Alexander Alekhine vs Alfred Hitchcock
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Alekhine | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| Field | Sports | Film |
| Sub-field | Chess | Screenwriter |
| Born | 1892 | 1899 |
| Died | 1946 | 1980 |
| Country of birth | France | United Kingdom |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Leo |
Who they are
Alexander Alekhine
When Alexander Alekhine arrived in Buenos Aires in September 1927 to challenge José Raúl Capablanca for the World Championship, the chess world expected a formality. Capablanca had not lost a competitive game in eight years. Grandmasters whispered that chess had reached its apex in the Cuban — that the game, played perfectly, would always draw, and that Capablanca was the player who played perfectly. Alekhine, a Russian émigré living in France, was a fine attacking player, perhaps the best combinational talent of his generation, but attacking chess against someone who never made errors was considered…
Full biography of Alexander Alekhine →
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, a quiet district of east London, to a greengrocer and his wife. He was a shy, overweight child who found that stories — their architecture, their capacity to generate unease — interested him more than almost anything else. His father once sent him to the local police station with a note, and the duty officer locked him in a cell for five minutes as a lesson in what happens to naughty boys. Hitchcock later described this as the defining trauma of his life, the…
Full biography of Alfred Hitchcock →
What they share
- Near contemporaries - 7 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Sports for Alexander Alekhine, Film for Alfred Hitchcock.
- Born in different countries: France and United Kingdom.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Alekhine or Alfred Hitchcock?
- Alexander Alekhine. Alexander Alekhine was born in 1892, Alfred Hitchcock in 1899.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Alekhine is filed under Sports (Chess). Alfred Hitchcock is filed under Film (Screenwriter).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.