[Event "Kemeri 1937"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/uQF7rDJg/RRM69Blr"] [Date "????.??.??"] [White "Alexander Alekhine"] [Black "Reuben Fine"] [Result "1-0"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D23"] [Opening "Queen's Gambit Accepted: Mannheim Variation"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/ChessGateOrg"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/uQF7rDJg/RRM69Blr"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qa4+ Qd7 5. Qxc4 Qc6 6. Na3 Qxc4 7. Nxc4 e6 { A quiet game with a queen trade on my 6! What happened to Alekhine's legendary tactics and attacks ? Well, nobody can get those kinds of games all the time. To be World Champion you have to master every part of chess. That includes subtle maneuvers and world class positional skills and endgame mastery. } 8. a3! { [%c_effect a3;square;a3;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] An important move! } (8. Bf4 { looks good, but this allows Black to get more activity than he deserved: } 8... Bb4+ 9. Nfd2 Nc6 10. e3 Nd5 11. Bg3 O-O 12. Bd3 f5 13. a3 Bxd2+ 14. Nxd2 f4 { and Black's better. }) 8... c5 9. Bf4 { Taking control over the d6-square. Since White's c4-knight was taking aim at d6, it's a no-brainer to have the dark-squared bishop join in on the fun. In other words, make sure your bishop move works with the rest of your army. } 9... Nc6 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. b4 { Gaining space. } 11... Be7 12. b5 { Pushing the knight back and gaining even more space. } 12... Nb8 13. Nd6+ { Finally grabbing the two bishops. } 13... Bxd6 14. Bxd6 Ne4 { White's dark-squared bishop is attacked so the question of the day is, “Where should it move to ?” 15.Be5 f6 only helps Black, 15.Bb4 runs into the annoying 15...a5, and 15.Bg3 loses the two bishops by 15...Nxg3. This leaves 15.Bf4 and 15.Bc7. As you can see, most of your choices are found by simple logic. } 15. Bc7! { [%c_effect c7;square;c7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] 15.Bf4 gives White an edge, but 15.Bc7 stops Black from (after he castles) putting a rook on the d-file. } 15... Nd7 (15... f6 { (trying to close the h2-b8 diagonal) fails to } 16. Rc1 O-O 17. Rc4 { when Black has to play the super-ugly move, } 17... f5) 16. Nd4! { [%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Alekhine hasn't forgotten his goals. White intends to take central space with f2-f3 followed by e2-e4. By doing so, Black's knights will (eventually) be pushed back leaving White with two active bishops versus unhappy knights. } 16... Nb6 (16... e5 17. Nf5) 17. f3 Nd5 18. Ba5 Nef6 19. Nc2!? { [%c_effect c2;square;c2;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Bringing this knight (after e2-e4) to e3 where it will take the c4-square away from Black's pieces. Though this is a nice maneuver, the straightforward 19.e4 was probably better. However, an imaginative player like Alekhine danced to his own tune. } 19... Bd7 20. e4 Rc8 21. Kd2 Nb6 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0