicant to provide a prize fund of $ 10,000 and additionally allocate money to cover organizational costs. Alekhine did not have such money, like other contenders for the title of champion.

In 1923 he shared 1-3 places in the tournament in Marienbad, in 1924 - took 3rd place in the tournament in New York, losing to Lasker and Capablanca. Alekhine himself did not consider these years successful - he was worried that he could not possibly surpass Capablanca in the tournament. There were also personal problems - the wife, carried away by social activities, did not pay attention to the family at all, the spouses lived separately, the son Alexander, who was born by that time, was placed in the care of friends.

In 1927 Alekhine took part in the sixth international tournament, where he took 2nd place after Capablanca, then won the international tournament in Kecskemet, approaching the world championship match at the peak of his sports form. The upcoming match aroused great interest. The newspapers were vying with each other to guess how the challenger intended to defeat the “thinking machine”, “the chess machine in the form of a man,” which Capablanca was represented. Most were in favor of Capablanca, even many of Alekhine's fans. So, Shpilman, who sincerely supported the challenger, nevertheless believed that Alekhine would not be able to win a single game.

Alekhine himself did not count on luck. Over the past several years, he carefully studied all of Capablanca's games, looking for inaccuracies in them and planning a future match. The results of the analysis (described later by Alekhine in one of the books) turned out to be quite interesting: Alekhine found that Capablanca was not at all perfect. It is indeed very accurate, but still miscalculates. Alekhine concludes: it is useless to try to beat Capablanca by using the opening novelties; in such situations, the champion usually plays flawlessly. However, in the middle of the game, Capablanca may be let down by his legendary intuition - the speed of grasping the position paradoxically leads to the fact that the champion considers the moves that he noticed immediately to be the best, and may overlook an unobvious continuation if it was not intuitively discovered. According to Alekhine, Capablanca makes the greatest number of mistakes in the endgame.

The match with JR Capablanca took place as planned in 1927 in Buenos Aires. Alekhine won 6 games, lost 3, drew 25, becoming the fourth world champion. The match showed the exceptional composure of the Russian chess player, who had never won against the genius Cuban before Buenos Aires (and lost to him three times). Soon after the start of the match, Alekhine began to have inflammation of the periosteum - in order not to take a time-out (and the match was played without limiting the number of games - up to six wins) Alekhine demanded that the doctor remove several teeth at once. The pain subsided - and Alekhine continued to win. In the 34th round, with the score 5: 3, the game was postponed in a position where Alekhine had an advantage of two pawns. At the end of the game, Capablanca did not appear, instead sending a letter in which he announced his surrender and congratulated Alekhine on the victory.

Alekhine's victory was greeted with enthusiasm. After the announcement of Capablanca's surrender of the last batch of Alekhine, they carried them in their arms through the streets of Buenos Aires. Congratulatory telegrams were sent to Buenos Aires from all over the world (including from the USSR). In Barcelona, ​​the first European city where the new champion and his wife arrived from South America, they were given an enthusiastic welcome.

The triumphant victory over Capablanca not only brought Alekhine the title of world champion, but also indirectly led to a scandalous rupture of his relations with Russia. It is not known whether Alekhine ever intended to return to his homeland, but, in any case, until 1927, he did not deny such a possibility. When Alekhine won the match, reports began to appear in Soviet newspapers that the new champion was about to return to Russia. However, it turned out the other way around.

After Alekhine returned from Buenos Aires to Paris, a banquet was held in honor of his victory at the Russian House. In a speech at this banquet, Alekhine said that he was glad to dispel the myth of the invincibility of Capablanca. But the next day, some émigré newspapers published articles where to Alekhine's speech it was added: "... let the phantasmagoria that reigns in our homeland also dissipate." It is not known exactly whether Alekhine really said these words. Prior to that, he never allowed himself any public statements directed against the Soviet Union, Soviet power, communists, although in the emigrant environment of Western Europe, negative statements about the USSR were more than commonplace. It is possible that the publication of anti-Soviet statements on behalf of Alekhine was a provocation aimed precisely at breaking the champion with Russia. Of course, Alekhine could publicly refuse the words attributed to him, but he did not.

After several months, an article by N.V. Krylenko appeared in the journal Chess in the USSR, which said: “After Alekhine’s speech in the Russian club, we’re done with citizen Alekhine - he is our enemy, and only as an enemy can we henceforth interpret ". Some time later, a statement by Alekhin's brother, Alexei, was published: “I condemn any anti-Soviet speech, no matter who it comes from, be it, as in this case, my brother or anyone else. Alexey Alekhin ". Alekhine's remaining ties with his homeland were severed. He never returned to Russia.

