| Parrthenon 2005-01-15, 9:46 am |
| I am writing an obituary for Chess Life. Meanwhile readers might be interested
in this fragment by Denker on Alekhine.
http://chessville.com/News/ArnoldSheldonDenker.htm
Arnold Sheldon Denker
1914-2005
by Jude Acers
FINAL DENKER REMARKS
ON A. ALEKHINE / WORLD CHESS CHAMPION - only player ever to defeat Capablanca
in match play.... "I Knew Alekhine well and drank with him all over the
world...naturally there comes a time when you are jolted out of your limited
chess world by a player's greatness. For me it was walking into the chess club
while Alekhine was playing five lower echelon masters simultaneously
BLINDFOLDED...beating them easily. When I saw that I knew he was world class
plus. That did it for me forever...Nobody studied chess like Alexander. I
remember he carried a notebook with him everywhere, writing analysis in it in
bars. He was particularly interested in how to win with a queen and extra pawn
versus the queen."
ON ALEKHINE'S PRO NAZI "chess journalism" - "I was the unfortunate witness, to
verify that Alekhine's own handwriting penned those infamous articles. I knew
both German and his handwriting. He wrote them. I told Albert Horowitz to go
with a flat statement in Chess Review and also endorsed a world wide ban of
Alekhine.... Here I made a grave error. Alekhine had been my friend. You do not
desert a friend. I should have stuck with him as he was dying in Lisbon and try
to find the facts, the pressures of war on him. Nowadays I agree with Larry
Evans who wrote in Chess Life that you have to be awfully careful about banning
people in chess...people change, have horrendous mental problems sometimes..war
time duress. We are all sinners and you can take that to the bank. Holier than
thou does not work!"
-- Larry Parr
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