Alekhine had been a grandmaster since 1914 or thereabouts (the title is not a formal one), and he was on a path to become the Champion from that time onwards. In 1914, the Champion was Emmanuel Lasker; the title passed to José Raúl Capablanca in 1921. In 1924, Alekhine came third behind those two in a tournament held in New York. From that point, his focus was squarely on defeating Capablanca.
In 1927, the World Chess Championship was held in Buenos Aires. Alekhine had spent years studying Capablanca’s technique, and defeated him in a series of 34 matches – he won 6, Capablanca won 3 (the rest were stalemates that did not affect the score). It was the longest match series in the Championship to that date, and was only exceeded by the Karpov/Kasparov match series of 1984. (After Capablanca’s death, Alekhine admitted that he had been surprised to win, and believed that Capablanca’s overconfidence was a major factor.) He eventually lost the title to Max Euwe in 1935, only to win it back in a rematch in 1937. He retained the title until his death in 1946 – although this is partially due to World War Two interrupting play – the next Championship was not held until after his death.
