Perhaps an inspiring way to begin the New Year is to focus on one of the finest chess attackers of all time, Dr Alexander Alekhine, (Moscow 1892-Estoril, Portugal 1946). Alekhine was an undisputed attacking genius, and is still widely admired to this day for his prowess to create startling chess combinations. Garry Kasparov, for instance, noted that he benefited considerably from studying Alekhine’s games and the ideas behind his combinations. Unquestionably, Alekhine made chess beautiful.
He took the World Championship title from Capablanca in 1927 when the Cuban was considered unbeatable. However, Alekhine lost the title to the Dutchman Dr Max Euwe in 1935. The loss was blamed on his heavy drinking. Akekhine was shocked at his loss and went into intensive training for a return championship match. In 1937, he crushed Euwe 10:4, and held the title until his death. For his return match, in the absence of computers, Alekhine memorized every game that Euwe had played which was recorded! Alekhine was immodestly sure of the superiority of his play. He described it concisely in his own words: “To win against me, you must beat me three times: in the
