Isaias Pleci (1907-1979) was of Argentine was awarded the IM title in 1965 and was the Argentine Champion in 1929-30. He is little known, but fared very well in South American events in the 1930s and Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating ti have bee 2582 in 1940 making him the 44th best player in the world.
Pleci won the individual bronze medal at the Stockholm 1937 Olympiad and the gold medal at the 1939 Buenos Aires Olympiad
His opponent in the following game played in the 1939 Olympiad was Gunnar Fried,amm (1909-1i44, 34 years old) of Estonia.
He played on several occasions in Estonian championships and was a member of the Estonian Olympic temam several times.
Friedemann played for Estonia in the following Chess Olympiads. According to Chess metrics his highest rating was 2536 in 1941 ranking him #80 in the world. He died in the German Army on the Eastern front.
This game is the first game in Alekhine’s book 107 Great Chess Battles,; the games date from 1939 to 1943. The book gets a lot of negative reviews on Amazon wnd while it feels like an Alekhine potboiler I like it simply because it has a lot of great games and not all were played by Alekhine.
[Event "Buenos Aires Olympiad Final-A"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1939.09.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Isaias Pleci (Argentina)"]
[Black "Gunnar Friedemann (Estonia)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[Annotator "Alekhine/Stockfish"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "1939.09.01"]
{C90: Closed Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6.
Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 {Alekhine correctly predict t hat this premature
move would be abandoned in favour of 8...O-O. He said it would happen within 3
years. How accurate his time limit was is unknown, but 8...Na5 does not serve
black well at all in my database.} 9. Bc2 c5 10. a4 Rb8 (10... Bg4 {was played
in Leventic,I (2481)-Rubil,M (2255) Djakovo CRO 2011 and after} 11. h3 Bd7 12.
d4 Nc6 13. Nbd2 O-O {white is only slightly better.}) (10... Bb7 {has asi ben
tried.} 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. Nf1 Nc6 14. d5 Nd8 {White gas the
advantahe. Leventic,I (2481)-Rubil,M (2255) Djakovo CRO 2011}) 11. axb5 axb5
12. d4 Qc7 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 {Alekhine stated that this capture was
rightly considered by theory to be too dangerous and recommended 14.Nbd2.
However, he added that there was no supporting proof of that opinion and
therefore this game was a good test. Stockfish gives the nod to 14.Nxe5
although 14.Nbs2 is not far behind. In the end, the best move is a matter of
how much risk white wants to take.} Qxe5 15. Rxa5 Ng4 $1 {Black must continue
aggressively. Any oyjrt move, say 15...O-O, is too slow.} 16. g3 $1 {The only
good defense.} (16. f4 Qc7 17. Ra1 c4 18. Qe2 Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Nf2+) 16... Qh5 17.
h4 Bxh4 {Best. After this move both players are ion the razor's edge,
Alekhine wrote that ,any spectators (some of them experts of proven
international renown) were surprised that Friedemann did not play the
recommended book move 17...g5. He added that probably Friedemann saw over the
board that white would have the strong reply 18.Qd5} (17... g5 18. Qd5 {
only results in equality after} O-O 19. Bxg5 Rd8) (17... g5 18. Ra7 {
overlooked by Alekhine! White gains a decisive advantage after} Rb7 (18... gxh4
19. Qd5 {Now is the time for this.} Qg6 20. Bf4 Rb6 21. Rxe7+ Kxe7 22. Qxc5+)
19. Ra8 O-O 20. Bxg5 Bxg5 21. Qd5 Re7 22. Bd1 Rd7 23. Qxg5+ Qxg5 24. hxg5 {
White is two Ps up and has a decisive advantage.}) 18. gxh4 Qxh4 19. Qf3 Qh2+
20. Kf1 {And now Bf4 would win.} Ne5 {A key move necause it allows his B to
participate.} 21. Qg3 Qh1+ $1 {The correct decision, 21...Bh3+ may look goodm
but it falls way short.} (21... Bh3+ 22. Ke2 Bg4+ 23. Ke3 $1 {The only defense.
} Qh6+ 24. f4 $1 {Again, the only defense.} Qb6 {It looks like white is in
trouble, but he has the surprisubg...} 25. Rxb5 $3 Qxb5 26. fxe5 h5 27. Na3 $1
{The Ns appearance leads to a decisive advantage.} Qd7 28. Nc4 O-O 29. Nd6 {
Whiye has a B+N vs a R, but he has a dominating position.}) 22. Ke2 Qh5+ $1 {
Yet another move that is the only correct one.} 23. f3 Nxf3 $1 {Still another
only move! Alekhine wrote, "A fresh a n d perfectly correct sacrifice. It is
evident that the N's untouchable..."} 24. Kf2 $2 {It's odd that Alekhine
passes over thsi in silence. Now it is black who is in control.} (24. Bf4 {
Keeps the chances equal after} Rb6 25. Nd2 Nxd2+ 26. Kxd2) 24... Nxe1 25. Kxe1
Qh1+ (25... Rb6 $1 $19 {[%cal Rb6g6] ...Rg6 is the strong threat.} 26. Be3 O-O)
26. Kf2 $1 {Threatens to win with Qe5+.} Qxc1 {Alekhine incorrectly gave this
move a question mark calling it an “unbelievable error after such inspired
play” adding that black was probably in time pressure and completely
overlooked the check that was coming. With all due respect to one of the
greatest players ever, that is completely wrong. I took lunch break here and
left Stockfish running. Over an hour later its evaluation was 0.00. Curious, I
checked with a couple of other engines and they all agreed with the evaluation.
} (26... O-O {This was Stockfish's (and Alekhine's) first choice, but black is
only a half a P better adter} 27. Bf4 Rb6 28. Qh2 Qxh2+ 29. Bxh2 f5 30. e5 g5
31. Bg1 Re8) 27. Qe5+ {"Now black is lost." (Alekhine) Not according to
Stockfish.} Kd8 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Now black is lost (Stockfish)} (27... Kd7 {
leads to a draw.} 28. Qf5+ Kd8 29. Qd5+ Ke8 30. Qe5+ Kd7 31. Bd3 Qxb2+ 32. Be2
Rb6 33. Qxg7 Bb7 34. Qxh8 Rg6 35. Qe5 Rg2+ 36. Kxg2 Qxe2+ 37. Kg3 Qe1+ {draw})
28. Qd6+ Ke8 29. Ra7 {This wins, but 20.Qxb2 was even quicker. It's quite
possible that for the rest of the game bothplayers were in time pressure as
there are a few small inexactitudes.} (29. Qxb8 Qxc2+ 30. Ke3 Qc1+ 31. Ke2 g6
32. Qe5+ Kd8 33. Qd6+ Ke8 34. Ra8 Qc2+ 35. Nd2 Qd3+ 36. Kxd3 f5 37. Rxc8+ Kf7
38. Rc7+ Kg8 39. Qd8#) 29... Qxc2+ 30. Nd2 Rb7 31. Ra8 Rc7 32. Ke2 Qa4 33. Rxa4
{Ra8 would kill now.} bxa4 34. Qxc7 Bg4+ 35. Ke3 Rf8 36. Qxc5 f6 37. Kf4 Bd7
38. Nc4 g5+ 39. Ke3 Rg8 40. Nd6+ Kd8 41. Nb7+ Ke8 42. Qc7 Ke7 43. Qd6+ Ke8 44.
Qxf6 Bh3 45. Qd8+ Kf7 46. Nd6+ Kg7 47. Qxg5+ {Black resigned. It's mate next
move. A fascinating game.} 1-0
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