The Terrible Tragedies
Hello, and welcome to Henry's Blog!
Today, we will unravel some of the stories of sensational chess masters who unfortunately met a tragic end on and off the chessboard. Their chess careers and accomplishments had been cut short.
In this post, we will be investigating some of the most famous players who ultimately had a short-lived chess career.
Join me as we uncover the brilliance of these historic chess players, appreciate and honor their, ultimately, shortened lives, and take a closer look at their life beyond chess.
Let's begin!
Vera Menchik
1906-1944
Vera Menchik was born in Moscow, Russia on February 16, 1906. Menchik was a Russian-born Czechoslavic chess player who resided in England. She is known because she was the first and longest reigning women's world champion in history, from 1927-1944 (17 years!).
When she was 9 years old, Menchik began her chess career, and not too long after, at age 11, the Russian Revolution occurred, which completely changed her life. She and her family were forced to share their flat with peasant families.
They continued lived in Russia until 1921, when Vera's mother took her and her sister to reside in St. Leonards, England.
St. Leonards
In 1923, Menchik continued to play chess at the Hastings Chess Club, receiving lessons from famous Hungarian grandmaster Geza Maroczy
Throughout her childhood, she played small regional tournaments, but her first major accomplishment in chess was winning the London Girls Chess Championship in 1926 and 1927. Just a few months after, at age 21, Menchik captured one of her largest triumphs, winning the Women's World Chess Championship
As Menchik continued to evolve as an avid chess player, she was such a talent that she could compete in men's tournaments, which very few other women in history have done, such as Judit Polgar. This was an incredible feat because women were discriminated against in chess, due to all of the top players being male. It was common for women not to be allowed to join tournaments, therefore almost all could only play against other women. Though Menchik played in several men's tournaments throughout her chess career, she very occasionally captured any success in these tournaments, usually scoring less than half the total games she played.
Below is a game she played against one of the best chess masters of all time, Jose Raul Capablanca.
Vera Menchik
During the 1930s, her talent kept building even more. Her reputation as a positional player remained over her entire chess career, as she enjoyed starting games with 1. d4, as white, known as the Queen's Pawn Opening, and 1. e6, the French Defense, as black.
Sadly, trouble struck not too far later. World War I started in 1939 and raged until 1945, in which Menchik died in this span. She was killed on June 26th, 1944 because her house in south London took a direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb, which also killed her sister and mother.
The V-1 flying bomb
While the way Menchik was killed is saddening, we still have many of her games today. Below are two of her games, one where she beat Max Euwe, former World Champion and one of the most influential chess players of all time, and another where she defended her Women's World Championship title against Sonja Graf in 1939.
Alexander Alekhine
1892-1946
Alexander Alekhine was born in Moscow, Russia, on October 31 
, 1892. He was born into a wealthy family, and was Russian, and part French. He was World Champion for a span of 17 years, from 1927-1935, and from 1937-1946.
Alekhine was a prodigy from the beginning. His first known match was played at 10 years old. By the age of 16, he had already established himself as one of the top players in Russia.
Alekhine in 1909
Surprising success at multiple major tournaments, such as St. Petersburg 1914 saw Alekhine being capable of competing with the top in the world.
World War I added some controversy into the mix. After Germany had declared war on Russia, Russian masters, including Alekhine were kept In Rastatt, Germany.
Rastatt
After the war had settled down and come to an end, Alekhine continued his quest for World Champion, in the process divorcing two times in the span of 1920-1922. From 1922 to 1927, Alekhine would have a podium finish in every tournament he participated in. At this point in time, Capablanca was his biggest rival (check Vera Menchik section to see more about him).
Alekhine obtained French nationality in 1927, and played for the World Title in Buenos Aires, Argentina beating Max Euwe 5 1/2 - 4 1/2, prior to needing to play Capablanca.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Afterwards, Alekhine challenged Capablanca, starting the 1927 World Championship, where he prevailed, winning by 3 points (18 1/2-15 1/2). This established Alekhine as the new chess World Champion.
One reason for this huge upset was because Capablanca prepared very minimally, while Alekhine studied immensely before their encounter.
Afterwards, Capablanca wanted a rematch, but negotiations were never finalized, and he passed away in 1942.
Alekhine played two title matches against Efim Bogoljubov, winning two times easily.
