[blind-chess] Annotated Game #126: Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe, Netherlands 1935
- From: "Roderick Macdonald" <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Blind-Chess Mailing List" <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:37:22 -1000
Annotated Game #126:
Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe, Netherlands 1935
Adapted and Condensed from
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Contents:
++1. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
++1.A Biography
++1.A1 Early life
++1.A2 Early chess career (1902-1914)
++1.A3 Top-level grandmaster (1914-1927)
++1.A3a World War I and post-revolutionary Russia
++1.A3b 1920-1927
++1.B World Chess Champion, first reign (1927-35)
++1.B1 1927 title match
++1.B2 Rematch offered, never finalized
++1.B3 Defeats Bogolyubov twice in title matches
++1.B4 Anti-Bolshevik statements, controversy
++1.B5 Dominates rivals
++1.C Loss of the World title (1935-1937)
++1.D World Chess Champion, second reign (1937-46)
++1.D1 1937-1939
++1.D2 World War II (1939-1945)
++1.D3 His final year
++1.E Assessment
++1.E1 Playing strength and style
++1.E2 Influence on the game
++1.E3 Accusations of "improving" games
++1.E4 Accusations of anti-Semitism
++1.F Notable chess games
++1.G Writings
++1.H Summary of results in competitions
++1.H1 Tournament results
++1.H2 Match results
++1.H3 Chess Olympiad results
++2. Machgielis (Max) Euwe
++2.A Early years
++2.B Early career
++2.C World Champion
++2.D Later career
++2.E FIDE President
++2.F Assessment of Euwe's chess
++2.G Chess books by Euwe
++2.H Other interesting accounts
++2.I Notable chess games
++2.J Quotations
++3. Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe, Netherlands 1935
++1. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
World Champion 1927-1935 & 1937-1946
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (October 31, 1892 - March 24,
1946) was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered
one of the greatest chess players ever.
By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess
players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the
tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World
Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered
invincible, in what would stand as the longest chess championship
match held until 1985.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two
top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played first board
for France in five Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in
each (four medals and a brillancy prize). His tournament record
became more erratic from the mid-1930s onwards, and alcoholism is
often blamed for his decline. Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch
on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and
negotiations dragged on for years without making much progress.
Meanwhile, Alekhine defended his title with ease against Bogoljubov
in 1929 and 1934. He was defeated by Euwe in 1935, but regained his
crown in the 1937 rematch. His tournament record, however, remained
uneven, and rising young stars like Keres, Fine, and Botvinnik
threatened his title. Negotiations for a title match with Keres or
Botvinnik were halted by the outbreak of World War II in Europe in
1939.
Alekhine stayed in Nazi-occupied Europe during the war, where he
played in tournaments which were organized by the Nazis. Anti-
Semitic articles appeared under his name, although he later claimed
they were forged by the Nazis. Alekhine had good relationships with
several Jewish chess players, and his fourth wife was Jewish. After
the war, Alekhine was ostracized by players and tournament
organizers because of the anti-Semitic articles. Negotiations with
Mikhail Botvinnik for a world title match were proceeding in 1946
when Alekhine died in Portugal, in unclear circumstances.
Alekhine is known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style,
combined with great positional and endgame skill. He produced
innovations in a wide range of chess openings. Statistical rating
systems differ about his strength relative to other players, giving
him rankings between fourth and eighteenth in their "all-time"
lists. Although Alekhine was declared an "enemy of the Soviet
Union" after making anti-Bolshevik statements in 1927, in the 1950s
he was posthumously rehabilitated and acclaimed as one of the
founders of the "Soviet School of Chess", which dominated the game
after World War II. He is highly regarded as a chess writer and
theoretician, giving his name to Alekhine's Defense and several
other opening variations, and also composed a few endgame studies.
There is strong evidense that Alekhine "improved" the published
scores of some of his games, although in one case he may not have
been responsible for the misrepresentation.
++1.A Biography
++1.A1 Early life
Alekhine was born into a wealthy family in Moscow, Russia on
October 31, 1892. His father Alexander Ivanovich Alekhine was a
landowner and Privy Councilor to the conservative legislative
Fourth Duma. His mother, Anisya Ivanovna Alekhina (born
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
(Barbara).
++1.A2 Early chess career (1902-1914)
The tables at the end of this article give details of Alekhine's
results.
Alekhine in 1909
Alekhine's first known game was from a correspondense chess
tournament that began on December 3, 1902, when he was ten years
old. He participated in several correspondense tournaments,
sponsored by the chess magazine Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie, in
1902-1911. In 1907, Alexander played his first over-the-board
tournament, the Moscow chess club's Spring Tournament. Later that
year, Alexander tied for 11th-13th in the club's Autumn Tournament;
his older brother, Alexei, tied for 4th-6th place. In 1908,
Alexander won the club's Spring Tournament, at the age of fifteen.
In 1909, he won All-Russian Amateur Tournament in Saint Petersburg.
For the next few years, he played in increasingly stronger
tournaments, some of them outside Russia. At first he had mixed
results, but by the age of sixteen he had established himself as
one of Russia's top players. He played first board in two friendly
team matches: St. Petersburg Chess Club vs. Moscow Chess Club in
1911 and Moscow vs. St. Petersburg in 1912 (both drew with Eugene
Znosko-Borovsky). By the end of 1911, Alekhine moved to St.
Petersburg, where he entered the Imperial Law School for Nobles. By
1912, he was the strongest chess player in the St. Petersburg Chess
Society. In March 1912, he won the St. Petersburg Chess Club Winter
Tournament. In April 1912, he won the 1st Category Tournament of
the St. Petersburg Chess Club. In January 1914, Alekhine won his
first major Russian tournament, when he tied for first place with
Aron Nimzowitsch in the All-Russian Masters Tournament at St.
Petersburg. Afterwards, they drew in a mini-match for first prize
(they both won a game). Alekhine also played several matches in
this period, and his results showed the same pattern: mixed at
first but later consistently good.
++1.A3 Top-level grandmaster (1914-1927)
In April-May 1914, another major St. Petersburg 1914 chess
tournament was held in the capital of the Russian Empire, in which
Alekhine took third place behind Emanuel Lasker and Jose Raul
Capablanca. By some accounts, Tsar Nicholas II conferred the title
of "Grandmaster of Chess" on each of the five finalists (Lasker,
Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall). Chess historian
Edward Winter has questioned this, stating that the earliest known
sources that support this story are an article by Robert Lewis
Taylor in the June 15, 1940 issue of The New Yorker and Marshall's
autobiography My 50 Years of Chess
(1942). Alekhine's surprising success made him a serious contender
for the World Chess
Championship. Whether or not the title was formally awarded to him,
"Thanks to this performance, Alekhine became a grandmaster in his
own right and in the eyes of the audiense." In July 1914, Alekhine
tied for first with Marshall in Paris.
++1.A3a World War I and post-revolutionary Russia
In July-August 1914, Alekhine was leading an international Mannheim
tournament, the 19th DSB Congress (German Chess Federation
Congress) in Mannheim, Germany, with nine wins, one draw and one
loss, when World War I broke out. Alekhine's prize was 1,100 marks
(worth about 11,000 euros in terms of purchasing power today).
After the declaration of war against Russia, eleven "Russian"
players (Alekhine, Bogoljubov, Bogatyrchuk, Flamberg, Koppelman,
Maliutin, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, Saburov, Selezniev, Weinstein)
were interned in Rastatt, Germany. In September 14, 17, and 29,
1914, four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman)
were freed and allowed to return home. Alekhine made his way back
to Russia (via Switzerland, Italy, London, Stockholm, and Finland)
by the end of October 1914. A fifth player, Peter Romanovsky, was
released in 1915, and a sixth, Flamberg, was allowed to return to
Warsaw in 1916.
When Alekhine returned to Russia, he helped raise money to aid the
Russian chess players who remained interned in Germany by giving
simultaneous exhibitions. In December 1915, he won the Moscow Chess
Club Championship. In April 1916 Alekhine won a mini-match against
Alexander Evensohn with two wins and one loss at Kiev, and in
summer he served in the Union of Cities (Red Cross) on the Austrian
front. In September, he played five people in a blindfold display
at a Russian military hospital at Tarnopol. In 1918, Alekhine won
a "Triangular tournament" in Moscow. In June of the following year,
Alekhine was briefly imprisoned in Odessa's death cell by the
Odessa Cheka, suspected of being a spy. He was charged with links
with White counter-intelligense, after the Russians liberated the
Ukraine from German occupation. Rumors appeared in the West that
Alekhine had been killed by the Bolsheviks.
++1.A3b 1920-1927
The table at the foot of this article gives details of Alekhine's
results.
When conditions in Russia became more settled, Alekhine proved he
was among Russia's strongest players. For example, in January 1920,
he swept the Moscow City Chess Championship (11/11), but was not
declared Moscow Champion because he was not a resident of the city.
Also in October 1920, he won the All-Russian Championship in Moscow
(+9 -0 =6); this tournament was retroactively defined as the first
USSR Championship. His brother Alexei took third place in the
tournament for amateurs.
In March 1920, Alekhine married Alexandra Batayeva. They divorced
the next year. For a short time in 1920-1921, he worked as an
interpreter for the Communist International (Comintern) and was
appointed secretary to the Education Department. In this capacity,
he met a Swiss journalist and Comintern delegate, Anneliese Rueegg
(Annalisa Ruegg), who was thirteen years older than him, and they
married on March 15, 1921. Shortly after, Alekhine was given
permission to leave Russia for a visit to the West with his wife,
from which he never returned. In June 1921, Alekhine abandoned his
second wife in Paris and went to Berlin.
In 1921-1923 Alekhine played seven mini-matches. In 1921, he won
against Nikolay Grigoriev (+2 -0 =5) in Moscow, drew with Richard
Teichmann (+2 -2 =2) and won against Friedrich Saemisch (+2 -0 =0),
both in Berlin. In 1922, he won against Ossip Bernstein (+1 -0 =1)
and Arnold Aurbach (+1 -0 =1), both in Paris, and Manuel Golmayo
(+1 -0 =1) in Madrid. In 1923, he won against Andri Muffang (+2 -0
=0) in Paris.
From 1921 to 1927, Alekhine won or shared first prize in about two-
thirds of the many tournaments in which he played. His least
successful efforts were: a tie for third place at Vienna 1922
behind Akiba Rubinstein and Richard Reti; and third place at the
New York 1924 chess tournament behind ex-champion Emanuel Lasker
and world champion Jose Raul Capablanca (but ahead of Frank James
Marshall, Richard Reti, Giza Marsczy, Efim Bogoljubov, Savielly
Tartakower, Frederick Yates, Edward Lasker and Dawid Janowski).
Technically, Alekhine's play was mostly better than his
competitors', even Capablanca's, but he lacked confidense when
playing his major rivals.
Alekhine's major goal throughout this period was to arrange a match
with Capablanca. He thought the greatest obstacle was not
Capablanca's play, but the requirement under the 1922 "London
rules" (at Capablanca's insistense) that the challenger raise a
purse of US $10,000, of which the defending champion would receive
over half even if defeated (US $10,000 in 1927 would be worth about
$391,000 in 2006 Alekhine in November 1921 and Rubinstein and Aaron
Nimzowitsch in 1923 challenged Capablanca, but were unable to raise
the $10,000. Raising the money was Alekhine's preliminary
objective; he even went on tour, playing simultaneous exhibitions
for modest fees day after day. In New York on April 27, 1924,
Alekhine broke the world record for blindfold play when he played
twenty-six opponents (the previous record was twenty-five, set by
Gyula Breyer), winning sixteen games, losing five, and drawing five
after twelve hours of play. He broke his own world record on
February 1, 1925 by playing twenty-eight games blindfold
simultaneously in Paris, winning twenty-two, drawing three, and
losing three.
In 1925, he became a French citizen and entered the Sorbonne
Faculty of law. Although sources differ about whether he completed
his studies there, he was known as "Dr. Alekhine" in the 1930s. His
thesis was on the Chinese prison system. "He received a degree in
law in Saint Petersburg in 1914 but never practiced."
In October 1926, he won in Buenos Aires. From December 1926 to
January 1927, Alekhine beat Max Euwe 5.5-4.5 in a match. In 1927,
he married his third wife, Nadiezda Vasiliev (nee Fabritzky)
(Nadejda Fabritzky, Nadezhda Vasilieff), another older woman, the
widow of the Russian general V. Vasiliev (Vassilieff).
++1.B World Chess Champion, first reign (1927-35)
++1.B1 1927 title match
Capablanca, from whom Alekhine won the World Chess Championship in
1927. Prolonged negotiations for a return match came to nothing.
In 1927, Alekhine's challenge to Capablanca was backed by a group
of Argentinian businessmen and the president of Argentina, who
guaranteed the funds, and organized by the Club Argentino de
Ajedrez (Argentine Chess Club) in Buenos Aires. In the World Chess
Championship match played from September to November 1927 at Buenos
Aires, Alekhine won the title, scoring +6 -3 =25. This was the
longest formal World Championship match until the contest in 1984
between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. Alekhine's victory
surprised almost the entire chess world, since he had never
previously won a single game from Capablanca. After Capablanca's
death Alekhine expressed surprise at his own victory, since in 1927
he did not think he was superior to Capablanca, and he suggested
that Capablanca had been over-confident. Capablanca entered the
match with no technical or physical preparation, while Alekhine got
himself into good physical condition, and had thoroughly studied
Capablanca's play. According to Kasparov, Alekhine's research
uncovered many small inaccuracies, which occurred because
Capablanca was unwilling to concentrate intensely. Vladimir Kramnik
commented that this was the first contest in which Capablanca had
no easy wins.
++1.B2 Rematch offered, never finalized
Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was
willing to give Capablanca a return match, on the same terms that
Capablanca had required as champion -- the challenger must provide
a stake of US $10,000, of which more than half would go to the
defending champion even if he was defeated. After Capablanca's
death, Alekhine wrote that Capablanca's demand for a $10,000 stake
was an attempt to avoid challenges. Negotiations dragged on for
several years, often breaking down when agreement seemed in sight.
Their relationship became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher
appearance fees for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.
Grandmaster Robert Byrne wrote that Alekhine consciously sought
lesser opponents for his subsequent championship matches, rather
than giving Capablanca another chance.
++1.B3 Defeats Bogolyubov twice in title matches
Although he never agreed terms for a rematch against Capablanca,
Alekhine played two world title matches with Bogoljubow, an
official "Challenger of FIDE", in 1929 and 1934, winning handily
both times. The first was held at Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin,
The Hague, and Amsterdam from September through November 1929.
Alekhine retained his title, scoring +11 -5 =9. From April to June
1934, Alekhine faced Bogoljubow again in a title match held in
twelve German cities, defeating him by five games (+8 -3 =15). In
1929, Bogoljubow was forty years old and perhaps already past his
peak.
++1.B4 Anti-Bolshevik statements, controversy
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 should be regarded as an enemy of the
Soviets. The Soviet Chess Federation broke all contact with
Alexander Alekhine until the end of the 1930s. His older brother
Alexei, with whom Alexander Alekhine had had a very close
relationship, publicly repudiated him and his anti-Soviet
utterances shortly after, but Alexei may have had little choice
about this decision. In August 1939, Alexei Alekhine was murdered
in Russia.
++1.B5 Dominates rivals
Alexander Alekhine dominated chess into the mid-1930s. His most
famous tournament victories were at the San Remo 1930 chess
tournament (+13 =2, 3= points ahead of Nimzowitsch) and the Bled
1931 chess tournament (+15 =11, 5= points ahead of Bogoljubov). He
won most of his other tournaments outright, shared first place in
two, and the first tournament in which he placed lower was Hastings
1933-34 (shared second place, .5 point behind Salo Flohr). In 1933,
Alekhine also swept an exhibition match against Rafael Cintron in
San Juan (+4 -0 =0), but only managed to draw another match with
Ossip Bernstein in Paris (+1 -1 =2).
From 1930 to 1935, Alekhine played on board one for France at four
Chess Olympiads, winning: the first brilliancy prize at Hamburg in
1930; gold medals for board one at Prague in 1931 and Folkestone in
1933; and the silver medal for board one at Warsaw in 1935. His
loss to Latvian master Hermanis Matisons at Prague in 1931 was his
first loss in a serious chess event since winning the world
championship.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine travelled the world giving
simultaneous exhibitions, including Hawaii, Tokyo, Manila,
Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the Dutch East Indies. In July
1933, Alekhine played thirty-two people blindfold simultaneously (a
new world record) in Chicago, winning nineteen, drawing nine and
losing four games.
In 1934 Alekhine married his fourth wife, Grace Freeman (nie
Wishard), sixteen years his senior. She was the American-born widow
of a British tea-planter in Ceylon, who retained her British
citizenship to the end of her life and remained Alekhine's wife
until his death.
++1.C Loss of the World title (1935-1937)
Max Euwe took Alekhine's world title in 1935 but lost it in their
1937 return match.
In 1933, Alekhine challenged Max Euwe to a championship match.
Euwe, in the early 1930s, was regarded as one of three credible
challengers (the others were Capablanca and Salo Flohr). On October
3, 1935 the world championship match began in Zandvoort, the
Netherlands. Although Alekhine took an early lead, from game
thirteen onwards Euwe won twice as many games as Alekhine. The
challenger became the new champion on December 15, 1935 with nine
wins, thirteen draws, and eight losses. This was the first world
championship match that officially had seconds: Alekhine had the
services of Salo Landau, and Euwe had Giza Maroczy. Euwe's win was
a major upset and is sometimes attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism.
Flohr, who also assisted Euwe during the match, thought
overconfidense caused more problems than alcohol for Alekhine in
this match, and Alekhine himself had previously said he would win
easily. Later World Champions Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky,
Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov analyzed the match for their own
benefit and concluded that Euwe deserved to win and that the
standard of play was worthy of a world championship.
In the eighteen months after losing the title, Alekhine played in
ten tournaments, with uneven results: tied for first with Paul
Keres at Bad Nauheim in May 1936; first place at Dresden in June
1936; second to Flohr at Podebrady in July 1936; sixth, behind
Capablanca, Mikhail Botvinnik, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky, and
Euwe at Nottingham in August 1936; third, behind Euwe and Fine, at
Amsterdam in October 1936; tied for first with Salo Landau at
Amsterdam (Quadrangular), also in October 1936; in 1936/37 he won
at the Hastings New Year tournament, ahead of Fine and Erich
Eliskases; first place at Nice (Quadrangular) in March 1937; third,
behind Keres and Fine, at Margate in April 1937; tied for fourth
with Keres, behind Flohr, Reshevsky and Vladimir Petrov, at Kemeri
in June-July 1937; tied for second with Bogoljubow, behind Euwe, at
Bad Nauheim (Quadrangular) in July 1937.
++1.D World Chess Champion, second reign (1937-46)
Alekhine around 1945
++1.D1 1937-1939
Max Euwe was quick to arrange a return match with Alekhine,
something Jose Raul Capablanca had been unable to obtain after
Alekhine won the world title in 1927. Alekhine regained the title
from Euwe in December 1937 by a large margin (+10 -4 =11). In this
match, held in the Netherlands, Euwe was seconded by Reuben Fine,
and Alekhine by Erich Eliskases. The match was a real contest
initially, but Euwe collapsed near the end, losing four of the last
five games. Fine attributed the collapse to nervous tension,
possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm
appearance. Alekhine played no more title matches, and thus held
the title until his death.
