Chess 18 Nov 1923, Sun The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) Newspapers.com
Much Heralded Russian Chess Contender Reaches America
Alekhine Lands in Montreal for American Tour
By J. K. Schmidt.
Alexander Alekhine, the Russian chess master who has made things so interesting for the strategists on the other side, at last has reached America and has landed in Montreal, according to advices just received from friends in New York.
While his plans are as yet undisclosed, it is announced that he expects to visit the chess center of the Dominion before entering the United States. The sole purpose of his tour, it is disclosed, is to raise funds to finance his projected match with Jose R. Capablanca of Havana for the world chess crown.
There are whispers that he will make his future home either in this country or in Canada and that he will devote his life to the game in which he has won so many triumphs. Enthusiasts of the game agree that the country he chooses will be fortunate in acquiring him.
It is not generally known that Alekhine was an examining magistrate until the Russian revolution ruined him and the Bolshevist regime drove him out. His friends say that he was not driven out of Russia but that on the other hand his spirit revolted against the political system of the Soviet.
Be that as it may be, he has not spent much time in his native country. After the Soviet Republic was established he took up his residence in Germany. Later he went to Paris, where he has been living.
In his tour of England, he gave an exhibition in London, where, according to Sterling Kerr, president of the leading chess club there, he made a remarkable showing against thirty of the most skillful players in the metropolis of the world.
In a simultaneous exhibition in Paris against fifty-four of the best players in France, he won forty-six, drew five and lost three. What he will do in the United States can be guessed from this performance.
