Alexander Alekhine – The Russian Sphinx: Volume I (1892-1921)

Award-winning historian Sergey Voronkov has written a four-volume psychological biography of Alexander Alekhine, presenting the former world chess champion in a much more complicated, conflicted and tragic light than you have ever seen him before! This first volume traces his early development through to his departure from Soviet Russia in 1921, while also attempting to untangle the knot of his complex relationships with all his five wives.

Unpublished or long forgotten memoirs, as well as original newspaper and magazine articles from around the world, are drawn together in forensic research to paint the most extensive picture of Alekhine ever created. Key events in his life are reconsidered, including his release from internment in Germany during World War 1, his escape from execution in Odessa, his service under the Bolsheviks as a detective, his trip to the Urals as a Comintern translator, as well as just how he emigrated.

His character development is considered beginning with a detailed examination of his childhood, based on memoirs of his classmates. Voronkov then considers Alekhine’s transition from shy boy to dandy (and even the role played in that by his erstwhile friend José Capablanca), as well as how our protagonist gained the mental toughness of a world champion, and his chess philosophy. Some details make you admire him, others make you pity him, still others cast him in an unfavorable light...

Chess-wise, Voronkov presents over 50 games and fragments with original commentary by Alekhine and his opponents, most of which has not been published in books before. These include eleven completely unknown Alekhine games as well as ten game scores of other players with light commentary by Alekhine from the first Soviet Championship in 1920, found in Alexander Kotov’s archive.

In many cases, Alekhine’s earliest annotations are compared with his later ones to the same games, often leading to surprising conclusions. In particular, Voronkov highlights brilliant variations shown in Alekhine’s analysis that were supposedly found during play but which were actually discovered by the champion only years later when he republished his games. This led to Alekhine radically changing his assessments of positions in his writings as the years passed. We also see how Kotov had a habit of taking Alekhine’s commentary and presenting it as his own.

This book is illustrated by over 170 photos and other visuals, many published for the first time.