Evolution of Chess Style #139: Alekhine brilliancy game at Nottingham 1936

â–ºPlaylists: http://goo.gl/FxpqEH â–ºKingscrusher's Greatest Hit Videos! : http://goo.gl/447QLb â–ºFREE online chess at http://www.chessworld.net/chessclubs/asplogin.asp?from=1053 or realtime at http://www.chessclub.com/from/kingscrusher [Event "Nottingham"] [Site "Nottingham ENG"] [Date "1936.08.22"] [EventDate "1936.08.10"] [Round "11"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Alexander Alekhine"] [Black "C H Alexander"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "54"] 1. d4 {Notes by Alekhine} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 {The usual move nowadays is 4 Bd2, in order to develop the knight on the more natural square c3. But, on the other hand, if Black wants to avoid the exchange of his king's bishop, he will now be forced to lose time by retreating it to e7. The text move therefore cannot be condemned. It has the advantage anyhow of leading to more complicated lines than the usual move.} b6 5. g3 Bb7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Bxd2 {? Instead of this exchange, which yiels White the advantage of the pair of bishops without necessity, Black could play either d5 (Rubinstein-Alekhine, Semmering, 1926) or even Be7, followed by d6, Nbd7, etc. In both cases he would have better equalising prospects than in the actual game.} 8. Qxd2 {The correct recapture, as the queen bishoop is wanted on the long diagonal.} d6 9. b3 Nbd7 10. Bb2 Rb8 {Black shows his hand decidedly to early. The obvious object of the text move is to play Ne4 followed by f5, for which purpose the bishop must be protected, to avoid the possible answer Ng5. But the same idea could have been combined with a mobilisation by 10...Qe7, 11...Rad8, and eventually Ba8.} 11. Rad1 {! An interesting and effective method of meeting Black's plan. The White queen bishop is to play in the following development a most important and practically decisive part.} Ne4 {If Qe7 then 12 Qe3 (Ne4 13 d5).} 12. Qe3 f5 13. d5 {This pawn will only apparently be weak, as White can always protect it by counter-attack.} exd5 {e5 instead would lose a pawn by 14 Nh4!} 14. cxd5 Ndf6 15. Nh4 Qd7 {If Nxd5 then 16 Rxd5 Bxd5 17 Qd4 winning a piece.} 16. Bh3 {Again preventing Nxd5 , this time because of 17 Qxe4.} g6 17. f3 Nc5 18. Qg5 {Threatening not only 19 Bxf6 but also 19 B or Nxf5; and if 18...Nxd5 then 19 Nxg6 wins. Black's reply is therefore forced.} Qg7 19. b4 Ncd7 {Equally hopeless would be Na4 20 Ba1, etc.} 20. e4 {! The initial move of the decisive sacrificial combination.} Nxe4 {Black clearly based his last hopes on this ingenious stroke. If now 21 Bxg7 Nxg5 22 Bxf8 then Nxf3+ 23 Kg2 Rxf8 24 Kxf3 Nf6 followed by Nxd5 with good fighting chances.} 21. Qc1 {! Much more effective than 21 fxe4 Qxb2 22 exf5 Qf6 yielding White only a possible win after a laborious end-game.} Nef6 22. Bxf5 {! The surprising sequal to 20 e4. After gxf5 23 Nxf5 Black would either lose his queen or be mated (23...Qh8 24 Nh6+ Kg7 25 Qg5 mate).} Kh8 23. Be6 {At last the d-pawn is definitely safe.} Ba6 24. Rfe1 Ne5 25. f4 {Far the simplest way to force resignation.} Nd3 26. Rxd3 Bxd3 27. g4 {There is no remedy against g5. This game won the special prize for the most brilliant king side attack at Nottingham.} 1-0 â–ºSupport the channel by donating via PayPal: http://goo.gl/7HJcDq Thumbnail Alekhine By Alexandre_Alekhine_01.jpg: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) derivative work: JesusAngelRey (Alexandre_Alekhine_01.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons