Reuben Fine vs Emanuel Lasker (1936)

Reuben Fine vs Emanuel Lasker
Nottingham (1936) · Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation. General (D37) · 1-0

[Event "Nottingham"]
[Site "Nottingham ENG"]
[Date "1936.08.10"]
[EventDate "1936.08.10"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Reuben Fine"]
[Black "Emanuel Lasker"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "65"]

1. d4 {Notes by Alekhine} d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7
5. e3 {A harmless continuation as Black can now enter on a
variation of the Queen's Gambit Accepted with a tempo
more. More aggressive, if White does not want to play the
usual 5.Bg5 is even Bf4.} O-O 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. O-O a6
{Black is obviously not content to equalise by ...Nc6 9.dxc5
Qxd1 etc.} 9. Qe2 {Of doubtful value. More correct was 9.Bd3
with the intention of answering 9...b5 by 10.dxc5, etc., thus
forcing the position that ocurred in the actual game.} b5
10. Bd3 Bb7 {? 10...Nbd7 in order to recapture with this
Knight in case of ...dxc5 was more promising by far. After the
text move White gets a slight positional advantage, which
however does not endanger Black's game.} 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. e4
Nbd7 {Intending to answer 13.e5 with Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nd5;
etc. with welcome complications.} 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 b4
{Weakening the position on the Q-side without necessity or
equivalent. At move 14...Kh7 was sufficient to keep the
balance of the position.} 15. Na4 Be7 16. Rfd1 Nh5 17. Bxe7
Qxe7 18. Rac1 Ndf6 {After this most unnatural move, which
leaves the other Knight completely in the air. White's
advantage becomes overwhelming. It is really hard to
understand why Dr. Lasker rejected the natural really hard to
understand why Dr. Lasker rejected the natural 18...Nf4. The
only plausible explanation is that he did not like after
19.Qe3 Nxd3 the possibility of 20.Rc7 (20...Rac8 with
equality) and answering the move 20...Bc6. If 21.Rxc6 (or
21.Nb6 Nxb4; etc.) Nd7e5 22.Nxe5 Nxe5 23.Rc5 Rfd8 etc., he
would emerge from the difficulties. The final phase, not
altogether difficult, is played by Fine with his usual
accuracy.}19. g3 a5 20. Nc5 Rfc8 {After this White wins
perforce. The only slight hope of defence was 20...g6, at
least consolidating the position of the unfortunate Knight.}
21. Nxb7 Qxb7 22. Ne5 Rxc1 {Also 22...g6 23.Nc4 Qe7 24.e5
followed by Be4, etc., would not help.} 23. Rxc1 Rc8 24. Rxc8+
Qxc8 25. Qc2 {Decisive, as after the exchange the Black
Knights would not be able to protect the Q-side Pawns.} Qb7
{He could resist a little longer by playing 25...Qd8 26.Qc5
etc.} 26. Qc6 Qa7 27. Qc8+ Kh7 28. Nc6 Qc5 29. e5+ g6 30. exf6
Nxf6 31. Qb7 Kg8 32. Be2 {If now 32...Qc1+ 33.Kg2 Qxb2 34.Nd8
etc.} Nd5 33. Ne5 1-0

To move:

Last move:

Given 24 times; par: 57 [what's this?]

Annotations by Alexander Alekhine. [76 more games annotated by Alekhine]

explore this opening	find similar games	1,091 more games of Lasker
	PGN: download \| view	Help: general \| java-troubleshooting

TIP: To see the raw PGN for this game, click on the PGN: view link above.

For help with this chess viewer, please see the Pgn4web Quickstart Guide.

Mar-16-05		iron maiden: A tough beating for Lasker that pretty much set the tone for the first half of the tournament for the ex-champion.

Mar-16-05		patzer2: Fine's 27. Qc8+! is a combined clearance and deflection move, setting up the followup clearance and deflection move 28. Nc6! and winning a piece after the discovered check 29. e5+. Instead of 28...Qc5?, Lasker could have put up more resistance with 28...Qd7!?; however, after 28...Qd7!? 29.Qxd7! Nxd7 30.Nxa5 Ne5 31.Be2 Nf6 32. f4!, White wins a queenside pawn with a clear and likely decisive advantage.

Jun-02-06		ArturoRivera: I think that Alekhines suggestion for playing 14.-...Kh7? sucks. 15.-e5+

Jun-02-06		James Demery: Don`t mince words Arturo. What do you really think?

Jun-02-06		borisbadenoff: <ArturoRivera: I think that Alekhines suggestion for playing 14.-...Kh7? sucks. 15.-e5+> You're right Kh7 wins a piece for white. 15. e5+ Kg8 16. exf6

Jun-11-06		ArturoRivera: <James Demery> I think exactly what <borisbadenoff> said, after Alekhine's 14.-...Kh7? 15.-e5 wins a piece for white , perhaps Alekhine was drunk or just adding "i dont mind" comments to this game.

Jun-13-06		Calli: "At move 14...Kh7 was sufficient to keep the balance of the position." This note really is in the tournament book, I checked. (p.34 in the Dover edition). Its an odd statement. Since it comes after white's 14th move, there is no need to state "At move 14". This tells me that Alyeckin likely added a note at the bottom of the page and the typist/editor placed it in the body of the text without removing the "At move 14". I also suspect that the note was hard to read and the editor got the suggested move wrong. Alyeckin surely wrote "Be7" and not Kh7.

Jun-21-06		ArturoRivera: at move 14, Kh7 stills drops a piece.

Oct-11-07		khense: Interesting. Black's knight on H5 was in a bad place. However I didn't realize white's winning maneuver was to threaten a trade of queens on move 25 - whereby black can't hold his queenside pawns.

Sep-10-08		whiteshark: Quote of the Day <Young man, you play well!> -- Em. Lasker (to Fine, after losing to him in 1936)

Feb-20-09		whiteshark: <chessgames.com>, Is there a secret <Quote of the Day> code to decipher? Maybe 164 days = <100+64> = 425 + 88 ? Means what? I'll work on it. :D

Jul-15-09		WhiteRook48: do 164 - 116

Sep-14-09		WhiteRook48: Fine made a huge impression on everyone already in 1930

NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!

If you already have an account, you should login now.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
No personal attacks against other users.
Nothing in violation of United States law.

See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific game and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.

Spot an error? Please submit a correction slip and help us eliminate database mistakes!
This game is type: CLASSICAL (Disagree? Please submit a correction slip.)

Featured in the Following Game Collections [what is this?]

kibitz games
by eigis

Westminster's favorite games
by Westminster

'young man, you play well"
from American chess triumphs by kostich in time

Reuben Fine (1914-1993)
from Player of the day: notable game IV by nikolaas

28...Qc5?
from Emanuel Lasker blunders by azaris

Across the generations
by Minor Piece Activity

27. Qc8+!
from Discovered Check by patzer2

blunders1
by painho

zumakal blunders archivadas4
by zumakal

Under 40 moves
by Johnny52

Game 200
from Guess-the-Move Chess: 1920-1939 (Part 2) by Anatoly21

blunders2
by painho

Strategic battles
by TheDestruktor

Round 1
from Nottingham 1936 by Hesam7

Finesse
by Garre

alekehine notes
by zakir

Fine
by Morten

Best Chess Games of All Time
by Timothy Glenn Forney