Alekhine vs Capablanca
359
[Event "AVRO"] [Site "?"] [Round "0"] [White "Alekhine"] [Black "Capablanca"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C05"] [Opening "French: Tarrasch, Closed, 4.e5"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Qb6 8. Nf3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4+ 10. Kf1 Be7 { In this sharp line of the French, opening lines with 10...f6 is a wiser move.} 11. a3 Nf8 12. b4 Bd7 13. Be3 Nd8 {Black does have a plan: to play Bb5 and exchange the light-squared bishops. But this is easily parried, and turns out to be just a waste of time.} 14. Nc3 a5 {Black challenges White's queenside formation and forces White to determine his short-term plans. Alekhine decides to plant a pawn at b5.} 15. Na4 Qa7 16. b5 {Now the scope of the Bd7 is severely limited, and Black's plan, beginning with 13...Nd8?!, is exposed as faulty.} 16... b6 {The picture is quite different from that of two moves ago. With the queenside secured, White now turns his attention to the kingside.} 17. g3 {In order to achieve results on the kingside, White may need to use both rooks, so he takes time out to prepare a nice safe hole for his king. Alekhine always prepared his attacks well. That's why he was able to play so many combinations} 17... f5 18. Kg2 Nf7 19. Qd2 {Alekhine is not so captivated by his own plan that he forgets to keep an eye on his opponent! Capablanca was preparing g7-g5 and Nf8-g6. This must be stopped!} 19... h6 20. h4 Nh7 21. h5 { Excellent judgement! Alekhine sees that the enemy knight will get to e4, but reasons that the hole at g6 will be more important.} 21... Nfg5 22. Nh4 Ne4 23. Qb2 Kf7 {23...Bxh4 24.gxh4! keeps control of critical squares on the kingside, and now 25.f3 will prove fatal to the Ne4.} 24. f3 Neg5 {Looking at the position, we can see that if the Pf5 were out of the way White could launch a powerful attack. Alekhine wastes no time in achieving this goal .} 25. g4 fxg4 26. Bg6+ { A useful interpolation, which cuts off the communication of the enemy rooks.} 26... Kg8 27. f4 Nf3 {More resistant was 27...Nf7, but after 28.Bd3 Black would still have been in deep trouble.} 28. Bxh7+ Rxh7 29. Ng6 Bd8 30. Rac1 { Such a quiet move is easy to miss. But if White had left the c- file unguarded, Black might have been able to establish some counterplay by swinging his heavy artillery there.} 30... Be8 31. Kg3 {His majesty attends to the invasive knight personally! The threat is simply Kxg4 and Kxf3.} 31... Qf7 32. Kxg4 Nh4 {32...Ng5 33.fxg5 Qf5+ 34.Kg3 and the king is perfectly safe, while the White rooks aim for the f-file.} 33. Nxh4 Qxh5+ 34. Kg3 Qf7 35. Nf3 h5 {Capablanca ceeded the time limit here, but his position was hopeless in any event.} 1-0
1-0
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Players
WhiteAlekhine
BlackCapablanca
Game
Moves35
OpeningC05 — French: Tarrasch, Closed, 4.e5
Result1-0
Date
Tags
Tournament
TournamentAVRO
Location?
Round0