Which chess player died with the rank of champion. Undefeated
Good day, dear friend!
The strongest is always in sight. Everyone wants to know about him, imitate his manners, style of behavior, and methods of preparation. World chess champions not an exception. In today's article we will remember who has held this title over the past 130 years.
If you want to follow the path of a champion, you have a lot of work ahead of you. But we can and should start with special training programs for chess players.
Why are there 16 champions?
At the end of 2016 Magnus Carlsen defended his title of chess champion in a difficult match with Sergey Karjakin. Carlsen is considered the 16th world champion in the chess world.
And now about those fifteen outstanding chess players who were his predecessors.
It should be said that the period 1993 to 2006. in the chess world it is usually called “times of troubles”. At this time, the title existed in two versions - FIDE and PSA. In addition, the champion title during this period was played out not in matches, but in a tournament format. The winner of the tournament with the participation of candidates received the title of world champion.
No one belittles the significance of victory in the fight for the championship.However, the value of a championship during this period of time is somewhat lower than the title won match . This is not the author's opinion, but an assessment of the chess world.
It is believed that there are 16 recognized champions in classical chess. These are the champions who won the title in a full official match. Let's talk about them in more detail. Who was champion in the 19th and 20th centuries, and who became champion literally today, at the end 2016.
All champions
Below is a list of men's champions in chronological order in classical chess. If you prefer details by year and in a more compact form, you are welcome here: table for the entire history.
1 world champion - Wilhelm STEINITZ
Championship period 1886 – 1894. Represented Austria.
Steinitz is the very first champion who has received official status. The title was won as a result of winning the match with Zukertort. Steinitz then defended his title twice. In 1889 in the first match by M. Chigorin and in 1892. - in the second. Between these two matches with the great Russian chess player, Steinitz beat I. Gunsberg.
Lost the title in 1894 in a match with Lasker.
Steinitz, like most chess players of the 19th century, was a supporter of combination play. However, his approach already clearly showed a strategic approach to the game and the match as a whole. In particular, Steinitz knew how to save his strength for the finishing push and often outplayed his opponent at the end of the match.
Last game of the championship title match against Zukertort
Steinitz, W — Zukertort, J
World Championship 1st USA (20) 03/29/1886
2 world champion - Emmanuel LASKER
Championship period 1894 – 1921. Represented Austria.
Second world champion. He is the record holder for the longest championship - 27 years.
After the victory over Steinitz in 1894. sat on the throne until 1921, when he lost the match to Capablanca.
Lasker is a chess player of a universal style. He had excellent positional sense and was especially strong in the endgame. Perhaps the first of the great chess players, he gave great importance psychological aspects of the game. In addition to chess, he achieved fame as a mathematician.
“Championship” game of the match for the champion title against Steinitz
Lasker,E — Steinitz,W
World Championship 5th USA/CAN (19) 05/26/1894
3 world champion - Jose Raul CAPABLANCA
Championship period 1921 – 1927. Country: Cuba
Capablanca was a chess prodigy. Already in childhood he began to show quite masterful results. In 1911 “threw down the gauntlet” to Lasker” in order to take the champion title from him. The match, however, took place only in 1921. In Havana. As expected, Capablanca confidently defeated the fading champion.
Capablanca had the fame of a “chess machine.” His playing style was distinguished by filigree technique and precise calculation of options. Capablanca was a proponent of the “death draw” theory of chess, believing that when proper game games must end in a draw.
In this he was wrong, as the subsequent history of the development of chess showed. More and more layers were opening up in chess. There truly is no limit to imagination, creativity, and the psychology of influence.
In 1927 A historic match took place with Alexander Alekhine. Contrary to expectations of Capablanca's victory, Alekhine won the match.
The confrontation between the great chess players lasted another twenty years. But they failed to meet in the world championship match.
Winning game of the title match against Lasker:
Lasker,E - Capablanca,J
World Championship 12th Havana (14) 04/20/1921
4 world champion - Alexander ALEKHIN
The period of “reign” 1927 - 1935, then 1937 - 1946. Represented Russia and France.
First Russian world champion.
Alekhine was born in Russia. After various dramatic events of the First World War and the proletarian revolution, in 1921, already one of the leading chess players in the world, he finally left his homeland and settled in France.
In 1927 in the match for the world championship he defeated H.R. Capablanca. In 1935 briefly lost the title to Max Euwe. Then he took revenge. The only champion who passed away with the title of world champion.
Alekhine is a chess player of versatile talent. Analyst, researcher, writer. And of course a player of exceptional practical strength. Considered one of the strongest world champions of all time.
Final game of the championship match against Capablanca
Alekhine,A - Capablanca,J
World Championship 13th Buenos-Aires (34) 11/26/1927
5 world champion - Max EUWE
Championship period 1935 - 1937. Represented Holland.
The victory over Alekhine in the match was perceived as a sensation. Even Euwe’s compatriots did not expect this, not to mention Alekhine himself, who easily agreed to play on the “opponent’s field.” No matter what they say, Euwe’s victory was deserved and won in a fair fight.
Max Euwe was an intelligent and versatile person in life. He taught mathematics and had the title of professor. Later he served as the head of FIDE.
The turning point in the match with Alekhine for the championship title:
Alekhine,A — Euwe,M
World Championship 16th NLD (25) 12/01/1935
6 world champion - Mikhail BOTVINNIK
Championship periods: 1948 - 1957, then from 1958 to 1960, then from 1961 to 1963. Country - USSR.
The very first world champion from the USSR.
Mikhail Botvinnik learned chess at the age of twelve. Nevertheless, perseverance, perseverance and a “scientific” approach to chess did their job - by the age of 30, Botvinnik had risen to a leading position in Soviet and world chess.
Everyone was looking forward to the championship match with Alexander Alekhine. But the war got in the way. After the death of Alekhine in 1948, a world championship match tournament was held, which brought a landslide victory for Botvinnik.
The only champion who twice regained the title of champion, defeating Mikhail Tal and Vasily Smyslov in rematches.
Botvinnik was distinguished by his thorough preparation, taking into account the psychological characteristics of his opponent, and a real champion’s character.
The game in the match against Bronstein, in which Botvinnik equalized the score and retained the “crown”
Botvinnik,M — Bronstein,D
World Championship 19th Moscow (23) 05/08/1951
7 world champion - Vasily SMYSLOV
World champion in 1957 - 1958 Country: USSR
Vasily Smyslov is a brilliant chess theorist and an outstanding practitioner. As a member of the USSR team, he won the Chess Olympiads ten times.
