The 1937 event brought together ten masters, including Capablanca who was set to play, but a few days before the start of the tournament it was announced that he was being replaced by Alekhine.
Capablanca's withdrawal was officially due to "diplomatic duties." However, it has been speculated that it may have been due to health issues.
In a January 1937 letter from Havana he had requested a leave of absence from his diplomatic work in Europe due to medical treatment that prohibited his traveling. But, that appears to have been hogwash.
On March 29, 1937, two days before Margate commenced, Capablanca was well enough to travel to Miami to play a simultaneous, kick off a local tournament, be back in Havana on April 1st and on April 17th conduct a 70-board consultation simultaneous.
At Margate Reuben Fine and Paul Keres shared first place, both having gone undefeated while Alekhine displayed his usual aggressive style by not taking any draws. He only managed third place though because of losses to Fine and Keres and, surprisingly, to Victor Berger. A fitting end to the tournament came in the final round when the two leaders met and battled to a standstill.
Victor Burger (or Buerger) , a Ukrainian–British player, was born in January, 1904 in Mykolaiv, Ukraine and was a member of the London Chess. He died in London in 1996.
He played with varying success in tournaments in the mid-1920s to early 1930s. His main claim to fame was his defeat of Alekhine in this tournament.
The game was somewhat marred by multiple time pressure mistakes by both players. Burger especially only had a few seconds for his remaining moves before the time control.
I have not seen any annotations to this game, but have read comments quoted from various sources about the mutual double blunder: Alekhine's 36...Qf4 and Burger's 37.Nxe4, both of which have been given double question marks.
However, looking at the game with Stockfish 15 and Komodo 14, it's clear that Alekhine was dead lost no matter what he played and the difference between Stockfish's recommended 36...Qg6 and the move played by Alekhine was about 1.5 Ps, but that margin was not enough to make any difference!
After Alekhine's move, Burger had a huge advantage and his move dropped the evaluation drastically, but even so, he had a winning position anyway.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Victor Berger–Alexander Alekhine1–0E10MargateMargate ENG01.04.1937Stockfish 15
Nimzo-Indian, Rubinstein Variation 1.d4 e6 2.f3 f6 3.c4 e4 Some
sources list this as the Dory Defense which technically begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3
Ne4. It has little independent significance as it can transpose into several
defenses. It is named after the Austrian master Ladislaus Dory (1897-1979). In
1943 Dory was sentenced to death by the Nazis for sedition, but was released
from prison by Allied troops in 1945. 4.c3 4.bd2 is also a good reply. f5 5.c2 d5 6.e3 d7 7.e2 c6 8.0-0 d6 9.b3 0-0 10.b2 f6 with a
Dutch Defense. Rotunno,E-Alekhine,A Carrasco 1938 4...b4 5.c2 f5 6.e3 b6 7.d3 b7 8.d2 xd2+- 9.xd2 9.xd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 c6 11.g4 xc3 12.bxc3 f6 13.hg1 Equals. Balazs,G (2392)-Juhasz,A (2343) Hungary 2015 9...0-0 10.a3 d6 Vintage Alekhine. He withdraws the B to a square
where it eyes h2 and has the possibility of partaking in a K-side attack, 10...e7 11.e2 d6 12.0-0 d7 13.c2 f6 Laubert,J (2031)-Heyder,F
playchess.com INT 2008/ Owing to black's limited prospects, white stands
better after 14.d5 11.e2 c5 12.d5 With this thrust white makes sure that
he maintains at least equality.. exd5 13.cxd5 a6 14.a4 f6 15.d1 Be
prepared for considerable woodshifting for a stretch of moves. e8 16.c2 g6 17.0-0 a5 18.fe1 a6 19.b5 b4 20.e2 e7 21.c4 g7 22.e2 ae8 23.b3 g5 Finally! Some action, but white has
sufficient defensive resources. 24.c4 g4 25.d2 f4 25...h5 was also
worth considering. 26.de1 h4 27.b5 e5 28.f3 Black is slightly better,
but with careful play white should be OK. 26.exf4 xf4 White
needs to defend precisely. 27.f1 f8 28.de1 xe2 29.xe2 e5 30.g3 g5 31.e4 f5 32.e3 This is a tactical error, but Alekhine missed it. Perhaps
time pressure was already approaching. 32.ed2 d4 33.e3 maintains the
balance. 32...d4 32...xd5 33.xd5 d4 34.d2 xd5 with an obviously
superior position. 33.b3 33.d6 was the only good move. xe3 34.xf5+ xf5 35.xe3 e5 36.xg4 xe2 37.xe2 xd5 38.e5 and
white should be able to hold his own. 33...xd5 34.d1 34.fd2 b4 35.d6 xf2+ 36.f1 f6 37.xb7 e3+ 38.e1 xd2+ 39.xd2 d5
The P is immune because on mate on f1 40.b5 e7+ 41.e2 xb7 Black is
winning. 34...f4 After this gaffe white has the advantage. 34...c3 is much better. 35.bxc3 xe4 36.cxd4 36.xe4 xf2+ mate next
move. 36...f3 White has to surrender his Q with 37.Rxe4 to avoid
immediate mate. 34...b4 Even this was very good. 35.ed2 d5 36.e7+ h8 and black is winning. For example... 37.e2 xf2+ 38.h1 a8 39.b5 d4+ is fatal for white. 35.gxf4 xe4 Better, but still not sufficient was
35...Qxf4 35...xf4 36.fg3 f3 37.d2 Black is a piece down with no
compensation. 36.g3 This reveals the problem with black's 34th move;
white has a devastating fork on the Q and B, but what follows is surprising.
CHESS magazine called the next two moves "probably the most incredible double
oversight in the history of first-class chess" and Irving Chernev called it
"the worst blunder ever seen on a chessboard." xf4 This move is often given
a double question mark, but that is undeserved and the comment "double
blunder" does not seem entirely accurate. In this position black does not have
anything that can be considered better! Stockfish 15's evaluation of this
position is about 10 Ps in white's favor. Komodo 14's evaluation is a bit more
conservative at 6.75 Ps. 36...g6 37.xe4 leaves black a piece down with
no compensation and Komodo 14's evaluation is that he is about 4.5 Ps behind. 37.xe4 Certainly not the best, but in any case, white is a piece up and can
look forward to winning. 37.h5+ is obvious, but not necessarily if you
are in extreme time pressure as were both players. h8 38.xf4 f3 Things
get a little tactical here, but white comes out on top. 39.g6+ is also
playable. g7 39...hxg6 40.d2 g7 41.e7+ f6 42.xd7 white is winning.
40.xf8 xf8 41.c2 xe2 42.f5+ g7 43.g5+ f8 44.g8+ e7 45.xh7+ d6 46.xe2 37...f5 38.d2 White is clearly winning in spite of missing
37.Nh5+ xd2 39.xd2 d5 40.g3 e5 41.d3 e1+ 42.g2 e5 43.b3 c3 44.e2 d1 45.f5 d4 46.xg4 b1 47.e7+ f6 48.e6+ f7 49.xb6 e8 50.e4 b4 51.b7 e1 52.f6+ f8 53.h5 e7 54.xh7+ Alekhine resigned. 1–0
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