Alekhine

His life in chapters

1. 1892–1913

   The boy who played blindfold

   Moscow, 1892, a wealthy family — and a boy who was never entirely in the room, because in his head there was always a position. I played correspondence chess as a child and learned to hold whole games behind my eyes; later I would play dozens of boards blindfold. Others had talent for chess. I had no talent for anything else.

2. 1914–1926

   Through war and revolution

   At St. Petersburg 1914 I stood among the greatest, behind only Lasker and Capablanca — and understood exactly who I would have to destroy. Then the war, then the revolution: my world was confiscated around me. In 1921 I left Russia for good and made France my base. Every tournament of those years was preparation. While Capablanca reigned effortlessly, I worked. He trusted his genius; I built mine, night after night.

3. 1927–1934

   Buenos Aires — the impossible victory

   Buenos Aires, 1927. Nobody gave me a chance against the invincible Capablanca — I had never beaten him. Thirty-four games later, the longest championship match yet played, the crown was mine. He wanted a rematch; the rematch never came — let history judge us both. Then I showed what a champion could be: San Remo 1930, Bled 1931, victories by margins no one had seen. I do not play chess. I fight at chess.

4. 1935–1946

   Lost, regained, never surrendered

   In 1935 I lost the title to Euwe — my own fault, and I said so. I gave chess two years of monastic discipline and in 1937 I took the crown back, the first man ever to regain it. Then another war swallowed Europe, and my last years were bitter and wandering. I died in Estoril, Portugal, in 1946, alone at a chessboard — still champion of the world. They never took it from me over the board.