In 1957 won the qualifying round and got the opportunity to play a match with the world champion. The match with M. Botvinnik ended in victory for Smyslov. About a year later, Mikhail Botvinnik convincingly took revenge.
Decisive winning game in the match against Botvinnik
Smyslov,V — Botvinnik,M
World Championship 21th Moscow (20) 04/23/1957
8 world champion - Mikhail TAL
World champion in 1960 – 1961 USSR
Tal defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in the championship match at the age of 23. This is a record for that time.
Tal professed an attacking, combinational style of play. He did not take into account the victims on the altar of the attack. This manner greatly impressed the audience. Mikhail Tal, without exaggeration, was everyone's favorite.
The Almighty generously gifted Tal with talent. But it didn’t give me any health at all. Illnesses became Mikhail Nekhemievich’s usual companion in everyday life. And the sports mode was not something sacred for him.
Nevertheless, the enormous talent and accumulated experience allowed Tal to last days to be one of the leading chess players in the world.
Decisive game in the title match against Botvinnik
Tal,M — Botvinnik,M
World Championship 23th Moscow (19) 05/03/1960
9 world champion - Tigran PETROSYAN
Championship period 1963 – 1969. USSR
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosyan won the right to challenge the championship title in 1962, when he won the Candidates Tournament. The duel with M. Botvinnik took place in 1963. brought victory to Petrosyan. Three years later he defended his title in a match with Boris Spassky. And yet, three years later, in 1969. lost the title to the latter.
Tigran Petrosyan was an outstanding defender and master of positional play. With incredible ingenuity, he defended difficult positions, launching a counterattack at the first opportunity. Petrosyan's tactical vigilance was also excellent.
Petrosyan is an outstanding theorist who generously shared his skills with young chess players. He carried out social work and was the editor-in-chief of “64” magazine. Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.
Winning game in the title match against Botvinnik:
Petrosian,T — Botvinnik,M
World Championship 25th Moscow (19) 05/11/1963
10th world champion - Boris SPASSKY
World champion in the period 1969 – 1972. Country: USSR, France
Boris Spassky back in 1955 won the world championship among youths. It took another fourteen long years to reach adult triumph. This day came in 1969. field of victory in the match over Petrosyan The second match in a row.
In 1972, the infamous match with Robert Fischer took place in which Boris Vasilyevich lost the crown to the outstanding American grandmaster.
Spassky is one of the most versatile chess players in best years he didn't have weak points and it was incredibly difficult to defeat him.
In the early eighties he moved to France. But he doesn’t lose touch with his homeland, he visits Russia and helps young chess players. There are several chess schools under the patronage of Spassky.
Winning game in the match against Petrosyan
Spassky,B — Petrosian,T
World Championship 27th Moscow (21) 06/11/1969
11th world champion - Robert FISCHER
Championship period 1972 - 1975 US Citizenship
Robert Fischer devoted himself entirely to chess. I even dropped out of school. At the age of fifteen he is already a grandmaster. The youngest in history at that time.
In America there was no state program for the development of chess and in this regard Fischer had a difficult time. This is a man who made himself a world champion entirely on his own. Talent, efficiency, and exceptional dedication to chess are the hallmarks of Robert Fischer.
Fischer has achieved exceptional playing power and is one of the strongest champions.
He won the champion title in 1972, defeating all the contenders in the qualifying matches: Larsen, Taimanov (both dry -6:0!), Petrosyan. In the match for the title, he defeated Boris Spassky without any visible effort.
Oddly enough, the final game of the match with Spassky turned out to be the last in Fischer's official career. He refused the match with Karpov, despite lengthy negotiations. Fischer never played another game in official tournaments. This is one of the biggest mysteries in chess history, still unsolved today.
Final game of the match with Spassky:
Spassky,B — Fischer,R
World Championship 28th Reykjavik (21) 08/31/1972
12th world champion - Anatoly KARPOV
Period of “reign” 1975 – 1985. Country: USSR/Russia
Anatoly Karpov returned the championship title to our country. And although the match with Fischer did not take place, Karpov’s championship is not objectively questioned. At that time, he was the strongest grandmaster (not counting Fischer), who confidently won the qualifying round.
In the early 80s, the era of confrontation between Karpov and Kasparov began, who played several protracted matches between them. The last of them, in 1985, ended with the victory of Garry Kasparov.
Karpov is distinguished by his outstanding skill in positional maneuvering and pragmatic attitude to the game. In terms of the number of tournaments won, Anatoly Karpov far surpasses everyone else.
Anatoly Evgenievich is still in the ranks, periodically participating in major tournaments with success.
The famous winning game against Viktor Korchnoi with the score 5:5
Karpov,A - Kortschnoj,V
World Championship 29th Baguio City (32) 10/17/1978
13th world champion - Garry KASPAROV
World champion from 1985 to 2000. USSR/Russia
Garry Kasparov's star quickly rose on the chess horizon by the early 1980s.
In 1981, he became the youngest national champion. Then the era of confrontation with Karpov began. In 1985 Harry finally tried on the champion's crown.
For about 20 years, Kasparov had the highest rating among chess players, reaching 2850 points. The figure was astronomical for those times.
Kasparov’s independence of views also played a role in the emergence of disagreements with FIDE. As a result, Kasparov organized an alternative organization - PSA.
In recent years, Garry Kimovich has retreated from active chess.
Kasparov is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding chess players. He is distinguished by his active, even aggressive style games, excellent opening preparation, accurate calculation of options
The winning game in the match against Karpov in 1985.
Karpov, A — Kasparov, G
World Championship 32th-KK2 Moscow (24) 09.11.1985
14th world champion - Vladimir KRAMNIK
World champion in the period 2000 – 2007. Represents Russia.
In 2006 Vladimir Kramnik won the match against Veselin Topalov and became the 14th world champion. This was not a surprise. Before competing for the top title, Kramnik won the world junior championships twice and became the PSA world champion. Thus both titles were combined.
About a year later, Kramnik lost the championship title to Anand.
Vladimir Kramnik's playing style is reminiscent of Karpov's. A chess player of exceptional strength, Kramnik is still among the elite of world chess today, consistently occupying a place in the top five.
Decisive game against Kasparov for the title of PCA champion
Kramnik,V — Kasparov,G
BGN World Chess Championship London (10) 10/24/2000
15th world champion - Viswanathan ANAND
Championship period 2007 – 2013 Country: India
First international grandmaster in India.