1938 began well for Alekhine, who won the Montevideo 1938 chess
tournament at Carrasco (in March) and at Margate (in April), and
tied for first with Sir George Alan Thomas at Plymouth (in
September). In November, however, he only tied for 4th-6th with
Euwe and Samuel Reshevsky, behind Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, and
Mikhail Botvinnik, ahead of Capablanca and Flohr, at the AVRO
tournament in the Netherlands. This tournament was played in each
of several Dutch cities for a few days at a time; it was therefore
perhaps not surprising that rising stars took the first three
places, as the older players found the travel very tiring.
Immediately after the AVRO tournament, Botvinnik, who had finished
in third place, challenged Alekhine to a match for the world
championship. They agreed on a prize fund of US $10,000 with two-
thirds going to the winner, and that if the match were to take
place in Moscow, Alekhine would be invited at least three months in
advance so that he could play in a tournament to get ready for the
match. Other details had not been agreed when World War II
interrupted negotiations, which the two players resumed after the
war.
Keres, who had won the AVRO tournament on tiebreak over Fine, also
challenged Alekhine to a world championship match. Negotiations
were proceeding in 1939 when they were disrupted by World War II.
During the war Keres' home country, Estonia, was invaded first by
the USSR, then by Germany, then again by the USSR. At the end of
the war, the Soviet government prevented Keres from continuing the
negotiations, on the grounds that he had collaborated with the
Germans during their occupation of Estonia.
Alekhine was representing France at first board in the 8th Chess
Olympiad at Buenos Aires 1939 when World War II broke out in
Europe. The assembly of all team captains, with leading roles
played by Alekhine (France), Savielly Tartakower (Poland), and
Albert Becker (Germany), plus the president of the Argentine Chess
Federation, Augusto de Muro, decided to go on with the Olympiad.
Alekhine won the individual silver medal (nine wins, no losses,
seven draws), behind Capablanca (only results from finals A and B -
separately for both sections - counted for best individual
scores). Shortly after the Olympiad, Alekhine swept tournaments in
Montevideo (7/7) and Caracas (10/10).
At the end of August 1939, both Alekhine and Capablanca wrote to
Augusto de Muro regarding a possible world championship rematch.
Whereas the former spoke of a rematch as a virtual certainty, even
stating that the Cuban was remaining in Buenos Aires until it came
about, the latter referred at length to the financial burden in the
aftermath of the Olympiad. Supported by Latin-American financial
pledges, Jose R. 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.
++1.D2 World War II (1939-1945)
Unlike many participants in the 1939 Chess Olympiad, Alekhine
returned to Europe in January 1940. After a short stay in Portugal
, he enlisted in the French army as a sanitation officer.
After the fall of France (June 1940), he fled to Marseille.
Alekhine tried to go to America by traveling to Lisbon and applying
for an American visa. In October 1940, he sought permission to
enter Cuba, promising to play a match with Capablanca. This request
was denied. To protect his wife, Grace Alekhine, 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. Alekhine took part in chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg,
Krakow/Warsaw, and Prague, organized by Ehrhardt Post, the Chief
Executive of the Nazi-controlled Grossdeutscher Schachbund
("Greater Germany Chess Federation") - Keres, Bogoljubov, Gosta
Stoltz, and several other strong masters in Nazi-occupied Europe
also played in such events. In 1941, he tied for second-third with
Erik Lundin in the Munich 1941 chess tournament (Europaturnier in
September, won by Stoltz), shared first with Paul Felix Schmidt at
Krakow/Warsaw (the 2nd General Government-ch, in
October) and won in Madrid (in December). The following year he won
in the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament (June 1942) and in Munich
(September 1942; the Nazis named this the
Europameisterschaft, which means "European
Championship"). Later in 1942 he won at Warsaw/Lublin/Krakow (the
3rd GG-ch; October 1942) and tied for first with Klaus Junge in
Prague (Duras Jubilei; December 1942). In 1943, he drew a mini-
match (+1 -1) with Bogoljubov in Warsaw (March 1943), he won in
Prague (April 1943) and tied for first with Keres in Salzburg (June
1943).
By late 1943, Alekhine was spending all his time in Spain and
Portugal, as the German representative to chess events. This also
allowed him to get away from the onrushing Soviet invasion into
eastern Europe. In 1944, he narrowly won a match against Ramon Rey
Ardid in Zaragoza (+1 -0 =3; April 1944) and won in Gijon (July
1944). The following year, he won at Madrid (March 1945), tied for
second place with Antonio Medina at Gijon (July 1945; the event was
won by Antonio Rico), won at Sabadell (August 1945), he tied for
first with F. Lspez Nzqez in Almeria (August 1945), won in Melilla
(September 1945) and took second in Caceres, behind Francisco Lupe
(Autumn 1945). Alekhine's last match was with Lupe at Estoril near
Lisbon, Portugal, in January 1946. Alekhine won two games, lost
one, and drew one.
Alekhine took an interest in the development of the chess prodigy
Arturo Pomar and devoted a section of his last book (!Legado! 1946)
to him. They played at Gijon 1944, when Pomar, aged twelve,
achieved a creditable draw with the champion.
++1.D3 His final year
Grave of Alexander Alekhine in Paris, France
After World War II, Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments
outside the Iberian Peninsula, because of his alleged Nazi
affiliation. His original invitation to the London 1946 tournament
was withdrawn when the other competitors protested. While planning
for a World championship match against Botvinnik, he died in his
hotel room in Estoril, Portugal on March 24, 1946. The
circumstances of his death are still a matter of debate. It is
usually attributed to a heart attack, but a letter in Chess Life
magazine from a witness to the autopsy stated that choking on meat
was the actual cause of death. Some have speculated that he was
murdered by a French "Death Squad". A few years later, Alekhine's
son, Alexander Alekhine Junior, said that "the hand of Moscow
reached his father". Canadian Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett, who has
lived in Portugal since the late 1980s, and who has thoroughly
investigated Alekhine's death, favors this possibility. Spraggett
makes a case for the manipulation of the crime scene and the
autopsy by the Portuguese secret police PIDE. He believes that
Alekhine was murdered outside his hotel room, probably by the
Soviets.
Alekhine's burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were
transferred to the Cimetihre du Montparnasse, Paris, France in
1956.
++1.E Assessment
++1.E1 Playing strength and style
Statistical ranking systems differ sharply in their views of
Alekhine. "Warriors of the Mind" rates him only the 18th strongest
player of all time and comments that victories over players such as
Bogoljubov and Euwe are not a strong basis for an "all time"
ranking. But the website "Chessmetrics" ranks him between the
fourth and eighth best of all time, depending on the lengths of the
peak periods being compared, and concludes that at his absolute
peak he was a little stronger than Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca,
although a little weaker than Botvinnik. Jeff Sonas, the author of
the website "Chessmetrics", rates Alekhine as the sixth best player
of all-time on the basis of comparable ratings. He also assesses
Alekhine's victory at the tournament of San Remo in 1930 as the
sixth best performance ever in tournaments. In his 1978 book The
Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present, Arpad Elo gave
retrospective ratings to players based on their performance over
the best five-year span of their career. He concluded that Alekhine
was the joint fifth strongest player of those surveyed (tied with
Paul Morphy and Vasily Smyslov), behind Capablanca, Botvinnik,
Emanuel Lasker and Mikhail Tal.
Alekhine's peak period was in the early 1930s, when he won almost
every tournament he played, sometimes by huge margins. Afterward,
his play declined, and he never won a top-class tournament after
1934. After Alekhine regained his world title in 1937, there were
several new contenders, all of whom would have been serious
challengers.
Diagram #1.E1:
White: King at h2, Rooks at c1 and d2, Bishop at h1, Knights at b7
and f3, Pawns at f2 and g3.
Black: King at h8, Rooks at a8 and e3, Bishop at g4, Knights at f6
and e2, Pawns at f7 and g7.
Reti-Alekine, Baden-Baden 1925 is one of Alekhine's most famous and
complicated wins - 31. ... Ne4 forces the win of White's Knight at
b7 in 12 moves.
Alekhine was one of the greatest attacking players and could
apparently produce combinations at will. What set him apart from
most other attacking players was his ability to see the potential
for an attack and prepare for it in positions where others saw
nothing. Rudolf Spielmann, a master tactician who produced many
brilliancies, said, "I can see the combinations as well as
Alekhine, but I cannot get to the same positions." Dr. Max Euwe
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." An explanation offered by Reti was, "he beats
his opponents by analysing simple and apparently harmless sequenses
of moves in order to see whether at some time or another at the end
of it an original possibility, and therefore one difficult to see,
might be hidden." John Nunn commented that "Alekhine had a special
ability to provoke complications without taking excessive risks",
and Edward Winter called him "the supreme genius of the complicated
position." Some of Alekhine's combinations are so complex that even
modern champions and contenders disagree in their analyses of them.
Nevertheless, Garry Kasparov said that Alekhine's attacking play
was based on solid positional foundations, and Harry Golombek went
further, saying that "Alekhine was the most versatile of all chess
geniuses, being equally at home in every style of play and in all
phases of the game." Fine, a serious contender for the world
championship in the late 1930s, wrote in the 1950s that Alekhine's
collection of best games was one of the three most beautiful that
he knew, and Golombek was equally impressed.
Alekhine's games have a higher percentage of wins than those of any
other World Champion, and his drawn games are on average among the
longest of all champions'. His desire to win extended beyond formal
chess competition. When Fine beat him in some casual games in 1933,
Alekhine demanded a match for a small stake. And in table tennis,
which Alekhine played enthusiastically but badly, he would often
crush the ball when he lost.
Bobby Fischer, in a 1964 article, ranked Alekhine as one of the ten
greatest players in history. Fischer, who was famous for the
clarity of his play, wrote of Alekhine, "Alekhine has never been a
hero of mine, and I've never cared for his style of play. There's
nothing light or breezy about it; it worked for him, but it could
scarcely work for anyone else. He played gigantic conceptions, full
of outrageous and unprecedented ideas. ... He had great
imagination; he could see more deeply into a situation than any
other player in chess history. ... It was in the most complicated
positions that Alekhine found his grandest concepts."
