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  • Friday, May 17, 2024

    The Powerful Queen


        
    The 1927 Kecskemet, Hungary tournament featured twenty players that were divided into two preliminary sections. Preliminary A was won by Alekhine followed by Aasztalos, Kmoch, Gilg, Takacs, Tartakover, Brinckmann, Yates, Mueller and Sarkozy. 
        Preliminary B was won by Lajos Steiner followed by Nimzovich, Ahues, Vajda, Colle, Gruenfeld, Vukovic, Kullberg, Przepiorka and Szekely. 
        The Final A Group winner was Alexander Alekhine followed by Aron Nimzovich and Lajos Steiner (tied). Final B was won by Savielly Tartakower and Ernst Gruenfeld (tied) followed by Sandor Takacs and F.D. Yates (tied). 
        When the Queen are off the board it completely alters the character of the position. Tactical elements are reduced (not eliminated!) and positional elements take on a greater significance..
        This game between Alekhine and Tartakower from the Preliminary A Group illustrates how the Queen’s way of moving, a combination of the Rook and Bishop, can give rise to similar tactical motifs observed in both of those pieces and it’s a good example of the Queen’s versatility in the conduct of mating operations. Alekhine’s strategy may not have been perfect, but it’s very instructive. 

    A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

    Alexande AlekhineSavielly Tartakower1–0B15Kecskemet (Prelim Group A)1927Stockfish 16
    B15: Caro-Kann 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.g3 e5 6.f3 exd4 7.xd4 c5 8.e2+ e7 8...e7 9.xe7+ xe7 10.df5 f8 11.g5 xf5 12.xf5 e4 White's pieces are more active, but there is little he can undertake. Lomineishvili,M (2345)-Purtseladze,M (2356) Tbilisi GEO 2012 8...d7 avoids the exchanhe of Qs, but loses the game. 9.e3 e8 10.0-0-0 c7 11.b5+ cxb5 12.xd8 xe3+ 13.fxe3 xd8 14.xb5 with a decisive advantage. Owezdurdiyeva,J (2061) -Rose,F (2091) chess.com INT 2023 9.e3 c5 Besides this black has also tried 9...Qa5+ and 9...Qd5. 10.df5 0-0 Pachman makes an interesting observation here. With 8.Q2e+ Alekhine blocked his B and now if he wants to castle K-side he is going to lose time which is favorable to black. However, now "by means of a few energetic moves, of admirable simplicity, Alekhine succeeds in making capital out of the mobility of his Q." 11.c4 Even non-Masters know that Q sorties undertaken before development has been completed are, as a rule, misguided. That's because without the cooperation of the other pieces the Q is subject to time winning attacks on it. With 11.Qc4 Alekhine's idea is that he is attacking the c-Pawn plus he has seen an, as of yet, potential attcak on f7...something even a great player likeTartakower failed to appreciate. 11.d3 When annotating this game Pachman did not mention the possibility of white's castling Q-side which is also quite reasonable. a5+ 12.d2 c7 13.0-0-0 and white stands well. 11...e8 Placing the R opposite white's K which at the same time indirectky defends his c-Pawn is quite reasonable, but Tartakower does not suspect the that danger is lurking. His best move was the illogical looking 11. ..Bxf5 11...xf5 12.xf5 c6 and the P is immune. 13.xe7+ 13.xc5 xc5 14.xc5 e4 Threatening mate with ...Qd2, so... 15.e3 e8 16.e2 16.c4 f6 win the Q 16...a5+ wins the N 13...xe7 14.xc5 c8 15.xa7 xc2 with equal chances. 11...b6 This defends the Pawnm bur black faces serious difficulties after 12.d1 bd7 13.h4 White has what should amount to a decisive attack. 12.d3 This move has, as far as I know, not been commented on by annotators, bit it should have resulted in no more than equality had Tartakower responded correctly. 12.xe7+ xe7 12...xe7 13.0-0-0 and white stands well. 13.d3 White correctly igmores the c-Pawn. 13.xc5 c6 14.d3 e5 This attack on the misplaced Q assures black of equality. 13...e6 14.h4 with the more promising position. 12...b6 This move, too, has escaped the attention of the annotators, but not Stockfish! It's after this that's Alekhine's strategy with his Q is vindicated. 12...f8 An illogical looking undeveloping move which is actually best as it completely equalizies! 13.0-0-0 and black has full equality after either 13...Be6 or 13.Qb6. 13.0-0-0 At this point Alekhine has a clearly better, if mot decisive, position. a6 This is quite logical as it develops a piece and at the same time attacks the Q. It's paradoxical that it is also even worse than his last move. White's position is now clearly decisive. 13...xf5 At least thi removes one of the attackers. 14.xf5 bd7 and now... 15.xg7 xg7 16.f5 c7 17.xd7 xd7 18.g4+ h8 19.xd7 e5 20.e1 f6 21.c3 g8 22.h3 White hs a decisive advantage...not seeing how? Here'she best line... 14.h6+ A beautiful combination, based on the motifs of decoying, diverting and discovered check. Its chief point lies in the eighteenth move, when it turns out that Black is compelled to give up the Q, not for three minor pieces, but two. (Pachman) gxh6 Forced. 14...h8 15.xf7+ g8 16.h6+ h8 17.g8+ xg8 18.f7# 15.xh7+ Another sactifice and it's the only move that wins. xh7 15...h8 16.xf7 Xxf7 16.g4+ h8 17.xd8 xd8 18.e4 This Q fork virtually ends the game because Alekhine now obtains a decisive material advantage. c6 19.xc6 f8 20.f5 c4 21.xh6 White has a Q+2Ps vs. R+B d5 22.c7 ac8 23.f4 c6 24.xf8 xf8 25.e5+ f6 26.d6 Black resigned. Curiously white's last move has left the B and N forked. 26.d6 xa2 27.xf6+ h7 28.e1 mates in 11... xd6 29.xd6 g8 30.b3 g6 31.f8 g7 32.e3 c4 33.e7 cxb3 34.h3+ g6 35.e4+ g5 36.g3+ f6 37.f3+ g5 38.f5+ h4 39.h3# 1–0

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