Vishy Anand became a world champion by winning the championship tournament in Mexico City in 2007.
Then he successfully defended his title three times. The 15th world champion is distinguished by exceptionally fast thinking and is a recognized master of rapid chess and blitz.
Known in chess as a true gentleman. Anand's attractive image combines the charm of Jose Ruhl Capablanca, the will to win of Botvinnik, and the energy and talent of Kasparov.
He resigned as world champion in 2013, losing a match to Carlsen.
Decisive game of the match against Kramnik:
Anand,V — Kramnik,V
WCh Bonn GER (6) 10/21/2008
16th world champion - Magnus CARLsen
World champion from 2013 to present. Norway
Magnus Carlsen is, without exaggeration, a chess prodigy. He became a grandmaster at the age of 13, breaking all imaginable records.
Magnus became the world champion in 2013, defeating Anand in a match. Has the highest rating in the history of chess.
Just recently, at the end 2016defended his title in a match against Sergey Karjakin. Contrary to expectations, the match was difficult for the champion. Karjakin was at his best. According to other estimates, Carlsen was not in the best shape. One way or another, Magnus won only in a tiebreaker.
Magnus Carlsen is a public person. Travels a lot, plays sports, acts in commercials. I think we will be hearing his name for a long time. Both in connection with chess and beyond it.
Last winning game against Anand in the 2013 championship match
Anand-Carlsen World Championship (9)
And a few more words about the champions
In conclusion, I will say that the titles of world chess champions exist, of course, not only among men and in classical chess. I think it’s unnecessary to overload the article, I’ll just list:
Women's World Champion: Hou Yifan, China
World blitz champion 2017: Sergey Karyakin, Russia
“Tournament” world champions during the period of “turmoil” 1993-2006. - in this table at the end.
We will discuss these topics in more detail in the following articles.
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In 1946, he, then an outcast in Portugal, was supposed to meet in a match for the world chess crown with USSR champion Mikhail Botvinnik. But the meeting, which the chess world was looking forward to, never took place. Alexander Alekhine died suddenly. His death is still considered mysterious.
A was born chess genius in Moscow in 1892 into a wealthy noble family. His father was the leader of the nobility of the Voronezh province, and his mother was the daughter of a textile manufacturer. In 1911, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where Alekhine graduated from the Imperial Institute of Law and was assigned to the Ministry of Justice. Alekhine learned to play chess as a child, and thanks to his phenomenal memory, he immediately achieved brilliant success. Already at the age of 13, he won first prize in a correspondence tournament.
In 1914 he took third place at the international tournament in St. Petersburg, losing only to the great Lasker and Capablanca. When World War I began, Alekhine was interned in Mannheim, Germany, where an international tournament was taking place. But he was soon released and managed to return to Russia.
Due to heart disease, the chess player was not accepted into the army, but Alekhine still went to the front as a volunteer, as a representative of the Red Cross. For saving the wounded on the battlefield, he was awarded two St. George medals. Was shell-shocked twice.
After the October Revolution, Alekhine lost all his property and ended up in Odessa, where he was arrested on charges of connections with the White Guards and sentenced to death. However, he was released as a famous chess player at the special request of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine Rakovsky, who turned out to be a great chess fan. For some time, Alekhine worked as an investigator in the Moscow wanted list, where he dealt with the search for foreigners who disappeared during the revolution and Civil War, also worked in the apparatus of the Comintern as a translator. In 1920, Alekhine won the All-Russian Chess Championship. Completed the tournament without defeat: nine wins and six draws. This competition is considered the first official championship of the RSFSR, and the USSR championships are counted from it.
Alekhine even became a candidate for party membership.
In May 1921, the chess player boarded a train to go on a trip abroad. Legally, with the permission of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, he left the USSR for Riga, and then to Berlin and Paris, not yet knowing that he would never return back...
Abroad, Alekhine travels around the world and plays a lot. He becomes an unsurpassed master of simultaneous play on several boards; in New York he sets a world record for playing blindly on 26 boards at once. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Alekhine was a versatile and charming interlocutor; he spoke six languages. Grandmaster Grigory Levenfish recalled: “Alekhine had a phenomenal chess memory... He could completely reconstruct a game played many years ago. But his absent-mindedness was no less surprising. Many times he left a valuable cigarette case with a large emerald clasp at the club. Two days later we came to the club and sat down at the board. The waiter appeared and, as if nothing had happened, handed Alekhine a cigarette case. Alekhine thanked him politely.”
The master also had his own quirks. Alekhine was a big cat lover. His Siamese cat Chess (translated from English as “Chess”) was constantly present at competitions as a mascot. During his first match with Euwe, Alekhine forced the cat to sniff the board before each game.
He was one of the few chess players for whom the game became a profession. It was Alekhine that Vladimir Nabokov had in mind when he created the image of a chess genius in his “chess” novel: “ Lately he played a lot and randomly, and he was especially tired of playing blind, a rather expensively paid performance that he willingly gave.
He found deep pleasure in this; there was no need to deal with visible, audible, tangible figures, which with their elaborate carvings, their wooden materiality, always disturbed him, always seemed to him to be a rough, earthly shell of the lovely, invisible forces of chess. Playing blindly, he felt these various forces in their pristine purity.
He did not then see either the steep mane of the knight or the shiny heads of the pawns, but he clearly felt that this or that imaginary square was occupied by a certain concentrated force, so that the movement of the piece seemed to him like a discharge, like a blow, like lightning - and everything chess the field trembled with tension, and he ruled over this tension, collecting here, releasing electric force there...”
The dream of the world chess crown becomes the goal of Alekhine's life. In those years, the world champion was the legendary Jose Raul Capablanca. Candidates' tournaments had not yet been held - the applicant himself had to send a personal challenge to the current champion, which stipulated the terms of the fee. The conditions of the arrogant Capablanca turned out to be enslaving: the applicant was obliged to provide prize fund$10,000, of which 20% automatically went to the Cuban as the reigning champion; the remaining amount was divided between the winner and loser in a ratio of 60 to 40. In addition, the Russian “had the honor” of paying other expenses associated with the match. Alekhine managed to raise the necessary money with great difficulty, and in 1927 the Argentine government considered the duel between two geniuses a prestigious matter and helped organize the confrontation.
Capablanca at that time was considered invincible. But Alekhine believed in himself.
Before the match, the Russian grandmaster said: “I can’t imagine how I can win six games against Capablanca, but I can even less imagine how Capablanca can win six games against me!” Few believed in Alekhine's victory, but a sensation occurred: 6:3 - this was the result of the grueling match.
