Chess Historians

Dude, they wacked him bro ...

There was no reason to kill him- 4 or 5 players wee better than him by 1946, including Botvinnik

Though it is only speculation, having read much of Solzhenitsyn and his accounts of Russia during this time, it seems quite plausible that Alekine could have been assassinated by a Stalin controlled Soviet state. Being Russian-born made Alkeine de facto chattel of the “fatherland”. Given the role chess played in projecting international Soviet strength, I at least suspect that Alekine choked on the flesh of his own Russian heritage served to him by a Stalinist regime. It is interesting to consider such plans had probably been on the table for some time (since 1938-39), but had been on hold until after the War when Stalin had the resources to reach into Western Europe.

Had they lured him to play chess in Moscow against Botnivik, Alekine wouldn’t have returned. Stalin had a special place in hell (camps) for all the Russian ex-pats that fled the revolution.

@Kingsley_Chesterton
> ... de facto chattel of the “fatherland”.

Dude, read some different books, bro ...

Also Botvinnik wrote his article on the Soviet School of Chess, published in 1949, 3 years after Alekhine's death, proclaiming Alekhine as one of the founders of the School, and spoke very highly of him. Presumably Soviet authorities approved everything Botvinnik published, so it is safe to say Alekhine was in the good graces of Soviets by then.