Alekhine is known to everybody, but the chances are you never heard of the Soviet player Honored Master of Sport Nikolai Zubarev (January 10, 1894 – January 1951), twice champion of Moscow.
The title of Honored Master of Sport was a Soviet government honor introduced in 1934; it was awarded by the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport to athletes, including chess players, for outstanding performance. The award was in the form of a badge and certificate. Though normally conferred for life, it was revoked in the case of Alla Kushnir and Viktor Korchnoi following their defection from the Soviet Union. Mark Taimanov also had his award revoked in 1971 following his crushing defeat by Bobby Fischer, but it was restored in 1991.
Back in the 1930s, when Nikolai Krylenko reigned in Soviet chess, Zubarev wielded considerable authority as a Krylenko deputy. As a key member of Krylenko’s Chess Section, Zubarev was instrumental in setting up the Soviet title system. It was during those days that Alekhine would occasionally drop by his home in Moscow where they would analyze and play skittles.
Vasily Panov described Zubarev's play as follows...at the board he personified common sense, a cold-blooded rationalist, with high-arching, skeptical eyebrows. Zubarev followed opening theory rigidly and sought conservative, clear-cut, low-risk plans, but was often helpless when positions became murky or the opening was new to him.
The following game game is fairly well known because it demonstrates the importance of the P-center and how it cab fuel an attack. Alekhine begins the game with positional play, but when the time is right switches to tactical play.
Alexander Alekhine–Nikolay Zubarev1–0E321st Category tournament, MoscowMoscow RUE1915Stockfish 16
E32: Nimzo-Indian: Classical (4 Qc2): 4...0-0 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4
Zubarev was an early fan Nimzovich even though My System wasn’t published
until 1925. 4.c2 This was an early attempt to refute the Nimzo. From here
the Q guards the N on c3 and offers the possibility of playing e2-e4. b6
This move has pretty much disappeared from Master practice because it's makes
a major concession in that it allows white to advance his e-Pawn. Correct is 4.
..O-O, but 5...d5 and even 4...c5 are preferrabe. 4...0-0 Now white
usually plays 5.a3 5.e4 d5 6.e5 and black equalies after e4 5.e4 b7 6.d3 xc3+ This takes advantage of the fact that white can’t recapture with
the Q. 6...c5 This is best met by… 7.d5 with a space advantage plus
black's B on b7 is extremely limited in scope. 7.bxc3 Forced because of
the pressure on e4. White now has doubled c-Pawns, but that’s really
unimportant and, as a trade off he has the two Bs and good control of the
center. d6 The prepares a counterattack on white’s center with ...c5 or ...
e5 8.e2 Better than 8.Nf3 which blocks the f-Pawn. bd7 Black already
has a dismal position. 9.0-0 0-0 9...e7 10.f4 e5 10...0-0-0 11.a4 a5 12.g3 with good play. Virkud,A (2027)-Amrayeva,A (2191) Porto Carras GRE
2015 11.g3 g6 12.c5 exd4 13.c6 xc6 14.cxd4 b8 15.f5 fd7 16.d5 b7 17.xc7 a6 18.xa6 xa6 19.b7 Black resigned in Horvath,J (2525)-Fokin,S
(2365) Budapest 1990 10.f4 h6 Oddly, this game was duplicated up to this
point 13 years later. 11.g3 Bringing up the reserves. 11.e5 This is
good, too. It shows how strong white's position is that in both games bnlack
didn't last long. e8 12.g3 c5 13.e2 h4 14.f5 cxd4 15.f4 d8 16.cxd4 dxe5 17.dxe5 c7 18.g4 e7 19.xg7+ Black resigned. Euwe,M-Colle,E
Amsterdam 1928 11...e7 12.e2 Equally playable was 12.e5, but from e2
the Q may eventually join the attack by going to h5. ae8 What's the purpose
of this move? There isn’t any, but he has to play something. 13.a3
Black is clearly facing imminent disaster, but how will it manifest itself? c5 Black is so cramped, so cramped he has to do something and so he tries to
break the pin. 14.ae1 Alekhine brings one more piece to the K-side. h8
Zubarev is without any viable options. 14..cxd4 15. cxd4 only mobilizes
white’s center Ps. 14...e5 loses as follows... 15.f5 d8 16.xd6 exf4 17.e5 f3 18.gxf3 with a crushing position. 15.d5 The immediate 15.e5
was also good. g8 Other moves were possibve, but not a one of them could be
considered an improvement. 16.e5 A serious tactical mistake because it
drops the d5-Pawn. 16.c1 This fine retreat (found by the engines) brings
the B back into the game. d8 17.d1 c8 18.e3 g6 19.ef3 e5 20.f5 df6 21.c2 h7 22.h1 g7 23.h3 a6 24.e2 g5 There is no forced win, but
white can keep up the pressure with either 25.Rg3 or 25.Ba4 16...g6
Zubarev returns the favor and so white remain unscathed. 16...dxe5
equalizes! 17.fxe5 exd5 18.cxd5 xd5 19.b1 xe5 20.c2 f5 21.xf5 g5 22.g3 xf1+ 23.xf1 g6 24.c1 Black is a P up, but he still has to
contend with a strong white attack, so practically speaking the chances are
equal 17.d2 Now things are back on track. It would not have beneficial
for white to capture with either P, but he could also have played 17.Ne4 with
the advantage. 17.e4 dxe5 17...exd5 18.xd6 dxc4 18...b8 19.xb7
wins outright 19.xc4 c6 20.xe8 with a winning advantage. 18.fxe5 d8 19.d6 a6 20.c1 with a clear advantage. 17...exd5 This is neither
better nor worse than taking with the other P because white already has what
amounts to a winning position. 18.cxd5 dxe5 18...xd5 is the alternative,
but after 19.b5 b7 20.exd6 black is better oof than after 18...exd5 19.c4 h7 Black is simply out of meaningful moves. 19...f5 is met by 20.fxe5 xe5 21.b2 and the game is over. 20.b2 gf6 21.fxe5 g4 22.e6 This destroys black’s defenses. The move attacks the N, the f7
square and opens the long diagonal. h4 This threatens ...Qxh2# and, on 23.
h3, black can take the N. Even in that caser white;s position is so good that
he would still win! 22...fxe6 leads to disaster. 23.xg6+ g8 24.xe6 xf1+ 25.xf1 23.xf7+ An outounding move that may have come as a complete
surprise to Zubarev. Stockfish informs us that white now has a mate in 13
moves. 23.h3 xg3 24.hxg4 b8 25.c3 f6 26.xg6+ g7 26...xg6 27.xf6+ mates in 3 27.xg3 23...xf7 24.xg6+ Of course the
prosaic 24.exf7 also wins. xg6 25.d3+ g5 26.c1+ Black resigned. 26.c1+ f6 27.f5+ g7 28.xf7+ h8 29.xe8+ h7 30.xd7+ h8 31.b2+ f6 32.e7 d4+ 33.xd4 cxd4 34.xf6+ g8 35.f5 c6 36.g7# 1–0
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