His father was a wealthy landowner, a Marshal of the Nobility and a member of the State Duma and his mother was an heiress to an industrial fortune. Both he brothers were taught chess by their mother. According to Alexander (the World Champion) for a long time the three played a lot of chess together on a regular basis.
Alexei was good enough that he was able to draw with Harry Nelson Pillsbury when the American gave a simultaneous blindfold display in Moscow in 1902.
After the October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, took place in Russia on October 24–25 in 1917, he had a number of successes in local tournaments. He was considered a First Category player which, I believe, is in the 2000-2199 Elo range.
In an article written by Hans Kmoch entitled “Alexander Alekhine” he stated that Alexei, whom he had met in Moscow during the 1925 tournament, was murdered shortly afterwards in connection with a love affair, according to newspaper reports outside Russia. That was wrong. He died in Kharkov in August of 1939.
In the following game he defeats Andreas Duhm (1883-1975, 92 yers old). He was born in Gottingen, Germany. He was Swiss champion in 1900, 1901 (jointly with his brother Hans Duhm) and 1913. He passed away in Heidelberg in 1975.
[Event "Correspondence"]
[Site "Correspondence"]
[Date "1909.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexei Alekhine"]
[Black "Andreas Duhm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "1909.??.??"]
{D00: Stonewall} 1. d4 d5 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 Nf6 4. Nd2 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. f4 {
The Stonewall Attack was briefly popular. Between the 1880s and the 1920s it
was used by players with an attacking style, but wjen black discovered
equalizing lines the opening fell into disuse. At least it’s flexible and
can be reached by several different move orders.} cxd4 7. exd4 {Capturing with
the c-Pawn is equal while with his next move white is forced to defend the
f-Pawn with either 8.g3 or 8.Nh3, beither of which offer gim a very promising
game.} Bd6 8. Nh3 (8. g3 Bd7 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Ngf3 {with equal chances.
Aleksandrova,A (1687)-Volodarsky,M (1400) Ashdod ISR 2022}) 8... O-O (8... g6
9. O-O Bd7 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. Nf3 {The chances are about equal. Zilahi,G (2059)
-Ferenczi,J (2015) Budapest 2006}) (8... Ne7 {rather passive, but not really
bad.} 9. Qe2 O-O 10. O-O Ng6 11. Nf3 h6 12. Ne5 {Black doesn't want to allow
Nxg6 so he should retreat 13...Ne7} Bxe5 13. fxe5 Nh7 {Better was 13...Ne4.
After the text black loses quickly.} 14. Qh5 Qe8 15. Bxh6 f5 16. exf6 Rxf6 17.
Nf4 Nhf8 18. Nxg6 {1-0 Tasic,Z (2236)-Radovanovic,Z (2074) Belgrade 2005}) (
8... Qc7 {This is OK.} 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe2 Ne8 11. Nf3 Be7 12. Bd2 Nd6 13. Rae1
a5 14. a4 b6 15. Ne5 Nb8 {This loses. 15...f5 keeps the chances about evem.}
16. Ng5 Bxg5 17. fxg5 g6 18. Ng4 Nd7 19. Bf4 Qc6 20. Be5 Nc4 21. Nh6# {1-0
Appel,H-Schmithuesen,B Bern 1991}) 9. O-O {[%mdl 32]} Bd7 10. Qe2 a6 11. Nf3 b5
12. Ne5 g6 {This vreatres a weakness on the dark squares arounf his K. 12...
Ne7 was better.} 13. Ng5 Qe7 14. Rf3 Be8 15. Rh3 {This R-lift is a common
tactic in these types of positions. White gradually builds up his attack and
black's defensive task becomes more difficult with each move.} Kg7 16. Bd2 Nd8
17. Rf1 {[%mdl 32]} Rh8 18. f5 exf5 {Black's position looks solid enough, but..
.} 19. Bxf5 gxf5 {[%mdl 8192] Black is much too obliging, but other moves
would (theoretically) not really have helped.} (19... h6 20. Qf2 Ra7 (20...
gxf5 21. Qxf5 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Ng8 23. Rg3 {ends ir...} hxg5 24. Bxg5 Qe6 25. Bh6+
Kxh6 26. Qg5+ Kh7 27. Qg7#) 21. Re1 {even with two pieces under attack white
has a decisive advantage. Neither piece can be taken.} Qf8 (21... hxg5 22. Rxh8
Kxh8 23. Bxg5 gxf5 24. Qh4+ Kg8 25. Bxf6 {wins}) (21... gxf5 22. Rg3 Ng4 23.
Qxf5 Bd7 24. Ne6+ Bxe6 25. Rxg4+ Kf8 26. Ng6+ Ke8 27. Nxe7 Bxf5 28. Nxf5+ Kd7
29. Rh4 h5 30. Bf4 Bf8 (30... Bxf4 31. Re7+) 31. Be5 Rh7 32. g4 {White will
win the ending wothout much trouble.}) 22. Ngf3 Nc6 23. Qh4 Ng8 24. Rf1 Qe7 25.
Qg3 {Black's position lools solid, but Stockfish give white a decisive
advantage. That's the theoretical evaluation and after giving Stockfish a long
look reaching to move 48 it still dud not reach a position that was obviously
decisive. So, from the human perspective things are not at all that clear.})
20. Rg3 Kf8 21. Rxf5 h6 22. Qe3 {A nifty finish! White threatens Nh7+ and mate.
} Qc7 23. Rxf6 (23. Nh7+ {and black likely survives.} Rxh7 24. Rxf6 Bxe5 25.
dxe5 {and while white is better, there is no clear win in sight.}) 23... Ke7 {
There is nowhere to run.} 24. Rf5 f6 25. Ng4+ {Black resigned. A very well
played game by Alekhine.} (25. Ng4+ Kd7 26. Nxf6+ Kc8 27. Nxd5 Qc6 28. Ne4 Bd7
29. Nxd6+ Qxd6 30. Rg6 Be6 (30... Qxg6 31. Ne7+) 31. Qe4 Bxf5 32. Qxf5+ Ne6 33.
Rxe6 Rf8 34. Rf6+ Kb8 35. Bf4 Kb7 36. Qh7+ Rf7 37. Qxf7+ Kc8 38. Qe8+ Kb7 39.
Rf7+ Qc7 40. Rxc7#) 1-0
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