Editing Alexander Alekhine (section)

==World Chess Champion, first reign (1927–1935)==

===1927 title match===
In 1927, Alekhine's challenge to [[José Raúl Capablanca|Capablanca]] was backed by a group of Argentine businessmen and the president of Argentina, who guaranteed the funds,<ref name="chesscornerCapablanca">{{cite web |url=http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/capablanca/capablanca.htm |title=Jose Raul Capablanca |publisher=chesscorner.com |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515051607/http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/capablanca/capablanca.htm |archive-date=15 May 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> and organized by the Club Argentino de Ajedrez (Argentine Chess Club) in [[Buenos Aires]].<ref name="WinterCapablancaVsAlekhine1927">{{cite web |url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablancaalekhine1927.html |title=Capablanca v Alekhine, 1927 |author=Winter, E. |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509083746/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablancaalekhine1927.html |archive-date=9 May 2008  |url-status=live}} Original sources include:
*{{cite journal |page=66 |journal=El Ajedrez Americano |title=Al margen del gran match |date=December 1927}};
*{{cite journal |page=454 |date=October 1926 |journal=British Chess Magazine |title=(unknown title) |author=Sergeant, P.W.}};
*{{cite journal |journal=La Prensa |title=(unknown title) |date=September 14, 1927}};

Immediately after his victory, Alekhine announced his terms for a rematch, reported in: {{cite journal |date=November 30, 1927 |journal=La Prensa |title=(unknown title)}}</ref> In the [[World Chess Championship 1927|World Chess Championship match]] played from September 16 to November 29, 1927 at Buenos Aires, Alekhine won the title, scoring +6−3=25.<ref name="graemecreeWorldChessChampionship1927"/> This was the longest formal World Championship match until the [[World Chess Championship 1984|contest in 1984]] between [[Anatoly Karpov]] and [[Garry Kasparov]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Byrne |first=R. |date=December 21, 1984 |title=Chess title match to become longest one in modern era |journal=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/21/nyregion/chess-title-match-to-become-longest-one-in-modern-era.html |access-date=2009-06-03 |archive-date=2018-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201150818/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/21/nyregion/chess-title-match-to-become-longest-one-in-modern-era.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess world, since he had never previously won a single game from Capablanca.<ref name="graemecreeWorldChessChampionship1927">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050121124900/http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/world/world1927.htm |url=http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/world/world1927.htm |archive-date=2005-01-21 |title=1927 World Chess Championship |last=Cree |first=G. |access-date=2009-06-02}}</ref> After Capablanca's death Alekhine expressed surprise at his own victory, since in 1927 he did not think he was superior to Capablanca, and he suggested that Capablanca had been overconfident.<ref name="AlekhineTribToCapa">Alekhine, A., tribute to Capablanca, pp. 157–58, in: Alekhine, A., ''107 Great Chess Battles'', tr. E.G. Winter, Oxford University Press, 1980.</ref> Capablanca entered the match with no technical or physical preparation,<ref name="Dumont1959MemoirOfCapa">{{cite book |author=du Mont, J. |chapter=Memoir of Capablanca |title=Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess |editor=Golombek, H. |publisher=G. Bell & Sons |year=1959 |pages=1–18}}</ref><ref name="Reinfeld1942ImmortalGamesOfCapaBio">{{cite book |last=Reinfeld |first=F. |title=The Immortal Games of Capablanca |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=1990 |orig-year=1942 |pages=1–13 |chapter=Biography |isbn=0-486-26333-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUdw5Zc1diEC&q=capablanca+biography&pg=PA1 |access-date=2009-06-01 |archive-date=2021-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029220631/https://books.google.com/books?id=bUdw5Zc1diEC&q=capablanca+biography&pg=PA1 |url-status=live }}</ref> while Alekhine got himself into good physical condition<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/> and had thoroughly studied Capablanca's play.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pachman, L. |author2=Russell, A.S. |title=Modern chess strategy |publisher=Courier Dover |year=1971 |page=306 |chapter=Individual Style: Psychological Play |isbn=0-486-20290-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdWNkSYLQ8gC&q=alekhine+change+style&pg=PA306 |access-date=2009-06-02 |archive-date=2021-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029220657/https://books.google.com/books?id=TdWNkSYLQ8gC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA306&q=alekhine+change+style&hl=en&source=newbks_fb |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Kasparov, Alekhine's research uncovered many small inaccuracies, which occurred because Capablanca was unwilling to concentrate intensely.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles209.pdf |title=Interview with Garry Kasparov: Part 2 |last=Kasparov |first=G. |author2=Russell, H.W. |date=July 28, 2003 |access-date=2009-06-03 |archive-date=2008-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201094717/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles209.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Vladimir Kramnik]] has commented that this was the first contest in which Capablanca had no easy wins.<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov">{{cite web |url=http://www.kramnik.com/eng/interviews/getinterview.aspx?id=61 |title=Kramnik Interview: From Steinitz to Kasparov |author=Kramnik, V. |access-date=2008-05-20 |author-link=Vladimir Kramnik |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512052013/http://www.kramnik.com/eng/interviews/getinterview.aspx?id=61 |archive-date=2008-05-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Rematch offered, never finalized===
Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was willing to give Capablanca a return match, on the same terms that Capablanca had required as champion: the challenger must provide a stake of US$10,000, of which more than half would go to the defending champion even if he was defeated.<ref name="WinterCapablancaVsAlekhine1927"/> Negotiations dragged on for several years, often breaking down when agreement seemed in sight. Their relationship became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher appearance fees for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/> The rematch never took place. After Capablanca's death in 1942, Alekhine wrote that Capablanca's demand for a $10,000 stake had been an attempt to avoid challenges.<ref name="AlekhineTribToCapa"/>

