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Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alekhine was world champion twice, from 1927 to 1935 and from 1937 to 1946. He loved to attack and prepared with great care. He is the only player to have died as the reigning world champion.

  • BornOctober 31, 1892, Moscow
  • DiedMarch 24, 1946, Estoril, Portugal
  • CountryRussia, later France
  • World champion1927–1935, 1937–1946
  • In the line of championsNo. 4 of 18
  • Highest ratingNo FIDE rating
    FIDE's official lists began in July 1971

The road to the title

Alekhine was born in Moscow in 1892. He left Russia in 1921 and settled in France, where he later became a citizen. Before his match against Capablanca in Buenos Aires in 1927 he prepared with great care.

Capablanca was the favorite, but Alekhine won after 34 games, 25 of them draws. No title match was longer until 1984.

The title matches

Alekhine's points come first, then wins (+), losses (−) and draws (=) in the classical games. A rapid tiebreak is given separately.
YearAgainstResultWhere
1927José Raúl Capablanca18½–15½ (+6 −3 =25)
Won the title		Buenos Aires
1929Efim Bogoljubov15½–9½ (+11 −5 =9)
Kept the title		Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam
1934Efim Bogoljubov15½–10½ (+8 −3 =15)
Kept the title		twelve German cities
1935Max Euwe14½–15½ (+8 −9 =13)
Lost the title		several Dutch cities
1937Max Euwe15½–9½ (+10 −4 =11)
Won the title		several Dutch cities

How he played

Alekhine played with tremendous energy. He looked for attacks and complications, but he could also play quietly and was strong in the endgame. He gave his name to an opening still played today, Alekhine's Defense, where Black answers 1.e4 with 1…Nf6.

32 games without seeing a board

Alekhine could play chess in his head, without seeing the board. In 1933, in Chicago, he played 32 such games at once, a world record at the time.

Two matches against Euwe

Alekhine defended the title twice against Efim Bogoljubov, in 1929 and 1934. In 1935 he lost it to the Dutchman Max Euwe, 14½–15½. Two years later they met again, and this time Alekhine won clearly, 15½–9½.

Afterward

Alekhine was still world champion when he died in Estoril, Portugal, in March 1946. The title had no holder until the world chess federation FIDE organized a championship tournament in 1948.

Sources

  • Wikipedia: Alexander Alekhine
  • Store norske leksikon: Aleksandr Alekhin
  • World Chess Hall of Fame: Alexander Alekhine
  • Edward Winter, Chess Notes: Blindfold Chess (the records in blindfold simuls)
  • OlimpBase: the title matches 1927–1937
  • PGN Mentor: the title matches' games

The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given. The match results are also checked against the games themselves.

Updated November 8, 2026