In 1929, a world championship match took place with Bogolyubov (Germany). Alekhine won 11 games, lost 5, and drew 9, thus retaining the champion title.

1930 brought the highest tournament success in Alekhine's entire career (taking into account the superstructure of the participants) - at the tournament in San Remo (Italy), where such stars as Nimzovich, Bogolyubov, Rubinstein, Vidmar, Marotsi took part - Alekhine took first place. He never lost, out of fifteen games he won thirteen and “allowed” his opponents to make only two draws. The second prize-winner, A. Nimzovich, was 4 points behind the winner. Even Capablanca did not win with such a margin in such representative tournaments.

In 1931 Alekhine brilliantly won the big tournament in Bled, 5 points ahead of his closest rival (Alekhine won the first place - 20 points out of 26, the second - Bogolyubov - 15 points). According to the calculations of chess statisticians, at that moment Elo Alekhine's rating reached the highest value in his entire career - about 2784. This is only one point less than that of Robert Fischer in 1972.

1932 Alekhine wins major international tournaments in London and Bern, as well as two weaker tournaments in Pasadena and Mexico. In these tournaments, he scored 38.5 points out of 46 (84% of the points). In the same year in Chicago, he gave another remarkable session of the simultaneous blindfold - this time on 32 boards, setting another record in this peculiar kind of chess.

In 1933 Alekhine once again broke the blindfold record (set by Reti - 29 boards), giving a session on 32 boards in Chicago. The session lasted 12 hours and ended with a score of + 19-4 = 9 in favor of Alekhine.

1934 - World championship match with old rival friend Efim Bogolyubov (15.5: 10.5 in favor of Alekhine). A month later Alekhine joined the fight in a representative international tournament in Zurich (with the participation of Em. Lasker, Euwe, Flora, Bogolyubov, Bernstein, Nimzovich, Stahlberg, etc.). and again - a brilliant result - clear first place (13 out of 15), a point ahead of Euwe and Flora.

In 1940, Alekhine and his wife first lived in Portugal, but after the attack of Nazi Germany on France, he volunteered for the French army, where he served as a translator, with the rank of lieutenant. After the occupation of France, Alekhine left for Portugal for a while. Negotiations continued on the match with Capablanca. Both opponents really wanted to play this match; ambitions were set aside, financial conditions were accepted rather modest, an agreement was soon concluded; but Capablanca was unable to raise money for the match, and the Cuban government refused to help him. As a result, the match never took place in 1941, and Capablanca died in 1942.

In January 1943, Alekhine fell ill with scarlet fever. As is usually the case, childhood illness in adulthood was difficult. Doctors managed to save Alekhine's life, but his health was undermined.

In order to obtain an exit visa from France, Alekhine, at the request of the occupation authorities, wrote a series of articles on the history of chess in Pariser Zeitung. The articles were substantially edited by the chess editor of the newspaper - an Austrian master and an anti-Semite on the conviction of T. Gerbets, acquiring a clearly racist connotation. One of them was published under the title "Jewish and Aryan Chess" and was an interpretation of the history of chess in terms of racial theory. As a result, Alekhine was credited with a number of anti-Semitic statements, the author of which he (at least according to his later statements) was not.

In October 1943, Alekhine went to a tournament in Spain and never returned to the lands occupied by the Nazis. In Spain Alekhine lived in poverty - the sluggish military chess life could not provide enough funds. He took part in several tournaments, with rather modest results, won a small match against the champion of Spain Rey Ardida with a score of + 1 = 3. He gave private lessons to the promising 13-year-old Arturito Pomar (later - grandmaster, repeated champion of Spain), the materials of which he combined into the later published chess textbook "Testament!" He released another collection, which included the games played during the Second World War (117 in total, 30 of them were played by Alekhine himself).

After the war, negotiations were resumed on the world championship match between Alekhine and Botvinnik, who, through a series of successful performances, showed the solidity of his claims to the chess throne. Alekhine begins intensive preparation for the competition.

On March 23, 1946, FIDE officially confirmed the agreement on the Alekhin-Botvinnik match. But on March 25, 1946, news agencies spread information about Alekhine's death. He was found dead in his hotel room, sitting in a chair at a table with a chess set in the starting position. Different publications give different official causes of death. In some, asphyxia is indicated - suffocation resulting from a piece of meat entering the respiratory tract, in others - paralysis of the heart, in others it is said that the cause of death was not established at all. There are several conspiracy theories of Alekhine's death, according to which he was killed (poisoned).