Alekhine's style had a profound influence on Kasparov, who said:
"Alexander Alekhine is the first luminary among the others who are
still having the greatest influence on me. I like his universality,
his approach to the game, his chess ideas. I am sure that the
future belongs to Alekhine chess."
++1.E2 Influence on the game
Several openings and opening variations are named after Alekhine.
In addition to the well-known Alekhine's Defense (1.e4 Nf6) and the
Albin-Chatard-Alekhine Attack in the "orthodox" Paulsen variation
of the French Defense, there are Alekhine Variations in: the
Budapest Gambit, the Vienna Game, the Exchange Variation of the Ruy
Lopez, the Winawer Variation of the French Defense; the Dragon
Variation of the Sicilian Defense, the Queen's Gambit Accepted, the
Slav Defense, the Queen's Pawn Game, the Catalan Opening and the
Dutch Defense (where three different lines bear his name). Irving
Chernev commented, "The openings consist of Alekhine's games, with
a few variations."
Composition by Alekhine
Diagram #++1.E2
White: King at d4, Pawns at d6, g4.
Black: King at b7, Pawns at f7, g6, h7.
White to move and win.
1. g5! Kc6
2. Ke5 Kd7
3. Kd5!
(3. Kf6? Kxd6 4. Kxf7 Ke5)
3. ... Kd8
4. Kc6
And White wins.
Alekhine also composed a few endgame studies, one of which is shown
on the right, a miniature (a study with a maximum of seven pieces).
Alekhine wrote over twenty books on chess, mostly annotated
editions of the games in a major match or tournament, plus
collections of his best games between 1908 and 1937. Unlike Wilhelm
Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca and Euwe, he wrote no books
that explained his ideas about the game or showed beginners how to
improve their play. His books appeal to expert players rather than
beginners: they contain many long analyses of variations in
critical positions, and "singularities and exceptions were his
forte, not rules and simplifications".
Although Alekhine was declared an enemy of the Soviet Union after
his anti-Bolshevik statement in 1928, he was gradually
rehabilitated by the Soviet chess elite following his death in
1946. Alexander Kotov's research on Alekhine's games and career,
culminating in a biography, led to a Soviet series of Alekhine
Memorial tournaments. The first of these, at Moscow 1956, was won
jointly by Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov. In their book The Soviet
School of Chess Kotov and Yudovich devoted a chapter to Alekhine,
called him "Russia's greatest player" and praised his capacity for
seizing the initiative by concrete tactical play in the opening.
Botvinnik wrote that the Soviet School of chess learned from
Alekhine's fighting qualities, capacity for self-criticism and
combinative vision. Alekhine had written that success in chess
required "Firstly, self-knowledge; secondly, a firm comprehension
of my opponent's strength and weakness; thirdly, a higher aim - ...
artistic and scientific accomplishments which accord our chess
equal rank with other arts."
++1.E3 Accusations of "improving" games
Diagram #1.E3
White: King at f3, Queens at e3, f4 and g8, Rook at h1, Bishop at
f1, Knight at g1, Pawn at f2.
Black: King at b6, Queens at b1 and c2, Rook at a8, Bishops at c5
and c8, Pawns at a7, b7, d5
Famous and much-analyzed position from the "5 Queens" game
Samuel Reshevsky wrote that Alekhine "allegedly made up games
against fictitious opponents in which he came out the victor and
had these games published in various chess magazines." In a recent
book Andy Soltis lists "Alekhine's 15
Improvements". The most famous example is his game with five queens
in Moscow in 1915. In the actual game, Alekhine, playing as Black,
beat Grigoriev in the Moscow 1915 tournament; but in one of his
books he presented the "five Queens" variation (starting with a
move he rejected as Black in the original game) as an actual game
won by the White player in Moscow in 1915 (he did not say in who
was who in this version, nor that it was in the tournament).
In the position of the diagram at right, which never arose in real
play, Alekhine claimed that White wins by 24.Rh6, as after some
complicated play Black is mated or goes into an endgame a Queen
down. Some recent analyses suggest that this is not the case: if
White plays 24.Rh6, black can play 24...Bg4+! and White has no
mating attack. A later computer-assisted analysis concludes that
White can force a win, but only by diverging from Alekhine's move
sequense at move 20, while there are only three Queens.
Chess historian Edward Winter investigated a game Alekhine
allegedly won in fifteen moves via a Queen sacrifice at Sabadell in
1945. Some photos of the game in progress were discovered that
showed the players during the game and their chessboard. Based on
the position that the chess pieces had taken on the chessboard in
this photo, the game could never have taken the course that was
stated in the published version. This raised suspicions that the
published version was made up. Even if the published version is a
fake, however, there is no doubt that Alekhine did defeat his
opponent in the actual game, and there is no evidense that Alekhine
was the source of the spectacular fifteen-move win whose
authenticity is doubted.
++1.E4 Accusations of anti-Semitism
During World War II, Alekhine played in several tournaments held in
Germany or German-occupied territory, as did many strong players in
occupied and neutral countries. In March 1941, a series of articles
appeared under Alekhine's name in the Pariser Zeitung, a German-
language newspaper published in Paris by the occupying German
forces. Among other things, these articles said that Jews had a
great talent for exploiting chess but showed no signs of chess
artistry; described the hypermodern theories of Nimzowitsch and
Reti as "this cheap bluff, this shameless self-publicity", hyped by
"the majority of Anglo-Jewish pseudo-intellectuals"; and described
his 1937 match with Euwe as "a triumph against the Jewish
conspiracy". Alekhine was reported as making further anti-Semitic
statements in interviews for two Spanish newspapers in September
1941; in one of these it was said that "Aryan chess was aggressive
chess ... on the other hand, the Semitic concept admitted the idea
of pure defense."
Almost immediately after the liberation of Paris, Alekhine publicly
stated that "he had to write two chess articles for the Pariser
Zeitung before the Germans granted him his exit visa ... Articles
which Alekhine claims were purely scientific were rewritten by the
Germans, published and made to treat chess from a racial
viewpoint." He wrote at least two further disavowals, in an open
letter to the organizer of the 1946 London tournament (W. Hatton-
Ward) and in his posthumous book !Legado!. These three denials are
phrased differently.
Extensive investigations by Ken Whyld have not yielded conclusive
evidense of the authenticity of the articles. Chess writer Jacques
Le Monnier claimed in a 1986 issue of Europe Ichecs that in 1958 he
saw some of Alekhine's notebooks and found, in Alekhine's own
handwriting, the exact text of the first anti-Semitic article,
which appeared in Pariser Zeitung on March 18, 1941. In his 1973
book 75 parties d'Alekhine ("75 of Alekhine's games"), however, Le
Monnier had written "It will never be known whether Alekhine was
behind these articles or whether they were manipulated by the
editor of the Pariser Zeitung."
British chess historian Edward G. Winter notes that the articles in
the Pariser Zeitung mis-spelled the names of several famous chess
masters, which could be interpreted as evidense of forgery or as
attempts by Alekhine to signal that he was being forced to write
things that he did not believe; but these could simply have been
typesetting errors, as Alekhine's handwriting was not easy to read.
The articles contained (probably) incorrect claims that Lionel
Kieseritzky (Kieseritsky in English, Kizierycki in Polish) was a
Polish Jew, although (probably) Kieseritzky was neither Polish nor
Jewish. Winter concludes: "Although, as things stand, it is
difficult to construct much of a defense for Alekhine, only the
discovery of the articles in his own handwriting will settle the
matter beyond all doubt." Under current French copyright law,
Alekhine's notebooks will not enter the public domain until January
1, 2017.
There is evidense that Alekhine was not anti-Semitic in his
personal or chess relationships with Jews. In June 1919, he was
arrested by the Cheka, imprisoned in Odessa and sentensed to death.
Yakov Vilner, a Jewish master, saved him by sending a telegram to
the chairman of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars, who
knew of Alekhine and ordered his release. Alekhine accepted and
apparently used chess analysis from Charles Jaffe in his World
Championship match against Capablanca. Jaffe was a Jewish master
who lived in New York, where Alekhine often visited, and upon his
return to New York after defeating Capablanca, Alekhine played a
short match as a favor to Jaffe, without financial remuneration.
Alekhine's second for the 1935 match with Max Euwe was the master
Salo Landau, a Dutch Jew. The American Jewish grandmaster Arnold
Denker wrote that he found Alekhine very friendly in chess
settings, taking part in consultation games and productive analysis
sessions. Denker also wrote that Alekhine treated the younger and
(at that time) virtually unproven Denker to dinner on many
occasions in New York during the 1930s, when the economy was very
weak because of the Great Depression. Denker added that Alekhine,
during the early 1930s, opined that the American Jewish grandmaster
Isaac Kashdan might be his next challenger (this did not in fact
occur). He gave chess lessons to 14-year-old prodigy Gerardo
Budowski, a German Jew, in Paris in Spring 1940. Alekhine also
married an American Jew, Grace Wishard, as his fourth wife. Mrs.
Grace Alekhine was the women's champion of Paris in 1944.
++1.F Notable chess games
Diagram #1.F
White: King at f4, Rooks at c7 and f7, Knight at f6, Pawns at a3,
b2, d4, e3, f3, g3, h5
Black: King at h8, Rooks at a8 and f8, Bishop at a6, Pawns at a4,
b3, d5, e6, f5, g7, h6
"Alekhine-Yates
London 1922".
1. Rxg7 Rxf6
2. Ke5
And Yates resigned: if either Black Rook moves to f8, White
checkmates by 3. Rh7+ Kg8 4. Rcg7#
* Alekhine-Yates, London 1922, Queen's Gambit Declined:
Orthodox Defense. Main Line (D64) 1-0 Alekhine conjures up
an attack in the endgame, and his King joins the fray.
