Alekhine wanted to get out of Russia so he coerced a woman to marry him. As soon as they were over the border, he left her and her kid, telling them he only wanted to get out of russia, because of the Bolshevic takeover, Amazing!

Alekhine came from a wealthy Russian family and I'm sure it wasn't outside his privileged mindset to use someone to attain whatever his goals might have been. I also believe Alekhine was having a problem with alcoholism that started in the early 1920's and by the mid 1930's it had started to impact his play profoundly. He defeated the world champion Capablanca in 1927 who at the time was considered unbeatable. His alcoholism contributed to erractic play in the mid 30's. During this time it was when he lost the title to Max Euwe, although he gained it back in 4 years time by quite a large margin. Alekhine's games have probably been analyzed by more people than any other players in history and is widely regarded as one of the best tactical players to play the game. Although Garry Kasparov, a fan of Alekhine, has said Alekhine's play was based upon solid positional foundations which is the basis for modern chess play. He has said that the future of chess is the chess played by Alekhine. Imho, I think Alekhine's play is hard to even classify, as he had demonstrated numerous times his adaptability and marvelous ingenuity in any manner of play. For this reason he is one of my favorite players of all time and ranks #7 on my list of best chess players of all-time.

I think he lost the title in 1935 but gained it back in 1936, so Euwe was world champion for only 1 year. I would rank him as number 3.

I'm sorry you are right he lost it in 1935 but gained it back in 1937 so it was 18 months not 4 years. For some reason I thought he lost it in 1933 and got it back in 37, hence my mistake of 4 years.

I think Fischer was said to have remarked that Alekhine had really grand conceptions, which I thought was curious, like Alekhine was taking fantasy on the chessboard to the next level. I dont say it too often, because I fear censure, but I rank Alekhine as Number 1, then Kasparov and Fischer tied at 2-3.

After due consideration I have revised my top 10 list. The comments posted here along with some research that included sources I was unaware of before I picked my top ten, have now convinced me that a revision was necessary. As I have now exhausted all sources on measuring chess players respective strengths and weaknesses this is my final revised top 10 list.

1. Bobby Fischer
2. Garry Kasparov
3. Anatoly Karpov
4. Alexander Alekhine
5. Jose Capablanca
6. Mikhail Botvinnik
7. Tigran Petrosian
8. Emanuel Lasker
9. Vasily Smyslov
10. Mikhail Tal

Any disagreements this time?

I just wanted to add that it is said Alekhine died under very suspicious circumstances. As stated before Alekhine was Russian by birth but fled his native country. He resided in Nazi Germany during WWII and a few articles that were said to be written by him were very anti-semetic in nature. Alekhine denied writing these articles stating the Nazi's used his notoriety to futher their agenda. Quite a few people believe that Russia was fixing professional chess so that its own players could dominate the field. One outspoken supporter of this belief was Bobby Fischer, who cited the Russian's were trying to do anything to keep him from winning the title. Due to Alekhine's Nazi past he was detested by most of the professional chess community and by the public at large and was not allowed to compete in quite a few tournaments. Russia had lost millions of people fighting the Nazis' and despised Alekine who in their mind was a traitor to mother Russia and a Nazi sympathizer. Due to this fact and the upcoming title match with the Russian, Mikhail Botvinnik,(World Champion after Alekhine's death) Alekhine's own son believed his father was killed in a Russian plot.

I am sure that this is not the final word on the death of Alekhine, but I have read that he choked on a piece of meat, and that is not all, Alekhine alwways ate with his hands, as always anyone who can shed further light on this interesting subject, please go for it.

No it is not the final word. I just checked on Wikipedia and there are numerous theories as to how he died. Regardless of his manner of death, his passing was sudden and unexpected. The cause of his death is widely debated. The first being that he died of a sudden heart attack, or that he choked on some meat as you stated Nightclub, or third that he was killed by a French or Russian deathsquad. Now Alekhine's son endorses the idea that his father met with foul-play and was murdered, along with I believe a few authors. Could it be that this is just another conspiricy theory to sell books and make television documentaries? Or is it just human nature to embelish the deaths of our heroes, infamous persons and celebrities because their deaths were so mundane that it requires an exciting ending like Elvis still being alive, or Hitler escaping Berlin to South America, Mariliyn Monroe being murdered by the CIA or FBI because she had an affair with both Kennedy brothers and she knew too many goverment secrets? Indeed why would someone accept Alekhine choked on a steak sandwich if he could have been murdered by some covert goverment plot instead!

Brandon you had me laughing with the steak sandwich story, when I said he choked on a piece of meat, Im thinking like sirloin tips. Sirloin tips that you eat with your hands, and one of the tips was too big to fit down his throat. This is the first I have ever heard about an assasination plot!! I cannot rule this out, simply because it is plausible. I have seen the picture of Alekhine taken after his death. The look on the face is calm, he has a heavy overcoat on, so I just assumed he was cold in his apartment, as it had no heat or he coudn't afford heat. Also, it seemed like his chess set was in front of him, and if my memory serves me correctly, it was a peg board set. Other than that, I can only guess at foul play.

LOL I put the steak sandwich in there for comedic value. I guess it worked then!

tchigorin and morphy over smyslov and petrosian