What, exactly, is Alekhine wearing here?

[MJMcCready]

Could someone help here please. I saw this photo on MemoryChess's account on facebook and would like to know what uniform Alekhine is wearing. I am assuming that is military uniform but could someone say what it is and why he would be wearing it in 1913 (if the date of the photo is correct). Many thanks for any help offered.

8273_1016119075142888_8211414190249792967_n.jpg

[MJMcCready]

Also, am I correct in assuming that the position on the demo board doesn't match the position on the board? Perhaps that's why ALekhine looks a little depressed!

[MJMcCready]

Last question, who is the third person in the picture?

[John McKenna]

Alekhine graduated from law school but never practiced.

During World War I, Alekhine was arrested by the Germans because he had a photograph of himself wearing the uniform of the law school he attended. The Germans thought he was a Russian officer in the military.

[MJMcCready]

So you claim that is the uniform from his law school? Could you say a little more please?

[MJMcCready]

By that I mean was it really necessary to wear uniform at law school. If so, why does Alekhine wear it outside school when he's playing chess? Because he wishes to dress formally? Could he not wear a suit like his opponent?

[Roger de Coverly]

Could you say a little more please?

I tried a Google of "Alekhine in uniform".

It came up with a Capablanca biography containing the following:-

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bzU ... rm&f=false

Alekhine came in the dark green uniform worn by students of law

[Roger de Coverly]

By that I mean was it really necessary to wear uniform at law school. If so, why does Alekhine wear it outside school when he's playing chess? Because he wishes to dress formally? Could he not wear a suit like his opponent?

I should imagine the social conventions of pre-revolutionary St Petersburg are lost to us.

[Michael Farthing]

Maybe even he just liked wearing it!

[Jon Mahony]

I seem to remember reading an article about that picture, and it is indeed some sort of military uniform (because his job at the time had an honorary military rank?) I can’t remember now but it is something along those lines.

Never noticed him looking depressed before - called time at the bar maybe?

[MJMcCready]

Roger: to us English speakers without access to Russian untranslated materials many of them are yes.

[MJMcCready]

lol, okay gents, its just that I wondered what his intentions where (if he were allowed to have such things) and WHO is that third person, did Lasker suddenly look 20 years younger that day?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

By that I mean was it really necessary to wear uniform at law school. If so, why does Alekhine wear it outside school when he's playing chess? Because he wishes to dress formally? Could he not wear a suit like his opponent?

I should imagine the social conventions of pre-revolutionary St Petersburg are lost to us.

I should imagine that the social conventions of pre-revolutionary St Petersburg, rather than being lost to us, are perfectly well preserved in the Russian literature of the time. Though what the conventions were for chess tournaments, I have no idea. Looking at the social milieu in which chess players of different eras moved in might be of interest to some.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Maybe he's sick of posing for millions of photographs?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

lol, okay gents, its just that I wondered what his intentions where (if he were allowed to have such things) and WHO is that third person, did Lasker suddenly look 20 years younger that day?

It has been hand-coloured, I think, so that might make people look younger than they really are.

It has been coloured by a modern retoucher. It says "colour by Klimbim" see: https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/

Black-and-white original is here:

https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/2016/ ... hine-1913/