* Efim Bogolyubov vs Alexander Alekhine, Hastings 1922, Dutch
Defense, Classical Variation (A91), 0-1 This has been
called one of the greatest games ever played, with some
incredibly deep variations as Black prepares to queen a
pawn.
* Ernst Gruenfeld vs Alexander Alekhine, Karlsbad 1923,
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Rubinstein
Attack (D64), 0-1 Gruenfeld makes no obvious mistakes but
his slow build-up lets Alekhine take the initiative and
start squeezing him off the board. Gruenfeld desperately
tries to free his position and is crushed by a series of
sacrifices that forces the win of a piece or checkmate.
* Richard Reti vs Alexander Alekhine, Baden Baden 1925,
Hungarian Opening: Reversed Alekhine (A00), 0-1 A
tactically complex game in which Alekhine unleashes a 12-
move combination that wins a Knight.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Alexander Alekhine, World
Championship match, Buenos Aires 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 Defense, Winawer Variation (C17), 1-0 One of the
shortest games ending in a zugzwang -- by the 26th move,
Black is already strategically lost and has no good moves.
This game also spawned the term 'Alekhine's gun' for the
formation where the queen lines up behind the two rooks.
* Gideon Stahlberg vs Alexander Alekhine, Hamburg 1930, 3rd
Olympiad, Nimzo-Indian Defense, Spielmann Variation (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. After the
tournament Lasker said: "Alekhine's attacking genius has no
equal in the history of the game".
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match,
game 4, The Hague 1935, Grunfeld Defense, Russian Variation
(D81), 0-1 Alekhine sacrifices two rooks, but traps Euwe's
King in the centre, wins the queen, then finishes
elegantly.
++1.G Writings
Alekine wrote over twenty books on chess. Some of the best-known
are:
* 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 (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.
Games analysis published after 1938 were edited by Edward Winter
and published in 1980 in the book :
* Alekhine, Alexander & Edward Winter (1992). 107 Great Chess
Battles 1939-1945. Dover. ISBN 0-486-27104-8.
++1.H Summary of results in competitions
++1.H1 Tournament results
Here are Alekhine's placings and scores in tournaments:
1907 Moscow
11-13 5.5/15 +5 =1 -9 his brother Alexei Alekhine tied for
4-6th
1908 Moscow
1st Moscow Chess Club Spring Tournament.
1908 Duesseldorf
3-4 9/13 +8 =2 -3 16th DSB Congress, A Tournament
1908/09 Moscow
1st 6.5/9 +5 =3 -1 Moscow Chess Club Autumn Tournament
1909 Saint Petersburg
1st 13/16 +12 =2 -2 All-Russian Amateur Tournament
1910 Hamburg
7-8 8.5/16 +5 =7 -4 17th DSB Congress, Schlechter won
1911 Cologne
1st 3/3 +3 =0 -0 Quadrangular
1911 Carlsbad
8-9 13.5/25 +11 =5 -9 Teichmann won
1912 Saint Petersburg
1-2 8/9 +8 =0 -1 First Winter Tournament, lost a game to
Vasily Osipovich Smyslov
1912 Saint Petersburg
1st 7/9 +6 =2 -1 Second Winter Tournament, lost a game to
Boris Koyalovich
1912 Stockholm
1st 8.5/10 +8 =1 -1 8th Nordic Championship, ahead of
Spielmann
1912 Vilnius
6-7 8.5/18 +7 =3 -8 7th Russian Championship (All-Russian
Masters' Tournament), Rubinstein won
1913 Saint Petersburg
1-2 2/3 +2 =0 -1 Quadrangular, tied with Levenfish
1913 Scheveningen
1st 11.5/13 +11 =1 -1 ahead of Janowski
1913/14 Saint Petersburg
1-2 13.5/17 +13 =1 -3 8th Russian Championship (All-Russian
Masters' Tournament), tied with Nimzowitsch
1914 Saint Petersburg
3rd 10/18 +6 =8 -4 Lasker 13.5, Capablanca 13, Alekhine 10,
Tarrasch 8.5, Marshall 8
1914 Paris
1-2 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Cafe Continental Quadrangular, tied with
Marshall, third Muffang, fourth Hallegua
1914 Mannheim
leading 9.5/11 +9 =1 -1 19th DSB Congress, interrupted by
the start of World War I
1915 Moscow
1st 10.5/11 +10 =1 -0 Moscow Chess Club Championship
1919/20 Moscow
1st 11/11 +11 =0 -0 Moscow City Championship, not declared
Moscow Champion because he was not a resident of Moscow
1920 Moscow
1st 12/15 +9 =6 -0 later recognized as the 1st USSR
Championship
1921 Triberg
1st 7/8 +6 =2 -0 ahead of Bogoljubov
1921 Budapest
1st 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 ahead of Gruenfeld
1921 The Hague
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1922 Pistyan
2-3 14.5/18 +12 =5 -1 tied with Spielmann, behind
Bogoljubov
1922 London
2nd 11.5/15 +8 =7 -0 Capablanca 13, Alekhine 11.5, Vidmar
11, Rubinstein 10.5
1922 Hastings
1st 7.5/10 +6 =3 -1 Rubinstein 7, Bogoljubov and Thomas
4.5, Tarrasch 4, Yates 2.5
1922 Vienna
3-6 9/14 +7 =4 -3 Rubinstein won
1923 Margate
2-5 4.5/7 +3 =3 -1 Gruenfeld won
1923 Carlsbad
1-3 11.5/17 +9 =5 -3 tied with Bogoljubov and Marsczy
1923 Portsmouth
1st 11.5/12 +11 =1 -0 ahead of Vajda
1924 New York
3rd 12/20 +6 =12 -2 Lasker 16, Capablanca 14.5, Alekhine
12, Marshall 11, Reti 10.5. Marsczy 10, Bogoljubov 9.5
1925 Paris
1st 6.5/8 +5 =3 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1925 Bern
1st 4/6 +3 =2 -1 Quadrangular
1925 Baden-Baden
1st 16/20 +12 =8 -0 ahead of Rubinstein
1925/26 Hastings
1-2 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 tied with Vidmar
1926 Semmering
2nd 12.5/17 +11 =3 -3 Spielmann won
1926 Dresden
2nd 7/9 +5 =4 -0 Nimzowitsch won
1926 Scarborough
1st 5.5/6 +5 =1 -0 Alekhine won a play-off match against
Colle 2-0
1926 Birmingham
1st 5/5 +5 =0 -0 ahead of Znosko-Borovsky
1926 Buenos Aires
1st 10/10 +10 =0 -0 ahead of Villegas and Illa
1927 New York
2nd 11.5/20 +5 =13 -2 Capablanca 14, Alekhine 11.5,
Nimzowitsch 10.5, Vidmar 10, Spielmann 8, Marshall 6
1927 Kecskemit
1st 12/16 +8 =8 -0 ahead of Nimzowitsch and Steiner
1929 Bradley Beach
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 ahead of Lajos Steiner
1930 San Remo
1st 14/15 +13 =2 -0 Nimzowitsch 10.5; Rubinstein 10;
Bogoljubov 9.5; Yates 9
1931 Nice
1st 6/8 +4 =4 -0 consultation tournament
1931 Bled
1st 20.5/26 +15 =11 -0 Bogoljubov 15; Nimzowitsch 14;
Flohr, Kashdan, Stoltz and Vidmar 13.5
1932 Bern
1-3 2/3 +2 =0 -1 Quadrangular, tied with Voellmy and
Naegeli
1932 Bern
1st 12.5/15 +11 =3 -1 Swiss Championship (title awarded to
Hans Johner and Paul Johner)
1932 London
1st 9/11 +7 =4 -0 ahead of Flohr
1932 Pasadena
1st 8.5/11 +7 =3 -1 ahead of Kashdan
1932 Mexico City
1-2 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 tied with Kashdan
1933 Paris
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1933/34 Hastings
2nd 6.5/9 +4 =5 -0 Flohr 7, Alekhine and Andor Lilienthal
6.5, C.H.O'D. Alexander and Eliskases 5
1934 Rotterdam
1st 3/3 +3 =0 -0 Quadrangular
1934 Zurich
1st 13/15 +12 =2 -1 Swiss Championship (title awarded to
Hans Johner)
1935 Vrebro
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 ahead of Lundin
1936 Bad Nauheim
1-2 6.5/9 +4 =5 -0 tied with Keres
1936 Dresden
1st 6.5/9 +5 =3 -1 ahead of Engels
1936 Podebrady
2nd 12.5/17 +8 =9 -0 Flohr won
1936 Nottingham
6th 9/14 +6 =6 -2 Botvinnik and Capablanca 10; Euwe, Fine
and Reshevsky 9.5
1936 Amsterdam
3rd 4.5/7 +3 =3 -1 Euwe and Fine won
1936 Amsterdam
1-2 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Quadrangular, tied with Landau
1936/37 Hastings
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 Fine 7.5, Eliskases 5.5, Vidmar and
Feigins 4.5
1937 Margate
3rd 6/9 +6 =0 -3 tied for 1-2 were Keres and Fine
1937 Kemeri
4-5 11.5/17 +7 =9 -1 tied for 1-3 were Flohr, Petrov and
Reshevsky
1937 Bad Nauheim
2-3 3.5/6 +3 =1 -2 Quadrangular, Euwe won, the other
players were Bogoljubov and Saemisch
1937 Nice
1st 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Quadrangular
1938 Montevideo
1st 13/15 +11 =4 -0 ahead of Guimard
1938 Margate
1st 7/9 +6 =2 -1 ahead of Spielmann
1938 Netherlands (ten cities)
4-6 7/14 +3 =8 -3 AVRO tournament, Keres and Fine 8.5;
Botvinnik 7.5; Alekhine, Euwe and Reshevsky 7; Capablanca
6
1939 Montevideo
1st 7/7 +7 =0 -0 ahead of Golombek
1939 Caracas
1st 10/10 +10 =0 -0
1941 Munich
2-3 10.5/15 +8 =5 -2 tied with Lundin, behind Stoltz
1941 Krakow, Warsaw
1-2 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 tied with Schmidt
1941 Madrid
1st 5/5 +5 =0 -0
1942 Salzburg
1st 7./10 +7 =1 -2 ahead of Keres
1942 Munich
1st 8.5/11 +7 =3 -1 1st European Championship, ahead of
Keres
1942 Warsaw, Lublin, Krakow
1st 7.5/11 +6 =3 -1 ahead of Junge
1942 Prague
1-2 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 tied with Junge
1943 Prague
1st 17/19 +15 =4 -0 ahead of Keres
1943 Salzburg
1-2 7.5/10 +5 =5 -0 tied with Keres
1944 Gijon
1st 7.5/8 +7 =1 -0
1945 Madrid
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0
1945 Gijon
