José Raúl Capablanca v Alexander Alekhine: head-to-head record and title matches

Their title match

Year	Winner	Score	Where	Format
1927	Alexander Alekhine	18½–15½	Buenos Aires	First to 6 wins

How they compare

Capablanca	Measure	Alekhine
1888	Born	1892
6	Years as champion	17
1 of 2	Title events won	4 of 5
9	Head-to-head wins	7
6	Wins with White	4
3	Wins with Black	3
2877 May 1921	Peak (Chessmetrics)	2860 May 1931
2937	On today's scale	2906
+115	Lead over No. 2 at peak	+74

A star marks the better figure. "On today's scale" and the lead are explained on the champions page.

Trophy cabinets

Capablanca	Honour	Alekhine
1 1921	World titles	4 1927, 1929, 1934, 1937
–	National	1 1920
1 1939	Olympiad board	2 1931, 1933

Each year links to its source. World championship titles are title events won or kept. Olympiad board golds are the best score on a board. Most of these events didn't exist before the 1920s.

Decade by decade

1910s

4 – 1 – 0

1920s

4 – 31 – 6

1930s

1 – 1 – 1

Capablanca wins – draws – Alekhine wins, per decade.

Famous games between them

Alexander Alekhine v Jose Raul Capablanca, World Chess Championship 1927, game 34 · 1-0

The last game of the match that made him champion.

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1-0

Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

Every recorded game

Year	White	Result	Moves	Event
1913	Capablanca	1-0	35	Savorin Cup
1913	Alekhine	0-1	42	Savorin Cup
1914	Alekhine	0-1	35	St. Petersburg
1914	Alekhine	½–½	28	St. Petersburg
1914	Capablanca	1-0	45	St. Petersburg
1922	Alekhine	½–½	17	London
1924	Capablanca	½–½	62	New York
1924	Alekhine	½–½	18	New York
1927	Alekhine	0-1	42	New York
1927	Capablanca	½–½	28	New York
1927	Alekhine	½–½	28	New York
1927	Capablanca	½–½	26	New York
1927	Capablanca	0-1	43	Capablanca - Alekhine World Championship
1927	Alekhine	½–½	19	Capablanca - Alekhine World Championship
1927	Capablanca	1-0	42	Capablanca - Alekhine World Championship

Every game between them in the chessgames.com database (checked 2026-11-04): classical, rapid, blitz and exhibition games together, as the database records them.

Quick answers

Who won more games, José Raúl Capablanca or Alexander Alekhine?

In the 49 games between them in the chessgames.com database (1913–1938), Capablanca won 9, Alekhine won 7 and 33 were drawn: Capablanca leads. The count includes every recorded game, not only classical ones.

How many world championship matches did Capablanca and Alekhine play?

1: 1927 (Alekhine won, 18½–15½).