Alekhine was originally buried in Estoril. In 1956, the question of reburial was raised. In the USSR, they expressed a desire to transfer the remains of Alekhine to the USSR, burying them in Moscow and erecting a monument. Official permission from the Portuguese authorities was obtained, but literally at the last moment, at the request of Alekhine's wife, the ashes were brought to Paris. The reburial took place on March 23, 1956. Alekhine's grave is located in Paris, at the Montparnasse cemetery. On the gravestone there is an inscription: "To the chess genius of Russia and France" (at the team competitions Alekhine defended the honor of the French team).

Alekhin died an undefeated champion - after his death, FIDE in 1948 organized a match-tournament of the world's strongest chess players, in which the Soviet grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik emerged victorious.

The future great chess player was born in 1892 in Moscow into a very wealthy family. His father, Alexander Alekhin, at one time was the provincial leader of the nobility in Voronezh. Alekhine Sr. adhered to liberal views and even sat in the last State Duma in the history of the Russian Empire. Anisya Prokhorov's mother was "from the men", not from the nobility. But from the rich. Her father Ivan Prokhorov was one of the same Prokhorovs who kept the oldest Trekhgornaya textile manufactory in Moscow.

Alexander Alekhin was the youngest child in the family. He had a sister and brother Alexei, who was also a chess player, but did not achieve the fame of his younger brother. Although it was with his brother that Alexander played the first chess games, his mother taught him to play this game when he was about seven years old. Alekhine himself believed that he started playing chess more or less seriously only at the age of 12.

Chess captivated him so much that his parents were even forced to take extreme measures and for some time simply forbid him to sit down at the board. In addition, he suffered from meningitis, a very serious illness, which at that time claimed many lives.

Alekhin studied at one of the most prestigious Moscow gymnasiums - Polivanovskaya, which was famous for its strong teaching staff. Among the students and graduates of this gymnasium at different times were such celebrities as Valery Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Georgy Lvov, Sergei Efron, Maximilian Voloshin. The sons of Leo Tolstoy also studied there.

Collage © L! FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org © Pixabay

According to the recollections of classmates, Alekhine was a withdrawn and alienated young man, he did not communicate with anyone and in almost all school lessons preferred to think over and analyze chess games, since from the age of ten he was very actively fond of playing chess by correspondence, which was then a fashionable hobby.

He was not interested in the revolutionary hobbies of his classmates, or the insoluble issues of life, or the work of the then insanely fashionable Gorky, or the theater. Chess was his only passion. Later, he had another hobby. It was his Siamese cat named Chess, whom Alekhine (who had already become the world's leading chess player) considered his talisman and always took to matches, planting him next to him.

The most amazing thing is that at the same time Alekhine studied exemplarily and was an excellent student. His memory was truly phenomenal. Later, when he became famous, even the most outstanding chess players in the world were surprised that Alekhine remembered all his games played, even if it was several years ago. At the same time, in everyday life he was very absent-minded and forgetful.

Already at the age of 16, young Alekhine won the Moscow chess club tournament among amateurs and went to his first international tournament in Germany. He failed to win, although he performed well. But he managed to meet (not within the framework of the tournament) with the prominent German grandmaster Kurt von Bardeleben. He was not a chess superstar, but was considered a very tough master. 16-year-old Alekhine literally declassified it, winning four fights out of five and one in a draw.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Mikhail Filimonov

The next year he took part in the Moscow championship, but finished only fifth. But he won the All-Russian Amateur Tournament. Then he took part in several more international tournaments, taking places in the middle of the table. However, his potential was obvious: Alekhine fought on equal terms with famous masters, while still a high school student.

A few months before the start of the First World War, a grandiose chess tournament with a very strong composition of participants took place in St. Petersburg. The main stars of the competition were world champion Emanuel Lasker, rising world chess superstar Jose Raul Capablanca, one of the strongest German chess players Siegbert Tarrasch and very strong American Frank Marshall. A total of 10 people took part in the tournament. The competition was held in two circles. In the first, all the participants played with each other, after which the six strongest on points passed into the second round and fought for the title of the winner. Alekhine took the final third place, losing in the table only to the recognized world stars Lasker and Capablanca.

First troubles

Alekhine and Jose Raul Capablanca at the 1914 St. Petersburg chess tournament. Collage © L! FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org

A week after the end of the tournament, Alekhine graduated from the Imperial School of Law. In July 1914, he left for Germany for a major international tournament. In the midst of the competition (Alekhine just confidently took first place), the First World War began. All Russian chess players who were at the tournament were immediately interned as subjects of a hostile state. They spent several days in prison, after which they were released.

