Alekhine was born into a wealthy family in Moscow, Russia. His father Alexander Ivanovich Alekhine was a landowner and a member of the Duma. His mother, Anisya Ivanovna Alekhina (née Prokhorova), was the daughter of a rich industrialist. Alekhine was first introduced to chess by his mother, an older brother Alexei, and an older sister Varvara.

In September–November 1927 at Buenos Aires, Alekhine won the title of World chess champion from José Raúl Capablanca, to the surprise of almost the entire chess world. Alekhine defeated Capablanca with six wins, twenty-five draws, and three losses.

After the world championship match, Alekhine returned to Paris and spoke against Bolshevism. Afterwards, Nikolai Krylenko, president of the Soviet Chess Federation, published an official memorandum stating that Alekhine was the enemy of the Soviets and should be treated as an enemy. The Soviet Chess Federation broke all contact with Alexander Alekhine until end of the 1930s. By 1939 the Soviets killed his older brother Alexei Aljechin in Russia.

Although Capablanca was clearly the leading challenger, Alekhine carefully avoided granting a re-match, although a right to a re-match was part of the agreement. He avoided Capablanca by insisting that the winner get $10,000 in gold, just as he got in Buenos Aires. But after the stock market crash, there were no backers. Instead, Alekhine played matches with Efim Bogoljubow, an official "Champion of FIDE", in 1929 and 1934, winning handily both times. The first match with Efim Bogoljubow held at Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin, The Hague, and Amsterdam in September through November, 1929. Alekhine won with eleven wins, nine draws, and five losses.

Alekhine traveled the world giving simultaneous exhibitions, including Hawaii, Manila, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, and the Dutch East Indies. He was made an honorary Colonel in the Mexican army and appointed as chess instructor for the Mexican army. In July 1933, Alekhine played thirty-two people blindfold simultaneously in Chicago, winning nineteen, drawing nine, and losing four games. This was a new world record.

After defeating Capablanca, Alekhine dominated chess for quite some time. He lost only seven out of 238 games in tournament play from 1927 through 1935. In June 1929, he won at Bradley Beach. In February 1930, he won at San Remo (+13 –0 =2), ahead of Aron Nimzowitsch by a margin of 3½ points. In April 1931, he won a consultation tournament at Nice. In September 1931, he won at Bled (+15 –0 =11). He won by a margin of 5½ points (!) over his nearest rival (Efim Bogoljubow). In February 1932, he won at London. In March 1932, he tied for first-third at Bern (Quadrangular). In July 1932, he won the 36th Swiss Championship at Bern. In August 1932, he won at Pasadena. In October 1932, he tied for first with Isaac Kashdan in Mexico City. In 1933, he won a match with Rafael Cintron at San Juan. In October 1933, he won at Paris, and next he drew a match with Ossip Bernstein at Paris (+1 –1 =2). In January 1934, he tied for second, with Andor Lilienthal, at Hastings 1933/34. The event was won by Salo Flohr. In February 1934, Alekhine won at Rotterdam (Quadrangular). In July 1934, he won the 37th Swiss Championship in Zurich. In April 1935, Alekhine won at Örebro.

Alekhine played five times at chess olympiads on board one for France. In July 1930, at the 3rd Chess Olympiad at Hamburg, he scored his first 100% score when he won all nine games. In July 1931, at the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague (+10 –1 =7). His loss to Latvian master Hermanis Matisons was his first loss in a serious chess event since winning the world championship. In June 1933, at the 5th Chess Olympiad at Folkestone (+8 –1 =3). He lost one game to Saviely Tartakower. In August 1935, at the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw (+7 –0 =10). In August-September 1939, at the 8th Chess Olympiad at Buenos Aires (+9 –0 =7).

In April–June 1934 Alekhine defeated Efim Bogoljubow for the world championship in twelve German cities (+8 –3 =15). He then accepted a challenge from Max Euwe. On October 3, 1935 the world championship match between Dr Alekhine and Dr Euwe began in Zandvoort, The Netherlands. On December 15, 1935 Max Euwe fortunately had won with nine wins, thirteen draws, and eight losses. This was the first world championship match to officially have seconds. Alekhine had the services of Salo Landau, and Euwe had Geza Maroczy. The loss is largely attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism as also corroborated by some players. In 1935 Alekhine married for the fourth time to Grace Freeman Wishaar (Wishard, Wishart, Wishar), a lady sixteen years older than he. She was an American-born widow of a British tea-planter in Ceylon. She retained her British citizenship to the end of her life.

