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. 

[Event "Kecskemet (Prelim Group A)"] [Site "?"] [Date "1927.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexande Alekhine"] [Black "Savielly Tartakower"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B15"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1927.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.05.15"] {B15: Caro-Kann} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 e5 6. Nf3 { [%mdl 32]} exd4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8. Qe2+ Be7 (8... Qe7 9. Qxe7+ Bxe7 10. Ndf5 Bf8 11. Bg5 Bxf5 12. Nxf5 Ne4 {White's pieces are more active, but there is little he can undertake. Lomineishvili,M (2345)-Purtseladze,M (2356) Tbilisi GEO 2012} ) (8... Kd7 {avoids the exchanhe of Qs, but loses the game.} 9. Be3 Re8 10. O-O-O Kc7 11. Nb5+ cxb5 12. Rxd8 Bxe3+ 13. fxe3 Rxd8 14. Qxb5 {with a decisive advantage. Owezdurdiyeva,J (2061) -Rose,F (2091) chess.com INT 2023}) 9. Be3 c5 {Besides this black has also tried 9...Qa5+ and 9...Qd5.} 10. Ndf5 O-O { 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. Qc4 {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. Qd3 {When annotating this game Pachman did not mention the possibility of white's castling Q-side which is also quite reasonable.} Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. O-O-O {and white stands well.}) 11... Re8 {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... Bxf5 12. Nxf5 Nc6 {and the P is immune.} 13. Nxe7+ (13. Bxc5 Bxc5 14. Qxc5 Ne4 {Threatening mate with ...Qd2, so...} 15. Qe3 Re8 16. Be2 ( 16. Bc4 Nf6 {win the Q}) 16... Qa5+ {wins the N}) 13... Nxe7 14. Qxc5 Rc8 15. Qxa7 Rxc2 {with equal chances.}) (11... b6 {This defends the Pawnm bur black faces serious difficulties after} 12. Rd1 Nbd7 13. Qh4 {White has what should amount to a decisive attack.}) 12. Bd3 {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. Nxe7+ Rxe7 (12... Qxe7 13. O-O-O {and white stands well.}) 13. Bd3 {White correctly igmores the c-Pawn.} ( 13. Qxc5 Nc6 14. Bd3 Re5 {This attack on the misplaced Q assures black of equality.}) 13... Be6 14. Qh4 {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... Bf8 {An illogical looking undeveloping move which is actually best as it completely equalizies!} 13. O-O-O {and black has full equality after either 13...Be6 or 13.Qb6.}) 13. O-O-O {At this point Alekhine has a clearly better, if mot decisive, position.} Ba6 {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... Bxf5 {At least thi removes one of the attackers.} 14. Nxf5 Nbd7 {and now...} 15. Nxg7 Kxg7 16. Bf5 Qc7 17. Bxd7 Nxd7 18. Qg4+ Kh8 19. Rxd7 Qe5 20. Re1 Bf6 21. c3 Rg8 22. Qh3 {White hs a decisive advantage...not seeing how? Here'she best line...}) 14. Nh6+ {[%mdl 512] 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... Kh8 15. Nxf7+ Kg8 16. Nh6+ Kh8 17. Qg8+ Rxg8 18. Nf7#) 15. Bxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Another sactifice and it's the only move that wins.} Nxh7 (15... Kh8 16. Qxf7 { [%eval 462,23] [%wdl 1000,0,0] [%emt 0:00:02] Xxf7}) 16. Qg4+ Kh8 17. Rxd8 Rxd8 18. Qe4 {This Q fork virtually ends the game because Alekhine now obtains a decisive material advantage.} Nc6 19. Qxc6 Bf8 20. Nf5 Bc4 21. Bxh6 {White has a Q+2Ps vs. R+B} Bd5 22. Qc7 Rac8 23. Qf4 Rc6 24. Bxf8 Rxf8 25. Qe5+ Nf6 26. Nd6 {Black resigned. Curiously white's last move has left the B and N forked.} (26. Nd6 Bxa2 27. Qxf6+ Kh7 28. Re1 {mates in 11...} Rxd6 29. Qxd6 Rg8 30. b3 Rg6 31. Qf8 Rg7 32. Re3 c4 33. Qe7 cxb3 34. Rh3+ Kg6 35. Qe4+ Kg5 36. Rg3+ Kf6 37. Rf3+ Kg5 38. Qf5+ Kh4 39. Rh3#) 1-0