However, on the way to Baden-Baden, a group of Russian chess players were again arrested and sent to prison for several days. Finally, the Germans decided to subject the prisoners to a medical examination. Those whom she recognized as unfit for military service, they agreed to release. The rest would have to remain in captivity until the end of the war.

Alekhine was found unfit for service for health reasons and was released. It was necessary to get home through neutral countries, and in the end the journey took several months. He returned to Russia only in November.

The outbreak of the war made it impossible to hold major international tournaments, and Alekhine whiled away the time in Russia, playing with local grandmasters, as well as giving blindfold sessions on several boards at once. Often these sessions were charitable, i.e. the profit from them went to socially useful needs.

In the summer of 1916, he went to the front as part of the Red Cross flying detachment. Some sources report that the chess player was shell-shocked several times and received awards for rescuing the wounded, but not all sources confirm his awards.

The February revolution deprived him of his practice for several years. In addition, his father died, and Alekhine himself turned into a class alien "bourgeois". The least studied period of Alekhine's life began. Information about him is extremely contradictory, and no one really knows what he did during the Civil War. It is only known that he tried to leave for Odessa, where German troops were stationed at that time. There, he either tried to make money in a chess tournament, or he wanted to emigrate through the local port. However, this was not done. Soon the city was occupied by the Bolsheviks, and Alekhine found himself in the basements of the Odessa Cheka. He was saved by the intercession of one of the major Bolsheviks. Researchers give different names, but, most likely, one of the leaders of the local Bolsheviks, or Rakovsky, or Manuilsky, intervened in the matter.

Shortly after his release, he moved to a quieter Moscow, which, at least, did not change hands every few months. Information about his stay in the Soviet capital is also contradictory. According to one version, he worked as an investigator in the criminal investigation department, according to another, he worked as a translator for the Comintern. Anyway, in 1920 he was finally able to return to chess and confidently won the first All-Russian Chess Olympiad in 1920.

In Moscow, he did not stay long. Having met a Swiss Social Democrat who came to Moscow through the Comintern, he married her and obtained permission to leave the country with his wife.

At the peak of a career

Alekhine gives a simul in Berlin, 1930. Collage © L! FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org

Having moved to Europe, Alekhine began to make up for lost time over the years of wars and revolutions. He took direct part in almost all the major tournaments held on the continent, and won more than half of them. By the mid-20s, it became clear that he entered at least the top five strongest chess players in the world.

Alekhine himself at that time dreamed of a match for the chess crown with Capablanca, who at that time dominated all world chess players and was considered the absolutely strongest player. However, this was not so easy to do. Becoming the world champion, Capablanca put forward very strict requirements for applicants who wanted to challenge him. They had to compete according to its terms (up to six wins, no limit on the number of matches) and, most importantly, provide a prize fund to the winner at their own expense.

This fund was estimated by Capablanca at 10 thousand dollars, of which two thousand received the winner, and the rest was divided between the participants in a ratio of 60 to 40 in favor of the champion. Capablanca's demands were difficult to fulfill, 10 thousand at that time was a very large amount (approximately corresponding to 140 thousand modern dollars) and Alekhine did not have it.

Therefore, he had to wait six years for the championship match. As a result, the Argentine leadership helped with the organization with the condition that the fight would be held in Buenos Aires. The match began in September 1927 and ended only at the end of November, dragging on 34 games (which was an absolute record at that time). Before the start of the fight, absolutely everyone was sure of Capablanca's victory. He was at the peak of his form, moreover, he had five victories over Alekhine, who did not have a single one over his opponent. Some experts were even sure that only a few draw games would become the ultimate dream for Alekhine and he would not be able to win a single victory over the world champion.

Left to right: Alekhine, referee Carlos Augusto Kerencio, Capablanca. Photo: © wikipedia.org

All the more unexpected was Alekhine's confident victory. He won six games, while Capablanca took only three. He did not even show up to finish the last game, sending instead congratulations on the victory to the new champion. The key factor was the preparation of Alekhine, who spent a lot of time studying the opponent's playing style. Whereas Capablanca was so confident in his victory that he did not bother himself with grueling preparation.

Alekhine became the first Russian world chess champion and the fourth in history after Steinitz, Lasker and Capablanca. The loser immediately asked for revenge, but now Alekhine insisted on the previous rules of the championship match, and Capablanca wanted to change them. Due to the fact that the rivals never came to an agreement, the revenge between them never took place.

