The Genius of the Combination

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was born on October 31, 1892 in Moscow, Russia, the third son in a family where children and adults played chess. He learned at the age of seven, and from twelve Alekhine played seriously, especially by correspondence, and so he began to developing his analytical skills. His idols were Morphy, Anderssen, La Bourdonnais and of course, Chigorin.

In February of 1909, at sixteen, he won the Russian Amateur Tournament in Saint Petersburg with 13 of 16, in Stockholm in 1912 he won the championship of the Nordic countries with 8.5 of 10, and in 1913 he won a match against Lewitzky in St. Petersburg 7 to 3. The same year he won first place in the Scheveningen tournament, with 11.5 of 13, half a point ahead of Janowski.  A new star had emerged; Alekhine gradually began to conquer the world with his magical combinations that have delighted many generations.

In 1921 he won several tournaments, in Budapest with 8.5 of 11, The Hague, with 8 of 9, and Triberg with 7 of 8;  in 1922 he won at Hastings with 7.5 of 10,  and in Carlsbad 1923, with 11.5 of 17. He took  third place in New York, 1924 with 12 of 20 behind Laker and Capablanca,  first place in Paris, 1925 with 6.5 of 8,  first place in Baden-Baden, 1925 with 16 of 20, first place in Hasting 1925 with 8.5 of 9.  In 1925, Alekhine broke his own world record of blindfold play, and played 28 games blindfolded in Paris (+22-3=3).





The Path to the World Championship

In 1926 Alekhine beat Max Euwe in a match 5.5 to 4.5 and challenged Capablanca for the world championship.  Alekhine married for the third time, this time to Nadezda Vasiliev.  In New York 1927, Alekhine took second place behind Capablanca, with 11.5 of 20.

In 1927, Alekhine's challenge to Capablanca was backed by a group of Argentinian businessmen and the president of Argentina, who guaranteed the funds. Organized by the Club Argentino de Ajedrez (Argentine Chess Club) in Buenos Aires, the match was played from September to November 1927; all the games took place behind closed doors. There were no spectators or photographs. Alekhine won the title, scoring +6 -3 =25.  Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess world, since he had never previously wrested a single game from Capablanca. Alekhine became the 4th official world champion of Chess after Steinitz, Dr. Lasker, and Capablanca.

In each of the following worth-solving puzzles, Black is to make a combination of good moves and make improvement.