Lilienthal died the other day and I noticed in an obituary this story:

Lilienthal could also boast three blitz game victories against the chess genius Alexander Alekhine, though these, played at the rate of five minutes per player per game, did not count for official tournament records. After his defeats in these quickplay contests, Alekhine, invariably generous to promising young chess talents, personally funded Lilienthal’s entry to an important blitz tournament for which the young Hungarian could not afford the entry fee. Lilienthal went on to reward his benefactor’s munificence by duly winning the first prize in the blitz tournament. When Lilienthal, now flush with cash after his victory, offered to refund the world champion’s subsidy, Alekhine declined the offer, insisting that his reward would be for Lilienthal to go on to become a master of the game that Alekhine loved and to which he had committed his own life.

This is Alekhine, the supposed Nazi sympathiser, an account of which you can find here: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/alekhine.html

Does this story go any way to offset his Nazi sympathies, if they've been proven? I wonder if I may make a case for the question being irrelevant?

What I really think is that Alekhine was a chess player and this meant he didn’t have a clue about the world we think of as real. If you play chess like Alekhine, the real world is the chess board. Maybe this story goes some way to explaining:

"'In 1935, an international team tournament was held in Warsaw. Alekhine played top board for France, of which he was a naturalized citizen. However, on this trip he arrived at the Polish border without a passport. When the officials asked him for his papers he replied: "I am Alekhine, chess champion of the world. I have a cat called Chess. I do not need papers.' The matter had to be cleared up by the highest authorities." Reuben Fine. The Psychology of the Chess Player.

Is this relevant as a defence? Maybe, maybe not. Another example is the 5 queen game, where again, Alekhine’s conception of reality has nothing to do with normal people’s. The story in detail can be found here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/al5q.htm

Coming back to the first story, here he is, Alekhine, reaching into his pocket to help a destitute young chess player. Are we, then, able to forgive some special people for living in another world while being forced to inhabit our own. I sort of hope so. ( )