The Voronkov book Russkiy sfinks was first published in one volume in Moscow in 2021 and was 544 pages long. This English edition is substantially revised and expanded and will be published in a total of four volumes, of which this first one alone has 471 pages. In his work, the author presents the personality of the world champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946). He brings a large amount of information that has not been published before. By comparing many documents and eyewitness testimonies, he finds that Alekhine's life was much more complicated, contradictory and tragic than we know from literature. This first volume deals with the years 1892-1921 and is accompanied by 52 annotated games, 170 photographs and illustrations, many of which - both games and photographs - are published for the first time. 6 pictures, the last two show the list of games. Further information about the book is available at elkandruby.com