INTRODUCING ALEXANDER ALEKHINE

Born in 1892, Alexander Alekhine showed much promise early and made his debut in top-flight tournament competition in 1911, coming 8th-11th place in Karlsbad. At St. Petersburg 1914, one of the strongest chess tournaments ever held, Alekhine was one of the five top finishers, and on these players Czar Nicholas II conferred the title of "Grandmaster," the precursor of the official FIDE title.

Alekhine won a string of very strong tournaments, and was one of the top players in the world, finally getting sponsored for a World Championship Match with Jose Raoul Capablanca, who was a heavy favorite to win. Nevertheless, Alekhine overcame the once-invincible Capablanca in the 1927 World Championship Match in Buenos Aires. His work ethic and tireless preparation allowed him to beat the talented Cuban by winning 6 games, losing only 3 and drawing 25. The rook ending where he won the 34th and decisive game is a classic.

After this, Alekhine became easily the most dominant player in the world. He won numerous tournaments, often with crushing scores, such as his triumph in San Remo 1930: 13 wins and 2 draws! Aron Niemzowitsch finished second, 3.5 points behind.

Alekhine avoided a rematch with Capablanca, and defeated Efim Bogolyubov in two matches, in 1929 and 1934. "Bogo" was considered a top player, but is not remembered as an all-time great.

In 1935 Alekhine, reputedly suffering from alcoholism, lost his world championship title to the next World Champion, Max Euwe, by a narrow margin. Euwe, however, was a legitimately great player who often does not get the credit he deserves. Still, he was not as strong as Alekhine.

In 1937, overcoming his challenges, Alekhine won the rematch against Euwe, winning fairly easily. In large part because of the outbreak of World War II, there were no more championship title defenses from Alekhine, until one was arranged between he and Mikhail Botvinnik in 1946. However, the details could be worked out, Alekhine breathed his last.

Alekhine was tremendously strong in all phases of the game: he played the opening very incisively and often gained large positional advantages in that stage, enough for him to convert without much trouble. In the middlegame he was equally skilled in attacking play and strategic play; and his endgame ability is very underrated. Garry Kasparov considers him the greatest player ever and there is some basis for this argument, namely how he so completely dominated his peers while at his peak.

To see a complete biography of Alekhine, check out his Wikipedia page.

To see some of Alekhine's games, check out his page on ChessGames.com.