An interesting item from Herbert Halsegger notes that Alekhine's wife, Anna Liese [sic - Annelise is correct] Ruegg-Alekhine, was denied entry to the USA because she could not post a $500 bond to ensure her status as a temporary visitor. It is interesting that she was denied entry despite the fact that the American consul in Zurich granted her a visa. Also interesting is that Alekhine, not known as a teetotaler, married a woman who was a leader in the prohibition movement!
It should be added that she met and married Alekhine in Russia, and they had been married only a short time, in 1921, before Alekhine left Russia. As the link above notes, they divorced in 1926, so the paper's claim (in January of that year) that she was Alekhine's wife was correct. Sergei Tkachenco's Alekhine's Odessa Secrets (see here for a review) notes, as the review says, that the marriage fell apart almost immediately after the couple left Russia, him being obsessed with chess and her with politics. This is corroborated, again per the book's review, with the testimony of their son.
Whether the marriage was in fact a fictitious marriage for Alekhine to get out of Russia or simply a marriage that failed is, of course, very hard to determine. It is true that Ms. Ruegg was significantly older than Alekhine at the time - by 13 years - and the marriage didn't last long after they couple left Russia. But on the other hand they did have a son. In any case, merely failing in marriage is not in itself proof the marriages are sham marriages (Folke Rogard, for instance, FIDE's president, was married four times).
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