08/12/2026
♟️🐈 DID YOU KNOW?
At the 1935 World Chess Championship, defending champion Alexander Alekhine arrived with an unusual second: his beloved Siamese cat, Chess.
Alekhine was famously devoted to cats, and Chess accompanied him to tournaments —including his title match against Dutch challenger Max Euwe.
Photographs even show the pair together during the championship.
Alekhine believed that having Chess inspect or sniff the board brought him good luck. The story becomes even more intriguing: Euwe was rumored to be allergic to cats, leading some to suggest that Chess was not merely a companion, but also a rather furry form of psychological warfare.
Whether the cat truly wandered onto the board or disrupted play is harder to verify, but the legend fits Alekhine’s famously eccentric character.
Euwe remained composed. After 30 games played across the Netherlands, he defeated Alekhine by the narrowest of margins: 15½–14½, becoming the fifth World Chess Champion.
And Alekhine’s feline devotion apparently extended beyond the tournament hall. Another often-repeated story says that when he reached the Polish border without the necessary papers before the 1935 Chess Olympiad, he declared:
“I am Alekhine, chess champion of the world. I have a cat called Chess. I do not need papers.”
A grandmaster, a lucky cat and one of the greatest upsets in World Championship history. Sometimes, the stories surrounding the board are as fascinating as the games themselves.
Do you know any other interesting facts, stories or superstitions from the world of chess? Share your favorite in the comments! ♟️
🔗 Request to join our next "Engineering Leaders Play Chess event" on August 27 in Menlo Park, CA here → https://ow.ly/fQCj50Zz0Sc
