In the historic New York tournament of 1924 Lasker scored
a remarkable 16-4 against a world-class field ahead of Capablanca (14.5), Alekhine, Marshall and Retu (all with 10.5).
The following game between the Hypermodern Reti and the Classical Bogoljubow was awarded First Brilliancy Prize. It's still a great masterpiece of strategy that also features a clever finish.
One interesting observation is the engines evaluate white's opening play as being very mear;y equal (+/=/ or a bit more than half a Pawn), but my database statistics confirm Alekhine's claim that black's opening play was strategically losing.
[Event "New York"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1924.04.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Richard Reti"]
[Black "Efim Bogoljubov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E01"]
[Annotator "Alekhine.Golombek, Stockfish et al"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "1924.03.16"]
{E01: Catalan} 1. Nf3 {This was a novelty in 1924 as almost all game began
with 1.e4 or 2.d4} Nf6 2. c4 e6 {See the note to white's 8th move!} 3. g3 d5 4.
Bg2 Bd6 {The idea of this move is to play ...e5 at the proper time, but that
moment never arrives, so Harry Golo,bek thought 4...Be7 was better. Actually,
black does eventually play ...e5, but it's a defensive move and not part of
his openung strategy.} 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 Re8 {This is part of his plan to play .
..e5 which is a good option that he could have played at once. Another gpod
option was 6...dxc4} 7. Bb2 Nbd7 8. d4 {Alekhine thought this move was a clear
positional refutation of 2...e6 because black has no good way of getting his
light squared B into play. It's hard to argue with Alekhine, but no engine
gives white more that a +/= advantahe which is his starting advanthae from the
beginning. On the other hand, in my database white scores an impressive +30
-15 =31, so he is probably correct after a;;/} c6 9. Nbd2 {Besides this move
white has played 9.Nc3 and 9.Qc2 with excellent results.} Ne4 {This leads to
several exchanges, but black's position remains cramped. Black's entire
arrangement of his game was faulty. For the simple continuation 10.cxd5 cxd5
11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Bxe5 Rxe5} (9... e5 {was recommended by
Rubinstein and Alekhine considered it to be the best.} 10. cxd5 {The capture
10.dxe5 has been played, but it tends to be drawish.} cxd5 {The only good
recapture.} (10... Nxd5 $2 {10...cxd5 0.67} 11. Nc4 Bc7 12. e4 N5b6 13. Nfxe5 {
White is winning.}) 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. Bxe5 Rxe5 14. Nc4 Re8 15.
Ne3 {In practice black's d-Pawn has been a weakness and he has drawing chances
at best.}) 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ne5 {Black has two ways of defending the P: 11...
Nf6 and 11...Nf5. Which is better?} f5 {Alekhine wrote this is "obviously
forced.Golombek didn't like it because it allows white to open up tje position
and profit from his btter development. However, it is black's best choice.
White is slightly better.} 12. f3 {According to Alekhine this is the proper
strategy. Je explaons, “After black has weakened his position in the center,
white forthwith must aim to change the closed game into an open one in order
to make as much as possible out of that weakness.”} exf3 13. Bxf3 {Equally
good was 13.Rxf3} (13. exf3 {13.Bxf3 would be wrong because "the e-Pawn must
be used as a battering ram." (Alekhine)} Nxe5 (13... c5 14. f4 cxd4 15. Bxd4
Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Bxe5 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. fxe5 {Altshul,R (2174)-Stepanov,A (2012)
St Petersburg 2014. White is slightly better, but the game was eventually
drawn.}) 14. dxe5 Bc5+ {and black has equalized.}) 13... Qc7 {[%cal Rd7e5]} 14.
Nxd7 Bxd7 15. e4 {The threat is e5.} e5 {Black has finally gotten in the
advance of his e-Pawn, but not in the way he had hoped back when he played 6...
Re8. Here he simply cannot allow white to play 14.e5} 16. c5 Bf8 17. Qc2 {
This attacks both of black's Ps.} exd4 {The solid 17...g6 supporting his
center would have been better. After the text opening up the position blak's
position begins to slowly deteriorate/} 18. exf5 Rad8 $2 {This looks like the
right T because it brings the R into play, but it's...the wrong one because
now the R on r8 doesn't have a good square to move to if it's attacked.} (18...
Red8 {was called for.} 19. Rad1 (19. Bxd4 Be6 $16) 19... Be8) 19. Bh5 {
Alekhine praised this move as, "The initial move in an exactly calculated,
decisive maneuver the end of which will worthily crown white’s model play."
Golommbek called it, "A fine move that fastens in to black's weak point on f7
and looks forward to the final combination." Actually, while white is clearly
better, everybody missed a much better move.} (19. Bxd4 {and play might go
something like this...} Bc8 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Bh5 Re7 22. f6 Red7 23. Bc3 Rd3 (
23... Rd5 $142 24. Rae1 Bf5) 24. fxg7+ Bxg7 25. Qxd3 {and white has won a R.})
19... Re5 20. Bxd4 Rxf5 {This loses at once. Golombek pointed out that 20...
Rd5 was a better defense. In the end though it would nit have changed the
result.} (20... Rd5 21. Qc4 Kh8 {White's best defense of his f-Pawn is not the
awkward 22.Bg4, but rather} 22. Bf3 $1 {[%cal Rf3d5]} Rxf5 23. Be4 Rg5 24. Rf7
{and white has a decisive attack.}) 21. Rxf5 Bxf5 22. Qxf5 Rxd4 23. Rf1 Rd8 {
It looks like black has successfully defended against mate on f8, but Reti has
planned a captivating finish.} 24. Bf7+ Kh8 {Now comes the point...there is a
mate after all and f8 is the key square.} 25. Be8 {[%mdl 512] Black resigned.
White has a forced mat in 9 moves at most.} (25. Be8 h5 26. Qxf8+ Kh7 27. Qf5+
Kg8 28. Qe6+ Kh7 29. Bg6+ Kh8 30. Qe2 Kg8 31. Qxh5 Qf4 32. Rxf4 Rd1+ 33. Qxd1 {
mate next move.}) 1-0

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