Alexander Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902–1946

This is by far the most comprehensive accounting of the games of this brilliant chess player: an exhaustive catalog the result of many years of digging—an effort unparalleled in the history of chess game collections. Many of the games are annotated by Alekhine and range from his earliest correspondence tournaments in 1902 through his final match with Francisco Lupi at Estoril, Portugal, in January 1946.

Leonard M. Skinner is a marine scientist who lives in South Glamorgan, Wales.

Robert G.P. Verhoeven lives in The Hague, the Netherlands, and was formerly a librarian in the chess department of the Royal Dutch Library.

Leonard M. Skinner and Robert G.P. Verhoeven
Foreword by Alex A. Aljechin
Format: softcover (8.5 x 11 in 2 vols)
Pages: 824
Bibliographic Info: 1,868 diagrams, references, bibliography, indexes
Copyright Date: 2019 [1998]
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7942-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3958-1
Imprint: McFarland

• VOLUME 1 •
Foreword x
Preface xii
1. Correspondence Events 1902–1904: Aleksandr or Aleksei?
2. Correspondence Events 1905–1907
3. On the Way to the Master’s Title 1907–1909
4. Young Russian Master 1909–1911
5. International Consolidation 1912–1913
6. Grandmaster Success 1914
7. War and Revolution 1914–1917
8. Soviet Russia 1917–1921
9. Re-emergence in the West 1921–1922
10. Wanderer in Europe 1922–1923
11. Laying the Foundations 1923
12. North America 1923–1924
13. The Ascent Begins 1925
14. Success in Europe 1925–1926
15. South America 1926
16. World Championship Contender at Last 1926–1927
17. Master of the Invincible 1927–1928
18. North America 1929
19. The Golden Years 1929–1930
20. The Successes Continue 1930–1931
21. Still Supreme 1932

• VOLUME 2 •
22. The North American Tour 1932
23. The World Tour 1933
24. Events in Europe and the USA 1933
25. The Title Defended 1933–1934
26. The Calm Before the Storm 1935
27. The Championship Lost 1935–1936
28. The Rehabilitation Begins 1936
29. The Championship Regained 1936–1937
30. First Amongst Equals 1938
31. South America 1939
32. Return to Europe 1940–1941
33. Wartime Triumphs 1942
34. Wartime Successes Continue 1942–1943
35. Escape from Occupied Europe 1943–1944
36. The Final Phase 1945–1946
37. Miscellaneous Unallocated Games 734
38. Alekhine’s Tournament Record 1902–1945 736
39. Alekhine’s Career Record 1902–1946 765
Bibliography 787
Index of Alekhine’s Opponents and Consultation Partners 794
Openings Index—Descriptive Classification 803
Openings Index—ECO Classification 805

• Historical Book of the Year—United States Chess Federation.
• Finalist, Book of the Year—British Chess Federation

• “The most substantial historical publishing event of the decade…lavishly-bound McFarland epic…wonderful”—British Chess Magazine
• “Alekhine’s career has been thoroughly documented…this magnificently produced book is essential for anyone seriously interested in chess history”—Chess Mail
• “Extensively researched…massive…raised the bar for single-player collections and biographies by several orders of magnitude…impressive”—ChessCafe.com
• “This is truly a monumental work”—Chess Horizons
• “Excellent…exceptionally well-investigated…a superb piece of work which immediately takes its place in that highest and rarest class of books: those which permanently enrich our beloved game”—New In Chess
• “A fine addition to chess literature…a giant of a book on a giant of a player…highly recommended”—Inside Chess
• “Astounding…gorgeous…beautiful…any chess historian must exult when seeing the detailed quotations of sources for each game…the authors succeeded in writing a splendid Alekhine Career Record which will be an excellent guideline for further research on Alekhine’s chess…the book will satisfy every demanding reader”—Quarterly for Chess History
• “A feast of information…a huge number of games, many well annotated by the champ…an incredible number of complete crosstables and charts…outstanding…thoroughly researched, well written and handsomely produced…full of content…highly recommended”—Blitz Chess
• “Staggering”—Chess Life
• “This book is very well researched and it is the most comprehensive and detailed book about Alekhine so far…highly recommended…a magnificent piece of work”—Seagaard Chess Reviews
• “The best-researched and most detailed work”—The Washington Post
• “This weighty tome is worth every penny…truly valuable…unparalleled collection of games”—Chess Moves
• “The most comprehensive accounting of the games of this brilliant chess player ever published…a labor of love…recommended”—Check
• “Outstanding”—The Hull Chess Club Magazine
• “Research like never before!”—Chess Digest
• “Unique…incredible”—Winnipeg Free Press
• “Recommended…not to be missed by any Alekhine-researcher”—ChessBase
• “The best book on one of the greatest players of all”—The Sunday Express, London