Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alekhine, the fourth World Champion, played many fantastic attacking games and to this day enjoys the reputation of being an attacking genius.

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At the height of his career: Alekhine wins San Remo 1930 with 14 out of 15

1/15/2024 – On 15 January 1930 one of the strongest chess tournaments of the time began in the Italian resort of San Remo. 16 players took part, including the reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine and chess legends such as Aron Nimzowitsch, Akiba Rubinstein and Efim Bogoljubow. Alekhine won comfortably with 14 points from 15 games, achieving one of the greatest successes of his career. His third wife, Nadasha Vasilyev, probably played a major role in this and other Alekhine successes. | Photo: Alekhine and Nadascha in San Remo 1930 | Photo: https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/
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Prague: Sightseeing and chess history

12/8/2023 – The strong line-up of the Masters and the Challengers tournaments, a large Open, an interesting supporting programme and, last but not least, the city itself make the Prague Chess Festival 2024 an attractive event. The 6th edition of the festival will take place from 26 February to 7 March 2024 and will continue Prague's long chess tradition. A tradition whose traces can be found even when you only take a short sightseeing walk through the city. As Johannes Fischer discovered during a visit to the 5th Prague Chess Festival. | Photo: View of Hradcany with the castle, Prague | Photo: Stefan Bauer, Wikipedia
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Riddle solved: Capablanca missed several drawing opportunities

10/27/2022 – About a week ago Karsten Müller invited readers of his latest endgame riddle to take a close look at the 34th game of the World Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and José Raúl Capablanca in Buenos Aires 1927. It was the last and the decisive game of the match - Alekhine won in an instructive rook ending. Zoran Petronijevic and Wolfram Schön had a very close look at this historically important game and present interesting discoveries. | Photo: Capablanca (right) and Alekhine at the World Championship 1927, the man in the middle is the arbiter Carlos Augusto Querencio | Source: Wikipedia

Endgame Riddle: Alekhine vs Capablanca

10/17/2022 – The 1927 World Championship match in Buenos Aires between challenger Alexander Alekhine and World Champion José Raúl Capablanca ended with a surprise: Capablanca had gone into the match as the clear favourite, but after 34 games he had lost 3-6 (draws did not count). The decisive and interesting 34th game featured a theoretically and practically important endgame. Karsten Müller took a closer look at the game and the endgame and invites readers to analyze both. | Photo: Capablanca (right) and Alekhine at the World Championship 1927, the man in the middle is the arbiter Carlos Augusto Querencio | Source: Wikipedia

A letter to Alekhine

9/14/2022 – Alexander Alekhine was one of the greatest in chess. The skill of the world champion, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1946, emanates to this day, as proved by a letter that chess enthusiast Ludger Bröring discovered on Alekhine’s grave at the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
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A Hundred Years Ago: London 1922, (July 31-August 19, 1922)

9/1/2022 – London 1922 is a historically significant event that gathered the day’s greatest players and produced the London Rules of 1922. They were designed by the then reigning World Champion Capablanca (pictured) and laid down what players had to do - and how much money they had to come up with - who wanted to challenge the World Champion. Eugene Manlapao revisits this tournament on the occasion of its recent centennial anniversary.| Photo: Screenshot from the film "Chess Fever" from 1925
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Alekhine and the Nazis: a historical investigation by Dr. Christian Rohrer

11/22/2021 – As a chess player, Alexander Alekhine (pictured) was brilliant, but his biography contains a number of dark spots. In particular, his proximity to the Nazis has damaged the reputation of the fourth world champion. The Swiss historian and chess player Dr. Christian Rohrer wanted to find out how and to what extent Alekhine supported the Nazis, and he published his findings in an online article titled "World chess champion and favourite of Hans Frank?: assessing Alexander Alekhine’s closeness to the National Socialist regime". Detailed, fascinating and well worth reading.

A glimpse into the past: the story of a picture

4/12/2021 – On his Twitter account, Scottish chess fan Douglas Griffin regularly publishes historical photos of famous chess players. Photographs that awaken memories and keep them alive, pictures that allow views into the past. On 28 May 2019, Griffin published a photo that shows Max Blümich and Alexander Alekhine playing against each other in the 1941/1942 Krakow/Warsaw tournament. A picture that raises questions: How did the game go, who won, who was Max Blümich and who else is in the photo? | Photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl

Alekhine rocks the Philidor Defence (2)

3/4/2021 – The Philidor Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6!? was often underestimated in the past. But World Champion Alexander Alekhine, who used the Philidor Defence several times with good success, showed the dynamic possibilities of the opening. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a closer look.

Alekhine rocks the Philidor Defence

11/10/2020 – Attacking artist Alekhine playing the Philidor Defense, an opening that is reputed to be slightly passive? Really? Yes, indeed! Stephan Oliver Platz had a look at the games which Alekhine played with the Philidor and concludes that the 4th World Champion was very successful with this opening!

Keres wins AVRO Tournament!

6/16/2020 – Before the 14th and final round of the AVRO tournament, Paul Keres and Reuben Fine shared first place with 8.0/13 each. And as chance would have it, they had to play against each other in the final round. However, their game was not particularly exciting but ended in a draw after only 19 moves – which was good for Keres who won the tournament on tiebreak. After this outstanding success, the 22-year-old Estonian can hope for a World Championship match against Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)

AVRO, Round 13: Fine beats Alekhine

6/15/2020 – Reuben Fine started the AVRO Tournament with 5½/6, but then suffered a setback and scored only 1½ points in the next six rounds. But at the end of the tournament Fine seems to have found his form again and in round 13 he outplayed Alexander Alekhine with amazing ease. The other three games of the round ended in a draw and with one round to go Fine and Keres now share the lead with 8.0/13 each, and will decide the tournament winner in their direct duel in the last round. | Photo: Alekhine and Fine during their game in round 6
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