Alekhine was hailed as a chess genius who took theoretical preparation for games to unprecedented heights, invented new openings and became famous for his attacking style of play.
The Russian emigration rejoiced. The émigré writer Boris Zaitsev enthusiastically wrote: “This gloomy morning has been brightened for us by your victory. Hooray!
You are now not a Russian Queen, but a Russian King. You can only walk one square, but from now on your gait is “royal.” In your person, Russia won. Your example should be a refreshment and encouragement to every Russian, no matter in what field he works.
May God give you strength, health, and prosperity for your art.”
But the triumph turned into problems. Newspapers circulated words allegedly said by Alekhine: “The myth of the invincibility of the Bolsheviks will dispel, just as the myth of Capablanca’s invincibility has dispelled.” He always tried to refrain from making political statements, and therefore, most likely, this fatal phrase was attributed to him. Nevertheless, the reaction in Moscow was angry. A devastating article by the head of the Supreme Tribunal of the USSR Nikolai Krylenko appeared in the Chess Bulletin magazine: “After Alekhine’s speech at the Russian Club, everything is over with citizen Alekhine - he is our enemy, and from now on we must treat him only as an enemy.” The world champion could no longer return to his homeland.
But as the years passed, chess became more and more popular in the USSR, and a real chess fever broke out. Young masters were gaining strength, primarily Mikhail Botvinnik. Alekhine rejoiced at the success of the domestic chess school and still hoped to return to Russia. In 1935, the world champion sent a letter to his homeland: “Not only as a long-term chess worker, but also as a person who understood the enormous significance of what has been achieved in the USSR in all areas of cultural life, I send sincere greetings to the chess players of the USSR on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the October Revolution. Alekhine."
But soon the Second struck World War. Alekhine was in Argentina, where the Chess Olympics were taking place, and called for a boycott of the German team. As captain of the French national team, he refused to play against the German national team, and the entire team followed his example. In 1940, Alekhine volunteered for the French army and served as a translator, and after the end of hostilities against Germany, he settled in the south of the German-occupied country.
Alekhine ended up in France with his wife, an American of Jewish origin, Grace Wishard.
It was hinted to the grandmaster that if he did not perform, Grace would have problems. And what this could mean at that time was not difficult to guess. Alekhine had to compete in tournaments under a flag with a swastika, play with German officers, and give chess lessons to the Governor-General of Poland, Hans Frank.
In the spring of 1941, the newspaper Pariser Zeitung published an article entitled “Jewish and Aryan Chess.” Alekhine was unlucky again. The editors, to please the occupiers, distorted his words, turning the cautious chess player into a fanatical “Shah Fuhrer.” As a result, after the collapse of the Third Reich, European chess players accused Alekhine of collaboration and boycotted him.
“I played chess in Germany,” Alekhine later justified himself, “only because it was our only food and, moreover, the price I paid for the freedom of my wife...”
He tried to return to the world chess orbit, but all attempts were harshly suppressed by his colleagues. The great chess player had to settle in Portugal, in quiet Estoril.
He missed his homeland more acutely than before, but the path to the Soviet Union was closed. However, in February 1946, at the British embassy, he was unexpectedly given a letter from the USSR from Mikhail Botvinnik: “I regret that the war interfered with our match in 1939. I challenge you again to a match for the world championship. If you agree, I am waiting for your response, in which I ask you to indicate your opinion about the time and place of the match.”
It is clear that in those days Botvinnik himself could not write such a letter to an emigrant abroad - this was a special decision of the Soviet authorities. On March 23, FIDE agreed to a sensational match, but the very next day it became known that Alekhine died unexpectedly. His ashes were later transported to Paris, where they were buried in a Russian cemetery with the inscription on the grave: “Alexander Alekhine - the chess genius of Russia and France.” He became the only champion peace, died undefeated.
In emigrant circles they were convinced that the world champion had become a victim of NKVD agents. It is curious that in those years the chairman of the All-Union Chess Section was NKVD Colonel Boris Weinstein, who fiercely hated the “White Guard” Alekhine.
However, why did the NKVD carry out reprisals against the world champion if the USSR itself decided to initiate his match with Botvinnik?
Alekhine was found dead in the Park Hotel in the town of Estoril near Lisbon. In his room, there were dishes left on the table, indicating that he had dinner with someone. A posthumous photograph of the great chess player appeared in the newspapers. He sits dead in a chair, for some reason wearing a coat, and next to him is a chessboard with pieces arranged - until the last minute the master was thinking about his favorite game...
According to the official version, the world champion suffocated, allegedly choking on a piece of meat while eating. However, other versions of death immediately appeared. Why did he eat dinner without taking off his coat? If he ate, why were the plates empty? Isn't this a staged photo? Alekhine's son from his first wife was inclined to believe that his father was murdered. The doctors who performed the autopsy subsequently admitted that they wrote what was dictated to them, but in fact Alekhine was killed on the eve of the day his body was discovered. True, one of the doctors spoke about a gunshot wound, and the other about poisoning. It is also known that the Portuguese Catholic priest refused to participate in the burial of Alekhine, since traces of violent death were clearly visible on the face of the deceased.
Mikhail Botvinnik did not believe in the official version either. In an article dedicated to Alekhine’s centenary, “Genius remains a man,” published in the magazine “64 - Chess Review,” Botvinnik wrote: “There was a rumor that he died on the street. About 15 years ago, B. Podcerob sent me an article from a German magazine - it reported that the Portuguese police assumed that the champion had poisoned himself. But if this is so, why did he have to have dinner or go for a walk after he took the poison?”
In 2009, a sensational article by a certain Boris Smolensky was published in one of the Russian-language newspapers in Chicago.
He reported that an employee of a restaurant in Estoril, where Alekhine dined, allegedly admitted to his relatives before his death that in March 1946 he received from two people who spoke with a strong foreign accent a large sum of money for putting some kind of money in the chess player’s food. it's powder.
What really happened in distant Portugal? Alas, the mystery of the death of the great chess player will probably never be revealed. The version about the involvement of the “insidious NKVD” in it, as we have already written, does not stand up to criticism.
However, there is another version of his death. As if American intelligence services were involved in Alekhine’s death. In the USA they were afraid that Botvinnik would win, and the world chess crown would float to the USSR, with which the Cold War was already flaring up.
