After 20...Kxe7, despite the loss of his queen (in exchange for a rook and a bishop) Poindle isn't doing too badly on material: add it up and each side has 23 points; and Poindle has both bishops in an open game, as well as two rooks. If he had concentrated on protecting his king and developing his remaining queenside pieces (Alekhine also has two undeveloped pieces there) he might conceivably have drawn or even won after 21.Qxc7. Instead he follows Alekhine's example and goes pawn hunting, helping Alekhine develop his rook with tempo.

Alekhine's tactical skills are well and truly formidable, but there is nothing "innocuous" about the series of moves leading up to 18.Rxe7 since poor Poindle had been parrying Alekhine's mating attack for nine moves.

I don't know about immobilized, had Black taken immediate steps to secure his king's safety and chase off White's queen. On the other hand, the fact that Alekhine missed a better move (and in a simultaneous exhibition) needn't overly trouble fans of Alekhine, given his record. I simply point out that poor Poindle, after an inauspicious start, did a remarkable job of avoiding a large variety of baneful tactical traps, and might have gone on to draw or win had he not taken Alekhine's pawn hunting in move 21 as an exemplar to be imitated in his own move 21. One might conjecture that, having seen Alehkine make such a move, the immediate threat was over and he could do no worse than keep material even. This, of course, was erroneous.

I note two things: (a) that after 9.Ng5 h6 Black's bishop remains blocking the d7 pawn; (b) the pawn on h6 presents a nice target.

I would imagine 10.Ne4. Now, if 10...o-o 11.Qg4 threatens Bxh6 followed by Qxg7#. 11...Qf6 is out, due to the knight on e4. That leaves either more weakening pawn moves or else 11...Ne5. (But see postscript.) Assuming the latter, 12.Qf5 threatens to win the Black knight after White's knight takes the bishop, so perhaps 12...Re8. 13.Bxh6 gxh6 (else the bishop gets g7 and opens the position anyway) 14.Nf6+ forking king and rook and threatening Qh7, 14...Kf8 15.Qh7 Re6 16.Qh8+ Ke7 17.Ng8+ Kf8 (or Ke8) 18.Nxh6+ Ke7 19.Nf5#

This is just an offhand idea, and I do not insist that it is sound, but no doubt an Alekhine would have plenty of resources. Seizing the initiative with a single knight is all very well if you are an Alekhine, but distinctly risky for the rest of us.

Kriegspiel
:p

P.S. I think that 11...Kh8 presents similar possibilities after a bishop sacrifice, given the proximity of White's knight and queen and Black's cramped condition. But perhaps other analysis will challenge this assessment, which is very casually made.

Anyway, 10.-,O-O is not a good move, as it allows 11.Nxd6 with a very clear positional advantage for white.

However, 10.-,Be5 followed by O-O and d6, and at some pont Bf5, seems to solve black's remaining problems.

He ought to have shown them before the other games to show that castling is important. Btw he also gave an example where h6 is a good move!

Afraid not. 7...Nd6 is a bad move. 7...d6 was in fashion at the turn of the last century, whereupon 8.e6 is an exciting gambit -- see Halprin vs Pillsbury, 1900. But 7...Nbd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d5 seems to suck all the life out of the game.

Alekhine scored +24=4-6.

To start we have <23.Ra3 Be6 24.Rg3 g5 25.Rf3> threatening to free the Q with 26.Rxf5+ Bxf5 27.Qxf5+. If Black tries to prevent this with <25...Kf6> then <26.Nc3> ensures her freedom.

click for larger view

The N will give check on either d5 or f4 and Black's K will have to abandon his defence of the f5 pawn.