Alekhine played in ten tournaments after losing the title. In May 1936, he tied for first with Paul Keres at Bad Nauheim. In June 1936, he won at Dresden. In July 1936, he took second, behind Salo Flohr, at Podebrady. In August 1936, he took sixth, behind Capablanca, Botvinnik, Fine, Reshevsky and Euwe, at Nottingham. In October 1936, he took third, behind Euwe and Fine, at Amsterdam, and tied for 1st with Salo Landau at Amsterdam (Quadrangular). In 1936/37, he won, ahead of Reuben Fine and Erich Eliskases, at Hastings. In March 1937, he won at Nice (Quadrangular). In April 1937, he took third, behind Paul Keres and Reuben Fine at Margate. In June–July 1937, he tied for fourth with Keres, behind Flohr, Reshevsky and Petrovs, at Kemeri. In July 1937, he tied for second with Efim Bogoljubow, behind Max Euwe, at Bad Nauheim (Quadrangular).

Alekhine gave up alcohol and regained the title from Max Euwe in December 1937 by a large margin (+10 –4 =11). In this return match, held in the Netherlands, Euwe was seconded by Reuben Fine, and Alekhine by Erich Eliskases. Alekhine played no more title matches, so he held the title until his death.

In March 1938 Alekhine won at Montevideo. In April 1938, he won at Margate. In September 1938, he tied for 1st with George Alan Thomas at Plymouth. In November 1938, he tied for 4-6th with Max Euwe and Samuel Reshevsky, behind Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, and Mikhail Botvinnik, but ahead of José Raúl Capablanca and Salo Flohr, at AVRO Tournament, the Netherlands.

Alekhine was representing France on board 1 at the chess olympiad in Buenos Aires when World War II broke out. He, as a captain of the French team, and Saviely Tartakower, as a captain of the Polish team, refused to allow their teams to play Germany. In September 1939, Alekhine won a tournament at Montevideo, afterward he won at Caracas. Supported by Latin-American financial pledges, José Raul Capablanca, challenged Alexander Alekhine to a world title match in November. Tentative plans not, however, actually backed by a deposit of the required purse ($10,000 in gold), led to a virtual agreement to play at Buenos Aires, Argentina beginning April 14, 1940. In January 1940, Alekhine returned to Europe, staying first in Portugal. He later moved to France to enlist in the army and became an interpreter. When France was overrun he tried to go to America by travelling to Lisbon and applying for an American visa. To protect his wife, Grace Wishard, who was an American Jew, and her French assets (a castle at Saint Aubin-le-Cauf, near Dieppe, which the Nazis looted), he agreed to cooperate with the Nazis. In March 1941 Alekhine signed six articles critical of Jewish chess players. He argued that there was a Jewish way of playing chess (cowardly), and an Aryan way of playing chess (aggressive and brave). He mentioned that the representatives of Aryan chess included Philidor, Labourdonnais, Anderssen, Morphy, Tchigorin, Pillsbury, Marshall, Capablanca, Bogoljubow, Euwe, Eliskases, and Keres. For Jewish players, there were Kieseritzky, Steinitz, Lasker, Janowski, Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, Reti, Spielmann, Flohr, Fine, Reshevsky, and Botvinnik.

Alekhine participated in Nazi chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg, Krakow/Warsaw, and Prague. In September 1941, he tied for second-third with Erik Lundin at Munich (2nd Europa Tournament). The event was won by Gösta Stoltz. In October 1941, he tied for first with Paul Felix Schmidt at Krakow/Warsaw (2nd GG Tournament). In December 1941, he won at Madrid. In 1941, he won a mini-match with Lopez Esnaola at Vitoria. In June 1942, he won at Salzburg. In September 1942, he won at Munich (1st European Championship). In October 1942, he won at Warsaw/Lublin/Krakow (3rd GG Tournament). In December 1942, he tied for first with Klaus Junge at Prague (Duras Memorial). In March 1943, he drew a mini-match (+1 –1 =0) with Efim Bogoljubow at Warsaw. In April 1943, he won at Prague. In June 1943, he tied for 1st with Paul Keres at Salzburg. By 1943 Alekhine was spending all his time in Spain and Portugal as the German representative to chess events. In April 1944, he narrowly won a match against Ramon Rey–Ardid at Zaragoza (+1 –0 =3). In July 1944, he won at Gijon. In March 1945, he won at Madrid. In July 1945, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Antonio Medina–Garcia at Gijon. The event was won by Antonio Rico. In August 1945, he won at Sabadell. In August 1945, he tied for 1st with Lopez Nuñez at Almeria. In September 1945, he won at Melilla. In Autumn 1945, he took second at Cáceres, behind Lupi. Alekhine's last chess match was with Francisco Lupi at Estoril, Portugal in January 1946. Alekhine won two games, lost one, and drew one.

