Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhinewas a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players ever...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionChess Player
Date of Birth31 October 1882
CountryRussian Federation
vanity matter chess
Chess is a matter of vanity.
world chess genius
Capablanca was snatched too early from the chess world. With his death we have lost a great chess genius, the like of whom we will never see again.
competition chess beast
During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk
player thinking games
Never before and never since have I seen - and I cannot even imagine, such an amazing rapidity of chess thinking that Capablanca possessed in 1913-14. In blitz games he gave all the St. Petersburg players odds of five minutes to one - and he won.
player law drunk
The fact that a player is very short of time is to my mind, as little to be considered as an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.
fighting play demand
I do not play chess – I fight at chess. Therefore, I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position.
long unexpected combination
I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties.
believe true-beauty demand
I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.
chess
Deux fous gagnent toujours, mais trois fous, non!
home views games
That which Steinitz gave to the theoretical aspect of the game when he was at his best is very remote to all out home-bred chess philosophers, but with his views on Morphy, whom he tries to discredit completely, it is of course impossible to agree.
eight chess principles
I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.
mean thinking imagination
Oh! this opponent, this collaborator against his will, whose notion of Beauty always differs from yours and whose means (strength, imagination, technique) are often too limited to help you effectively! What torment, to have your thinking and your phantasy tied down by another person!
play chess sides
Play on both sides of the board is my favourite strategy.
art games achievement
For success I consider three factors are necessary: firstly, an awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses; secondly, an accurate understanding of my opponent's strengths and weaknesses; thirdly, a higher aim than momentary satisfaction. I see this aim as being scientific and artistic achievements, which place the game of chess on a par with other arts.