These processes continued, until Alekhine married to his fourth wife in 1934, and it was discovered he had been consuming significant amounts of alcohol.
One year earlier, in 1933, Alekhine had challenged to play the World Title match against Max Euwe, which was accepted. They played in 1935. Euwe pulled a major upset, stealing the World Champion title away from Alekhine. Like Capablanca who was overconfident against Alekhine, Alekhine made the same mistake, which took a toll, costing him the World Champion title.
In 1937, they had a rematch, Alekhine retaining his title once again, one that he possessed until his death in 1946.
After the 1939 Chess Olympiad , also in Argentina, unlike the other competitors Alekhine returned to Europe. This was the time when World War II (1939-1945) was beginning. Alekhine enlisted in the French army as a sanitation officer. When France was crumbling, he fled to the United States in 1940.
Prior to his 1946 World Championship against Botvinnik, Alekhine passed at age 53. It was discovered the cause was choking on a piece of meat in his hotel room.
Alekhine was known for his attacking style, and even has an opening named after him.
SS
Bobby Fischer
1943-2008
Bobby Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster born in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 1943. Early on in his life, his parents officially divorced when Fischer was just 2. This meant just his mother had to raise him and his daughter. At the time Fischer was born, his mother was homeless.
In 2002, it was discovered that Fischer's biological father was Paul Nemenyi, who like Fischer, was a prodigy in mathematics.
In 1949, Bobby Fischer and his sister began to play chess, Bobby was 6 years old at the time. His sister and mom didn't have time/weren't interested, which left Bobby to play against himself. It wasn't long before Fischer became addicted to chess. Carmine Nigro was very impressed with Fischer's capabilities at such a young age and began to teach him. Fischer says that while he wasn't the best player in the world(he was an Expert), he was still a great teacher.
In 1956, Fischer was taught by John W. Collins, at the Hawthorne Chess Club, where Bobby played thousands of games.
Collins looking on as Fischer analyzes
At the age of 13, Fischer claimed the U.S Junior Chess Championship in 1956, becoming the youngest person ever to win it (that record stands to this day). He won a U.S Open Championship one year later, becoming the youngest to complete this feat as well.
By the time Bobby was 16, his interest in chess had surpassed that of schoolwork, so he decided to drop out.
By the time he was 23, he had somehow won 8 U.S Championships, all of them in comfortable fashion. After winning some more tournaments from 1955-1965. In 1968, Fischer didn't play a tournament for one and a half years.
After he returned, he went on the grind to reach the World Championship match. He finally reached it in 1972, and his opponent was Boris Spassky. After many disputes, they finally agreed to play the match in Reykjavik, Iceland, with a prize of $250,000 (nearly 2 million dollars today). The match took place from July-September, 1972. Fischer made great preparations for the match, but when the time finally came, he was irritated by the presence of the cameras. He lost each of the first two games by blowing a drawn endgame, and forfeit. Spassky generously asked for no cameras, and for the match to be moved back to the stage. After this, Fischer dominated, winning the championship by five games, and becoming the new World Champion.
Fischer in Iceland (right)
During this period of time the World Championship match occurred, the Cold War between the United States and Russia was ongoing. This made Fischer's victory huge in the United States, and the media was all over it. It was later called 'Match of the Century'.
In 1975, Fischer was scheduled to defend his World Championship title against Anatoly Karpov, but was enraged over the format of the match. He was so stubborn about it, he decided to forfeit his title. Fischer remained in isolation for nearly 20 years, before finally having a rematch with Spassky in 1992.
To much surprise, though Fischer wasn't getting any younger, he still was in decent form. He defeated Spassky handily.
As the 2000's began, life just went downhill for Fischer. After terrible comments about 9/11, serving time in Japan for a fake passport, and citizenship issues in Iceland.
He finally became a full citizen in Iceland during 2005, but 3 years later he died in Landspitali Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland, due to kidney failure. Fischer refused treatment.
Below is one of his games in his match against Spassky (1992)
OUTRO
All three of these peoples' lives were cut short because of these horrific incidents. Do any of you guys have other chess masters in mind that suffered a tragic end? If so, please say who in the comments below. I am not sure when my next blog will be out, if you have any ideas for me, please send me a message and I will consider it.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