===Defeats Bogoljubov twice in title matches===
[[File:Alexander Alekhine playing chess against Efim Bogoljubov.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Alekhine (left) vs. [[Efim Bogoljubov]] (right); [[Emanuel Lasker]] (sitting, center) and others looking on]]
Although he never agreed terms for a rematch against Capablanca, Alekhine played two world title matches with [[Efim Bogoljubov]], in 1929 and 1934, winning handily both times.<ref name="WinterChessNotesArchive17">{{cite web |url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html |title=Chess Notes Archive (17) |author=Winter, E. |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509142325/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html |archive-date=9 May 2008  |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54142 |title=Alekhine vs. Bogoljubov 1934 |access-date=2008-05-24 |archive-date=2008-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018235849/http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54142 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first was held at [[Wiesbaden]], [[Heidelberg]], [[Berlin]], [[The Hague]], and [[Amsterdam]] from September through November 1929. Alekhine retained his title, scoring +11−5=9.<ref name="AlekhineMyBestGames1908to1937"/> From April to June 1934, Alekhine faced Bogoljubov again in a title match held in twelve German cities, defeating him by five games (+8−3=15).<ref name="AlekhineMyBestGames1908to1937"/> In 1929, Bogoljubov was forty years old and perhaps already past his peak.<ref name="Soloviov2004Bogoljubow">Soloviov 2004, p.280</ref><!-- ****** During the [[Carlsbad 1929 chess tournament]] he wrote six reports for ''The New York Times''.<ref>http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/carlsbad.html {{Bare URL inline|date=October 2021}}</ref> ******-->
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Soon after becoming champion, Alekhine swept a two-game exhibition match in New York against [[Charles Jaffe]], who had supplied analysis to him during the match with Capablanca.<ref name="SaidyLessingWorldOfChess">Saidy 1974, p.190-191</ref>
****** -->

