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Volf Goldfarb vs Alexander Alekhine
All Russian Amateur (1909), St Petersburg RUE, rd 2, Feb-16
French Defense: Exchange Variation (C01)  ·  0-1

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
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d
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f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
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Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-08-03  suenteus po 147: Ouch! This one's a little tough, but I think I got it. After 27.Qg6 we get the start of a forced mate: 27...Re1+ 28.Kg2 h3+ 29.Rxh3 Bxh3+ 30.Kxh3 Qh4+ 31.Kg2 Qh2# Alekhine always had the most complex setups to mate somebody. It's impressive that Goldfarb saw this as far ahead as he did and resigned before Alek could even begin it.
Jun-08-03  caseyclyde: Goldfarb must have really hated his dark square bishop because with 8... Nxe3 he allows Alekhine to get the two bishops and saddle white with a backward pawn on an open file just to get rid of it. It's interesting to note how later in the game Alekhine's unopposed dark square bishop has free reign over the board.
Jun-08-03  mkdir: what if whites 18th move is Kxh2..Bxh2 reminds me of kasparov Vs Deep Junior fifth game..
Jun-08-03  caseyclyde: if 18. KxB then Qh4+ grabs the rook
Jun-08-03  sleepkid: Goldfarb may not have seen the forced mate, but Alekhine may have announced it after Goldfarb's move, and Goldfarb seeing that he was correct, resigned. It seems to have been common and acceptable back then to announce forced variations, but it's not so popular now.
Jan-29-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  wwall: Instead of 20.Rfh3, perhaps 20.cxd5 (or 20.g3) 20...cxd5 21.Na5.

Not 21.Rxh4? Bg3+, winning the rook.

After 24.g3, not 24...Bxg3?? 25.Bh7+ Kh8 26.Rxf8 mate.

Apr-16-06  notyetagm: <caseyclyde: ... It's interesting to note how later in the game Alekhine's unopposed dark square bishop has free reign over the board.>

Yes, Alekhine expended several tempi in the opening just to win the bishop pair. But then his unopposed dark-squared bishop dominated the middlegame.

<caseyclyde: if 18. KxB then Qh4+ grabs the rook>

Alekhine was always tactically alert. Here 17 ♖f3? leaves the White e1-rook undefended on the open e1-h4 diagonal.

Alekhine promptly uses this exposed and undefended rook to snatch a pawn with 17 ... ♗xh2+!, the point being that 18 ♔xh2? drops the undefended e1-rook to the <double attack with check> 18 ... ♕h4+ and 19 ... ♕x♖.

Jul-28-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: Any one have information on whether Alekhine's opponent is actually J Goldfarb? "Goldfarb" played only two games in this tournament before withdrawing, and we have the other game as Verlinsky vs J Goldfarb, 1909. The Cness365 database gives "J Goldfarb" for both games.
Jul-28-12  Calli: Skinner and Verhooven has "V Goldberg" and they note that he and Vasily I Rozanov left the tournament early with their games not counting. Alekhine had defeated both so it was a temporary setback for him.
Jul-28-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <Calli> Thanks. Not sure what to do now.

Rozanov left after seven rounds. Since the tournament started with 19 players, this meant most of the last twelve rounds had three byes, or perhaps more accurately three inactive players. In addition, Goldberg/Goldfarb and Rozanov were next to each other in the pairing table, which meant their opponents in those rounds got two "byes" in a row.

Nov-30-24  whiteshark: Too bitter a defeat to continue the tournament?

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