Jens Enevoldsen vs Alexander Alekhine (1939)

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Jens Enevoldsen vs Alexander Alekhine
Buenos Aires Olympiad Final-A (1939), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 11, Sep-13
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Classical. Milner-Barry Variation (E33) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 7 times; par: 53 [what's this?]

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Jun-04-04		rodrigochaves: this game is typical to alekhine, he attack in the both sides of the board

Nov-28-04		Knezh: Actually, typically Alekhine's style is usually defined as attacking the queenside first to create weaknesses and distract opponent's pieces and then rapidly swing the attack on to the kingside and go for the kill ...which is what we witnessed in this game.

Jun-04-07		Hyperionnn: 28-..c6!! is the key move here. Alekhine moves Queen to h4 and this is enough to win the game.

Oct-11-08		notyetagm: Black to play: 36 ... ? click for larger view Here Alekhine (Black) uncorks one of my favorite tactical motifs, the <KING DELFECTION>, with 36 ... ♖a1-h1+!. 36 ... ♖a1-h1+! click for larger view The tactical point is that the White h2-king is <OVERWORKED>, having to keep the Black h4-queen out of the h3-square and the Black a1-rook out of the h1-square. Hence the White h2-king is <OVERWORKED> having to <DEFEND> the two squares h3 and h1.

Jan-29-11		laskereshevsky: Alekhine never played stereotypes moves.... The use of the D7 square in the Opening/early middlegame is worth of study, and always delighted me... as the delay of the C8♗'s development till the very last...

Jan-29-11		laskereshevsky: Of course not to mention the use of the ♕!!....... Mischa "lost" a lot of tempi and put the Queen in a looks like very useless position to create weakness in the opponent's field..... IMHO this Ale's pearl its not inferior to others much more celebrated combinative games of his own

Jun-20-14		GrahamClayton: Interesting play by Alekhine - he makes four moves by his Queen in 14 moves, but the loss of tempo with these moves is more than compensated by the poor placement of the White knight on g2.

Nov-13-16		Ghizza: This is the last game included in the 1928 italian chess manual "Gli Scacchi" by Giuseppe Padulli (I own the 1960 reprint which includes some additional games compared to the first edition). The game is annotated by S. Rosselli Del Turco as an instance of how the traditional "conquer (or occupation) of the center" strategy should better be intended as "domination of the center". Indian openings like this serve as an example for this re-defined concept.

Nov-13-16		cunctatorg: To paraphrase <laskereshevsky> imo <this Alekhine's pearl is not inferior to other much more celebrated and widely known, universal (=positional + combinative) achievements of his own!!> Well, what a thunder 36... Rh1! was and how much work before this move in order to prepare it!!...

Nov-13-16		izimbra: Stockfish's short summary of this game: White plays pretty accurately in the opening & actually builds up a decent advantage. Necessary for improving on that was <20.cxb5> after which White has long term pressure on Black's backward c-pawn, with a semi-open file and a Black knight on c5 that will eventually be exchanged or driven away. Missing that move, and allowing Black to play b4 basically equalizes the game...until White commits a hard-to-see losing blunder with <31.dxc6>...which Alekhine immediately spots and capitalizes on. Why is <31.dxc6> so terrible, losing the game? Prior to that move, Black's N on e7 is stuck with a good spot to go to and it is also blocking the Black Q from playing Qd8-Qh4. The self-sabotaging 31.dxc6 allows <31..Nxc6> which instantly fixes both of those problems for Black & opens up a bunch of attacking possibilities...too many for any White defense, since the White position is kind of airy. The N on c6 can go to d4 or e5...the Q can go to h4 via d8...e.g. <32.Nf5 Ne5 33.Kh3 Ncd3> <32.Nd5 Qd8 33.Kh3 Nd4> (trapping White's Q). <32.Nd5 Qd8 33.Be3 Ne5 34.Kg3 Mcd3> forking 2 rooks...The game continuation was easily good enough for Black win too, but there were lots of possibilities & no viable defense at that point.

Jul-30-24		King.Arthur.Brazil: The most simple line is: 36...Rh1+ 37. Kxh1 Qxh3+ (38. Qh2? Ra1+ with mate ahead.) 38. Kg1 Ra1+ 39. Qf1 Rxf1+ 40. Rxf1 Nf3+ 41. Kf2 Qh2+ 42. Kxf3 Qxb...

Jul-30-24		takebackok: Easy peasy no think Tuesday, 36...Rh1+ 37. Kxh1 (forced) Qxh3+ and winning.

Jul-30-24		mel gibson: Easy one but there is no quick checkmate. Stockfish 16.1 says: 36. .. Rh1+ (36. .. Rh1+ (1. ... Rh1+ 2.Kxh1 Qxh3+ 3.Kg1 Ra1+ 4.Qf1 Rxf1+ 5.Rxf1 Kf8 6.Ra1 Bc6 7.Re1 Qg3+ 8.Kf1 Nf3 9.Rd1 Qg1+ 10.Ke2 Qxg4 11.Kf2 Ng5 12.Rd3 Nxe4+ 13.Ke3 f5 14.Rbd2 Qg5+ ) +8.86/39 863) score for Black +8.86 depth 39.

