This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration of a chapter from The Essential Sosonko, a collection of chess portraits written by legendary grandmaster and chess author Genna Sosonko.
Today's reading centres around Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine became the fourth World Chess Champion in 1927 - a title that, save for a two-year hiatus, he held until his death in 1946. Alekhine has had a lasting influence on the game of chess, but his life is certainly no less interesting.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:15 The new World Chess Champion returns to Paris
02:34 "The world chess champion is a Russian"
03:57 Monsieur Alekhine was a French National
05:06 "My life's dream is far from the limitations of the 64 squares on the chessboard."
06:02 Praise for Alekhine
07:03 Nadezhda Semenova Vasilieva
08:24 The couple in Paris
09:03 "A man such as myself"
09:45 In the Paris garden of the Palais-Royal
10:25 A real chess player
10:52 The Astrea Masonic lodge
13:08 Before the revolution
14:02 Burdened by "spiritual loneliness"
15:24 Chess in the Masonic lodge
16:28 General meetings in the Astrea
17:01 Berlin
18:28 Grace Wishar
19:00 Titular Counselor
20:36 "The only person who understands me"
21:45 Withdrawal from the Astrea
22:35 Excluding brother Alexander Alekhine
24:06 An alien element
25:11 "The renegade Alekhine"
26:13 The troubled years had become everyday life
26:43 The "new Steel Russia"
27:42 "Chess El Dorado"
28:52 Alekhine congratulated Soviet chess players
29:49 Resolution
30:07 Alienation from the immigrants
31:08 Nolens volens
