Thursday, October 3, 2019

Why Alekhine’s Games Are Still Appealing

     There were three international tournaments at Carlsbad: 1907, 1911 and 1923. The 1923 event was held in the Helenenhof Imperial Hotel, from April 27 to May 22, 1923. 
     Alekhine, who arrived late due to passport problems, was in the lead, but tailender Spielmann defeated him in the penultimate round which allowed Maróczy catch up and Bogoljubow join the lead in the last round. 
     Twenty-two players were invited, but only seventeen were able to accept. Dr. Milan Vidmar, David Janowski and Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky were unable to play so Friedrich Saemisch was brought in as a reserve to create an even number of players. The world champion Capablanca, former world champion Lasker, and Frank Marshall were not invited. 
     The three winners earned 3,505 Czech Crowns with Alekhine earning an additional "Prize of Honor," a crystal goblet worth 1,000 Crowns. Bogoljubov received a cash prize worth half Alekhine's prize. The tournament also saw the distribution of ten brilliancy prizes, including three "first prizes" which went to Alekhine for his win against Gruenfeld, Nimzovich for his win against Yates and Yates for his win against Alekhine. 

     Although there was a three way tie for first, Alekhine defeated Bogoljubow, Maroczy and Gruenfeld, but was upset by Treybal and Yates. Alekhine also took two of the three  first Brilliancy Prizes. 

Final standings:
1-3) Alekhine, Bogoljubov and Maroczy 11.5 
4-5) Reti and Gruenfeld 10.5 
6-7) Nimzovich and Treybal 10.0 
8) Yates 9.5 
9) Teichmann 9.0 
10)Tartakower 8.5 
11) Tarrasch 8.0 
12) Rubinstein 7.5 
13) Bernstein 7.0 
14) Wolf 6.5 
15) Saemisch 6.0 
16) Thomas 5.5 
17-18) Spielmann and Chajes 5.0 

     One of my most valuable books is the 1937 edition of Euwe’s Strategy and Tactics in Chess which has been reprinted by Ishi Press. The value of the book is that in 1959 (I think it was) Euwe visited Cleveland, Ohio on a business trip and gave a simul. I didn’t play, but my dad took me to watch and Euwe signed my book. 


In the chapter on Mating Combinations he lists 4 types: 
* Direct Mate – The King is already in an dangerous position and a combination must be found that makes decisive use of its position. 
* Break up – The King is deprived of its Pawn protection. These combinations are successful only if the attacking pieces greatly surpass the defending pieces. After the sacrifice enough pieces must be left to deliver mate. 
* Penetrative – These combinations have a purpose of disturbing the K-side Pawn formation by threats that will allow the attacker’s pieces to penetrate the King’s position. 
* Lateral – One evades the Pawns defending the King by attacking along the 7th and 8th rank (or 1st and 2nd). 

     In the following game Alekhine demolished Rubinstein with a direct mate combination.
     Although Rubinstein peaked between 1907 and 1914 he was still among the world’s best at Carlsbad. During World War I (1914-1918), he was confined to Poland. He played in a few events during that time then traveled to Berlin in early 1918 for a tournament. 
     In 1918, toward the end of the war, several chess events were organized in Berlin, among them a double round Quad tournament with world champion Emanuel Lasker, his former challenger Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch, a potential world challenger Akiba Rubinstein and another former former challenger, Carl Schlechter. 
     Lasker had managed to do well during the war and was in good shape for the tournament. Rubinstein had arrived in Berlin earlier in the spring and had improved his form. Things hadn't gone so well for the other two. Tarrasch had lost three of his sons in the war and Schlechter arrived sick and malnourished. 
     It showed in the results. Lasker and Rubinstein went undefeated while Schlechter and Tarrasch had terrible results. It proved to be Schlechter's last major competition...he died of malnutrition two months later on December 27th, 1918. 
     After the war Rubinstein never regained the same consistency that he had before it although he remained quite strong through the 1920s. He and his family moved to Sweden following the Armistice in November 1918, where they stayed until 1922, and then moved to Germany. 
     The year before Carlsbad, Rubinstein won at Vienna in 1922, ahead of Alekhine. It was at Carlsbad in 1923 that Alekhine explained to a journalist, “I do not play chess, I fight at chess. Therefore, I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position...” And that is why his games hold an appeal for us even today 

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