Alexander Alekhine, Antonius Block, Bobby Fischer and "checkmate in the
corner"!

I wrote about strange death of Alexander Alekhine, Keres, Efim Bogoljubow,
and some other top chess players who played on Tournament Salzburg in 1942.

Here is one interesting opinion of GM Kevin Spragett about Alekhine's death
which you can read on his web site:
http://www.kevinspraggett.com/anecdote.htm#ANEC3.

I cite some passages from the Kevin Spragett's article:

----------------------------

The world champion who died under the most mysterious circumstances:
Alexander Alekhine!

Alekhine died in Portugal (just outside Lisbon) in 1946. The 'official'
account is that he choked on a piece of meat (while sitting down in a big
arm chair) and studying chess. There is even a photo of this: sure enough we
can see Alekhine laying limp in the armchair, with all of the pieces still
upright on the board.

What is wrong with the official story? (I mean, apart from the fact that if
a 'normal' person was sitting down and choking he would get up and become
quite frantic, possibly even overturning the board and pieces in the
process...!?)

The doctor who wrote the official death certificate (Dr. Antonio Ferreira,
just by chance an avid chess player himself) later told friends that
Alekhine's body was found on the street, in front of his hotel room! He had
been shot! He said that government pressure had forced him to complete the
death certificate as it now exists. (Portugal was neutral during the Second
World War, and might have wanted to avoid any controversy).

According to well placed sources (including Spassky, who is married to a
French woman who worked in the diplomatic services ) the French Resistance
created a super secret 'Death Squad' after the second world war to 'deal'
appropriately with those people on a black list who had collaborated too
willingly with the German Nazi's, once France was over run by Germany.
Apparently the list was not less than 200,000 names!

Correspondence of Alekhine, shortly before his untimely demise, mentioned
that he felt he was being followed!
Alexander Alekhine's initials were AA, so that would put him at the top of
any list!
Alekhine died within a day or two of the British Chess Federation voting to
hold the Botvinnik-Alekhine match...so if there was an assassin then he had
to move quickly since Alekhine was about to go to England!

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Something looks me like "deja vu"! I would recall the sentence from the
Spragett text:
-----
"There is even a photo of this: sure enough we can see Alekhine laying limp
in the armchair, with all of the pieces still upright on the board."
----

We could remember one of the famous chess passages: "Black is the colour of
Death" of the wonderful film "The Seventh Seal" by Ingmar Bergman. " I cite
from the article written By Alessandro Sanvito - "Death and Chess in
Iconography"
------------
There are many reasons to believe that the meeting of the Man with the Death
in front a chessboard, at least in the metaphorical aspects, could have by
far preceded the theme of the Dance of Death.
Here the Knight (Antonius Block) meets a figure wrapped in a large black
cloak, who informs him that he had been following him for a long time,
a-waiting this moment. The Knight gazes at the pale face of Death and asks,
"You are able to play chess, aren’t you?"

"Yes" replies Death, "how do you know?"

"I have seen it in paintings and I have read it in legends" Block replies.

Death warns the Knight that he will lose the game, but this does not dismay
him, and he offers her the choice of colour. The pieces are laid out on the
chessboard, and the game begins.

The checkmate "in the corner" which Death gives to Block is particularly
astonishing, as it is a final position much valued by the chess players of
the Middle Ages. It was considered of particular beauty both due to the
difficulty of its realisation and to the simplicity of its aspect.

------------------


You can read the article titled "Searching for Bobby Fischer XII - Checkmate
for grandmaster" (26.11.2003)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...825840067.html . I cite:
---------

Yet another mission to find the reclusive American chess genius, this time
conducted by a Sydney Morning Herald reporter in Tokyo, was unsuccessfully.
In his article Shane Green explains why this was in fact a bit of a relief.
Here are the relevant links.

--------

Is that obscure organization, so called "French resistence" the only secret
organization which took "justice in their hand"? Who knows?! Maybe Bobby
evaded -The checkmate "in the corner"?!

Goran Tomic

Very interesting articles. A few years ago I read an article about
Alekhin's death and the author supposed that he was killed. The last
picture of Alekhin is very strange indeed.

By the way, I have read excellent Bjelica's book collection "The Kings of
Chess".
I have looked at the book, number 4, about Alekhine and I found the letter
of Dr. Antonio Ferreira in it (page 36-38).
Dr Antonio Ferreira was the student of medicine in Lisbon and he was present
on Alekhine's autopsy (in medical school where the body was transported).
They examined if he was poisoned, so they tested, carefully his stomach.
They didn't find anything. After that they tested if it was heart attack,
but they found the prosaic reason for death-a piece of steak in his throath.
They found two pieces, a big one in the throat and small in the mouth.

In the book was written that he analyzed (or intended to analyze)
Medina-Rico game, from the Spanish Championship, 1945.

On page 15. the readers can see that last Alekhine's photo: Alekhine's dead
body with white pieces in front of him.
Maybe it would never be revealed who played with black...

Regards,
Goran Tomic