‘I can comprehend Alekhine’s combinations well enough; but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses such life into the very opening – that is beyond me. Give me the positions he obtains, and I should seldom falter. Yet I continually get drawn games, even out of the King’s Gambit!’ Those words of admiration for the fourth world champion are usually attributed to Rudolf Spielmann, a strong contemporary of his in the interwar period.