SIMPSON'S

IN-T114:-STRAND

••■ CHESS

SIMPSON'S

IN-THE-STRAND

Case for the defence

Raymond Keene

THIS YEAR is the 50th anniversary of the death of Alexander Alekhine, the great attacking world champion. To honour this occasion publishers B.T. Batsford have not only celebrated his life and works with a new edition of his best games (see Chess, 23 March) but have also issued a mono- graph devoted to the defence which Alekh- ine personally invented and promulgated.

Alekhine's new defence, which he launched in the early 1920s, consisted of playing 1 ... Nf6 in response to White's traditional first move of I e4. According to classical precepts, this move should have been suicidal, since the knight hunt insti- tuted with 2 e5 gained time and space and deprived Black of any firm bastions in the centre. Nevertheless, Alekhine upheld the honour of his new brainchild in numerous games, including contests with dangerous grandmasters such as Nimzowitsch and Bogolyubov. The thinking behind Alekh- ine's Defence was 'hypermodern' in nature, strongly allied to parallel openings for White from the same period, developed by both Nimzowitsch and Reti, in which White commenced with 1 Nf3 and then proceeded to develop one or both bishops on the flank in fianchetto.

Strict upholders of classical virtue, such as Rubinstein, Teichmann and Tarrasch, purported to be horrified by such violations of hallowed strategic theory, but even Tarrasch himself was tempted to try out the new openings. The ultimate accolade was to come in the 1930s when Alekhine's Defence simply became a standard high- way of contemporary theory, with great masters such as Euwe and Reshevsky (again see my article of 23 March) utilising it against the maestro himself.

Although Alekhine's Defence has been accepted, even at world championship level, its basic strategy of ceding time and space in exchange for latent counter- punching possibilities is still somewhat con- troversial, and the defence periodically passes through phases of crisis. A new book, New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence (B.T. Batsford £10.99), by Alekhine devo- tee Graham Burgess addresses itself to those variations which have proved them- selves most critical for the defence's viabili- ty. In the following game the author him- self demonstrates how White's advanced pawn on e5 can become a point of weak- ness, rather than a point of strength. In the resultant endgame White is, amusingly, subjected to a fierce battering by Black's cavalry, particularly by Black's king's knight, which, of course, is the initial focus for pursuit by White's pawns in the open- ing. The notes are based on those by the author.

Ben Martin — Graham Burgess: English Counties Final, 1995; Alekhine's Defence.

1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 Bg4 5 Be2 c6 6 0-0 Bxf3 7 Bxf3 dxe5 8 dxe5 e6 9 Qe2 Instead, 9 Rel, with the white queen remaining on dl, has become popular. 9 ...Nd7 10 c4 Ne7 11 b3 This looks solid, but afterwards White cannot defend e5. 11 ...Ng6 12 Bbl Qc7 13 Bh5 Alternatively, 13 Be4 Ngxe5 14 f4 Ng6 15 f5 Nf4 16 Qf3 e5 was good for Black in Thorsteinsson—Westerinen, Reykjavik 1976, but gives White more fighting chances. 13 ...Ndxe5 14 f4 Nd7 15 f5 (Diagram) It looks as though Black is about to be torn apart but now comes a surprise. 15 ...0-0-0! This move was, in fact, already mentioned in Burgess's ear-

Position after 15 f5

her book, The Complete Alekhine. 16 fxe6 The problem for White is that 16 NO hxg6 regains the piece with a huge advantage, e.g. 17 Bf3 Bc5+ and ... Qxh2 or 17 Rxf7 Rxh5 18 h3 Bc5+ 19 Khl Qg3. 16 ... fxe6 17 Bg4 This is still known territory. 17 Qxe6 Bd6 18 Bxg7 Rhg8 19 Bh6 Bxh2+ 20 Khl Be5 was good for Black in Mestrovic—Kovacevic, Yugoslavia 1981. 17 ...Nf4 18 Qe4 Bd6 19 g3 Nc5 20 Qe3 Nfd3 21 Bd4 Or 21 Bxe6+ Nxe6 22 Qxe6+ Kb8 leaving White unable to save his bishop and to prevent a winning ...Bxg3 sacrifice. 21 ... Be5 22 BxeS Qxe5 23 Qxe5 NxeS 24 Bh3 Kc7 25 b4 Ncd3 26 a3 Nxc4 27 Bxe6 Ne3 28 Rf3 Nel (Diagram) The

a b c de f g h Position after 28 . . . Nel

black knights are running riot. If 29 Rxe3 Nc2. 29 R17+ Kd6 30 Bb3 RhfS 31 Nd2 Rxf7 32 Bxf7 N1c2 33 Nc4+ Ke7 34 Nxe3 Nxal White resigns.