So, today is Saturday, May 20, 2017, and we traditionally offer you answers to the quiz in the “Question and Answer” format. We encounter questions ranging from the simplest to the most complex. The quiz is very interesting and quite popular, we are simply helping you test your knowledge and make sure that you have chosen the correct answer out of the four proposed. And we have another question in the quiz - Who was the only chess player who died as the current world champion?
- Wilhelm Steinz
- Mikhaid Tal
- Jose Raul Capablanca
- Alexander Alekhine
The correct answer is D - Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine (1892 1946) - Russian chess player, fourth world chess champion - from 1927 (after defeating Capablanca) to 1935 and from 1937 (after defeating Max Euwe) to 1946. In 1921 he emigrated to France. Alekhine is a representative of the Russian chess school of Alexander Petrov and Mikhail Chigorin. A brilliant combinational chess player, world record holder in blindfold play. Alekhine - the only chess player who died being current champion peace.
Every few years a new world chess champion appears. We have collected all the champions in one place and made a short description of each.
This article contains full list all current world chess champions. If the article is not relevant, it means that we have not yet had time to add new information. Please write in the comments. Here is a list for faster navigation:
| Title | Who did win | Year |
| 1 world chess champion | 1886 – 1894 | |
| 2 world chess champion | 1894 -1921 | |
| 3 world chess champion | 1921 – 1927 | |
| 4 world chess champion | 1927 – 1935, 1937 – 1946 | |
| 5 world chess champion | 1935 – 1937 | |
| 6 world chess champion | 1948 – 1957, 1958 – 1960, 1961-1963 | |
| 7 world chess champion | 1957-1958 | |
| 8 world chess champion | 1960-1961 | |
| 9 world chess champion | 1963-1969 | |
| 10th world chess champion | 1969-1972 | |
| 11th world chess champion | 1972-1975 | |
| 12th world chess champion | 1975-1985 | |
| 13th world chess champion | 1985-1993 | |
| 14th world chess champion | 2006 - 2007 | |
| 15th world chess champion | 2007 - 2013 | |
| 16th world chess champion | 2013 - present V. |
Chess has been played for over 125 years. For that for a long time The conditions of the game changed many times, and sometimes even the game. Therefore, it is quite natural that the criteria for becoming world chess champions also differed in different eras. For example, during Steinitz’s time, tournaments were held simultaneously in several cities. Or, for example, the strongest chess player might not agree to accept a challenge to a chess match from a potential new champion if, in his opinion, the opponent does not yet have enough skills to take over the title.
As for today, the conditions and criteria for including participants in the fight for the championship title have changed in many ways. Various qualifying tournaments are held in several stages, after which the two most strong players meet and compete with each other. Well, now let’s look at the list of world chess champions and short information about each of them about who went through what on the way to the championship.
1 world chess champion
The first chess champion - Wilhelm Steinitz. Place of birth: Prague, year: 1836. Steinitz won this title in 1886, after which he won the game against his main rival, I. Zukertort. Steinitz created a fundamentally new positional game of chess, and also made his own great contribution to the development of this area.
V. Steinitz began playing at the age of twelve, but the young man did not have the opportunity to show his talent. Wilhelm's first success in chess was a victory over his father's constant playing partner, a rabbi revered by many. Seriously future champion He began to play chess only after reaching the age of 23 after graduating from the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna.
2 world chess champion
The second world chess champion was Emanuel Lasker. He was born in Poland in 1868 and won the title of champion in 1894. Lasker was the best player on the entire planet for 27 years. In addition, he is the author of numerous books on chess.
E. Lasker adopted a love for this amazing game from his older brother Berthold Lasker, starting to play at the age of 12. However, the future chess king began to play truly, professionally only during his first year of university. Most strengths The endgame and positional sense were considered a chess player's skill. During his career as a chess player, he repeatedly gave up the game for several years to study philosophy and mathematics.
He became the world champion based on the results of a match that took place over a long period (from mid-March to the end of May) in 1894 in Philadelphia, Montreal and New York, where, after playing 19 games, he defeated the first champion, Steinitz.
3 world chess champion
The third chess champion in the world became Jose Raul Capablanca, born in Cuba in 1888. He won his title by defeating Emanuel Lasker in a match held in 1921. He was often spoken of as an outstanding chess machine, since Capablanca was distinguished by his brilliant chess technique. The third champion learned to play at the age of four simply by watching his father play.
4 world chess champion
The fourth world chess champion was Alexander Alekhine, born in 1892. Alekhine learned the rules of the game and basic moves at the age of seven thanks to his mother and older brother. A. Alekhine was the greatest master of combination and considered chess an art. The chess player achieved his first successes during the St. Petersburg tournament in 1909, it was then, at the age of sixteen, that a high school student from Moscow won and was awarded the title of maestro.
A little later, the chess player begins to take part in professional tournaments for more than high level. Alekhine won the match for the world championship title against Capablanca in 1927 (Buenos Aires). After that, he defended his title two more times, holding it until his death.
5 world chess champion
The fifth world chess champion was Max Euwe, born in 1901 in Amsterdam. He learned the basics of the game at the age of 4, began performing in various amateur tournaments - at the age of twelve he became a member of the chess club in Amsterdam. He started playing professionally at the age of 18. Euwe won the championship match against Alekhine in 1935, but after two years he again lost the championship title to Alekhine.
6 world chess champion
The sixth champion was born in 1911. He first became acquainted with the game at the age of 12, after which he began studying from books. Numerous victories in tournaments and championships of the USSR put the young chess player among the best players countries and soon showed that M. Botvinnik was ready to challenge the title of world champion.
The match tournament for the championship title took place in 1948 (The Hague-Moscow), and as a result, Botvinnik became the winner, ahead of the chess player who took second place by 3 points. During the tournament, he confidently beat all his opponents. For his achievements in the chess field, Botvinnik was awarded numerous orders.
7 world chess champion
The seventh champion was also a Soviet chess player. He learned the rules of the game from his father at the age of six. Smyslov met Botvinnik 3 times during the world championship matches. Smyslov received the title of the strongest chess player on the planet in 1957, but a year later he lost to Botvinnik in a rematch.
Smyslov was the winner of a large number of World Olympiads, European team championships, as well as one World Championship.
8 world chess champion
The eighth world chess champion was, who was born in 1936 in Riga. From early childhood, Tal showed genius in many ways - at the age of three he could read well, at 5 he could multiply three-digit numbers, had an amazing memory, and after finishing the first grade he went straight to the third. There were many such achievements in Tal's childhood.
