Last Sunday was the 50th anniversary of the death of Alekhin. Alexander Alekhin, if you do not already know, was one of the greatest world chess champions this century.
Born into the Russian aristocracy in 1892, Alekhin was the world chess champion from 1927 to 1935 and again from 1937 until his death in 1946. His dazzling combinative play went unparalleled in his time, and his genius was a strong influence on every great player since then, including Gary Kasparov.
Despite his genius on the chessboard, however, Alekhin died in abject poverty in 1946. It was just after the end of the world war and Alekhin, like many other chess players in post-war Europe, found life very difficult.
His health had been bad: years of heavy drinking and smoking had finally taken its toll. Liver ailments and hardening of the arteries counted among his many health problems. Years earlier, he had even contracted scarlet fever.
Tournaments were few and far inbetween, and those that were organised offered miserable prizes. Alekhin also suffered from being labelled an anti-Semitic, the result of playing in several tournaments in Germany during the war and having authored several anti-Semitic articles in Nazi newspapers - though he tried to deny them.
Then Alekhin received a formal challenge to his title from Mikhail Botvinnik. The match never materialised. While negotiations were going on, Alekhin was found dead one day in a Portuguese hotel. Legend has it that true to his lifestyle, a bottle of liquor was still clutched in his hands.
Alekhin's death probably saved him from a humiliating defeat at the hands of Botvinnik who, two years later, went on to claim the world championship title as his. Alekhin thus died as world champion, undefeated.
At the height of his chess-playing powers, Alekhin combined his talents with another gift: the ability to write penetrating notes to his games. While these may contain mistakes and some boasts about how much he saw during his games, they remained among the very best of chess literature.
Through his play and writing, he was one of the most influential players of all time. Among his notable books were two collections of his best games played between 1908 and 1937.
Here is a game, played in Baden-Baden in 1925, which Alekhin considered as one of his most brilliant efforts. The notes to this game are quoted directly from Alekhin's book, My Best Games of Chess, 1924-1937 which is publiched by BT Batsford of London.
Richard Reti - Alexander Alekhin
1. g3 e5
2. Nf3 e4
3. Nd4 d5
4. d3 exd3
5. Qxd3 Nf6
6. Bg2 Bb4+
7. Bd2 Bxd2+
8. Nxd2 0-0
9. c4 Na6
10. cxd5 Nb4
11. Qc4 Nbxd5
12. N2b3 c6
13. 0-0 Re8
14. Rfd1 Bg4
15. Rd2 Qc8
16. Nc5 Bh3!
17. Bf3
By his previous move Black had offered a pawn, the acceptance of which would have been fatal for White, for instance: 17.Bxh3 Qxh3, 18.Nxb7 Ng4, 19.Nf3 Nde3!, 20.fxe3 Nxe3, 21.Qxf7+ Kh8!, 22.Nh4 Rf8 and wins.
17. ... Bg4
18. Bg2 Bh3
19. Bf3 Bg4
20. Bh1 h5!
21. b4 a6
22. Rc1 h4
23. a4 hxg3
24. hxg3 Qc7
25. b5 axb5
26. axb5 Re3!
It seems almost incredible that this spectacular move not only stops White's attack but even brings him serious trouble. And yet it is so. It is obvious enough that the rook cannot be taken because of 27...Qxg3+, followed by 28...Nxe3 and wins; and also that White has to do something in order to parry 27...Rxg3+!, etc.
27. Nf3
As the following shows, this natural move loses perforce. Also insufficient was 27.Kh2 because of 27...Raa3!, 28.Ncb3 (not 28.fxe3 Nxe3 followed by 29...Nf1+ etc) 28...Qe5!, 29.bxc6 bxc6 with a powerful attack as 30.fxe3 would still be bad because of 30...Qh5+ followed by 31...Qh3. The only chance of salvation was 27.Bf3! Bxf3, 28.exf3! cxb5, 29.Nxb5 Qa5! still with advantage for Black, as 30.Rxd5? would lose immediately after 30...Re1+, 31.Rxe1 Qxe1+ followed by 32...Ra1.
27. ... cxb5
28. Qxb5 Nc3!
29. Qxb7 Qxb7
And not 29...Nxe2+ because of 30.Rxe2! Qxb7, 31.Rxe3! with some saving chances for White.
30. Nxb7 Nxe2+
31. Kh2
Or 31.Kf1 Nxg3+, 32.fxg3 Bxf3, 33.Bxf3 Rxf3+, 34.Kg2 Raa3, 35.Rd8+ Kh7, 36.Rh1+ Kg6, 37.Rh3 Rfb3! and wins.
31. ... Ne4!
32. Rc4! Nxf2
Insufficient would be 32...Nxd2 because of 33.Nxd2! or 32...Bxf3 because of 33.Rxe4 etc. The situation is still very complicated.
33. Bg2 Be6!
One of the important links of the combination.
34. Rcc2 Ng4+
35. Kh3
Not 35.Kh1 because of 35...Ra1+
35. ... Ne5+
36. Kh2 Rxf3!
37. Rxe2 Ng4+
38. Kh3 Ne3+
39. Kh2 Nxc2
40. Bxf3 Nd4
If now 41.Re3 then 41...Nxf3+, 42.Rxf3 Bd5! (the final point!) winning a piece.
0-1
INCIDENTALLY, last Sunday was Viktor Korchnoi's 65th birthday which he celebrated in style by playing in the Chess-in-the-Schools international chess tournament in New York, in the United States.
Present at the birthday party, organised by Don Schultz, were most of the contestants in the tournament. They included Joel Benjamin, Valery Salov, Michael Adams, Roman Dzindzihashvili, Grigory Serper, Ivan Sokolov, Josh Waitzkin and Leonid Shamkovich, as well as Korchnoi's wife, Pia.
Korchnoi at 65 is still one of the top players around and he showed it by defeating Salov on his birthday:
Viktor Korchnoi - Valery Salov
1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e3 c5, 5. Bd3 Nc6, 6. Ne2 cxd4, 7. exd4 d5, 8. O-O dxc4, 9. Bxc4 O-O, 10. a3 Bxc3, 11. bxc3 e5, 12. Bg5 Qd6, 13. Re1 Bg4, 14. f3 Be6, 15. Bxe6 fxe6, 16. Bxf6 Rxf6, 17. Ng3 Qc7, 18. Ne4 Rh6, 19. d5 exd5, 20. Qxd5+ Qf7, 21. Rad1 Rf8, 22. c4 Rg6, 23. Nc5 b6, 24. Nd7 Rd8, 25. h4 Re6, 26. h5 Re7, 27. Qxc6 Rexd7, 28. Rxd7 Qxd7, 29. Qxd7 Rxd7, 30. Rxe5 Rd3, 31. Re7 Rxa3, 32. Kf2 Rc3, 33. Rxa7 Rxc4, 34. Rb7 Rc6, 35. g4 h6, 36. Kg3 Kh7, 37. Rb8 g5, 38. hxg6+ Rxg6, 39. Kh4 Rd6, 40. f4 1-0 (on time)
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