Sergey Voronkov. The Russian Sphinx: Volume 1. A Look Inside.
Good afternoon everyone.
WARNING! This will be a long blog - albeit a mere pin prick of the 460+ pages of the book being looked at, so normal advice - pop in and out when you have the time. Hopefully it will be worth the time spent.
Before I go further, the material - text and pictures - from the book are copyrighted. I use them here with the permission of the publishers. If you want to use them, please ask - no publisher will turn down free publicity if things are properly credited. Thank you!
My regular readers will know that the chess is my thing - the biographical stuff and historical facts, figures and - especially - the 'good stories' are not.
However, I have been eagerly waiting for this Alekhine biography ever since the Russian version ( this translation is an updated version of that, with this one being the first of 4 volumes of the original, single volume, work) was released.
https://www.chess.com/blog/ddtru/a-new-book-on-alekhine
Why so eager? Well, I have said elsewhere that Alekhine's life and personality are much more interesting than is the case with most famous players. And then it is by Voronkov!
We are lucky today in that there are a number of wonderful chess historians who's work I am in awe of. They do the most wonderful work. For me Voronkov is simply the best of all - his work is astonishing. I have been an admirer for over 30 years - ever since I got my hands on this book:-
I had never seen anything like it, and it is still a prized possession.
I talk about primary source research. That's what proper historians do. This book is not a rewrite of stuff you find in 2 minutes on google!! The bibliography covers eight pages of quite small type. Perhaps the most used phrase in the book is 'from the archives of'. He really is extraordinary. And you will know how I love my old photos. There are so many in the book that have never been published before, and they are worth the price of the book on their own.
The book is in four parts - each separated into chapters and small 'sub-chapters'. Each is wonderful and worthy of being a stand alone piece.
One which caught my eye is 'Women: Happiness or Misfortune', as I have touched on the subject of his various (five!) marriages and their impact on Alekhine the chess player before.
Two pictures - from the archives of Alexander Kotov - of Alekhine and Grace Wishaar. Yes, the quality of the photos in the book are astounding.
The publisher has been generous enough to allow me to give one of the sub-chapters here. I have chosen 'So, Why Was Alekhine Freed?' from 'The Mannheim Saga' chapter, for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I have written on the subject myself:-
Secondly because Voronkov has posted much of the chapter online, so I am not guilty of taking too much from the book which is not already out there!
ChessPro | Encyclopedia. Russian Sphinx - 6
''SO, WHY WAS ALEKHINE FREED?
This question fascinated me for ages, because the answer usually given
in books – “The German medical commission deemed him unfit for
military service” – doesn’t seem convincing. Why then didn’t they let
Bogoljubov and Selezniev go, even though they were exempt from military
service?
Let me remind you of Alekhine’s own words: “A medical examination was
scheduled for the sick; I prepared for it by not eating anything for several
days. I managed to convince the doctor that I was almost dying…” I found
indirect confirmation of this version in Znosko-Borovsky’s article “Alekhine,
the Chess King” (Posledniye Novosti, 9th March 1928) – I think that Alekhine himself was the source of this “anecdote,” since nobody else could have told it.
“Perhaps this is only an anecdote, but here’s what they said during the war.
When Alekhine, together with other Russian participants of the Mannheim
international tournament that was cut short by the war, was captured and interned
by the Germans, he was determined to break free from this unexpected captivity.
How could he do that? If only he were sick, this would make it that much easier.
And so, Alekhine, with an effort of will and appropriate regimen, got his heart into
so bad a shape that even the Germans, as undemanding and non-squeamish as
possible back then, decided unanimously: this person was good for nothing – and
let him go back to Russia.”
It’s unclear if Alekhine knew about his heart disease back then, but Ilyin-
Zhenevsky wrote in the book The Alekhine – Capablanca Match: “However,
because of his heart condition, he managed to get free very quickly and return to
Russia.” And this is not speculation. When Alekhine filled in the Tsentrorozysk
questionnaire in 1920, he wrote that he was exempt from Red Army service
“due to illness, article 58” (heart). And added that he underwent a medical
examination in November 1919, receiving an “exemption certificate”.