Mikhail Tal learned to play chess at the age of 10, already at 16 he became the champion of Latvia, at the age of 21 - the champion of the USSR. Tal became the youngest world champion, winning the title in 1960 from Botvinnik. The distinctive features of Tal's game were aggressiveness and constant willingness to take risks, which allowed him to achieve victory, despite the fact that soon, a year later, he lost again.
9 world chess champion
Tigran Petrosyan- ninth world chess champion. He was born in 1929 in Georgia. The boy learned to play at the age of 11, and at the age of 16 he became the Georgian chess champion. The chess player begins to play professionally after moving to Moscow.
Petrosyan won the victory over M. Botvinnik in 1963; he held his championship title for a period that lasted 6 years. For his achievements in chess, Petrosyan was awarded numerous medals and orders.
10th world chess champion
Boris Spassky- tenth world chess champion. Spassky learned the basics of the game at the age of 5. For the first time he became a participant in the championship Soviet Union in 1955, during the same period he was awarded the title of grandmaster (at the age of 17). Thus, the chess player at that time became the youngest grandmaster in the entire chess history. Spassky won the competition for the championship of the planet over Petrosyan in 1969 and held the title of tenth champion for 3 years.
11th world chess champion
He was considered a child prodigy and genius and received the title of eleventh world chess champion. He learned to play at the age of six. By the age of twelve, Fischer becomes the American champion, and at the age of 15, an international grandmaster. No one before him in this early age did not achieve such high results. Fischer became world champion in 1972, after defeating B. Spassky.
12th world chess champion
Anatoly Karpov- Twelfth world chess champion. The chess player, born in 1951, learned to play when he was only 4 years old. He became a strong master at the age of 15, at the age of 18 the chess player became a champion in a youth tournament, and received the title of grandmaster at 19. Until Karpov became the world chess champion, he was the winner of many international competitions. He received the title of 12th world champion in 1975. significantly surpassed other famous chess players in history in the number of victories he won in numerous international tournaments, matches and competitions.
13th world chess champion
Famous chess player in the USSR and Russia Garry Kasparov is the thirteenth world chess champion. Place of birth: Baku, year: 1963. At the age of thirteen, he became the national champion in a youth tournament (in which 18-year-old chess players participated). At the age of 17, Kasparov received the title of grandmaster. The confrontation between the 12th and 13th champions, Karpov and Kasparov, was one of the most powerful in the entire chess history. In total, these two great chess players played as many as 5 matches for the world title. As a result, according to the results of the match, which lasted from September 1 to November 10, 1985, the chess player defeated Karpov with a score of 13:11, which brought him the title of the 13th world chess champion.
14th world chess champion
Vladimir Kramnik is the fourteenth world chess champion. He was born in 1975 in the city of Tuapse (Krasnodar Territory). In 1991, the chess player became the world champion in the youth tournament. At the end of the 90s, the 13th world champion Kasparov himself chose his opponent in the person of Kramnik, who at that time was second in the ratings. Their chess match took place in 2000, as a result of which Kramnik won and received the title of the 14th champion. After that, in 2004 and 2006, he defended his title twice, defeating Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov.
15th world chess champion
Viswanathan Anand- a native of India, in the period from 2007 to 2013 he was the world chess champion, becoming the fifteenth owner of this title. Anand's mother taught him to play chess at the age of six, and since then the boy has shown good results in this sport. Already at the age of fourteen, Anand received the title of International Master, becoming the youngest holder of the latter in India.
Quickly moving up the ladder of chess achievements, in 2007 he won the title of world chess champion. The tournament took place in Mexico. In subsequent years (2008, 2010 and 2012), the chess player confirmed his title. At the moment, Anand is the only champion in three different styles games: knockout system, round-robin tournament and head-to-head matches with competitors.
16th world chess champion
Magnus Carlsen- Norwegian, sixteenth (and currently last) world chess champion. He won the world title in 2013, fighting against the fifteenth world champion, Viswanathan Anand. The young champion began playing chess at the age of five with his father, and became seriously interested in the game at eight, starting to study specialized literature and practice the game for 2-3 hours a day.
Possessing extraordinary abilities, Magnus quickly developed professional skills. Experts predicted Magnus the champion title back in 2004. World-class grandmasters note that Magnus is not a unique strategist, but his ability to find solutions where others would agree to a draw, and to subtly sense the psychology of his opponent is amazing.
So far, he remains the first and only champion in three categories simultaneously: classic game, blitz and rapid.
The future great chess player was born in 1892 in Moscow into a very wealthy family. His father Alexander Alekhine was once the provincial leader of the nobility in Voronezh. Alekhine Sr. adhered to liberal views and even sat on the last in history Russian Empire State Duma. Anisya Prokhorova’s mother was “a peasant” and not a noblewoman. But from the rich. Her father Ivan Prokhorov was one of the same Prokhorovs who owned the oldest Trekhgorny textile manufactory in Moscow.
Alexander Alekhine was youngest child in family. He had a sister and brother Alexei, who was also a chess player, but his younger brother did not achieve fame. Although it was with his brother that Alexander played the first chess games, a game his mother taught him to play when he was about seven years old. Alekhine himself believed that he began to study chess more or less seriously only at the age of 12.
Chess captivated him so much that his parents were even forced to take extreme measures and simply forbid him to sit at the board for a while. In addition, he suffered from meningitis, a very serious illness that at that time claimed many lives.
Alekhine studied at one of the most prestigious Moscow gymnasiums - Polivanovskaya, which was famous for its strong teaching staff. Among the students and graduates of this gymnasium at different times were such celebrities as Valery Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Georgy Lvov, Sergei Efron, Maximilian Voloshin. The sons of Leo Tolstoy also studied there.
Collage © L!FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org © Pixabay
According to the recollections of classmates, Alekhine was a closed and aloof young man, he did not communicate with anyone and in almost all school lessons he preferred to think and analyze chess games, since from the age of ten he was very actively interested in playing chess by correspondence, which was then a fashionable hobby.
He was not interested in either the revolutionary hobbies of his classmates, or the insoluble questions of existence, or the work of the then insanely fashionable Gorky, or the theater. His only passion was chess. Later he developed another hobby. It was his Siamese cat named Chess, whom Alekhine (who had already become the leading chess player in the world) considered his mascot and always took to matches, sitting next to him.
The most amazing thing is that Alekhine studied exemplarily and was an excellent student. His memory was truly phenomenal. Later, when he became famous, even the most outstanding chess players in the world were surprised that Alekhine remembered all his games played, even if it was several years ago. At the same time, in everyday life he was very absent-minded and forgetful.
