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| Posted by r_lawrence mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 00:39:46 Play online chess |  Subject: Shed some light on Alekhine ...Message: Modern chess writers frequently sum up the personal life of Alekhine by saying such things as, "Great player, too bad he was a nazi sympathizer" (Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics for one). But I recently read a memoir of Alekhine by J. Du Mont, and here is a summary of some of the things he wrote. At the time of the onset of WW II, Alekhine was the coach of the French team, and was at a tournament in Buenos Aires. He immediately left, and felt it was his duty to join the French Army (which he did) and take part in the war. France fell, and his wife was taken by the Germans. It seems that he very much loved his wife, and sought permission to join her. The nazi's, seeing this as a tremendous propaganda opportunity .. allowed it and used him. Shortly after this, 2 viscious anti-Jew, pro-nazi articles appeared with his name on them. Alekhine was largely disdained from this point on by the chess community. Years later, after the war was all over, Alekhine declared most solemnly that not a word of these articles was written from his pen. So ... two very different stories here. Did Alekhine get a 'bad rap'? Was this a result of him just wanting to be reunited with his wife? If anyone has any more sources, I'd love to hear/learn more. |
| Posted by zdrak mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 02:57:04 Play online chess | Message: Here is an interesting article, written by Hans Kmoch. The author of the article knew Alekhine personally, and he claims that his antisemitism was genuine. And I quote: "Much later, some noble whitewashers .... explained that Alekhine had been forced to write those infamous articles. But that is simply a variant of the story of the drunkard who befouls his pants and then wonders who might have done it." The full article can be seen here: www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch05.txt Believe it ? Or not ... ? |
| Posted by r_lawrence mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 06:54:05 Play online chess | interesting ... Message: But I do wonder how much is true and how much is false. a. Alekhine continued to beat the worlds best players as a complete drunk? b. Kmoch's wife was Jewish (bias) c. Kmoch was Alekhine's 2nd (bias) d. What could be the point of such a stinging, viscious article? I'm not denying that some of it may be true .. i'm just wondering if there was more to the story as Du Mont indicates |
| Posted by zdrak mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 08:40:15 Play online chess | Message: a. Kmoch is not alone in the claim. Euwe also stated that during the matches of '35 and '37 Alekhine drank. And he won one of these matches, as we know. b. Kmoch's wife was Jewish ? So is mine.... are you trying to imply that a person somehow involved with the Jewish race is incapable of making a trustworthy judgement in those questions ?? Please explain exactly what you meant ?? c. Unfortunately, all the writers of articles about Alekhine are divided into two parts: 1. Those who have no relation to Alekhine - no indication of bias, but no 1st hand information either. 2. Those who do have a relation to Alekhine - first hand information, but can be accused of bias .... It's a question of who do you choose to believe basically ... d. I have no idea. Btw, I also do not necesserily support Kmoch 100%, but since you asked for some information, I provided it to you. I'm just somewhat disappointed with your responce, especially with (b) |
| Posted by tulkos mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 09:00:22 Play online chess | In the match with Euwe Message: Alekhine explained his single loss in the match by saying that he had drank to much that time. During that match he had often had to be helped to his chair at the board. |
| Posted by parrvert mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 09:49:36 Play online chess | What is it with chess players? Message: From what I have read both Steinitz and Morphy went mad, Alekhine was a drunken Nazi and as for Fischer... |
| Posted by myway316 mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 14:55:28 Play online chess | It's true... Message: ...Alekhine did write those articles. The original copies, in his own handwriting,were found amomg the effects of his last wife,after she died,in 1956,I believe. |
| Posted by r_lawrence mailcafe.net 1/10/2003 22:47:08 Play online chess | Zdrak ... Message: Sorry, but you mistook my comment (b.) completely! To which you replied: "b. Kmoch's wife was Jewish ? So is mine.... are you trying to imply that a person somehow involved with the Jewish race is incapable of making a trustworthy judgement in those questions ?? Please explain exactly what you meant ?? " and .. "Btw, I also do not necesserily support Kmoch 100%, but since you asked for some information, I provided it to you. I'm just somewhat disappointed with your responce, especially with (b)" I'm sorry if you took that the wrong way ... I have a lot of Jewish friends! I was just stating it may be a possibility that Zmoch was biased because of a few different things, that all. |
Chess news: Chess Championship Match Remains Tied After Game 3 Is Drawn — After two decisive games, Game 3 of the World Chess Championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria, ended peacefully Tuesday with a draw. The match score in the best-of-12 match is now 1.5-1.5. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, the challenger, had White, as in Game 1, and again opened with 1 d4. Viswanathan Anand of India, the chess champion, who had blundered badly in Game 1 after he used the Grunfeld Defense, switched openings in Game 3, opting for the solid Slav Defense. Topalov tried to steer the game toward complicated and unclear positions, which he likes, by offering a pawn sacrifice at a couple of junctures. But Anand avoided any risks, declining Topalov’s offers and ... Anand Wins Again to Lead World Chess Championship — Viswanathan Anand, the world chess champion, used a blistering attack to win the fourth game of his title match against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria on Wednesday. He now leads the best-of-12 match 2.5 points to 1.5. It was the second win by Anand, both times in games where he had White. As in Game 2, he chose the Catalan, an opening long favored by Vladimir Kramnik, the former world chess champion who won a memorable, and acrimonious match against Topalov in 2006. Though it might be amusing to assume that Anand has chosen the opening for psychological reasons (play the opening of Topalov’s greatest nemesis), it is more than likely that Anand selected ... Much at stake in world chess match — The world chess championship match, which began Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria, will determine the chess champion for the next two years. There is a hefty prize fund of 2 million euros (about $2.7 million), of which the winner will receive 60%. But even more is at stake. Viswanathan Anand, chess champion since 2007, is already recognized as a great player and the instigator of India's chess boom. However, he stood in the shadow of Garry Kasparov during his prime years and became chess champion only at age 37. A victory would confirm his status as the leader of the post-Kasparov era and would turn speculation to his inevitable clash with a member of a much younger generation ... | |