Author: Terry Presgrove
Date: 17:57:59 02/23/00
Recently I was reading " The Chess Companion " by Irving Chernev. At the end of the book there is a section in which Chernev say's "after a 50 year study of master chess that, this brilliant effort of Alekhine's is the greatest masterpiece ever created on a chessboard". The game took place in 1922 so certainly there have been many games since that would have to be considered, although as I look the book was written in 1968. The game is simply incredible! It is full of tactical possibilities covering the entire chess board. It is a demonstration for us today that humans have tactical skills surpassing even modern computer programs. Bogolyubov is playing white and resigns before Alekhine has his fourth queen on the board. The Game: 1.d2-d4 f7-f5 2.c2-c4 Ng8-f6 3.g2-g3 e7-e6 4.Bf1–g2 Bf8-b4+ 5.Bc1–d2 Bb4xd2+ 6.Nb1xd2 Nb8-c6 7.Ng1–f3 0–0 8.0–0 d7-d6 9.Qd1–b3 Kg8-h8 10.Qb3-c3 e6-e5! 11.e2-e3 a7-a5! 12.b2-b3 Qd8-e8! 13.a2-a3 Qe8-h5! 14.h2-h4 Nf6-g4 15.Nf3-g5 Bc8-d7 16.f2-f3 Ng4-f6 17.f3-f4 e5-e4 18.Rf1–d1 h7-h6 19.Ng5-h3 d6-d5! 20.Nd2-f1 Nc6-e7 21.a3-a4 Ne7-c6! 22.Rd1–d2 Nc6-b4 23.Bg2-h1 Qh5-e8! 24.Rd2-g2 d5xc4 25.b3xc4 Bd7xa4 26.Nh3-f2 Ba4-d7 27.Nf1–d2 b7-b5! 28.Nf2-d1 Nb4-d3 29.Ra1xa5 b5-b4! 30.Ra5xa8 b4xc3! 31.Ra8xe8 c3-c2! 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1–f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-e1! 35.Rg2-h2 Qc1xc4 36.Rf8-b8 Bd7-b5 37.Rb8xb5 Qc4xb5 38.g3-g4 Ne1–f3+ 39.Bh1xf3 e4xf3 40.g4xf5 Qb5-e2! 41.d4-d5 Kh7-g8! 42.h4-h5 Kg8-h7 43.e3-e4 Nf6xe4 44.Nf2xe4 Qe2xe4 45.d5-d6 c7xd6 46.f5-f6 g7xf6 47.Rh2-d2 Qe4-e2! 48.Rd2xe2 f3xe2 49.Kg1–f2 e2xf1Q+ 50.Kf2xf1 Kh7-g7 51.Kf1–f2 Kg7-f7 52.Kf2-e3 Kf7-e6 53.Ke3-e4 d6-d5+ Exclamations marks are Chernev's. There are many great computer positions to examine: 29.....b5-b4!( none of mine Rebel10,Rebel-Tiger or Fritz6 even consider after many minutes). Out of the 15 exclamation points how many does your comp find? Possibly more than you would think. I will only show one position: move 31.....c3c2 [4Rr1k/2pb2p1/5n1p/5p2/2PPpP1P/2pnP1P1/3N2R1/3N2KB b - - 0 1 bm c3c2] Analysis by Fritz 6: 31...Rf8xe8 +- (3.28) Depth: 1/2 00:00:00 31...Rf8xe8 32.Nd1xc3 ± (0.87) Depth: 1/3 00:00:00 31...Rf8xe8 32.Nd1xc3 ± (0.87) Depth: 2/3 00:00:00 31...Rf8xe8 32.Nd1xc3 Re8-b8 ² (0.69) Depth: 3/7 00:00:00 31...Rf8xe8 32.Nd1xc3 Re8-a8 33.Nd2-b3 ² (0.62) Depth: 4/9 00:00:00 31...Rf8xe8 32.Nd1xc3 Re8-a8 33.Nd2-b3 Kh8-h7 ² (0.62) Depth: 5/9 00:00:00 1kN 31...c3-c2! ² (0.59) Depth: 5/13 00:00:00 4kN 31...c3-c2! 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 = (-0.09) Depth: 5/16 00:00:00 6kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 35.Rf8-b8 = (-0.03) Depth: 6/18 00:00:00 9kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 35.Nf2xd3 e4xd3 36.Rg2-d2 = (-0.13) Depth: 7/21 00:00:00 20kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 35.Nf2xd3 e4xd3 36.Rg2-d2 ³ (-0.31) Depth: 8/21 00:00:00 41kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 35.Rf8-d8 c7-c5 36.d4xc5 = (-0.19) Depth: 9/27 00:00:00 117kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-b2 35.g3-g4 Nb2xc4 36.Rg2-g3 ³ (-0.28) Depth: 10/28 00:00:01 308kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Qc1xc4 35.Nf2xd3 e4xd3 36.Rg2-d2 = (-0.25) Depth: 11/29 00:00:02 732kN 31...c3-c2! ³ (-0.56) Depth: 12/29 00:00:04 1434kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3xf2 35.Rg2xf2 Nf6-g4 36.Rf8-f7 ³ (-0.56) Depth: 13/33 00:00:11 4037kN 31...c3-c2! µ (-0.88) Depth: 14/32 00:00:24 9012kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-e1 35.Rg2-h2 Qc1xc4 36.Bh1-g2 µ (-1.16) Depth: 14/36 00:00:30 11088kN 31...c3-c2! -+ (-1.47) Depth: 15/35 00:00:55 20553kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-e1 35.Rg2-h2 Ne1-c2 36.Kg1-g2 -+ (-1.66) Depth: 15/40 00:01:07 25210kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-e1 35.Rg2-h2 Ne1-c2 36.Kg1-g2 -+ (-1.66) Depth: 16/39 00:02:08 48161kN 31...c3-c2! -+ (-1.97) Depth: 17/37 00:04:49 106650kN 31...c3-c2 32.Re8xf8+ Kh8-h7 33.Nd1-f2 c2-c1Q+ 34.Nd2-f1 Nd3-e1 35.Rg2-h2 Ne1-c2 36.Bh1-g2 tiger Score: 1.73 depth: 15 c2 Rxf8+ Kh7 Nf2 c1Q+ Nf1 Ne1 Rh2 Nc2 Bg2 Nxe3 Bh3 score: 1.90 depth: 16 c2 Rxf8+ Kh7 Nf2 c1Q+ Nf1 Ne1 Rh2 Nc2 Kg2 Nxe3+ Nxe3 Qxe3 Rf7 While both find c2 and see black winning they both miss 35....Qc1Xc4 and the simplification by Alekhine to a pawn ending is a site to see. comps do raise some questions, clearly after Ra5xa8 white is lost. But would white have a fighting chance with 30. Q-a1? Enjoy!
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.