Alexander Alekhine, the late renowned chess player, was one of the finest to grace the game. He occupies the top 10 best-ever-lists of most experts and became the fourth official World Champion, having held the title for a staggering 17 years. He was born on October 31st, 1892 in Moscow, Russia and it's worth looking at his career achievements.
Alekhine notably learned to play chess when he was 6 or 7 years old and could play blindfolded by the time he turned 12. He started gaining enormous success in the next few years and participated in the All-Russian Amateur Tournament in the year 1909. In 1910, the late chess player gave his first simultaneous exhibition, finishing 7th out of 16 players during the elite Hamburg Chess tournament.
He competed in yet another strong chess tournament a year later and did exceedingly well amid the presence of stalwarts like Akiba Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, and Schlechter. However, it wasn't until 1921 that the Moscow-born legendary player won his first Championship, clinching tournaments in Triberg, Budapest, and The Hague, securing 19 victories.
The beginning of 1924 saw him play blindfolded against 26 of them in New York. It marked the turning point in his career as Alekhine began taking chess seriously. Alekhine was part of the longest ever championship match played back then in 1927. It lasted up to the 34th match and Alekhine emerged victorious.
Final years and beyond for Alexander Alekhine:
Having dominated the sport for several years, Alekhine featured in his final Championship match in the year 1935 against Euwe, but underwent some rough time in the few months leading up to his death. Alekhine died aged 53 in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal on March 24th, 1946. However, the exact cause of the death remains debatable.
He also remains the only world champion till date to die with that recognition Alekhine wrote a book named 'My best games of chess', which features in the top 10 best ones of all time regarding the game.
