While today’s engines will uncover some flaws both in the games and the analysis, let’s not get too picky! Playing over them is just plain enjoyable.
Let’s take a look at one of the games...the one Soltis considers the sixth best game ever played. It’s Lilienthal vs. Ragozin, Moscow 1935.
After the 1925 Moscow tournament and the 1933 Botvinnik - Flohr match, Nikolai Krylenko, head of Soviet chess, wanted to test the Soviet players against the best Western players. To that end eight foreign players, including two former World Champions, were invited to play against 12 Soviet players.
How great was the 1935 tournament? When Max Euwe's book Strategy and Tactics was published back in 1937 he used as examples seven games from the event, but this game was not one of them, probably because it did not fit the themes Euwe was discussing.
In the featured game, Ragozin sacrificed the exchange, not once, but twice and Soltis correctly thinks it was impressive. Botvinnik wrote that Ragozin played an extremely fine combination, perhaps one of the finest on record. Dutch GM Ham Timman wrote that it was, "One of the best games and one of the finer combinations ever recorded."
How great is the game, really? Stockfish 16’s long shadow dims the brilliance some, but not much.
Andre Lilienthal–Viacheslav Ragozin0–1E24Moscow16.02.1935Stockfish 16
Nimzo-Indian 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4 4.a3 At the time this game was
played this, the Saemisch Variation, was the most popular continuation. Black
cedes the two Bs, but gives white doubled Ps. For his part white hopes to
establish a strong center. 4.e3 is preferred by modern players. xc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 Even today this is the main line, but it’s not the only choice black has.
6.f3 White’s strategy is to build up a strong center with the hopes of
launching a K-side attack. d5 7.e3 0-0 8.cxd5 exd5 This is the choice of
humans; engines prefer 8...Nxd5 9.d3 c6 10.e2 e8 11.0-0 a6 The
beginning of a plan to expand on the Q-side. 11...h6 lead to an
interesting idea by white. 12.a2 There's a point to this seemingly
pointless move! e6 13.f4 c8 14.g4 d7 15.e1 a5 16.g2 f8 17.h4
and in Bratanov,Z (2332)-Acs,P (2542) Budapest 2000 white scored a quick win. 12.e1 It's been suggested that white should have met black's Q-side
expansion with 12.a4, but that seem unnecessary. 12.g4 didn't yield much in
Erdogan,H (2282)-Ataman,A (2209) Antalya 2008 which continued b5 13.g3 b6 14.h1 a7 15.g5 d7 16.f5 f8 17.d6 d8 18.xc8 xc8 with a
completely equal position. 12.a4 d7 13.b1 a5 14.e4 dxe4 15.fxe4 cxd4 16.g5 g4 17.xf6 gxf6 18.cxd4 xe2 19.xe2 xd4+ with equal chances. 12...b5 A struggle is beginning to shape up over white’s intention to
advance his e-Pawn. 13.f2 e6 13...c4 was played in Ochkoos,J (2240)
-Walker,B (2265) Toronto 1993 14.c2 a7 15.g3 b7 16.e4 White has
achieved his desired advance, but... dxe4 17.fxe4 g4 18.f4 Black has the
clever xd4 19.d1 19.cxd4 loses xd4+ 20.h1 xa1 19...xc2 20.xd8 xd8 21.a2 d1+ 22.f1 e1 23.d2 Black put up a tough fight, but
eventually lost. 14.h3 A necessary precaution for when he advances his
e-Pawn. a7 What sn interesting strategic move. The R can now move anywhere
on the 7th rank to occupy whatever file it might be needed on. 15.d2
Just a simple developing move, but he might have considered 15.a4 15.e4
looks OK here as after dxe4 16.fxe4 cxd4 17.cxd4 c4 18.xc4 bxc4 19.e5 d5 Chances are about even as white's a-Pawn is at least as weak as black's
c-Pawn. 15.a4 At this point this seems to lead to a favorable position
for white after c4 16.b1 b4 17.cxb4 xb4 18.e4 with the better position. 15...b6 16.fb1 Not bad because it restrains black's Q-side Ps, however,
the best continuation was the aggressive 16.e4! 16.e4 and now black's best
continuation is d7 17.f4 e7 18.e3 c4 19.c2 b7 20.fe1 a5 21.h5 h8 22.g3 g8 23.ab1 with a clearly more active position. 16...ae7
This hinders the advance of the e-Pawn. 17.a4 White has succeeded in
undermining black’s Q-side. 17.e4 dxe4 18.fxe4 c4 19.xc4 xe4 20.f4 cxd4 21.h1 d8 22.a2 xd2 23.xd2 xe2 with a decisive advantage. 17...c4 18.c2 c8 19.g3 Having restrained black on the Q-side, white now
switches his attention to the K-side. h5 Why this move? It prevents white
from expanding on the K-side. What about the fact that it weakens the position
of black’s K? It doesn’t because white is in no position to take advantage
of it...at least noit just yet. 20.e2 20.e4 Black can safely meet this,
but things can get really, really wild! h4 21.f1 dxe4 22.fxe4 xe4 23.xh4 f5 24.axb5 axb5 25.e3 Here black has the clever xd4 26.cxd4 xd4 27.f4 Watch this! xh3 28.gxh3 g5 29.f5 e5 30.g4 xd2 31.f3 f6 32.f1 xc2 33.xf6 d3 and all the winning chances belong to black. 20...d8 21.a2 d7 22.axb5 axb5 23.ba1 An interesting situation has arisen. White,
it seems, is clearly better, but exactly how can white exploit his advantage?
