Alexander Alekhine vs Bobby Fischer
Two chess prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Alekhine | Bobby Fischer | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1892 | 1943 |
| Died | 1946 | 2008 |
| Country of birth | France | - |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Pisces |
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 →
Bobby Fischer
On a July evening in 1972, in a stark hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, two men sat down to play chess with the eyes of the world upon them. One represented the Soviet Union, the dominant chess power that had held the World Championship for twenty-four consecutive years. The other was a twenty-nine-year-old from Brooklyn who had learned the game from a pamphlet at age six, who had barely slept in weeks, who had already threatened to withdraw from the match twice, and who was now the most famous chess player on earth. Robert James Fischer…
Full biography of Bobby Fischer →
What they share
- Both are held here under Sports.
- Same sub-field: Chess.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- 51 years separate their births (1892 and 1943).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Alekhine or Bobby Fischer?
- Alexander Alekhine. Alexander Alekhine was born in 1892, Bobby Fischer in 1943.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Alekhine is filed under Sports (Chess). Bobby Fischer is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.