Today (April 20) will begin the biggest chess event in France the Alekhine Chess Memorial. The press conference can be watched live from 8.30 pm India time on the official website followed an hour later by the grand opening ceremony which will feature the pairings announcements and concert by Nikolay Lugansky and Vadim Repin. All activities will be broadcast via the official website - www.alekhine-memorial.com. Daily rounds can be watched India time 6.30 pm.
The event - dedicated to the memory of the great Russian chess player and 4th World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine will take place in two famous museums of the world – the Louvre (Paris) and the Russian Museum (Saint-Petersburg). The idea is to highlight both the chess event and Russian culture. The Alekhine Memorial Super Tournament continues the tradition of holding chess tournaments in World’s biggest museums – the tradition which was set up during the match Anand-Gelfand, held in May 2012 in the Engineering building of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The opening ceremony and first five rounds will take place in Paris, in the Tuileries Garden. On April, 26 in the morning the participants, arbiters, journalists will leave Paris for Saint-Petersburg. Last four rounds will be played in Saint Michael’s Castle (The Russian Museum branch).
The opening ceremony and first five rounds will take place in Paris, in the Tuileries Garden. On April, 26 in the morning the participants, arbiters, journalists will leave Paris for Saint-Petersburg. Last four rounds will be played in Saint Michael’s Castle (The Russian Museum branch).
The part of the tournament which will be held in Paris will take place in a pavilion built in the Tuileries Garden. It is open for public from 1:30 P. M. No entry fee required.
Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946)
Born in Moscow on 19 October 1892, the first Russian World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine was the son of a State Duma deputy, marshal of the Voronezh nobility, and the owner of huge black-earth estates in Central Russia. Alekhine graduated from the St Petersburg School of Law in 1914. That same year, he became one of the world’s strongest chess players, placing third at the prestigious St Petersburg chess tournament, after the then-reigning World Champion Emanuel Lasker and before the future Champion José Raúl Capablanca.
Alekhine was playing at a tournament in Germany when WWI broke out. He was arrested and thrown into a German prison; upon his return to Russia, he signed up as a volunteer with the Red Cross. Alekhine was twice contused on the Galician Front, carried the wounded from battlefields, was decorated several times and was nominated for the Order of Saint Stanislaus with Swords. He became the first Chess Champion of the USSR in 1920, before leaving Soviet Russia in 1921 for France, where he became a citizen in 1925.
In 1927, Alekhine defeated the “invincible” José Raúl Capablanca in a match for the World Champion title. He dominated the chess world for several years after that, winning major tournaments at a big advantage over his rivals. In 1935, he lost a match to Max Euwe, only to defeat the Dutch Grandmaster two years later in a return match and to remain undefeated until his death.
In 1939, during the chess Olympics in Buenos-Aires he called for the German team to be disqualified because of the German attack on Poland. After the Olympics he performed charity games, with funds going to the Polish Red Cross. In 1940, he joined the French army, which brought many complications to his life in occupied France.
Alekhine died in Portugal in 1946, on the eve of an announcement that his World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik would take place after all. Alexander Alekhine was the only World Chess Champion to die undefeated.
Participants: World Champion Viswanathan Anand, his challenger from 2012 match Boris Gelfand, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, World Cup winner Peter Svidler, Levon Aronian, Nikita Vitiugov, Michael Adams, Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fressinet Laurent.