===Anti-Bolshevik statements, controversy===
After the world championship match, Alekhine returned to Paris and spoke against [[Bolshevism]]. Afterwards, [[Nikolai Krylenko]], president of the Soviet Chess Federation, published an official memorandum stating that Alekhine should be regarded as an enemy of the Soviets. The Soviet Chess Federation broke all contact with Alekhine until the end of the 1930s. His elder brother Alexei, with whom Alexander Alekhine had a very close relationship, publicly repudiated him and his anti-Soviet utterances shortly afterward, but Alexei may have had little choice about this decision.<ref name="chessarchAlexey" /><ref name="KotovAlekhine">Kotov 1975, p.140</ref>

===Early 1930s===
According to [[Reuben Fine]], Alekhine dominated chess into the mid-1930s.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/> His most famous tournament victories were at the [[San Remo 1930 chess tournament]] (+13=2, 3½ points ahead of Nimzowitsch) and the [[Bled 1931 chess tournament]] (+15=11, 5½ points ahead of Bogoljubov). He won most of his other tournaments outright, shared first place in two, and the first tournament in which he placed lower than first was [[Hastings International Chess Congress|Hastings]] 1933–34 (shared second place, ½ point behind [[Salo Flohr]]). In 1933, Alekhine also swept an exhibition match against Rafael Cintron in [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]] (+4−0=0), but only managed to draw another match with [[Ossip Bernstein]] in Paris (+1−1=2).<ref name="alekhinechessAlekhineResults">{{cite web |url=http://www.alekhinechess.com/english/alekhine/results.html |title=Alekhine's Results at www.alekhinechess.com |access-date=2008-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105174938/http://www.alekhinechess.com/english/alekhine/results.html |archive-date=2009-01-05 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

From 1930 to 1935, Alekhine played first board for France at four [[Chess Olympiad]]s, winning the first brilliancy prize at [[Hamburg]] in 1930,<ref name="olimpbase1930Intro"/> [[gold medal]]s for board one at [[Prague]] in 1931 and [[Folkestone]] in 1933,<ref name="olimpbase1931Intro"/><ref name="olimpbase1933Intro"/> and the [[silver medal]] for board one at [[Warsaw]] in 1935.<ref name="olimpbase1935Intro"/> His loss to [[Latvia]]n master [[Hermanis Matisons]] at Prague in 1931 was his first loss in a serious chess event since winning the world championship.<ref name="WallAlekhine"/>{{unreliable source?|failed=y|date=December 2013}}

In the early 1930s, Alekhine travelled the world giving [[simultaneous exhibition]]s, including [[Hawaii]], [[Tokyo]], [[Manila]], [[Singapore]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles217.pdf |title=Alekhine's Chess Exhibitions in Singapore in 1933 |access-date=2008-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528160543/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles217.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2008  |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Shanghai]], [[Hong Kong]], and the [[Dutch East Indies]]. In July 1933, he played thirty-two people [[Blindfold chess|blindfold]] simultaneously (a new world record) in [[Chicago]], winning nineteen, drawing nine and losing four games.<ref>Donaldson 1992, p.35</ref>

In 1934 Alekhine married his fourth wife, [[Grace Alekhine|Grace Freeman (née Wishaar)]], sixteen years his senior. She was the American-born widow of a British tea-planter in [[Ceylon]], who retained her British citizenship to the end of her life and remained Alekhine's wife until his death.<ref name="WallAlekhine"/>{{unreliable source?|failed=y|date=December 2013}}<ref name="KmochGMsIveKnown">{{cite web |last=Kmoch |first=Hans |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch05.pdf |title=Grandmasters I Have Known: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine |access-date=2008-05-23 |author-link=Hans Kmoch |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513112141/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch05.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the early 1930s, around 1933 according to Reuben Fine, it was noticed that Alekhine was drinking increasing amounts of [[Alcoholic beverage|alcohol]].<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames"/> [[Hans Kmoch]] wrote that Alekhine first drank heavily during the tournament at Bled in 1931, and drank heavily through the 1934 match with Bogoljubov.<ref name="KmochGMsIveKnown" />