The answer is far from clear. c8 24.b2 With nothing to be accomplished on
the a-file he concentrated on the b-Pawn. d7 Defending the P so white's
last move didn't accomplish much. 25.h4 Turning his attention back toi the
K-side. e6 26.h1 26.e4 is met by dxe4 27.fxe4 f8 28.f4 28.e5 xe5 28...8h7 29.d5 xd5 30.exd5 d6 31.xh7+ xh7 32.xh5+ g8 33.f1 f6 34.f2 e4 35.b1 d8 36.bf1 e8 Black has successfully defended against
all threats and established equality. 26...f8 27.g3 Hoping to support
the advance of his e-Pawn. xe3 This move has been called all kinds of
superlatives and give a ! or two and practically so. Unfortunately, the
coldblooded Stockfish still prefers white’s position by two Ps! Still, you
have to like it. 27...d6 Prosaic and unimaginative. This is the move
Stockfish likes. 28.e4 dxe4 29.xe4 xe4 30.fxe4 c6 31.d5 with the
advantage. 28.xe3 xe3 29.xh5 With this move all white's advantage
slips away because there is no attack left. 29.ba2 Back to the other side
where black no longer hasd any pieces. e6 30.f5 g6 31.g5 e1+ 32.h2 xa1 33.xa1 c6 34.xh5 xf5 35.xf5 xh5 36.xh5 with a clear (winning)
advantage. 29...xh5 30.xh5 c6 This doesn't hurt anything, but there
was no reason to avoid capturing the c-Pawn. 31.g5 31.ba2 is better. xc3 32.e5 Black must exercise extreme care. xc2 32...e6 33.a8+ xa8 34.xa8+ f8 35.e7 xc2 36.xf8+ h7 37.xf7 c1+ 38.h2 c3 38...f6 39.g8+ 39.f4 c2 40.g8+ g6 41.f5+ h6 42.h8+ g5 43.xg7+ wins 33.xc2 b4 and black can fight on. 31...xc3 Excellent! It looks like black
has trapped his own R, but this is the equalizing move. Yes, equalizing, not
winning. 31...e2 is a dud. 32.ba2 b8 33.f5 xa2 34.xa2 b4 35.cxb4 xb4 36.a7 g6 37.g3 b6 38.c7 a4 39.c8 xd4 40.d6 g7 41.b1
Black's c- and d-Pawns fall leaving white with a tough, but technical, win. In
Shootouts white scored 5-0., but they were long (70-80 move) games. 32.d2 xc2 33.xc2 e6 This should have turned the advantage over to white again
had he doubled Rs on the a-file. 33...b4 was essential. 34.b2 b3 34...c3 35.xc3 35.bb1 e6 36.d1 b8 and white can make no progress. 34.d1 34.ca2 xd4 35.xd4 xd4 36.d1 e6 37.a6 e8 38.xd5 c7 39.e5 xa6 40.xe8+ h7 41.c8 Black's Ps are held up and white is free to
activate his K so he does have some winning chances. In Shootouts white scored
+4 -0 -1, but some of the games went nigh on to 100 moves. 34...b4 35.b2 b3 36.c3 The Ps are held up, but it takes all of white's pieces to do it,
so his material advantage means little. c7 Black has
compensation. 37.e2 a7 38.b4 Threatening the winning 39.Re7 or 39.Qd6 b5 38...h7 39.d6 39.e7 b5 40.d6 39...a4 40.e7 39.e7 a3
The exchange of Qs would give black a significant advantage. 40.e1 40.xa3 xa3 41.c7 a4 42.a7 c3 43.xa4 c2 44.g1 b2 45.xa3 b1 46.xb1 cxb1+ 40...c3 As bad as things look for white there is still no
win available for black! 41.e8+ 41.a1 is also quite good. d6 42.e8+ A must play move. xe8 43.xe8+ h7 44.xb5 This position ius drawn. For
example... b2 45.d3+ g6 46.xc3 bxa1+ 47.xa1 41...xe8 42.xe8+
As precarious as white's position looks it's still possible to
hold it. h7 43.xf7 A very fine move. Grabbing the N would lose. 43.xb5 c2 44.e1 c1 45.d3+ g6 46.xc1 xc1+ 47.h2 b2 43...a8 44.e1
As many annotators have pointed out this threatens to win with 44.
Qh5+, but they all missed that it's the losing move!! d6 And wins. 44...c2 45.h5+ g8 46.e8+ xe8 47.xe8+ h7 48.h5+ g8 49.xd5+ h8 50.h5+ g8 51.c5 and white wins from this position...the best line being... xd4 52.c3 h7 53.h2 h8 54.xd4 c1 55.h4+ g8 56.d8+ h7 57.d3+ h8 58.xb3 45.c7 c2 46.xd6 b2 47.f4 This is white's last hope. c6
White resigned 47...b1 would ve a terrible mistake! 48.f5+ and now
black has only one move that does not lose g6 48...g8 Watch what happens! 49.xb1 cxb1+ 50.xb1 c6 51.b8+ h7 52.e5 with a won Q+P ending 49.f7+ h8 49...h6 50.f4+ h7 51.f7+ draws 50.f6+ h7 51.f7+ h8 52.f6+ h7 53.f7+= 47...c6 48.f5+ g8 49.h2 c1 50.g1 1c2
wins easily 0–1
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