2-3 6.5/9 +6 =1 -2 tied with Medina, behind Rico
1945 Sabadell
1st 7.5/9 +6 =3 -0
1945 Almeria
1-2 5.5/8 +4 =3 -1 tied with Lopez Nunez
1945 Melilla
1st 6.5/7 +6 =1 -0
1945 Caceres
2nd 3.5/5 +3 =1 -1 Lupe won
++1.H2 Match results
Here are Alekhine's results in matches:
1908 Curt von Bardeleben
Won Duesseldorf 4.5/5 +4 =1 -0
1908 Hans Fahrni
Drew Munich 1.5/3 +1 =1 -1
1908 Benjamin Blumenfeld
Won Moscow 4.5/5 +4 =1 -0
1908 Vladimir Nenarokov
Lost Moscow 0/3 +0 =0 -3
1913 Stepan Levitsky
Won Saint Petersburg 7/10 +7 =0 -3
1913 Edward Lasker
Won Paris, London 3/3 +3 =0 -0
1913 Jose Raul Capablanca
Lost Saint Petersburg 0/2 +0 =0 -2 exhibition match
1914 Aron Nimzowitsch
Drew Saint Petersburg 1/2 +1 =1 -0 play-off match
1916 Alexander Evensohn
Won Kiev 2/3 +2 =0 -1
1918 Abram Rabinovich
Won Moscow 3.5/4 +3 =1 -0
1918 Boris Verlinsky
Won Odessa 6/6 +6 =0 -0
1920 Nikolay Pavlov-Pianov
Drew Moscow 1/2 +1 =0 -1
1921 Nikolay Grigoriev
Won Moscow 4.5/7 +2 =5 -0
1921 Efim Bogoljubow
Drew Triberg 2/4 +1 =2 -1 "secret match"
1921 Richard Teichmann
Drew Berlin 3/6 +2 =2 -2
1921 Friedrich Saemisch
Won Berlin 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1922 Ossip Bernstein
Won Paris 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1922 Arnold Aurbach
Won Paris 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1922 Manuel Golmayo
Won Madrid 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1923 Andri Muffang
Won Paris 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1926 Edgar Colle
Won Scarborough 2/2 +2 =0 -0 play-off match
1926/7 Max Euwe
Won Amsterdam 5.5/10 +3 =5 -2
1927 Jose Raul Capablanca
Won Buenos Aires 18.5/34 +6 =25 -3 Alekhine became world
champion
1927 Charles Jaffe
Won New York 2/2 +2 =0 -0 exhibition match
1929 Efim Bogoljubow
Won Wiesbaden, Berlin, Amsterdam 15.5/25 +11 =9 -5 retained
world championship
1933 Rafael Cintron
Won San Juan 4/4 +4 =0 -0 exhibition match
1933 Ossip Bernstein
Drew Paris 2/4 +1 =2 -1
1934 Efim Bogoljubow
Won Baden-Baden, Villingen, Pforzheim, Bayreuth, Kissingen,
Berlin 15.5/25 +8 =15 -3 retained world championship
1935 Max Euwe
Lost Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht 14.5/30 +8 =13 -9 lost
world championship
1937 Max Euwe
Won Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Zwolle, Amsterdam, Delft,
The Hague 15.5/25 +10 =11 -4 regained world championship
1937 Max Euwe
Lost The Hague 2/5 +1 =2 -2 exhibition match
1941 Lopez Esnaola
Won Vitoria 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1943 Efim Bogoljubow
Drew Warsaw 1/2 +1 =0 -1
1944 Ramon Rey Ardid
Won Zaragoza 2.5/4 +1 =3 -0
1946 Francisco Lupe
Won Estoril 2.5/4 +2 =1 -1
++1.H3 Chess Olympiad results
Here are Alekhine's results in Chess Olympiads. He played top board
for France in all these events:
1930 Hamburg
3 9/9 +9 =0 -0 Alekhine won the brilliancy prize for his
game against Gideon Stehlberg (Sweden). He did not win a
medal because the medallists played 17 games each.
1931 Prague
4 13.5/18 +10 =7 -1 Alekhine won the gold medal for 1st
board. His loss to Hermanis Matisons (Latvia) was his first
loss in a serious chess event since winning the world
championship.
1933 Folkestone
5 9.5/12 +8 =3 -1 Alekhine won the gold medal for 1st
board. His loss to Savielly Tartakower (Poland) was his
second and last loss in chess olympiads.
1935 Warsaw
6 12/17 +7 =10 -0 Alekhine won the silver medal for 1st
board (Salo Flohr of Czechoslovakia took the gold by
scoring 13/17).
1939 Buenos Aires
8 7.5/10 (12.5/16) +9 =7 -0 Alekhine won the silver medal
for 1st board (Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba took the gold
by scoring 8.5/11). Only games in the final stage were
counted for awarding the medals. The first score is for the
final stage, the one in parentheses is Alekhine's total
score.
++2. Machgielis (Max) Euwe
Machgielis (Max) Euwe (May 20, 1901 - November 26, 1981) was a
Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the
fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935-1937). Euwe also
served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970
to 1978.
++2.A Early years
Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam. He studied
mathematics at the University of Amsterdam, earning his doctorate
in 1926, and taught mathematics, first in Rotterdam, and later at
a girls' Lyceum in Amsterdam. He published a mathematical analysis
of the game of chess from an intuitionistic point of view, in which
he showed, using the Thue-Morse sequence, that the then-official
rules did not exclude the possibility of infinite games.
++2.B Early career
Euwe won every Dutch chess championship that he participated in
from 1921 until 1952, and additionally won the title in 1955 - his
12 titles are still a record. The only other winners during this
period were Salo Landau in 1936, when Euwe, then world champion,
did not compete, and Jan Hein Donner in 1954. He became the world
amateur chess champion in 1928, at The Hague, with a score of
12/15.
Euwe had a young family and could only play competitive chess
during school vacations, so his opportunities for international
chess competition at the top level were limited. But he performed
well in the few tournaments and matches for which he could find
time from the early 1920s to the mid 1930s. Fine comments, "Euwe's
main international successes came in the form of narrow defeats" -
but these were in matches against the world's best: Alekhine
(1926), Capablanca (1931) and Spielmann (1935); and Euwe drew a
match with Flohr in 1932. His playing strength gradually increased,
so that by 1932 he and Flohr were regarded as Alekhine's most
credible challengers.
At Zurich 1934, Euwe finished second, behind only World Champion
Alexander Alekhine, and he defeated Alekhine in their game.
Alekhine was in an eight-year stretch, from 1927-35, where he lost
only six games in tournament play.
++2.C World Champion
On December 15, 1935 after 30 games played in 13 different cities
around The Netherlands over a period of 80 days, Euwe defeated
Alekhine by 15.5-14.5, becoming the fifth World Chess Champion.
Alekhine quickly went two games ahead, but from game 13 onwards
Euwe won twice as many games as Alekhine. His title gave a huge
boost to chess in The Netherlands. This was also the first world
championship match in which the players had seconds to help them
with analysis during adjournments.
Euwe's win was a major upset--he reportedly had believed that
beating Alekhine was unlikely - and is sometimes attributed to
Alekhine's alcoholism. But Salo Flohr, who was helping Euwe during
the match, thought over-confidence was more of a problem than
alcohol for Alekhine in this match, and Alekhine himself said he
would win easily. Former World Champions Vasily Smyslov, Boris
Spassky, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov analyzed the match for
their own benefit and concluded that Euwe deserved to win and that
the standard of play was worthy of a world
championship. Vladimir Kramnik, ex-champion and still a strong
contender, said that Euwe won the 1935 match on merit and that the
result was not affected by Alekhine's drinking before or during the
match.
Euwe's performances in the great tournaments of Nottingham 1936 and
the 1938 AVRO tournament indicate he was a worthy champion, even if
he was not as dominant as the earlier champions. Reuben Fine wrote,
"In the two years before the return match, Euwe's strength
increased. Although he never enjoyed the supremacy over his rivals
that his predecessors had, he had no superiors in this period."
Euwe lost the title to Alekhine in a rematch in 1937, also played
in The Netherlands, by the lopsided margin of 15.5-9.5. Alekhine
had given up alcohol to prepare for the rematch, although he would
start drinking again later. Alekhine got back to the sort of form
he had shown from 1927-1935, when he dominated chess. The match was
a real contest initially, but Euwe's play collapsed near the end
and he lost four of the last five games. Fine, who was Euwe's
second in this match, attributed the collapse to nervous tension,
possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm
appearance.
The two world title matches against Alekhine represent the heart of
Euwe's career. Altogether, the two played 86 competitive games, and
Alekhine had a +28 -20 =38 lead, according to chessgames.com. Many
of Alekhine's wins came early in their series; he was nine years
older, and had more experience during that time. Then in the return
match, Alekhine won by six points. So, during the period 1925-1935,
the two were very closely matched.