Well, a heart condition is one thing, but how did Alekhine manage to
convince the doctor that he was “almost dying”? I thought that the key to this
mystery lay in Alekhine’s aforementioned article about Bogoljubov: “[I] quickly
left thanks to a happy accident (for those who believe in them); then, shortly
after me (and using my method), P. P. Saburov and F. P. Bogatyrchuk also left
the country.” The key phrase here is “using my method”! If Bogatyrchuk,
unlike Alekhine, didn’t starve himself for several days, then does this mean that
the “method” was something else? I remember that I couldn’t understand what
made Bogatyrchuk “lie as shamelessly as never before in [his] entire life”. So
maybe that actually was “Alekhine’s method”?
However, Bogatyrchuk himself contradicted this version. In his 1978
book, he didn’t specify the order of their visits to the doctor, but his earlier
recollections set the record straight: “I was lucky to be the first (! – S. V.) to
take the medical examination that all the prisoners of war had to take.” (64,
5th January 1936.)
So, was the way to get out of captivity actually devised by Bogatyrchuk, and
Alekhine just followed his lead, using his long fast as an insurance policy? It
could well have been. But still, there’s a question: why didn’t the Germans let
anybody else go? Maybe the Germans started to suspect that they had been
fooled?.. Only after re-reading Malyutin again did I figure out what had actually
happened: all those who were let go were evidently examined by Dr. N., who
“was glad to get rid of as many foreigners as possible”! Had Dr. K. examined
them, no amount of “shameless lying” would have helped. Bogatyrchuk
confirmed that: “For the first few days, the doctor was rather soft and would
let people go easily. Alekhine, Saburov and I were the first lucky ones whom he
sent away to Switzerland ‘for treatment.’” (Ibid.)
But there’s still a question: where did Botvinnik, who never spread idle gossip,
get the version that “Alekhine feigned mental illness” (Achieving the Aim) or, as
he clarified later in the centenary jubilee article (Pravda, 31st October 1992),
“Alekhine was declared to be mentally ill”? It turns out that this fact was even
published in newspapers: “Together with Rabinovich, Vainstein, Alekhine and
other tournament participants, Romanovsky was interned. Alekhine feigned a
mental illness and left, and the others played chess all day long.” (Vechernaya
Moskva, 5th April 1934.)
But how did he manage that? I can venture a guess. According to his
contemporaries, Alekhine was “the epitome of nervousness,” and after a threeday
fast, his hands could have been shaking as well. So, maybe the doctor
indeed thought that he was mentally ill and wrote that in his report? Knowing
the German love of bureaucracy, I wouldn’t be surprised if this report has even
survived in some archive…
P.S. I must admit that, when I prepared the Russian edition, I paid little
attention to the diagnosis that Alekhine reported in his interview with the
Freemason lodge: He “volunteered for army service, but, due to cardiac
neurosis was exempted from military duty.” (See the chapter “A Discovery in
the Special Archive” in Volume II.) However, this diagnosis is the key to the
answer!
Cardiac neurosis is a very interesting condition. It can cause completely
objective cardiological symptoms: shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat,
sweating, chest pains – but… is actually not a cardiovascular disease. Yes, in
Alekhine’s time, it was still considered one, but later it turned out that this
was a type of anxiety disorder, a purely mental condition (anxiety neurosis,
which Rotlewi suffered from, is another type). Salo Landau even wrote about
“angstpsychose (anxiety psychosis) that engulfs Alekhine after his losses.”
(Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, 17th November 1937.)
In cardiac neurosis, the nervous system is overloaded, and so the body
overreacts to stress hormones, causing the heart to work too intensively,
as though it’s a heart attack. Meanwhile, a medical examination will
show that the heart is healthy. Alekhine’s first attack could have been
caused by any stress, especially in childhood, and the development of
the condition is stimulated by an unhealthy lifestyle, heavy worrying and
excessive concentration on one thing for a long time – which exactly fits the
description of a chess player!
Cardiac neurosis explains a lot of things. First of all, the paradox that did
not have any reasonable explanation before: why Alekhine was unfit for military
service due to a “cardiac” reason (in both the Tsarist and the Soviet army),
yet could drink entire “jugs” of coffee, which required a “bull’s heart”? It also
explains how Alekhine managed to use an “appropriate regimen to get his
heart into so bad a shape that even the Germans, as undemanding and nonsqueamish
as possible back then, decided unanimously: this person was good
for nothing”: with cardiac neurosis exacerbated by starvation, he may indeed
have looked hopelessly ill.
