Chess Writing GOATs: Alexander Alekhine
I remember our class working on algebra. All the boys were quiet ... Suddenly Alekhine stood up excitedly, his face radiant ..."Well, Alekhine, did you solve it?' teacher Bachinsky asked him. "I did ... I sacrifice the knight, and the bishop moves ... And White wins!". - Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov (classmate) Humourous Chess Quotes
This is my take on the greatest chess authors of all time...and some who didn't quite check the box. Today I present the first in this new series, presented one at a time and in alphabetical order...mostly...unless I add someone midway through, or I just felt like mixing things up. Or forgot my alphabet...🤔
The Author - Alexander Alekhine
So, who are the chess writing GOATs? Who didn't quite make the cut, but certainly merited consideration? Do you have an opinion? What about those who wrote prolifically, but not necessarily great stuff? Or perhaps their subject matter just didn't appeal to me or thee, or at least to peers of mine when I was a rising teen.
Hey, it's no problem if you haven't considered the issue! I'm more than willing to fill that particular void in your thoughts with my own opinions!! An opinion informed by decades of chess and a (diminished) chess library that takes up multiple shelves in my library. And if you don't fully agree with my opinions (though I can hardly imagine such a contumacious state of mind) then chess.com generously provided a comments section so you can express your agreements, disagreements, quibbles, corrections, expansions, nominations, and questions. Some of which I will respond to!
Heads up! Some of these authors are NOT the nicest or most ethical people. Over the next months, you'll encounter a multiple plagiarizer and at least one famous player who altered history to present brilliant analytic lines as though they were played in the game. Furthermore, it cannot be known which ancient authors made up games out of whole cloth. They certainly didn't adhere to modern considerations about plagiarism, as those notions didn't have much if any moral traction at the time those individuals wrote.
The Author – Alexander Alekhine
It's time to introduce our first potential Chess Author GOAT. We'll be meeting them in alphabetical order, so that leaves the following World CC first out of the gate!
Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine was born on Halloween 1892 and died in March 1946, but avoided an ending on the Ides of March, succumbing to unknown causes on the 26th. ChessMetrics assessed his peak rating at 2860 in May 1931 and placed him #1 in 122 different months.
The fourth World CC defeated José Raúl Capablanca in 1927 to wrest the title from a man many considered undefeatable, and then assiduously avoided a rematch, with both sides making numerous claims about why a rematch never occurred. A staggeringly brilliant player even when purportedly intoxicated (he may have had a walking issue that others confused with drunkenness), Alekhine supposedly sobered up for his rematch against Euwe in 1937.
I've played through over a thousand of his games, but it's an ongoing project, conducted with a database because I tired of trying to move pieces on a real board as fast as I can click through alternatives with electrons.
I will not be providing a list of all the works written by many of the authors. Some of them penned nigh on a hundred books, and I find myself disinclined to fit that many images together in a single page, or to bore the casual reader with a bulleted list.
Alekhine’s writing masterpieces were My Best Games of Chess, 1908-1923 and My Best Games of Chess, 1924-1937. His other books, approximately twenty, were written about famous tournaments including the New York International Chess Tournament 1924, the International Chess Tournament 1922: Hastings, and San Remo 1930: Annotations. They're good as well, but not at the same level.
An intermittent problem with Alekhine’s writing is that he occasionally presented post-game analyses as though the brilliancies had occurred over the board. Researchers in later years were able to document these white lies by comparing positions he wrote about as having occurred, with signed scoresheets and photos taken during the game where the board position contradicted Alekhine's depiction of the game line. Meh, what's a little rewriting of history among friends.🙄
Speaking of history, we won't be examining his WW-II writings. This blog is about various authors' "bests", not a revisiting of any beasts who may or may not have lurked in the crevices and crevasses of their mind.
Yes, I have all the books pictured above. Well, technically I have both volumes of his "Best Games", but I could fit more book covers in the image by using a picture of those books bound into one volume.
Why is he a chess author GOAT? Well, he only placed one book (#39) on the 100 Best Chess Books of All Time (Updated for 2025). That said, players such as Seirawan, Anthony Saidy, Jack Peters, David Pruess, and Jeremy Silman listed that book among The Best Chess Books Ever. Pruess also included Alekhine's New York 1924 as among his personal list of the best books. Strong arguments for including Alekhine as a chess author GOAT!
The quote above is either a bit lacking in originality or a fine spin on another's work. Alekhine might well have been aware of Talbot's line "Life’s too short for chess", in Act I of Our Boys by H.J. Byron. The play was first performed in London on 16 January 1875, and the text was published in 1880. As a member of the Russian aristocracy, Alekhine might well have encountered this play. (For members of The Blogger Awards v2.0 - Chess Club, I didn't add this factoid just to win a medal in the Research category of our monthly contests. Not a bad idea, mind you.🤔)
Want to read more Alekhine quotes? Check out All the Chess Quotemasters (QMs) for ten more of his best sayings, along with those of other chess QMs.