++2.D Later career
Euwe finished equal fourth with Alekhine and Reshevsky in the AVRO
tournament of 1938 in The Netherlands, which featured the world's
top eight players and was an attempt to decide who should challenge
Alekhine for the world championship. Euwe also had a major
organizational role in the event.
He played a match with Paul Keres in The Netherlands in 1939-40,
losing 6.5-7.5.
After Alekhine's death in 1946, Euwe was considered by some to have
a moral right to the position of world champion, based at least
partially on his clear second place finish in the great tournament
at Groningen in 1946, behind Mikhail Botvinnik. But Euwe consented
to participate in a five-player tournament to select the new
champion, the World Chess Championship 1948. However at 47, Euwe
was significantly older than the other players, and well past his
best. He finished last.
His final major tournament was the Candidates' Tournament in
Zurich, 1953, in which he finished next to last.
He played for The Netherlands in a total of seven Chess Olympiads,
from 1927 to 1962, a 35-year-span, always on first board. He scored
10.5/15 at London 1927, 9.5/13 at Stockholm 1937 for a bronze
medal, 8/12 at Dubrovnik 1950, 7.5/13 at Amsterdam 1954, 8.5/11 at
Munich 1958 for a silver medal at age 57, 6.5/16 at Leipzig 1960,
and finally 4/7 at Varna 1962. His aggregate was 54.5/87 for 62.6
per cent.
In 1957 Euwe played a short match against 14-year-old future world
champion Bobby Fischer, winning one game and drawing the other. His
lifetime score against Fischer was one win, one loss, and one draw.
Euwe won a total of 102 first prizes in tournaments during his
career. While it is true that many of those were local and were not
very strong, the total is very impressive, considering that Euwe
was never a true professional player.
++2.E FIDE President
From 1970 (when he was 69 years old) until 1978, he was president
of the FIDE. As president Euwe usually did what he considered
morally right rather than what was politically expedient. On
several occasions this brought him into conflict with the Soviet
Chess Federation, which thought it had the right to call the shots
because it contributed a very large share of FIDE's budget and
Soviet players dominated the world rankings - in effect they
treated chess as an extension of the Cold War. These conflicts
included:
* The events leading up to Bobby Fischer's participation in
the World Chess Championship 1972 match against Spassky,
which led to Fischer's becoming the first non-Soviet
champion since World War II. Euwe thought it important for
the health and reputation of the game that Fischer should
have the opportunity to challenge for the title as soon as
possible and interpreted the rules very flexibly to enable
Fischer to play in the 1971 Candidates Tournament.
* The defection of grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko in 1972. The
Soviets demanded that Sosonko should be treated as an
"unperson", excluded from competitive chess, television or
any other event that might be evidence of his defection.
Euwe refused, and no Soviet players took part in the 1974
Wijk aan Zee tournament in The Netherlands because Sosonko
was playing in it.
* In 1976 world championship contender Viktor Korchnoi sought
political asylum in The Netherlands. In a discussion a few
days earlier Euwe told Korchnoi, "...of course you will
retain all your rights ..." and later opposed Soviet
efforts to prevent Korchnoi from challenging for Anatoly
Karpov's title in 1978.
* Later in 1976 Euwe supported FIDE's decision to hold the
1976 Chess Olympiad in Israel, which the Soviet Union did
not recognize as a country. The Central Committee of
Communist Party of the Soviet Union then started plotting
to depose Euwe as president of FIDE.
Of course Euwe lost some of the battles with the Soviets. For
example in 1973 he accepted the Soviets' demand that Bent Larsen
and Robert Huebner, the two strongest non-Soviet contenders
(Fischer was now champion), should play in the Leningrad Interzonal
tournament rather than the weaker one in Petrspolis. Unsurprisingly
Larsen and Huebner were eliminated from the competition for the
World Championship because Korchnoi and Karpov took the first 2
places at Leningrad. Some commentators have also questioned whether
Euwe did as much as he could have to prevent Fischer from
forfeiting his world title in 1975.
Despite the turbulence of the period most assessments of Euwe's
performance as president of FIDE are sympathetic:
* Spassky, who had nominated Euwe for the job: "He should
certainly not have disqualified Fischer, and he should have
been a little tougher with the Soviets.... you get a pile
of complicated problems. But Euwe, of course, was the man
for the job."
* Karpov said Euwe was a very good FIDE President, although
he did commit one very serious error, rapidly extending the
membership of FIDE to many small third-world countries.
"But neither he nor I could have foreseen what this would
lead to. ... This led not only to the inflation of the
grandmaster title, but also to the leadership vacuum at the
head of the world of chess."
* Garry Kasparov was blunter: "... unfortunately, he could
not foresee the dangers flowing from a FIDE practically
under Soviet dominance."
* Korchnoi regarded Euwe as the last honorable president of
FIDE.
* Yuri Averbakh, who was a Soviet chess official as well as
a grandmaster: "... he always sought to understand the
opposing point of view ... Such behavior was in sharp
contrast to the behavior of the Soviet delegation leaders
... Max Euwe was, without a doubt, the best President FIDE
ever had."
He died in 1981, age 80, of a heart attack. Revered around the
chess world for his many contributions, he had travelled
extensively while FIDE President, bringing many new members into
the organization.
++2.F Assessment of Euwe's chess
Euwe was noted for his logical approach and for his knowledge of
the openings, in which he made major contributions to chess
theory. Paradoxically his two title matches with Alexander Alekhine
were displays of tactical ferocity from both sides. But the
comments by Kmoch and Alekhine (below) may explain this: Euwe
"strode confidently into some extraordinarily complex variations"
if he thought logic was on his side; and he was extremely good at
calculating these variations. On the other hand he "often lacked
the stamina to pull himself out of bad positions".
Alekhine was allegedly more frank in his Russian-language articles
than in those he wrote in English, French or German. In his Russian
articles he often described Euwe as lacking in originality and in
the mental toughness required of a world champion. Gennadi Sosonko
thought Euwe's modesty was a handicap in top-class chess (although
Euwe was well aware of how much stronger he was than "ordinary"
grandmasters).
Vladimir Kramnik also says Euwe anticipated Botvinnik's emphasis on
technical preparation, and Euwe was usually in good shape
physically because he was a keen sportsman.
++2.G Chess books by Euwe
Euwe wrote over 70 chess books, far more than any other World
Champion; some of the best-known are The Road to Chess Mastery,
Judgement and Planning in Chess, The Logical Approach to Chess, and
Strategy and Tactics in Chess Play. Former Soviet grandmaster
Gennadi Sosonko used Euwe's Practical Chess Lessons (Practische
Schaaklessen) as a textbook when teaching in the Leningrad House of
Pioneers, and considers it "one of the best chess books ever".
Fischer World Champion, an account of the 1972 World Chess
Championship match, co-authored by Euwe with Jan Timman, was
written in 1972 but not published in English until 2002.
++2.H Other interesting accounts
In Amsterdam there is a Max Euwe Plein (square) (near the
Leidseplein) with a large chess set and statue, where the 'Max Euwe
Stichting' is located in a former jailhouse. It has a Max Euwe
museum and a large collection of chess books.
His granddaughter, Esmee Lammers, has written a children's book
called Lang Leve de Koningin (Long live the Queen), which is
popular among the youth. It is a fairytale about a young girl who
learns to play chess and at the same time finds her father. Lammers
filmed the story in 1995.
++2.I Notable chess games
* Max Euwe vs Efim Bogolyubov, Budapest 1921, French Defense,
MacCutcheon Variation (C12), 1-0 With wins like these, the
20-year-old Euwe was building his strength and experience.
* Max Euwe vs Geza Maroczy, Bad Aussee match 1921, game 4,
King's Gambit Declined (C30), 1-0 The great Maroczy was a
bit past his peak by this stage, spotting Euwe 31 years.
* Siegbert Tarrasch vs Max Euwe, Amsterdam 1923, King's
Indian Defense (E90), 0-1 In a battle of the two great
amateurs, Euwe foreshadows what is to come with the King's
Indian Defense in the years ahead.
* Sir George Thomas vs Max Euwe, Karlsbad 1923, English
Opening, Symmetrical Variation (A31), 0-1 In a very sharp
tactical game, Euwe displays a style which would become
very popular in upcoming years.
* Frank Marshall vs Max Euwe, Bad Kissingen 1928, Torre
Attack, King's Fianchetto Defense (A48), 0-1 Euwe again
adopts a kingside fianchetto to take off the legendary
attacker Marshall.
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, Zurich 1934, Queen's Gambit
(D31), 1-0 White unleashes a lovely tactic with his 31st
move.
* Mikhail Botvinnik vs Max Euwe, Hastings 1934-35, Caro-Kann
Defense, Panov-Botvinnik Attack (B13), 0-1 The young Soviet
Botvinnik was playing his first tournament in the West, and
adopts his favourite line, to no avail.
* Alexander Alekhine vs Max Euwe, Amsterdam 1936, Four
Knights' Game (C49), 0-1 Euwe comes out on top after a very
hard-fought endgame.
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, Zandvoort-Wch 1935 (26th
game of the match), Dutch (A90), 1-0 Game called "The Pearl
of Zandvoort"; the decisive victory of the match and at the
same time a beautiful demonstration of the strength of
passed pawns.
* Paul Keres vs Max Euwe, Zandvoort 1936, French Defense:
Advance Variation. Nimzowitsch System (C02), 0-1 Struggle
around the advanced White Pe5 transforms into an attack
against the White King.
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match
1937, game 17, Slav Defense, Czech Variation (D19),(1-0)
Outstanding precision by the champion.
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match
1937, game 29, Queen's Gambit (D40), 1-0 Alekhine called
this game Euwe's best of the entire series.
* Efim Geller vs Max Euwe, Zurich (candidates tournament)
1953 Nimzo-Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation, 0-1 Geller
tries to smash Euwe off the board, but Euwe sacrifices a
rook for a deadly counterattack.
