Alekhine and the cat

But who is the opponent?

Nobody?

Looks like Kasparov .

Is it Nimzovich?

Nope :)

Ivandh seems to have a similar picture as his avatar, not that this helps at all!

Hmm, time for a hint:

In 1942 XXXXXXX was thus projected as a possible world champion, but along with many other competitors in the (???????) he was stranded there when the war broke out and his chess carreer virtually ceased (Oxford Companion)

Najdorf ?

No....

Looks like Eliskases.

Yup, Erich Eliskases

"When I saw that damn cat I knew I was in trouble!"

alekhine is a strong player.

No he's not. Alekhine hasn't played any chess for over 50 years But Korchnoi, who is still alive somehow, just beat Fabiano the other day! Very impressive!

Today FIDE would probably NOT allow him to have his cat at the board during play...  

And Tal won't be allowed to smoke.....

Are you kidding me?  lol

Why not?

You don't realize how esoteric it seems to me. 

goldendog:  "Oh, some gray fuzzy profile... looks like Eliskases"

wow.

Oh I see what you're saying.

While the photo could be better, Eliskases' profile was essentially my only clue, apart from knowing the relatively small pool of well-known players of the era.

That's another thing, I've never heard of Eliskases :)

My goodness, his wiki photo isn't very flattering.