Already at the age of 16, young Alekhine won the Moscow chess club tournament among amateurs and went to his first international tournament in Germany. He failed to win, although he performed well. But he managed to meet (not within the tournament) with the prominent German grandmaster Kurt von Bardeleben. He was not a chess superstar, but was considered a very strong master. 16-year-old Alekhine literally declassed him, winning four out of five matches and drawing one.
Photo: © RIA Novosti/Mikhail Filimonov
The following year he participated in the Moscow Championship, but only took fifth place. But he won the All-Russian amateur tournament. He then took part in several more international tournaments, finishing in the middle of the table. However, his potential was obvious: Alekhine fought on equal terms with famous masters while still a high school student.
A few months before the start of the First World War, a grandiose chess tournament took place in St. Petersburg with a very strong line-up of participants. The main stars of the competition were world champion Emanuel Lasker, rising world chess superstar Jose Raul Capablanca, one of the strongest German chess players, Siegbert Tarrasch, and a very strong American, Frank Marshall. A total of 10 people took part in the tournament. The competition took place in two rounds. In the first, all participants played against each other, after which the six strongest on points advanced to the second round and competed for the title of winner. Alekhine took the final third place, losing in the table only to recognized world stars Lasker and Capablanca.
First troubles
Alekhine and Jose Raul Capablanca at the St. Petersburg chess tournament in 1914. Collage © L!FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org
A week after the end of the tournament, Alekhine graduated from the Imperial School of Law. In July 1914, he went to Germany for a major international tournament. In the midst of the competition (Alekhine was confidently taking first place) the First World War began. All Russian chess players who were at the tournament were immediately interned as subjects of a hostile state. They spent several days in prison, after which they were released.
However, on the way to Baden-Baden, a group of Russian chess players were again arrested and sent to prison for several days. Finally, the Germans decided to subject the prisoners to examination by a medical commission. They agreed to release those whom she recognized as unfit for military service. The rest would have to remain in captivity until the end of the war.
Alekhine was declared unfit for service for health reasons and released. It was necessary to get home through neutral countries, and in the end the journey took several months. He returned to Russia only in November.
The outbreak of war made it impossible to hold large international tournaments, and Alekhine whiled away his time in Russia, playing with local grandmasters, as well as giving sessions of blind play on several boards at once. Often such sessions were charitable, i.e. the profits from them went to socially useful needs.
In the summer of 1916, he went to the front as part of a flying detachment of the Red Cross. Some sources report that the chess player was shell-shocked several times and received awards for saving the wounded, but his awards are not confirmed by all sources.
The February Revolution deprived him of practice for several years. In addition, his father died, and Alekhine himself turned into a class-alien “bourgeois”. The most little-studied period of Alekhine's life began. Information about him is extremely contradictory, and no one really knows what he did during the Civil War. It is only known that he tried to leave for Odessa, where German troops were stationed at that time. There he either tried to make money in a chess tournament, or wanted to emigrate through the local port. However, this was not possible. Soon the city was occupied by the Bolsheviks, and Alekhine found himself in the basements of the Odessa Cheka. He was saved by the intercession of one of the major Bolsheviks. Researchers name different names, but most likely one of the leaders of the local Bolsheviks, either Rakovsky or Manuilsky, intervened in the matter.
Soon after his release, he moved to a quieter Moscow, which at least did not change hands every few months. Information about his stay in the Soviet capital is also contradictory. According to one version, he worked as a criminal investigator, according to another, he worked as a translator for the Comintern. One way or another, in 1920 he was finally able to return to chess and confidently won the first All-Russian Chess Olympiad in 1920.
He did not stay in Moscow for long. Having met a Swiss Social Democrat who came to Moscow through the Comintern, he married her and obtained permission to leave the country with his wife.
At the peak of my career
Alekhine gives a simultaneous performance in Berlin, 1930. Collage © L!FE. Photo: © wikipedia.org
Having moved to Europe, Alekhine began to make up for lost time during the years of wars and revolutions. He took part directly in almost every major tournament held on the continent and won more than half of them. By the mid-20s, it became clear that he was at least one of the five strongest chess players in the world.
Alekhine himself at that time dreamed of a match for the chess crown with Capablanca, who at that time dominated all world chess players and was considered the absolutely strongest player. However, this was not so easy to do. Having become world champion, Capablanca put forward very strict requirements for applicants who wanted to challenge him. They had to compete according to its terms (up to six wins, without restrictions on the number of matches) and, most importantly, provide a prize fund for the winner at their own expense.
This Capablanca fund was valued at 10 thousand dollars, of which the winner received two thousand, and the rest was divided between the participants in a ratio of 60 to 40 in favor of the champion. Capablanca’s demands were difficult to fulfill; 10 thousand at that time was a very large sum (roughly corresponding to 140 thousand modern dollars) and Alekhine did not have it.
Therefore, he had to wait six years for the championship match. As a result, the Argentine leadership helped with the organization with the condition that the fight would take place in Buenos Aires. The match began in September 1927 and ended only at the end of November, lasting 34 games (which was an absolute record at that time). Before the start of the fight, absolutely everyone was confident that Capablanca would win. He was at the peak of his form, and also had five victories over Alekhine, who did not have a single one over his opponent. Some experts were even sure that the ultimate dream for Alekhine would be only a few drawn games and he would not be able to win a single victory over the world champion.
From left to right: Alekhine, arbiter Carlos Augusto Kerencio, Capablanca. Photo: © wikipedia.org
All the more unexpected was Alekhine’s confident victory. He won six games, while Capablanca took only three. He didn’t even show up to finish the last game, instead sending congratulations on his victory to the new champion. The key factor was Alekhine's preparation, who spent a lot of time studying his opponent's playing style. Whereas Capablanca was so confident of his victory that he did not bother himself with grueling preparation.
Alekhine became the first Russian world chess champion and the fourth in history after Steinitz, Lasker and Capablanca. The loser immediately asked for revenge, but now Alekhine insisted on the previous rules of the championship match, and Capablanca wanted to change them. Due to the fact that the rivals never came to an agreement, the rematch between them never took place.
The next seven years became the peak of Alekhine's career. He confidently won the tournaments in which he participated, traveled all over the world on chess tours, organized simultaneous blind play sessions, and wrote several books. He also defended the championship title twice, defeating challenger Efim Bogolyubov both times.
