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Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine
Alekhine - Euwe World Championship Match (1935), Various Locations NED, rd 14, Nov-02
Gruenfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack (D82)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Aug-13-03  drukenknight: what about 26...Qc4+ followed by 27...b4?
Aug-13-03  Calli: Hans Kmoch, who knew Alekhine well, said that the Bogolubow match in 1934 was the one that involved heavy drinking. The drinking during the Euwe match has probably been way overstated. In fact, Kmoch says Alekhine didn't drink any alchohol during the second half of the match and then didn't touch a drop for the next five years. During the war, however, his bad habits returned, no doubt hastening his death.
Sep-26-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <what about 26...Qc4+ followed by 27...b4?>

This would give up the a1-h8 diagonal allowing the powerful ♕a1+ , winning quickly. 26...♕c4+ 27. ♔g1 b5 28. ♕a1+ . Now 28...♔g5 29. f4+ or 28...♔e6 29. ♕g7 or 28...d4 29. ♗b3 ♕c3 30. ♖f7+ ♔e5 31. ed+ ♕xd4 32. ♕e1+ are examples of the terrible things that will happen to Black.

Sep-27-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: In the second volume of his games, Alekhine wrote something like, "Honestly, I do not understand some of the moves I played in that match." And this was his annnotation to one of the games he *won.*
Nov-20-04  aw1988: This is the famous game where Alekhine was so drunk he castled directly into mate!
Oct-07-06  Calli: A beautiful finishing attack by Euwe. He peels away Black's king protection with his g pawns: 29.g4! away goes one protective pawn 34.g4! Again! and in front of his own king, but the pretty combination is 34...Rg8 35.Rxf7+!! Kxf7 36.Qxd5+ Finally 37.g5+! smokes out the Black king.

Oct-07-06  Suzuki50: I think Alekhin made a wrong plan in the opening (4... Nh5 and 6... Nxg3). The rest was a brilliant masterpiece of M. Euwe.
Nov-19-06  Mr Claypole: 5. Be5 is a good move and deserves a mention also I think. Euwe avoids the trap 5.Nxd5 Nxf4 6.Nxf4 which looks (initially) good for white winning a pawn, but then the sting is 6..e5 threatening the deadly ..Bb4+. White therefore cannot play 7.dxe5.
Mar-16-08  Knight13: 9...Kf7 should be OK. Maybe even 9...f5. A very bad oversight by Alekhine on Rxh7!
Aug-02-08  CharlesSullivan: Euwe missed the crushing 24.♖h7+! ♔g8 (24...♘xh7 25.♖xh7+ ♔f6 transposes) 25.♖h8+ ♔g7 26.♖1h7+ ♘xh7 27.♖xh7+ ♔f6 28.♕xd5


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and Black is busted. For example: 28...♕a1+ 29.♗d1 ♕e5 (just sitting tight via 29...a6, for example, allows mate-in-3 beginning 30.♕d6+) 30.♖f7+ ♔xg5 31.f4+ wins the queen. As far as I can tell, nobody has seen this possibility. Even Kasparov, in My Great Predecessors gives Euwe's 24.♘h7 without comment.

Aug-02-08  CharlesSullivan: Upon further investigation, Jan van Reek has previously posted on his excellent website the 24.Rh7+! combination.
Aug-03-08  CharlesSullivan: Rybka & Zappa point out that the most decisive line for White is the Tal-like 29.♖xf7+!! ♔xf7 30.♕xd5 and White is completely winning. (Euwe probably looked this far and could not see clearly to victory, so he played more conservatively.) One continuation among many is 30...♔g7 followed by the hard-to-see 31.♖h4! Then 31...♖ad8 32.♕xb7+ ♔f8 33.♗b3! ♕a1+ 34.♔h2 ♕g7 35.♕c6! ♔e7 36.e4! ♖d6 37.♕b7+ ♔f6 38.♕b4. Now a fairly human-like finish would be 38...♖gd8 39.e5+! ♔xe5 when White has a mate-in-12 beginning 40.♕e1+ ♔f6 41.♕c3+ ♖d4 42.♖xd4 ♖xd4 43.♕xd4+ etc.
Aug-04-08  DWINS: <CharlesSullivan>, Euwe actually missed a crushing move even earlier.