The German doctor most probably determined that Alekhine’s heart was
healthy, but Alekhine “feigned” his heart condition so convincingly that the
doctor decided that Alekhine was a hypochondriac and let him go. We will only
know whether it’s true if Alekhine’s medical documents are discovered someday.
But this version, at any rate, looks logical and explains literally everything we
know about his heart condition.
Yes, he suffered two strokes in 1943 (Pawelczak) and then, not long before
his death, two more strokes (Lupi) and a heart attack (de Agustin) – but real
cardiovascular conditions could manifest with age in addition to the neurosis
(his death certificate says that he had atherosclerosis). The scarlet fever that he
suffered at the age of 50 could also have played a role…''
Some chess and pictures - the kind of thing I do!
Firstly a wonderful picture which I have used for the header.
Varvara, Alexei and Alexander Alekhine, from K. Eggert's archive. circa 1896.
Alexei was an interesting chess figure in his own right - more pictures and details in the book!
The book has a number of games which have never been published before. One which has - thanks to Ilan at Elk and Ruby for the correction - is a win by Alexei from a correspondence tournament, annotated by Alexander. Voronkov gives some background on Alexei's opponent - just because he is that meticulous!
From right to left:- Alekhine's mother, Alexander, Alexander's maternal grandmother, Alexei, Varvara. The two figures left of picture not identified.
On correspondence chess, Voronkov gives us a couple of pictures - plus some investigation into when and where he first started it - of the famous first Alekhine notebook, which contained his early correspondence games, and the famous autograph ''In case I ever become famous.''
So, one of my famous picture links. A picture of the organising committee of the 1925 USSR Championships, via the wonderful Sergei Tkachenko on chesspro.ru.
(Voronkov gives a wonderful version, but I have taken enough!) Alexei Alekhine standing second from left. Grigoriev standing far right.
Voronkov gives games from the short match between Alekhine and Grigoriev, including this one - Alekhine's last game before he left Russia, never to return, if I am reading it correctly.
Another lovely picture - via Tkachenko again. There are those out there doing google search recycling to write about Soviet chess of the time who have obviously never heard of Eremeev!!
He was rather important. Now I have given you guys the name you can go google him.
. Wonderful - and historically important - picture.
In amongst the 'lost' and previously unpublished games given by Voronkov is this one, from what is now thought of as the first Soviet Championship. (Alexei played in one of the other events of the time, taking first place, if I recall correctly - it will be on rusbase somewhere! My memory is not the best.
. I noticed it when writing one of my articles on Romanowski - back to that shortly!)
A now well known picture from that event - Voronkov gives a wonderful version, and also explains how the picture made it's way into public view. Romanowski - Alekhine - Voronkov says it was taken at move 6.
So, even while doing blogs like this, I try to feature one game to finish with. I have known this one for a long time - it can be found in various places. Voronkov gives the background, and a great picture find to go with it. ( I will put that at the end) The game was part of a series of exhibitions Alekhine gave over the course of a week or so - including an 8 board blindfold simultaneous where this was played. Imagine playing this in an 8 board blindfold exhibition!! Incredible stuff, and you can understand the errors. Playing it that way is not exactly like going through it with an engine over a century later! Alekhine really was the most wonderful player. And, as I have mentioned in my 'favourite annotator' series, I consider him to be probably - all things considered - the greatest annotator who ever lived. You get his notes - taken from a number of sources by Voronkov.
Hopefully you have looked at all of this and enjoyed the ride.
My huge gratitude to Ilan at Elk and Ruby for allowing me to use so much material, and my most humble respects to, and admiration for, the extraordinary Sergey Voronkov.
I admit - with neither pride nor shame - to being uneducated. I would never be conceited enough to describe myself as a 'writer'. My language skills are too limited to express myself adequately at times. I will, therefore, put things simply. I have spent countless hours with hundreds of chess books. Voronkov's 'The Russian Sphinx: Volume 1' is absolutely one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is a magnificent and pretty much incomparable piece of work.
