Given the suspicious circumstances surrounding Alekhine's death, I wish columnists would stop saying simply that " he died in Estoril, Portugal." I feel it would be correct to at least acknowledge that his death may not have been from natural causes.

uh huh...and the supporting evidence for a death from unnatural causes consists of: (fill in the blank) and citation(s) may be found at (anyplace besides Wikipedia)...

It don't really matter anymore. He died in 1946. If anyone was gonna get charged with a murder it would have been done by now. Any witnesses are most likely long dead and burried, and if not they probably have some form of dementia.

 For instance, there are pictures of Alekhine dead in the chair, but some show that the room had been altered; a death by ckoking would probably not leave the victim quite so calm looking-even his clothes looked fairly neat; an autopsy revealed that Alekhine was in otherwise good health, whereas a physical a few months earlier indicated that his liver had extended almost as far as his left nipple--something that would be hard to miss in an autopsy. The investigating officer has been revealed to have been a known confederate of the KGB. This info comes from an article posted on Kevin Spragget's blog--names, citations, etc. can be found there. Sorry I don't have them at my fingertips. Still ,that's not authoritative, but it's certainly suspicious. It's doubtful he would have beat Botvinnik in their upcoming match, but perhaps the KGB thought it best not to take any chances.

What if the whole thing about Alekhine being dead is a hoax? :-) He arranged it to get out of trouble and hides somewhere in Argentina? Jeanne Calment made it to 122 so Alekhine could be alive for a few more years before beating that record (he would be 119 in a few months). I fear his lifestyle may not have been suited to beat such records though.

Spraggett's blog had the best information on the demise of Alekhine that I ever saw, but I believe that he deleted that content.

Too bad.

I see no reason for NKVD (as KGB was called then) to kill Alekhin. The match bettwen him and Botwinnik was aranged in 1938, after AVRO tournament. Why didn't they take action then? It can with equal seriousness be said that it was CIA (or MI7) who killed hin, to prevent the world title falling into Soviet hands. But I don't think any of secret sevices gave a damn about such matters.

The chess interests might not have weighed so heavily as those of settling the fate of a traitor, in the eyes of the NKVD or whomever.

 Yes, they were in negotiations, but Keres and Capablanca also were negotiating. Also, Alekhine had yet to collaborate with the Nazis, something that would hurt his reputation worldwide. If you like conspiracy theories, here's one: why bother playing a match w/ a man who repudiated Bolshevism, and collaborated with the Nazis, and who was now a pariah in Europe? Just get rid of him. The title will surely fall into the hands of one Russian or another anyway.

Too much vodka?

he liked brandy.  and i fully believe he was murdered.  that death scene is too doctored. 

For me, the bottom line remains the same: Alekhine's death should be regarded as highly suspicious. He was a great champion, and, despite his defects, should be accorded the privelege of the truth-- in death, as in life.