World Championship 1934: Alekhine – Bogoljubow
Five years after their first meeting, Alekhine and Bogoljubow played for the crown again — a rematch so widely regarded as unnecessary that the champion himself dismissed it, and one he won without ever being seriously threatened.
◈Why play at all?
Stronger candidates than Bogoljubow — Capablanca, Flohr, the ageing Nimzowitsch — could not overcome the financial and political obstacles to a match, while Botvinnik remained walled off inside the Soviet Union. Bogoljubow, twice German champion, was the challenger who could be arranged, and the two met across a dozen German towns.
Many observers, the champion among them, saw little sporting point in a contest whose result seemed foregone.
◈Duty done
Alekhine won comfortably, +8−3=15, a final score of 15½–10½, retaining the title he had held since 1927. His play was uneven — by his own account because he could not take the match seriously.
It was the last time the two would meet for the crown. Alekhine's next defence, against a mathematics teacher from Amsterdam, would not go to script.
◈Cross Table
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alekhine | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 15½ |
| Bogoljubow | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 10½ |
1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.
“This game — more than any other — proves how useless from the sporting point of view was the arrangement of this second match, and at the same time explains my indifferent play on a number of occasions.”