The next seven years were the peak of Alekhine's career. He confidently won tournaments in which he participated, traveled all over the world with chess tours, arranged simultaneous blindfold games, and wrote several books. He also defended the champion title twice, defeating challenger Efim Bogolyubov both times.

Recession

Participants of the international chess tournament in St. Petersburg - Jose Capablanca (second from the right, seated), Emanuel Lasker (third from the left, seated), Alexander Alekhin (third from the left). Collage © L! FE. Photo: © RIA Novosti

In 1934 Alekhine married the American-British chess player (and a very wealthy widow) Grace Wishar. From that moment on, luck seemed to change him. His game went completely wrong, he began to make childhood mistakes. There has been a sharp decline in the career. If at the peak of his form he won in most tournaments, regardless of the composition of their participants, now more and more often he found himself closer to the middle of the table.

Most researchers associate the sharp decline in Alekhine's play with two factors. First, with the loss of motivation. After defeating the seemingly invincible Capablanca, it was difficult to find new incentives, and Alekhine relaxed too much. Secondly, he began to get involved in alcohol and this was reflected in his results.

Euwe (left) and Salomon Flor (center) analyze the game. Alekhine - Euwe match, 1935. Photo: © wikipedia.org

In 1935, a world championship match took place between Alekhine and the Dutchman Max Euwe. Before the match, the Russian chess player was considered the absolute favorite and was confidently leading in the first games. But in recent matches, Euwe increasingly began to gain the upper hand and eventually won by a slight margin - 15.5 to 14.5.

Alekhine rallied his strength and brought himself into shape. In 1937, a rematch took place, which Alekhine confidently won (15.5 by 9.5), although the Dutchman was now the favorite. Alekhine regained the title of world champion. However, soon events unfolded in Europe that actually put an end to the career of a brilliant chess player.

Life in occupation

Collage © L! FE. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Vladimir Grebnev © Pixabay

In September 1939, World War II began. Alekhine by this time was a citizen of France and enlisted in the army. According to some sources, he served as an interpreter, according to others - in the medical unit. One way or another, in any case, he was not suitable for military service.

After the rapid defeat of France, he left for the south of the country, which was not occupied by the Germans. He tried to negotiate a championship match with Capablanca, but financial difficulties arose due to the war, and a few months later the Cuban chess player died.

Alekhine was not happy with the new regime and tried to emigrate to Portugal. However, the Vichy regime did not give him permission to emigrate. In the end, it was agreed that he would be released from the country in exchange for several ideologically verified articles. Soon, the collaborationist newspaper Pariser Zeitung published several articles about "Jewish and Aryan chess" and their differences, authored by Alekhine. After that, he was released from the country.

However, the wife remained in France, fearing for her estate. Left without a livelihood, during the war Alekhine was forced to participate in chess tournaments on the territory of Nazi Germany and occupied European countries. In 1943, having left for a tournament in neutral Spain, he refused to return and settled there for several years. To make ends meet, he gave chess lessons and also participated in local tournaments.

After the end of the war, chess life began to gradually revive. Alekhine was still the reigning world champion. In the winter of 1945, he was invited to the first major post-war tournament in London. However, he never took part in it due to the intrigues of his colleagues.

His old rival Euwe, having enlisted the support of his American colleagues (and also promising contenders for the title), staged a noisy campaign against Alekhine. The chess players gathered around Euwe threatened to boycott him if he took part in the tournament. Moreover, Euwe organized a whole commission, which began to demand the deprivation of Alekhine's title on the basis of his collaborationist activities.

The main charges against Alekhine were his participation in several German chess tournaments, as well as articles about "Jewish and Aryan chess". Alekhine himself sent letters to the organizers of the tournaments, as well as to several chess federations, explaining his position. He claimed that he was forced to play in tournaments in order to at least live on something under the occupation. And articles about "Aryan chess" were a condition for permission to emigrate. In doing so, he argued that there was nothing anti-Semitic in the original article and that it was heavily edited by the editors.

It was really difficult to suspect Alekhine of sympathies for the Nazis. Back in 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, Alekhine publicly called for a boycott of the German chess team (at that time it participated in the chess Olympiad), and then made repeated attempts to leave the occupied territories (and eventually settled in neutral Spain).

Max Euwe. Photo: © AP Photo

It is worth noting that Euwe himself was also, as they say, not without sin. He did not play in Nazi Germany, but he participated in a chess tournament in Hungary, which was an ally of the Nazis. In addition, Euwe led a chess federation in Nazi-occupied Holland and de facto collaborated with the collaborationist government. In addition, the situation was in his hands. If Alekhine was deprived of the title, he either automatically passed to Euwe, or was played in a championship match with Euwe and another challenger.

