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Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (pronounced [alʲɛkˈsandr̠ alʲɛkˈsandr̠ovʲiʨ aˈlʲɛxin]; Russian Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин)[1] (October 19, 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a Russian-born naturalised French chess champion. At the age of twenty-two he was already among the best chess players in the world and was one of the five to whom, according to legend, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia awarded the title "chess grandmaster" in 1914. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered incapable of losing, in one of the longest matches ever held up until that time.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played as top board for France in four Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in each one. His tournament record became more erratic from the mid-1930s onwards, and alcoholism is often blamed for his decline. Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and negotiations dragged on for years without making much progress. Meanwhile, Alekhine defended his title against Bogoljubov in 1929 and 1934. He was defeated by Euwe in 1935, but regained his crown in his 1937 rematch with Euwe. His tournament record, however, remained erratic, and the rise of new stars was a real threat to his title.
Alekhine stayed in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, where he played in chess tournaments the Nazis organized. During the War, anti-Semitic articles appeared under his name, although Alekhine later claimed these were forged by the Nazis. Alekhine had good relationships with several Jewish chess players, and his fourth wife was Jewish. After the War, Alekhine was ostracized by players and tournament organizers because of the anti-Semitic articles. Negotiations with Mikhail Botvinnik for a world title match were proceeding in 1946 when Alekhine died in Portugal, in unclear circumstances.
Alekhine is known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style, combined with great positional and end-game skill. Statistical rating systems differ about his strength relative to other players, giving him rankings between fourth and eighteenth in their "all-time" lists. Although Alekhine was declared an "enemy of the Soviet Union" after making anti-Bolshevik statements in 1927, in the 1950s he was posthumously rehabilitated and acclaimed as one of the founders of the "Soviet School of Chess", which dominated the game after World War II. He is now highly regarded as a chess theoretician (giving his name to Alekhine's Defence and several other opening variations) and as a chess writer. He also composed a few endgame studies. There is strong evidence that Alekhine "improved" the published scores of some of his games, although in one case he may not have been responsible for the misrepresentation.
