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Alexander Alekhine vs Hans Johner
Zurich (1934), Zurich SUI, rd 10, Jul-23
Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Steinitz Deferred (C79)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Given 7 times; par: 85 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-30-05  supertimchan: This game is in Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy. The final position is drawn according to Fritz. Although it is hard to defend for human on the board. Pachman gave 47..Kf7, but this move also draw. Seem black resigned in a drawn position.
Jul-30-05  Calli: Do you have the right position? After 47.Qh6 Kf7 then 48.Bd5+ Ke8 49.Qxf6 is an easy win.

Jul-30-05  supertimchan: 49..Qe7 holds.
Jul-30-05  Calli: 49...Qe7? dxe7 Again, check your position.
Sep-20-05  GreenCastle: There is no way for Black to survive this. After 49.♕xf6 in Calli's line, White is threatening ♗c6 and ♕e7#.

Can you show us how to defend against this without losing a lot of material?

Sep-23-05  aw1988: If you're going to play the Steinitz defense, don't play like this, else you want to be squeezed to death.
Dec-05-05  KingG: Very nice finish from Alekhine. 44.e5! dxe5 45.d6!, and if 45...cxd6 then 46.c5!! after which Bb3 is decisive. This is a very instructive game to show how you can turn a bad bishop into a good bishop if you are willing to sacrifice some material. Definitely a finish worth remembering.
Jul-08-07  DWINS: It really pays to be tactically aware when playing Alekhine (or anyone else for that matter).

What was the point of 27...Kg7? Johner realized that Alekhine was planning on sacrificing his queen.

Supposed he played something like 27...b5. There would follow 28.Bxf4 exf4 29.Qxf4 gxf4 30.Nxh6+ Kh8 31.Rg8#

Of course Black doesn't have to take the queen, but he would still lose a pawn and probably the game.

Aug-03-07  sanyas: 17...g5 is a positional blunder which hould have lost much more simply than it did. Alekhine should have played 22.exf5, eg. 22...c6 23.hxg5 hxg5 24.♗e4 ♕c7 25.♖h2 ♖h7 26.♖xh7 ♘xh7 27.♖h1 ♕b6 (27...♘g7 28.c5 dxc5 29.dxc6 b5 30.♗d5+ ♔h8 31.♕d3 ♕d6 32.♘xe5 ♕xe5 33.♖xh7+) 28.♕b3 c5 29.♖xh7 (29.♘xg5 also works, but must go into an ending) 29...♔xh7 30.♘xg5+ ♔g8 31.♘e6 ♕xb2 32.♕e3 ♕xa2 33.♕h6 ♕xc4 34.♕g6+ ♔h8 35.♗h6.
Aug-03-07  sanyas: Probably the best was 17...c6, but even then Black has problems, as in a game I played from this position: 17...c6 18.h4 ♕c8 19.♖ag1 ♘b6 20.dxc6 bxc6 21.g5 h5 22.♔f1 ♕b7 23.♘e1 ♘c7 24.f4 ♘e6 25.b3 ♘xf4 26.♗xf4 exf4 27.♕xh5 ♘d7 28.♕g4 ♘e5 29.♕xf4 ♕b4 30.♖g3 ♖fe8 31.h5 ♕a5 32.h6 ♗f8 33.♖gh3 ♗g6 34.♗d1 ♖ab8 35.♕h2 ♗e7 36.hxg7 ♗xg5 37.♗h5 ♗f6 38.♗xg6 fxg6 39.♖h8+ ♔f7 40.♕f2 ♘d7 41.♘e2 ♖g8 42.♘d4 ♕c5 43.♘ef3 ♖xg7 44.♖xb8 ♘xb8 45.e5 dxe5 46.♘g5+ ♔g8 47.♕xf6 ♕xd4 48.♖h8+ ♔xh8 49.♕f8+ ♖g8 50.♕h6# 1-0
Jul-16-12  Poisonpawns: 27.Qf3! threatening to play Bxf4!exf4 gxf4 Qxf4!!gxf4 Nh6!
Jul-27-13  victor antoni: que creativo es alekhine es todo un ejemplo su juego!!!
Dec-07-16  wilfredo munoz: I agree with <aw1988>. Black's game is too passive. After 47 ... Kf7 48 Bd5+ Ke8 49 Qxf6 Nh7 50 Qg6+, we arrive at this position (Black to move):


click for larger view

Mate results after 50 ... Kf8 51 Qg8#. And the Queen gets forked after 50 ... Kd8 51 Qg8+ Qe8 52 Qxh7 Qd7 53 Qh8+ Qe8 54 Qf6+ Kc8 55 d7+, utilizing the light squares (c6, e6) to finish the job.

Dec-10-16  wilfredo munoz: Besides 54 ... Kc8 in the puzzle above, Black can try 54 ... Kd7 which will be answered with 55 Be6+ Kc6 (Kxd6 loses to 56 Bf7+) 56 Qe7, preparing Qc7# with a strong followup in case Black's Q gets snobbish.
Aug-23-17  Toribio3: The killer bishop orchestrated masterfully by Alekhine is a masterpiece!

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