SIMPSON'S

IN-THE-STRAND

SIMPSON'S

IN-THE-STRAND

.il

CHESS

Doctors' debate

Raymond Keene

FIFTY YEARS ago almost to the day, Dr Alexander Alekhine, one of the greatest and most dynamic of world champions, died in possession of the title in Portugal. As a homage to Alekhine and the numer- ous imperishable masterpieces which he produced, Batsford have reissued his best games in algebraic notation (Alexander Alekhine's Best Games, Batsford £17.99). The collection has been enhanced by revi- sions to the great man's commentary by that well-known analyst and grandmaster Dr John Nunn. Nunn has also backed up his new commentaries with additional com- puter-generated calculations, and it is fasci- nating to observe the extent to which Alekhine's games, extending from 1908 to 1942, still form a fruitful field for debate.

Alekhine–Reshevsky: Kemeri 1937; Alekh- ine's Defence.

1 e4 Nf6 An amusing touch: the American grandmaster chooses the defence which Alekh- ine invented himself to play against its origina- tor. 2 e5 Nd5 3 NO d6 4 d4 Bg4 5 c4 Nb6 6 Be2 dxe5 7 Nxe5 One of Alekhine's specialities was the early pawn sacrifice to energise and compli- cate situations. 7 ... Bxe2 8 Qxe2 Qxd4 9 0-0 Later Alekhine was to recommend instead of this 9 Na3 N8d7 10 NO, preserving more forces for the attack. 9 ... N8d7 10 Nxd7 Nxd7 Alekh- ine castigated this move, preferring 10 ... Qxd7 when the attack would continue by 11 a4 Qc6 12 Na3 e6 13 a5 Nd7 14 Nb5. However, since, according to Dr Nunn, Black's position remains well playable for some time, Black's tenth move can hardly be blamed. 11 Nc3 c6 12 Be3 Qe5 13 Radl e6 14 QS 0-0-0 Reshevsky correctly returns material in order to complete his devel- opment. If now 15 Qxf7 Bd6 16 g3 RhfB and Black wins. Instead, Alekhine restores the mate- rial balance by snatching a wing pawn, one which also happens to be an important defender of the black king. 15 Bxa7 Qa5 16 Bd4 Qf5 17 Qg3 As Alekhine points out, 17 Qxf5 gives White a

favourable endgame. Instead, Alekhine switches to a risky attack. 17 ...e5 18 Be3 Bb4 19 Na4 Ba5 20 f4 Bc7 21 b3 f6 22 fxe5 Qe6 23 h3 Rhg8 24 Bd4 Nxe5 25 Qc3 Nd7 26 c5 Rge8 27 b4 (Diagram) This is a key moment. As Alekhine

Position after 27 b4

explains in his notes, he hardly considered either here or at a later stage that Black might con- sume White's a2 pawn with his queen and thus grant White the open 'a' file for his own opera- tions against the black king. However, as Dr Nunn points out, Black's centralisation is so powerful that he can certainly get away with 27 Qxa2 28 Ral Qd5 29 Rfdl (thus far Alekhine, who stops here) and now the counterattack 29

Re2 30 Bf2 Qf5, when Black's attack packs greater punch than White's. By postponing this possibility, Reshevsky allows Alekhine's attack against the black king to gain decisive momen- tum. 27 ...Nb8 28 Nb6+ With Black's knight withdrawn to the back rank, this knight check removes a further key defender of the black king's field, namely the bishop. 28 ... Bxb6 29 cxb6 Qxa2 Now this pawn snatch really is dan- gerous for Black and allows White to introduce his rook into the black camp via the 'a' file. 30 Qg3 Rd7 31 Bc5 A powerful post for the bishop, but Alekhine shows in his notes that 31 Bxf6 gxf6 32 Rxd7 Kxd7 33 Qc7+ Ke6 34 Rel + would have been even faster. 31 ... Qf7 32 Ral Qg6 33 Qh2 Re5 34 Ra8 (Diagram) A tense moment Position after 34 Ra8

with Reshevsky, as usual, in terrible time trou- ble. The American now lashes out with a seem- ingly aggressive move which, though, permits Alekhine a stunning sacrificial conclusion lead- ing to checkmate. In his notes Alekhine states that the alternative 34 ... Qe8 loses quickly to 35 Qg3 followed by Qa3 and a decisive break- through by White's queen in the 'a' file. Nunn writes, in contrast, in his additional commentary: `Alekhine only analyses one alternative to the blunder actually played — the almost equally weak move 34 ... Qe8, which allows the white queen to enter the attack. Black should have prevented the sacrifice on e5 by 34 ... Qg5 which both retains the black queen's active position and keeps the white queen in its box.' However

after 34 ...0g5 35 h4 Qh5 (or 35 Qd2 36 Qg3) 36 Qg3 Rdl 37 Rxdl Qxdl + 38 Kh2 White still has plenty to play for. In my opinion the position after 34 ... Qg5 35 h4 deserves further analysis and it cannot be said that Black has clearly survived. 34 ...Rd2 35 Rxb8 + Kxb8 36 QxeS+ fxe5 37 Rf8+ Black resigns I give the last word to Alekhine himself: 'I must admit that the final attack gave me much more pleasure than a scientifically correct exploitation. After all, chess is not only knowledge and logic!'