A Great Game by Paul Michel

    One of the books in my collection is 107 Great Chess Battles, 1939-1945 by Alekhine. The games, almost all of them played by others, were selected and annotated by him. Because Alekhine selected the games you know they have to be good. 

    The games are organized by openings, open, semi-open and closed. In my opinion the book is something of a potboiler with not very deep annotations and they are lacking instructional content, but then it’s games themselves that are interesting. 

    The winner, Paul Michel (1905-1977) of Germany, was awarded the IM title in 1956. He was 2nd= in the German Championships of 1935 and 1938 and was a member of the German Olympiad team of 1939. He remained in Argentina after the Second World War. 

    His opponent was Swedish player Erik Lundin (1904-1088). One of the country;s top players, he was warded the International Master title in 1950, and the Honorary Grandmaster title in 1983. He continued to participate in chess tournaments in his 80's and over the course of his career he defeated many of the world;s best players. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been w771 and his best world ranking to have been #18 on December 1946 and January 1947. 

 

[Event "Buenos Aires Olympiad fin-A"] [Site "Buenos Aires ARG"] [Date "1939.09.16"] [Round "14"] [White "Erik Lundin (Sweden)"] [Black "Paul Michel (Germany)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C48"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16/Alekhine"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "1939.09.01"] {C48: Four Knights Game, Rubinstein Mariation} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 {The solid Rubinstein Variation. At the time this game was played the German team would have been satisfied with a draw.} 5. Nxe5 {Lundin wants to avoid the drawish 5.Nxf4 and so Iplayed this rather dubious line. He would have done better playing the standard 5.Ba4. Note that the text does not win a P.} Qe7 6. f4 Nxb5 7. Nxb5 d6 8. Nf3 Qxe4+ 9. Kf2 {The position of white's K has been disturbed in this line and this move is better that 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10. Kxe2 because now at least white threatens 10.Re1} Ng4+ (9... Qxf4 {would be a horrible mistake.} 10. d3 Qf5 11. Nxc7+) 10. Kg3 {Alekhinme wrote that this K excursion is artificial and appears erroneous and he added that one could not understand what it was that lead white to play such a risky move. Possibly Lundin wanted to avois shutting his R in with 10.Kg1 although that move would have been preferrable.} Qg6 {Threatening 11...Ne3+.} 11. Nh4 Qh5 (11... Qf6 { is also good.} 12. h3 g5 13. Qe2+ Ne5 14. d4 gxf4+ 15. Kh2 Qxh4 16. dxe5 Qg3+ 17. Kg1 {Popov,I (2613)-Svidler,P (2730) Aix-les-Bains FRA 2011. Now after 17.. .Kd8 black would have had the advantage.}) 12. h3 {Best; this was known at the time.} (12. Nxc7+ {leaves black with the advantage after} Kd8 13. h3 (13. Nxa8 g5 14. fxg5 Qxg5 15. Nf3 Qg7 {The threat of ...Ne3+ cannot be met in any satisfactory way.} 16. Qe2 Ne3+ 17. Kf2 Qxg2+ 18. Kxe3 Bh6+ 19. Kd3 Bf5+ 20. Kc3 Qxe2) 13... Nf6 14. Nxa8 Qxh4+ 15. Kxh4 Ne4 16. Qh5 Be7+ 17. Qg5 Bxg5+) 12... Qxb5 {It was Alekhine's opinion that this simple move forces a series of moves which are dangerous for White's position.} (12... Nf6 {This move was known at the time the game was played and it was the move recompensed by theory. It still is.} 13. Nxc7+ {Trading Qs would have kept black's advantage at a minimum.} Kd8 14. Nxa8 {Kadric,D (2561)-Gelbenegger,P (2260) Austria AUT 2022. Black is better, but only if he finds the correct continuation which is.. .} Qxh4+ 15. Kxh4 Ne4 16. Qg4 Be7+ 17. Qg5 Bxg5+ 18. fxg5 h6 19. g6 fxg6 20. Rf1 {Black is clearly better, but white has a fighting chance.}) 13. hxg4 { This is no good because it exposes his K.} (13. a4 {and white has equalized but the position has a lot of complications!} Qd5 14. hxg4 g6 15. Qe2+ Be6 16. f5 gxf5 17. gxf5 Rg8+ 18. Kh3 Be7 19. fxe6 Bxh4 20. exf7+ Kxf7 {with a slight advantage.}) (13. a4 Ne3 {This also leads to complications.} 14. dxe3 Qc6 15. e4 Be7 16. Re1 O-O 17. Nf3 Bf6) 13... g5 {After this white's game begins to deteriorate.} 14. fxg5 Qe5+ 15. Kf2 Qd4+ 16. Kg3 Qe5+ 17. Kh3 {Michel refutes this swiftly and in masterly fashion.} (17. Kf2 {would have made black's task much more difficult.} Qxg5 18. d3 Qxg4 19. Re1+ Be7 20. Qxg4 Bxg4 21. Bg5 Be6 22. Bxe7 Kxe7 {with on;y sa modest advantage.}) 17... Qxg5 {Threatens to win with ...Rg8.} 18. d4 Qh5 {This fine move emphasizes the disadvantageous position of the K.} 19. g3 (19. Kg3 {is met by} Rg8 20. g5 Qxd1 21. Rxd1 h6 22. Nf3 Be7 23. Re1 hxg5 24. c4 (24. Bxg5 f6) 24... Bf5 {and black can expect to squeeze out the win.}) 19... Rg8 20. Kh2 Bxg4 {After achieving a material advantage the win is a matter of technique, but, as Alekhine pointed out, the speed of the method used produces a very favorable impression.} 21. Re1+ Be7 22. Qd2 Kd7 23. Qh6 Qd5 {Black avoids tthe exchange of Qs inorder to exploit the frail position of white's K.} 24. Be3 Rae8 25. Bf2 Bg5 {Giving back the extra P to force the opening of the h-file with the plan of a diret attack on the K - Alekhhine} 26. Qxh7 Rh8 27. Qd3 Reg8 28. c4 Qf3 {Now simplification assists black's victory since the Q is the only piece protecting white's position.} 29. Qxf3 Bxf3 30. Rg1 {Forced owing th the threat of ...Bxh4} f5 { [%mdl 32]} 31. a4 Rh7 32. Ra3 Be4 33. Raa1 f4 34. Kh3 fxg3 {White resigned. Very precise play by Michel according to Stockfish.} 0-1