Jul-30-24		TheaN: Would say it takes a few moves beyond the start <36....Rh1+ 37.Kxh1 (Kg2 Qxh3#) Qxh3+ 38.Kg1 (Qh2 Ra1+ #2) Ra1+ 39.Qf1 (Rb1 Rxb1+ #2) Rxf1+ 40.Rxf1>: click for larger view Obviously Black has ♕:♖♘, but those two pieces are surprisingly active here, the outpost Nd5 and the b-rook that can easily take control over the a-file. Black however has an active queen vs an open king and decides quickly with <40....Nf3+ 41.Kf2 (Rxf3 Qxf3 -+) Qh2+ 42.Kxf3 Qxb2 -+> and Black will soon raze all White pawns and an easy win to follow.

Jul-30-24		Damenlaeuferbauer: After long pondering, the immortal 4th world champion Alexander Alekhine finally found the nice rook sacrifice 36.-,Rh1+! 37.Kxh1 (37.Kg2,Qxh3#) 37.-,Qxh3+ 38.Kg1 (38.Qh2,Ra1+ 39.Rb1,Rxb1+ 40.Rf1,Rf1#) 38.-,Ra1+ 39.Qf1,Rxf1+ 40.Rxf1,Nf3+ 41.Kf2 (43.Rxf3,Qxf3 -+) 41.-,Qh2+ 42.Ke3,Qxb2 -+. I love Tuesdays!

Jul-30-24		chrisowen: Yippy it's mr tow it's blink q Rh1 faith it's aee oe bad bundy it's good Rh1 bug x

Jul-30-24		saturn2: 36...Qxf2 followed by the fork Nd3 wins exchange and game.

Jul-30-24		AlicesKnight: A not unfamiliar position. ...Rh1+ forces a black Q entry with ...Ra1+ and a family fork in the offing. Alekhine uses the whole board.

Jul-31-24		PawnSac: < saturn2: 36...Qxf2 followed by the fork Nd3 wins exchange and game. > yes, that's one way to win. After.. Qxf2+ 37. Rbxf2 Nd3 38. Rxf7 Nxf2 39. Rxd7 R8a2! <diagram 1> click for larger view Black threatens Rh1+ winning the bishop, but if white plays 40.Bg2 to guard h1 & e4 there follows Nxg4+ Kg3 Ne5 simultaneously hitting the rook and threatening Rg1 doubling on the pinned B. The only solution i see to parry both threats is Rd8+ with tempo (seems forced) ..Kf7 and then Bg2 or Kg3. It's clear, whatever white does will be insufficient (with correct play). So, Kudos! You found a winning line, just harder to execute. After Alekhine's ..Rh1+ 37. Kxh1 Qxh3+ <game final position> 38. Kg1 <only move> Ra1+ 39. Qf1 Rxf1+ 40. Rxf1 <all forced>, we have <diagram 2> click for larger view and now black wins the exchange <by force> with Nf3+ Rxf3 (worse is Kf2 Qh2+ Kxf3 Qxb2 ) Qxf3 <diagram 3> click for larger view By a sequence of 5 forced moves we arrive at this position. If you see the back rank threat, the sequence to arrive at diagram 2 is not difficult to visualize, and the rest is staring you in the face; no harder than a Tuesday puzzle. < so compare diagrams 1 & 3 > Which position would you rather have? Both lines win the exchange by force, but the Nd3 fork line is less clear, has more variants, requires more calculation, and offers white more defensive resources by complicating. Alekhine's line is all forced, little to calculate, AND the position is greatly clarified. With the elimination of one rook, a white frontal assault with Rg2 has vanished. With the Q still on the board tactical possibilities are increased. The pawns are much weaker. The Q is far superior to the rook; triangulating and zigzag'ing around picking up pawns while harassing the king, and with the LSB on the board, there can be mate threats. The general principle.. trade queens to simplify to a clearly won ending. If you have a strong attacking advantage, keep the queen on the board! Lastly, white's back rank counter play with Ra2 is easily parried with ..h6. In fact, Stockfish prefers 40...h6 over the immediate Nf6+, as it is a very good multipurpose move, creating a flight square for king safety, while restraining the white pawns, trying to lock them on bad squares. And sometimes a null, or waiting move, which forces the opponent to make a move in zugzwang fashion, is stronger, as any move worsens his position. But keep in mind engines have greater raw calculation power, and can manage crazy complex positions, selecting anti-intuitive moves, even damaging it's own position in minor ways, for a subtle distant advantage. Humans can't think this way, and generally prefer direct, clear, thematic, manageable play. So while engines are helpful in home prep, checking for mistakes, and finding improvements, we must play according to what we understand, or we get lost in confusion. So <the challenge is always improving our positional assessment>.

Jul-31-24		PawnSac: I might add.. When I plugged diagram 2 into stockfish, it began with ..h6 and stuck with it all the way. But when I forced Nf6+ , the eval was lower at first, but in higher ply (50+) it surpassed ..h6. So my recommendation is validated. In classical time control I would have considered ..h6 but still played Nf6+. In a blitz game, I would choose the intuitive Nf6+ without a second thought.

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