However, not all leading chess players supported Euwe, and in the end the issue of boycotting Alekhine and his disqualification was decided to be submitted to FIDE for consideration. Unexpectedly, help came from the USSR. The influential Soviet Chess Federation wanted to nominate the strong grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik as a contender for the title. In general, an ambivalent attitude towards Alekhine remained in the USSR. On the one hand, it was officially recognized that he was a living chess genius and one of the greatest masters of the game. On the other hand, it was invariably emphasized that, class and politically, he was completely alien to Soviet society.

While FIDE was considering the question of disqualification, the chess player was gone. The health of the already middle-aged Alekhine was undermined by diseases (three years before his death, he suffered a severe form of scarlet fever), alcohol and life under the occupation. On March 24, 1946, he died in a Portuguese hotel, sitting in an armchair at a chessboard. According to some reports, he choked and suffocated while eating, according to others, his heart stopped.

Alexander Alekhin became the only world champion in history who died in this rank and thus remained undefeated (another undefeated world champion Bobby Fischer was stripped of his title after refusing a match with a challenger and actually ended his career on this, but nevertheless he was formally defeated was not).

Tombstone on the grave of Alekhine in the Parisian cemetery of Montparnasse. The work of his friend, chess player Abram Barats. The tombstone bears the erroneous date of birth on November 1st. Photo: © wikipedia.org

It is interesting that soon after Alekhine's death, the attitude towards him in the USSR changed dramatically to an extremely positive one. Although it was still admitted that he did not accept the revolution, nevertheless, they began to consider him their own. Since 1956, tournaments in memory of the outstanding chess player have been regularly held in the USSR. In honor of Alekhine, an asteroid discovered by Soviet astronomers was named, books were written about him, and in some way he became a cult figure in the Soviet Union.

Alexander Alekhin is still the leader in the number of overall victories among all world chess champions in history. In 1240 official matches, he won 719 times. Thus, he achieved victory in 58% of the matches. For comparison, Capablanca, Lasker and Fischer won 55% of their matches (while having twice as few meetings), Euwe and Botvinnik won 47%, Kasparov - 42%, Karpov - 37%, and Spassky won only 32 % of fights. Therefore, it is not surprising that Alekhine is still considered one of the greatest chess players in history.

Alexander Alekhin (1892-1946) is an outstanding Russian and French chess player, the first winner of the RSFSR championship, the 4th world champion, widely known for his attacking and deep combinational style of play. He was the consummate master of the game of blindness, updating his own achievements many times, the best of which was a session on 32 boards.

Alexander Alekhin was born on October 31, 1892 in Moscow into a noble family. His mother Anisya Ivanovna came from the family of the textile magnate I. Prokhorov, and his father Alexander Ivanovich served as a collegiate assessor. Later he became the leader of the nobility and was elected deputy of the Duma of the fourth convocation. The family was wealthy enough and owned an estate in the Voronezh province.

From an early age, young Sasha demonstrated great abilities in chess, which his mother taught him to play at the age of seven. For nine years he studied at the Moscow classical gymnasium, after which he entered the Imperial School of Jurisprudence and became a titular adviser.

A serious hobby for the ancient game came to Sasha at the age of 10, after he was struck by the chess creativity of an American, Harry Pillsbury, who visited Moscow. Impressed by what he saw, he, along with his older brother, begins to play by correspondence. Three years later Alekhine won the main prize of the Chess Review magazine, and in 1908 he became the champion of Moscow.

The first serious success came in 1909 at the All-Russian tournament in memory of Chigorin, where he won 1st place and received the title of maestro. After moving to the capital, Alexandra had no equal in the Nordic Championship (1912), and a year later he shares the laurels of the winner of the representative tournament in Scheveningen. At the all-Russian tournament of masters (1914) Alekhine won together with Nimzovich and both qualified for the international “tournament of champions”. And here the talented player did not get lost, passing ahead only and. It was then that Alekhine firmly said that he would prepare for the match for the chess crown against the Cuban, although Lasker was the champion at that time.

World War I

At the height of the summer of 1914, Alekhine played another tournament in Mannheim, Germany. Just during the competition, when the Russian was confidently leading, the beginning of the war was announced. The organizers decided to interrupt the tournament, giving Alexander 1st place. Later, together with other chess players (E. Bogolyubov, A. Rabinovich), he would end up in prison. According to his recollections, the content in the penitentiary institution was very ascetic and the chess players entertained themselves with a blindfold game all day long. After some time, he was declared unfit for service and deported to his homeland.