* Max Euwe vs Robert James Fischer, New York m 1957, Queen's
Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation (D35), 1-0 The ex-
champion teaches the future champion how to attack in a
very witty short game.
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match
1935, game 5, Dutch Defense (A91), 1-0 Euwe had been losing
3-1 in the match so far, but managed this impressive win to
turn the tide.
++2.J Quotations
* "Strategy requires thought; tactics requires observation."
- Max Euwe
* "Does the general public, do even our friends the critics
realize that Euwe virtually never made an unsound
combination? He may, of course, occasionally fail to take
account of an opponent's combination, but when he has the
initiative in a tactical operation his calculation is
impeccable." - Alexander Alekhine
* "If Richard Reti was interested only in the exceptions to
positional rules, then Max Euwe believed perhaps a little
too much in their immutability." - Alexander Alekhine
* "He is logic personified, a genius of law and order. One
would hardly call him an attacking player, yet he strides
confidently into some extraordinarily complex variations."
- Hans Kmoch
* "Euwe can only breathe freely when he is smothered in
work." - Hans Kmoch
* "Euwe resting would not be Euwe. His star is work, work,
and more work. Work is his entertainment, his strength and
his destiny." - Hans Kmoch
* "There's something wrong with that man. He's too normal." -
Bobby Fischer
++3. Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe, Netherlands 1935
World Championship Match, Netherlands 1935, Round 25
White: Alexander Alekhine
Black: Max Euwe
Result: 0-1
ECO: D52 - Queen's Gambit Declined, Cambridge Springs Defense, Yugoslav
Variation
Notes by R.J. Macdonald
1. d4 d5
2. c4
(The Queen's Gambit.)
2. ... c6
(Black declines the gambit pawn.)
3. Nf3 Nf6
4. Nc3 e6
5. Bg5 Nbd7
6. e3 Qa5
(The Cambridge Springs Defense. Also possible for black are (a)
6. ... h6 7. Bh4 Qa5 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nb6 10. Bb3 Nbd5 11. 0-0 Nxc3 12. bxc3
Qxc3 13. Rc1 Qa5, with a slight edge for white; and (b) 6. ... Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4
8. Bxc4 0-0 9. 0-0 Qa5 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Nb6 12. Bd3 Nbd5 13. Nxd5, again with
a slight advantage for white.)
7. cxd5
(Perhaps a better choice is 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Qc2 0-0 9. Be2 dxc4 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11.
Nxc4 Qc7 12. a3 Bd6 13. Nxd6 Qxd6, with a slight advantage for white. There is
also the Capablanca Variation: 7. Bxf6 7. ... Nxf6 8. Qc2 Bd7 9. Ne5 Bd6 10.
Be2 Bxe5 11. dxe5 Ne4 12. 0-0 Nxc3 13. bxc3 0-0 14. Rab1 Qc7 15. f4, with equal
chances.)
7. ... Nxd5
(This is the Yugoslav Variation.)
8. Qd2
(8. Qb3 h6 9. Bh4 Bb4 10. Rc1 e5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 0-0 13. Bc4 Bxc3+ 14.
bxc3 Nb6 15. Be7 Nxc4 gives white a slight advantage.)
8. ... N7b6
9. Bd3
(9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Bd3 Bd7 11. 0-0 0-0-0 12. g3 Bb4 13. a3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Qxc3
15. Qxc3 leads to equality.)
9. ... Nxc3
10. bxc3 Nd5
11. Rc1 Nxc3
12. 0-0 Bb4
13. a3
(13. Qb2 h6 14. Bh4 Nd5 15. Rc4 b5 16. Rc2 Bb7 17. Ne5 Rc8 18. a4 0-0 19. Rfc1
Bd6 20. Nd7 Rfe8 21. Nc5 Bxc5 22. Rxc5 a6 23. Ra1 Qb4 24. Qc1 Nb6 25. Bc2 Nd7
26. Rc3 c5 27. Rb1 Qa5 1/2-1/2 in 42 moves, as in the game M. Petursson (2550)
- G. Flear (2485), Brocco 1990.)
13. ... Qxa3
14. Ra1
(14. Bxh7 Na2 15. Qc2 Nxc1 16. Bg6 Ne2+ 17. Kh1 Bd6 18. Qxe2 fxg6 19. Qc2 Kf7
20. Bh4 Rh6 21. Bg3 Bd7 22. Rb1 Bxg3 23. fxg3 b6 24. Ne5+ Ke7 25. Nc4 Qa6 26.
Qc3 Qc8 27. d5 Qf8 28. dxc6 Bxc6 1-0 in 33 moves, as in the game N. Sulava
(2380) - G. Rossi (2140), Arco 1997.)
14. ... Qb3
15. Bc2 Qd5
(15. ... Ne4 16. Qc1 Qd5 17. Bh4 f5 18. Ne5 0-0 19. f3 Nf6 20. Qb2 Be7 21. e4
Qd8 22. Rad1 Nd7 23. Bxe7 Qxe7 24. Nc4 b6 25. Qa2 fxe4 26. fxe4 Bb7 27. Rfe1
Kh8 28. Bb3 a5 29. Ne3 Rf6 30. d5 0-1 in 35 moves, as in the game H. Platz - L.
Rellstab, Leipzig 1953.)
16. e4
(16. Bd3 f6 17. Bf4 a5 gives black a solid advantage.)
16. ... Nxe4
17. Qxb4 Nxg5
18. Ne5 a5
19. Qa3 f6
Key Move Diagram:
r1b1k2r/
1p4pp/
2p1pp2/
p2qN1n1/
3P4/
Q7/
2B2PPP/
R4RK1
Position after black's 19th move.
20. Bg6+??
(A blunder in a bad position. Better is 20. Bb3 Qd8 21. Nc4, though black still
has a solid advantage.)
20. ... hxg6
(Black's position is now very strong.)
21. Nxg6
Key Move Diagram:
r1b1k2r/
1p4p1/
2p1ppN1/
p2q2n1/
3P4/
Q7/
5PPP/
R4RK1
Position after white's 21st move.
21. ... Nf3+!
(Decoy: f3.)
22. Qxf3
(If 22. Qxf3 Qh5 with a Double attack. Or 22. ... Qh5 22. gxf3 Qg5+ with a
Double attack.)
22. ... Qxf3
23. gxf3 Rh5
24. Nf4 Rf5
25. Nd3
(25. Ng2 does not help much after 25. ... a4, where black has a very strong
advantage.)
25. ... Rxf3
(25. ... Rd5 seems even better: 26. Nc5 Rxd4 27. Rfe1 with a decisive advantage
for black.)
26. Nc5
(26. Rfd1 hardly improves anything after 26. ... a4, with a decisive advantage
for black.)
26. ... b6
(26. ... Rf4 27. Rfd1 and Black can relax.)
27. Kg2 Rf4
(27. ... Rf5 keeps an even firmer grip: 28. Ne4 Rd5 29. Rfd1 with a decisive
advantage for black.)
28. Nb3
(28. Na4 doesn't do any good after 28. ... Rb8 29. Rfd1 Kd7 with a decisive
advantage for black.)
28. ... e5
(28. ... a4!? seems even better. After 29. f3 black has a very strong position.)
29. dxe5 Be6
30. Nc1 0-0-0
31. exf6
(31. f3 is a fruitless try to alter the course of the game. 31. ... fxe5 32.
Re1 Rf5 is decisive for black.)
31. ... Rg4+
32. Kf3 Rf8
(32. ... Rdd4 makes it even easier for Black: 33. Re1 Bd5+ 34. Ke2 Rge4+ 35.
Kf1 Bc4+ 36. Ne2 gxf6 37. f3 Rxe2 38. Rxe2 and black should win easily.)
33. Ke3 Rxf6
34. f4
(34. f3 does not improve anything: 34. ... Rb4 is very strong for black.)
34. ... g5
(34. ... Rh6!? might be the shorter path: After 35. Rf2 black has a decisive
advantage.)
35. Nd3 Bc4
(35. ... Rh6 makes it even easier for Black: 36. fxg5 Rxg5 and black should win
easily.)
36. f5
(36. fxg5 is still a small chance, but after 36. ... Re6+ 37. Kf3 Rxg5 38. Nf4
black has all the marbles.)
36. ... Rh4
37. Rad1
(37. Rf3 doesn't get the bull off the ice: 37. ... g4 38. Rg3 Bxd3 39. Kxd3
Rxf5 and black should win easily.)
37. ... Rxh2
38. Ke4
(38. Kd4 doesn't change the outcome of the game: 38. ... Bb5 39. Ke5 Rf8 is
still decisive for black.)
38. ... Re2+
(38. ... Rh3!? keeps an even firmer grip: 39. Ne5 Rh4+ 40. Ke3 Bxf1 41. Rxf1
and black should win easily.)
39. Kf3 Re8
40. Kg4 Rd8
41. Ne5
(41. Kxg5 does not solve anything: 41. ... Rfd6 (41. ... Bxd3?! is easily
refuted by 42. Kxf6 Bxf1 43. Rxf1, giving black only a moderate advantage. 41.
... Rxd3?! succumbs to 42. Kxf6 Rh3 43. Rh1 and equality.) 42. Nf2 Bxf1 43.
Rxf1 Rd4 is decisive for black.)
41. ... Rxd1
42. Rxd1 Be2+
43. Kxg5
Key Move Diagram:
2k5/
8/
1pp2r2/
p3NPK1/
8/
8/
4b3/
3R4
Position after white's 43rd move.
43. ... Rxf5+!
(Hanging on to the material is worse.)
44. Kxf5 Bxd1
45. Nxc6
(45. Ke4 is one last hope, but after 45. ... Kc7 46. Kd4 black is clearly
winning.)
45. ... a4
(White resigned.)
0-1
Other related posts:
- » [blind-chess] Annotated Game #126: Alexander Alekhine - Max Euwe, Netherlands 1935 - Roderick Macdonald
