World Championship 1937: Alekhine – Euwe
Written off as a spent, drink-addled has-been, Alekhine prepared for the rematch with monastic discipline and turned two years of humiliation into vindication — becoming the first man ever to regain the World Championship.
◈A rematch freely given
Euwe did something rare among champions: he granted his predecessor a return match without hunting for a softer opponent or throwing up obstacles. The public still favoured the Dutchman, seeing Alekhine as a washed-up alcoholic — but in the intervening two years the former champion had reformed his habits and thrown himself into intensive preparation.
The contest returned to the Netherlands, again touring more than a dozen towns.
◈Reclaiming the crown
Euwe led by a point after five games, but Alekhine then scored 4½ of the next 5 to seize a decisive advantage, repeating the surge later to close it out. He won after twenty-five games, +10−4=11, a score of 15½–9½, becoming the first former World Champion in history to win the title back.
It was the last championship the reigning champion himself controlled. Alekhine died in 1946 still holding the crown, and FIDE stepped in to organise the succession — ending the era in which the champion set his own terms.
◈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 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alekhine | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 15½ |
| Euwe | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 9½ |
1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.