According to Purdy in his excellent book "Extreme Chess", Euwe missed 20.Qd4! totally winning. Junior6 confirms this as 20...Qxc7 21.Rh8+ Kf7 22.Rh7+ Ke8 23.Qb4 Qd8 [23...Qc1+ 24.Ne1 Kd8 25.Qd6] 24.Qd6 Qf6 25.Bxd7+ Kd8 26.Qxd5 and it's all over.

If 20...Rf6, then 21.Qh4 ends the game.

Jun-10-09  WhiteRook48: DRUNK
Apr-16-10  ounos: It is sad to see the man that beat Capablanca to go down like this.
Apr-17-10  Petrosianic: No it isn't.
Sep-27-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: No it's not (and he was not drunk): as after he beat Capablanca, he refused to give any return matches, played such as Bogo until forced to face Euwe who beat him decisively. Euwe shows here that he was a great player and out-played Alekhine as he did in a number of other games.
Sep-27-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: I have a book by Euwe called "My Games" and this game of the match isn't in the book but there are some other great games.
Sep-27-13  Karpova: Hans Kmoch: <Lobend muß hervorgehoben werden, daß sich Aljechin in sportlicher Hinsicht vorbildlich benommen hat und insbesondere nichts unternahm, um die Leistung seines Gegners zu schmälern.> (It has to be accentuated laudingly, that Alekhine behaved exemplarily in sportive aspect and especially did not undertake anything to denigrate his opponent's accomplishment.)

From p. 345 of the November 1935 'Neue Wiener Schachzeitung' (Kmoch's match diary, Groningen, November 2, 1935).

Jan-22-15  fenno: I wonder if Alekhine really overlooked 10. Rxh7, or did he think that his attacking chances from his unprepared position were worth a pawn? Also, I found the way how Euwe managed to double his rooks on h-file interesting.
Nov-23-15  sreeskamp: Alekhine completely outplayed by a great playing Euwe
Nov-23-15  RookFile: 9.... f5 might not be bad. It would sort of be a delayed Dutch and black even got white's dark squared bishop as part of the deal. However, black is behind in development. White could consider a g4 move at some point to try to open things up.
May-19-21  SymphonicKnight: Euwe finds the lines for a mate in 12! He has been greatly underestimated at his peak strength. This game is him coming out firing against a mis-firing Alekhine, who still thought he could just find brilliancies within every game.
Jan-17-23  N.O.F. NAJDORF: <DWINS: <CharlesSullivan>, Euwe actually missed a crushing move even earlier. According to Purdy in his excellent book "Extreme Chess", Euwe missed 20.Qd4! totally winning...

If 20...Rf6, then 21.Qh4 ends the game.>

After 20. Qd4 Rf6 21. Qh4 Qxc7 22. Qh8+ Kf7 23. Ng5+ Ke7 24. Rh7+ Kd6 25. Rxd7+ Bxd7 26. Qxf6+ Kc5 27. Qc3+ Kb6

white's attack peters out and he is the exchange down.

After 20. Qd4 Nf6

I don't see any continuation for white.

Jan-17-23  N.O.F. NAJDORF: <CharlesSullivan: Rybka & Zappa point out that the most decisive line for White is the Tal-like 29.♖xf7+!! ♔xf7 30.♕xd5 and White is completely winning. (Euwe probably looked this far and could not see clearly to victory, so he played more conservatively.)>

29. Rxf7+ Kxf7 30. Qxd5+ Ke7 31. Rh7+ Kf6 32. Qd6+ Kg5 33. f4+ Kg4 34. Bd1+ Kxg3 35. Rh3#

29. Rxf7+ Kxf7 30. Qxd5+ Kf8 31. Qd6+ Kg7 32. Rxg6+ Kh8 33. Rh6+ Kg7 34. Bb3 forces mate

29. Rxf7+ Kxf7 30. Qxd5+ Kg7 31. Rh4 Qc7 32. Rc4 Qd8 33. Qe5+ Kf8 34. Rc7 b6 35. Rd7 wins the queen

29. Rxf7+ Kxf7 30. Qxd5+ Kg7 31. Rh4 Qc7 32. Rc4 Qf7 33. Qe5+ Kf8 34. Rc7 wins the queen

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