That's a wrap!! I'm intending to keep these relatively short. Hope you enjoyed it! If you'd like to read more about Alekhine, I've provided a few links below. Well, more than a "few" if you're going to be pedantic about my not infrequent abuses of the King's English (not the opening, the language).
It's an alphabetic list...who do you think will be next? Another GOAT? Or someone who didn't quite fit onto my list of the greatest?
Care for a journey down memory lane? Just pick your path! The whole purpose of this section is to address some obvious questions that might pop into your head. How come Kevin didn't talk about this? Or that? Not to mention the other thing! Well, just call me lazy! Or you could appreciate the fact I'm limiting the word count that is imposed on you😏.
Nonetheless, in the series I'll be using this little section to provide links to more fulsome discussions that revolve around some well-known and lesser-known facets of the featured chess giant. That might range from videos to links to other chess.com articles and blogs, usually by Top Bloggers. Enjoy or skip, it's your call, as always.
- GM @GSerper The Deadly Alekhine's Squeeze discussing the notion that Alekhine's tactics flowed naturally from deep strategic plans.
- A video Greatest Chess Minds: Alexander Alekhine by GM @JRLOCK (Roman Dzindzichashvili, aka "Dzindzi")
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 1): The Game of Death Jeremy starts with a chess tale set in 1918, but then travels back in time to Alekhine's earliest days as a son in a wealthy, aristocratic Russian family.
- IM @Silman Alekhine (Part 2): Success and Despair A look at the former World CC from 1919 - 1922, with thirteen puzzles and more!
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 3): The New Plan sees Alekhine plotting a new course to a match with Capablanca.
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 4): His Prime Years
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 5): Singing the Middle-aged Blues
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 6): His Worst “Combination” – Age + Booze
- IM @Silman Alexander Alekhine (Part 7): The Dark Years
- NM @SamCopeland with Alekhine Explains His Greatest Positional Masterpiece - Best Of The 20s - Alekhine vs. Yates, 1922
- GM @Mikhail_Golubev provides computer evidence that refutes a Black attempt in Alekhine's Defense The Old Tricks #5: The Worst Alekhine
- Top Blogger @Spektrowski investigates Who saved Alexander Alekhine? after he was imprisoned by the communists in 1918.
- For anyone who wants to better understand Alekhines' ability to explain a chess game I invite you to look at Top Blogger @simaginfan's My Favourite Annotators. Part Two. Alexander Alekhine
- Top Blogger @simaginfan's Alekhine At San Remo 1930. One Of Chess History's Greatest Performances. Part One
- Top Blogger @simaginfan's An Alekhine Goody Bag. Some Games, Pictures and History
- Top Blogger @kahns A Century of Chess: Alexander Alekhine (from 1910-19) - Chess.com & A Century of Chess: Alexander Alekhine (1920-29)
- Top Blogger @kahns A Century of Chess: Alekhine-Levitsky 1913 depicts a ten-game match in which every game was decisive...and not always in favor of the future World CC, who was otherwise dominating the European scene.
- Top Blogger @kahns A Century of Chess: Alekhine-Capablanca 1927 Part One
- Top Blogger @kahns covers the first half of this 1935 World CC match A Century of Chess: Euwe-Alekhine 1935 (Part 1)
- Top Blogger @DonMcKim Alexander Alekhine who talks a bit about our protagonist but then presents a crossword puzzle using clues about Alekhine!
- Top Blogger @batgirl Encounters with Alekhine
- @billwall Alexander Alekhine and the Nazis - Chess.com and Alexander Alekhine - Chess.com (Bill's account is closed, but the blogs remain.)
- Alexander Alekhine's Best Chess Games by @EthanJojy with five games of Alekhine's
- Articles about Alexander Alekhine by Edward Winter
- The Best Chess Games of Alexander Alekhine - Chess.com
- Chess.com team Combinations of Alexander Alekhine - Chess Lessons
- 100 Best Chess Books of All Time (Updated for 2025)
- The 20 Chess Books That Helped Me To Become a Grandmaster | Rafael Leitão
- The Very Best Chess Books (list by Edward Winter)
- The Best Chess Books Ever - Chess.com IM Jeremy Silman
- Five chess books that have helped me become a Grandmaster - Chess.com Ginger_GM
- 40 Best Chess Books [Your Ultimate Guide to Chess Mastery]
- 25 Books Guaranteed to Improve Your Chess - Chess.com NM Sam Copeland
Sources
Data on the authors was compiled from sources in Wikipedia, my chess library, chess.com, chessable.com, Chess Notes by Edward Winter, archived news articles, individual's websites, FIDE, and my faulty memories. Any and all errors should be deemed the fault of gremlins in the system or glitches in the matrix.