After World War II Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments because of his Nazi affiliation. While planning for a World championship match against Botvinnik, he died in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. His death, the circumstances of which are still a matter of debate, is thought to have been caused either by his choking on a piece of meat, or by a heart attack. Some have speculated that he was murdered, possibly by the KGB. His burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were transferred to the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France in 1956.

Alekhine was an avid student of the game. Several openings and opening variations are named after him. The Alekhine Defence (1. e4 Nf6 in algebraic notation) is the most important. There is also the Alekhine-Chatard attack (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4), a pawn sacrifice in the French Defence.

Many chess players were admirers of Alekhine's style, such as Max Euwe who said, "Alekhine … is a poet who creates a work of art out of something that would hardly inspire another man to send home a picture post-card." Gary Kasparov said that Alekhine was his early inspiration.

It is less well-known that Alekhine was also an avid table tennis player, and claimed it to be his favourite way of relieving tension before a chess game. But Harry Golombek, who admired Alekhine's chess and was personally friendly with him, claimed:

Golombek also claimed in the same article:

Alekhine had a cat which he named "Chess". He used to get the cat to walk over the board before he played games. One of his opponents - subsequently defeated - was quoted as saying "When I saw that damn cat I knew I was in trouble!"

• Alexander Alekhine vs Milan Vidmar, Karlsbad 1911, Four Knights Game: Paulsen (C49), 1-0
• Alexander Alekhine vs Hans Fahrni, Mannheim 1914, French Defense: Alekhine-Chatard Attack (C13) 1-0
• Richard Reti vs Alexander Alekhine, Baden-Baden 1925, Hungarian Opening: Reversed Alekhine (A00) 0-1
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Alexander Alekhine, Buenos Aires Wch-m 1927, Queen's Gambit Declined (D52), 0-1 The game ends in an interesting position with four queens on the board.
• Alexander Alekhine vs Aron Nimzowitsch, San Remo 1930, French, Winawer, Advance (C17), 1-0 One of the shortest games ending in a zugzwang - in the 26th move, Black is already strategicaly lost and has no good moves.
• Gideon Stahlberg vs Alexander Alekhine, Hamburg 1930, 3rd Olympiad, Nimzo-Indian, Spielmann (E23), 0-1 1st best game prize.
• Alexander Alekhine vs Emanuel Lasker, Zurich 1934, Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line (D67), 1-0 A short game ending with a queen sacrifice.
• Alexander Alekhine vs Max Euwe, Haarlem, Wch-m 1937, 6th game, Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (D10) 1-0 Masacre!
• Alexander Alekhine vs Erich Eliskases, Buenos Aires 1939, 8th Olympiad (el.), Caro-Kann (B14) 1-0
• Alexander Alekhine vs Paul Keres, Munich 1942, 1st European Championship, Queen's Indian (E17) 1-0

• " Chess first of all teaches you to be objective. "
• " The fact that a player is very short of time is, to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime. " - On the Zeitnot problem.
• " With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we'll never see again. " - On his great rival, Capablanca.

• Alekhine, Alexander (1985). My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937. Dover. ISBN 0-486-24941-7. Originally published in two volumes as My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 and My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937
• Alekhine, Alexander (1992). 107 Great Chess Battles 1939-1945. Dover. ISBN 0-486-27104-8.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1968). The Book of the Hastings International Masters' Chess Tournament 1922. Dover. ISBN 0-486-21960-7.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1961). The Book of the New York International Chess Tournament 1924. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20752-8.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1962). The Book of the Nottingham International Chess Tournament. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20189-9.
• Alekhine, Alexander (1973). The World's Chess Championship, 1937. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20455-3.