On the way home, Alekhin stops by in Stockholm, where he gives a session of a simultaneous game (+ 18-2 = 4), and a month later he will hold them in Moscow (+ 19-9 = 5), Serpukhov, Petrograd. Alexander will direct all the money he earns to help Russian chess players who have ended up in German confinement. In the period 1915-1916, he repeatedly repeated sessions of simultaneous play in various formats (with a handicap, blindly), touring Ukraine.

In 1916, despite heart disease, Alekhine volunteered for the front. As a result, he ends up in Golitsia, leading the Red Cross squad. Participation in the hostilities was not in vain - he received two concussions, after which he was forced to return to Moscow. For his courage in saving the wounded, Alexander received the Order of St. Stanislav and two St. George medals.

The events of 1917 did not affect the fate of the chess player in the best way. The emperor's resignation and the Bolsheviks' coming to power soon followed, deprived Alekhine of his legally owned property. This forced the chess player to leave Russia and move to Ukraine, from where his path was supposed to lie further to the West. But the plans did not come true. In 1919, Alekhine was arrested in Odessa and sentenced to death for participation in espionage activities. But through someone's patronage from above, he was acquitted. After the start of the offensive of Denikin's Volunteer Army, Alekhine returned to Moscow. Here during the Civil War, he managed to study at film courses, work as a translator in the Comintern and even work in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department.

In 1920, Alekhine excelled at the All-Russian Olympiad (in the organization of which he personally took part), which is considered the country's first championship. After his marriage in 1921 to the Swiss Rygg, he left for Europe, where he plunged into the chess world. Alexander begins an active tournament life, achieving good results in Budapest, The Hague, London, Marienbad. In total, until 1927, Alekhine played in 22 international competitions, of which he won 14, including Hastings (1922), Baden-Baden (1925), Kecskemet (1927).

At the same time, Alekhine does not disregard scientific activity, having defended his doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne. In 1924, an analysis of his previous games, entitled "My Best Games", was published.

On the way to the championship

In 1922, Alekhine signed the London Agreement governing the organization of championship matches. According to its terms, the applicant was obliged to form a prize fund ($ 10 thousand) and pay organizational costs. Then no one had that kind of money, but after a few years everything changed - Alekhine was firmly pursuing his goal. To collect the required amount, he arranges record blind matches in New York (26 games) and Paris (27 games), plays in a simultaneous game from an airplane, organizes chess battles, where actors were the figures. As a result, the efforts of the Russian were rewarded, and in 1927 the Argentine government found funds to organize a match in Buenos Aires.

On the eve of the match, public opinion almost unambiguously awarded the victory to Capablanca, who was often called the "thinking machine". In addition, Jose Raul managed to defeat his opponent three times before this meeting, and he never once. Alekhine was looking for an antidote for a long time, studying in detail the opponent's games. He managed to find out that Capablanca's excellent intuition sometimes lets him down, as he misses the best moves that require a lot of thought. In just two months, 34 games were played, of which Alekhine won six. This was enough to become the 4th world champion. After the victory, he was carried in his arms through the streets of the Argentine capital, the same warm welcome was organized in Europe.

According to the rules, Capablanca was supposed to challenge Alekhine to a rematch, but he did not, and E. Bogolyubov played with the champion. Their duel took place in Holland and Germany and ended ahead of schedule with the victory of Alexander Alexandrovich (+ 11-5 = 8). They will meet again in 1934 and then Alekhine will again be stronger (+ 8-3 = 15).

Emigration to France

After returning from Argentina, Alekhine began to allow himself very free statements against the Soviet regime, which was condemned by many people, including Alexei's brother. All this leads to a final break with his homeland, which does not greatly affect his chess success. Alekhine leads the French national team at the Chess Olympiads in Hamburg and Prague, Folkestone, each time becoming the best on the first board, winning strong tournaments in San Remo (1930), Bled (1931), London (1932).

In 1935, the Dutch organized a world championship match for their countryman. Alekhine accepted the challenge and fought the challenger. The fight took place in an equal fight and everything was decided in the last thirtieth game, which Alekhine had to win, but he did not. As a result, the champion lost one point 14.5: 15.5 and resigned. The uncompromising character of the Russian chess player did not allow Euwe to rest on his laurels for a long time, and in 1937, in a rematch (the first in the history of chess), an unconditional victory was won 15.5: 9.5.