Recession
Participants of the international chess tournament in St. Petersburg - Jose Capablanca (seated second from right), Emanuel Lasker (third from left seated), Alexander Alekhine (third from left standing). Collage © L!FE. Photo: © RIA Novosti
In 1934, Alekhine married the American-British chess player (and very wealthy widow) Grace Vischar. From that moment on, his luck seemed to change. His game completely went wrong, he began to make childish mistakes. There was a sharp decline in my career. If at the peak of his form he won most tournaments, regardless of the composition of their participants, now he increasingly found himself closer to the middle of the table.
Most researchers attribute the sharp decline in Alekhine's play to two factors. Firstly, with loss of motivation. After the victory over the seemingly invincible Capablanca, it was difficult to find new incentives, and Alekhine relaxed too much. Secondly, he began to get involved in alcohol and this was reflected in his results.
Euwe (left) and Salomon Flor (center) analyze the game. Match Alekhine - Euwe, 1935. Photo: © wikipedia.org
In 1935, a match for the world title took place between Alekhine and the Dutchman Max Euwe. Before the match, the Russian chess player was considered the absolute favorite and was confidently in the lead in the first games. But in the last matches, Euwe increasingly began to gain the upper hand and eventually won by a small margin - 15.5 to 14.5.
Alekhine gathered his strength and got into shape. In 1937, a rematch took place, which Alekhine confidently won (15.5 to 9.5), although the Dutchman was now the favorite. Alekhine regained the title of world champion. However, soon events unfolded in Europe that actually put an end to the career of the brilliant chess player.
Life under occupation
Collage © L!FE. Photo: © RIA Novosti/Vladimir Grebnev © Pixabay
In September 1939, World War II began. Alekhine by this time was a citizen of France and enlisted in the army. According to some sources, he served as a translator, according to others, in the sanitary unit. One way or another, he was not fit for combat service in any case.
After the quick defeat of France, he left for the south of the country, which was not occupied by the Germans. He tried to negotiate a championship match with Capablanca, but financial difficulties arose due to the war, and a few months later the Cuban chess player died.
Alekhine was not happy with the new regime and tried to emigrate to Portugal. However, the Vichy regime did not give him permission to emigrate. In the end, it was possible to agree that he would be released from the country in exchange for several ideologically verified articles. Soon, several articles about “Jewish and Aryan chess” and their differences, authored by Alekhine, appeared in the collaborationist newspaper Pariser Zeitung. After this he was released from the country.
However, the wife remained in France, fearing for her estate. Left without a livelihood, Alekhine during the war was forced to participate in chess tournaments on the territory of Nazi Germany and occupied European countries. In 1943, having left for a tournament in neutral Spain, he refused to return and settled there for several years. To make ends meet, he gave chess lessons and also participated in local tournaments.
After the end of the war, chess life began to gradually revive. Alekhine was still the reigning world champion. In the winter of 1945, he was invited to the first major post-war tournament in London. However, he never took part in it due to the machinations of his colleagues.
His old rival Euwe, having enlisted the support of his American colleagues (and also promising contenders for the title), staged a noisy campaign against Alekhine. The chess players gathered around Euwe threatened to boycott him if he took part in the tournament. Moreover, Euwe organized an entire commission, which began to demand that Alekhine be deprived of the champion title on the basis of his collaborationist activities.
The main accusations against Alekhine were his participation in several German chess tournaments, as well as articles about “Jewish and Aryan chess.” Alekhine himself sent letters to tournament organizers, as well as several chess federations, explaining his position. He claimed that he was forced to play in tournaments in order to at least live on something under the occupation. And articles about “Aryan chess” were a condition for permission to emigrate. At the same time, he argued that there was nothing anti-Semitic in the original article and it was heavily edited by the editors.
It was really difficult to suspect Alekhine of sympathizing with the Nazis. Back in 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, Alekhine publicly called for a boycott of the German chess team (at that time it was participating in the Chess Olympiad), and then made repeated attempts to leave the occupied territories (and eventually settled in neutral Spain).
Max Euwe. Photo: ©AP Photo
It is worth noting that Euwe himself was also, as they say, not without sin. He did not play in Nazi Germany, but he did participate in a chess tournament in Hungary, which was an ally of the Nazis. In addition, Euwe headed the chess federation in Nazi-occupied Holland and de facto collaborated with the collaborationist government. Besides, the situation was in his favor. If Alekhine was deprived of the title, it either automatically went to Euwe, or was played out in a championship match involving Euwe and another contender.
However, not all leading chess players supported Euwe and in the end the issue of boycotting Alekhine and his disqualification was decided to be submitted to FIDE for consideration. Unexpectedly, help came from the USSR. The influential Soviet chess federation wanted to nominate the strong grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik as a contender for the title. In general, the USSR maintained an ambivalent attitude towards Alekhine. On the one hand, it was officially recognized that he was a living chess genius and one of the greatest masters of the game. On the other hand, it was invariably emphasized that class and politically he was completely alien to Soviet society.
While FIDE was considering the issue of disqualification, the chess player died. The health of the already middle-aged Alekhine was undermined by illness (three years before his death he suffered a severe form of scarlet fever), alcohol and life in the occupation. On March 24, 1946, he died in a Portuguese hotel, sitting in a chair behind chessboard. According to some sources, he choked and suffocated while eating; according to others, his heart stopped.
Alexander Alekhine became the only world champion in history who died at this rank and thus remained undefeated (another undefeated world champion Bobby Fischer was stripped of his title after refusing a match with a challenger and actually ended his career, but nevertheless he was formally defeated was not).
Tombstone on Alekhine's grave at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. The work of his friend chess player Abram Barats. The gravestone gives an erroneous birth date of November 1st. Photo: © wikipedia.org
It is interesting that soon after Alekhine’s death, the attitude towards him in the USSR sharply changed to extremely positive. Although it was still recognized that he did not accept the revolution, nevertheless they began to consider him one of their own. Since 1956, tournaments in memory of the outstanding chess player began to be regularly held in the USSR. An asteroid discovered by Soviet astronomers was named in honor of Alekhine, books were written about him, and in some way he became a cult figure in the Soviet Union.
Alexander Alekhine still remains the leader in the number of overall victories among all world chess champions in history. In 1240 official fights he won 719 times. Thus, he achieved victory in 58% of fights. For comparison, Capablanca, Lasker and Fischer won 55% of fights (while having half as many matches), Euwe and Botvinnik won 47%, Kasparov - 42%, Karpov - 37%, and Spassky won only 32 % of fights. Therefore, it is not surprising that Alekhine is still considered one of the greatest chess players in history.