In the pre-war years, Alekhine maintains the reputation of the strongest player by winning tournaments in Margate and Montevideo and dividing 1-2 places in Plymouth. But at the ARVO tournament with the participation of 8 strongest players, he did not win laurels (+ 3-3 = 8), however, he won a micromatch against Capablanca. After the tournament, he sent a proposal to the champion about a new match for the title of the strongest chess player, and he gave preliminary consent, but the outbreak of the Second World War confused all plans.

last years of life

Alekhine met the news of the war in Argentina, where the next Chess Olympiad was taking place. After the outbreak of hostilities, Alexander Alexandrovich called for a boycott of the German national team, and the organizers supported this impulse. As a result, the German national team was credited with technical defeats. After receiving the tragic news, many remained in Latin America, but Alekhine was determined to return to Europe.

After France is under occupation, he volunteers in the French army and serves there as an interpreter, having the rank of lieutenant. At this time, negotiations were resumed for a match against Capablanca. Quite modest financial conditions and withdrawn ambitions testified to the true intention to measure their strength, but the Cuban government did not find the necessary funds, and in 1942 Capablanca died.

Due to the fact that the last wife, Grace, refused to move to Portugal, Alekhine, avoiding the final plunder, was forced to cooperate with the Germans. He is attracted to participate in many tournaments, simultaneous games and matches against the strongest German opponents (P. Keres, K. Junge).

In 1943, a chess player fell ill with scarlet fever and suffered it very hard. Soon he moved to Spain, where he remained to live, dragging out a miserable existence. Here he participates in second-rate tournaments and even gives private lessons.

In 1945, a scandal erupted over the allegedly made anti-Semitic statements on the pages of the German newspaper Pariser Zeitung. Because of this, Alekhine was not allowed to participate in British tournaments in Hastings and London, then there were calls not to invite him to the competition at all.

Having been exposed to such press, Alekhine remains practically completely alone and keeps in touch only with the champion of Portugal Francisco Lupi. Against him, he will play his last match in February 1946, winning with a score of 2.5: 1.5. At the end of March, the news came of an agreement on a match with Botvinnik, and on March 25, 1946, Alexander Alekhin died. He died in Estoril, Portugal, and then various reasons were put forward: from a heart attack to asphyxiation and murder. At first he was buried in Estoril, but in 1956, at the request of the widow, he was reburied in Paris, despite the fact that the Soviet side proposed to do this in Moscow.

Chess achievements

Alexander Alekhin-IV world champion, the first winner of the national championship. Throughout his career, he played 1264 match and tournament games. He managed to win 62 out of 87 tournaments.

Alekhine is known for his deep theoretical studies of positions. It is no coincidence that a number of combinations are named after him, including the Alekhine defense, one of the French defense options, the Shatar-Alekhine attack, and many sequels in the Vienna, Spanish games, the Sicilian defense and many others. The chess player has authored over 20 books, mostly collections of his own games with detailed analysis and commentary.

Personal life

The first wife of the chess maestro was Alexandra Bataeva, who worked as a clerk in one of the Soviet organizations. According to other sources, it could be an officer's widow, St. Petersburg artist A. von Severgin, but there is no confirmed information on this. A little later, he fell in love with a journalist from Switzerland A.L. Rygg and soon married her. But a happy life did not work out and the couple often lived separately. The son Alexander was born, was in the care of friends. The subsequent natural divorce put an end to their relationship.

Later, Alekhin married the widow of General Nadezhda Vasilyeva, with whom he will be married for about 10 years. The last time a chess player tied the knot with a British citizen Grace Wishar, who was 16 years older than him. She was the widow of a tea planter and received a good inheritance. Thanks to this, the financial situation of Alekhine has noticeably improved.

• Alekhine, like no one else, contributed to the popularization of the ancient game. He was the first of the world champions to take part in the world chess tour, having traveled all over the world and played 1320 games.
• Alexander Alekhin is the first champion to win the rematch (against M. Euwe).
• Alekhine is the only world champion who passed away undefeated.
• Like many chess talents, Alekhine was poorly adapted to everyday life, was often absent-minded and not collected, which contrasted sharply with his skillful actions at the chessboard.
• Alekhine loved cats. According to some sources, he had at least 10 of them. Cats accompanied Alekhine during serious tournaments.

Video

A documentary film from the cycle "Geniuses and Villains", titled "Alexander Alekhin. The Tragedy of a Chess Genius "(2011).

Best games

The selection includes the best games of Alexander Alekhine played in the period from 1908 to 1943.