Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Alekhine playing against an anonymous player.
And then this is in 1915, Moscow.
Now, this could be made up by Alekhine.
And he does have these amazing flights of fancy, a bit like David Bronstein.
They have these games which they've dreamt up.
They have such a passion for combinations and alekhine in particular.
Laska said he's like born out of the chess combination.
So all his is infrastructure, you know, starts from that.
It's like if you want it to be a programmer, but you have a passion for games, maybe it's from games
you branch out to get all the relevant resources you need.
So he's like branching out from combinations and this is just a combination dream from alekhine so e4
and his opponent's e6 French defense d4 from Alekhine d5 nine c3 nine f6 Bishop g5 and now this McCutchen
variation Bishop before this counter pin countering a relative pin with an absolute pin, we have E5
and now aged six and now here he takes F6 is played.
This is not thought to be that good nowadays.
A surprise weapon which is doing well statistically at the moment in both casual and more serious games
is Bishop C1.
It's funny, it's not a target as much as on D2 sometimes.
So for example 90 E4 Queen G4, I know this looks a little bit crazy.
Not to protect C3 but Queen takes G7 her.
The thing is, yeah, there are lots of resources here.
94 the sea free to block the track and the rocks still hanging.
So let's imagine Rook fight.
Bishop RD2 e4 Bishop takes b4 c5.
This is one variation which is pretty sharp and basically off the Queen A5.
Check here and see 3d4 9296 A3 won't does stand better here.
It's very very sharp stuff, but I am interested in investigating for myself as a bishop.
C1 Because this is kind of annoying, tricky variation.
If we have a look at this again, if Black Castle's bishop takes H6 and this is just intolerable, we
can play like this and then here, play a free.
And if Bishop e seven, Bishop de Free one is getting quite a vicious attack here.
So this position not even bothering to take on sea freight.
It's quite a vicious attack.
Yeah, but that doesn't really want to play like that.
That's a bad way of managing king safety.
It's crazy stuff.
But here you can see that there's quite a vicious attack.
So, yeah, on Bishop St C three, B six.
There's no problem here.
King effect.
We can now see three F-3 and here h4h7f4 with an advantage on King F eight Here might get to see five.
We can play a frink if H five Queen ef four.
Now H5 is important here.
If C takes D4 attacks, White ends up with this bishop without a counterpart.
And this position generally, even though we've got double pawns, it's actually quite interesting for
us this position.
We can even give up E5.
Yeah, I mean, it's complicated territory, I would say so, you know, pretty interesting territory
to investigate.
And the king's like, you know, remains in the center.
It's funny stuff.
But yeah, if h5 that nudge we get sharp situations here with B4 sea tanks, Knight tanks D tanks atx
b4 Bishop tanks b4 C free Bishop a5 Queen tanks e4 and white dart stands pretty well here.
So anyway, that's Bishop C one in a nutshell, just in case you're wondering.
So anyway, he takes f6.
Let's get back to the game.
We have H tanks.
g5f Thanks G seven, rook G eight and now H four.
Now here.
Black plate G tanks H four Black could just take this on g seven And if H tanks, Queen tanks.
White's advantage here is only going to be small if anything.
So for example, Rook H, H and Bishop F eight might be five, Queenie, seven and White could play
queen A free queen tanks in certainly take C seven check to get an advantage, a little advantage based
on taking the bishop.
So yeah G takes H four though was played instead of rook test G7 and that pawn is kind of potentially
dangerous so that's interesting.
G tanks H four We have Queen's before the pawn protected, but now Bishop E seven black could equalize
here with Queen f6.
This is the whole big snag of this variation.
And so I wouldn't actually recommend this opening sequence from Alcuin is one of his flights of fancy.
That's why I labeled Bishop C one actually, because this position doesn't really offer quite anything.
You know, there's no problem.
Check Bishop F eight 9596 black and respond to the France.
There's absolutely no problem here.
So this is this is the whole problem this line queen of things but in his flight of fancy Bishop E seven
was played and we have G and we get this very interesting situation now after Geoffrey where White is
doing their thing, Black is doing their thing.
And that reminds me of a famous quotation of Capablanca about thinking about the opponent's moves.
And Capablanca said, basically, what I think about my opponent's moves and I let my opponent think
about theirs.
This game is is like a representation of that.
If black dead playing age tanks.
Geoffrey The problem is Rook h8 Now this isn't so simple because there's King D7 and here there's a
problem move to find.
What would you play here?
We've got the rook pinned to the queen, but black is running.
Rook takes h eights to eliminate that pawn.
So for 100 points, what would you play here?
OC Yeah.
Queen H five actually threatens Queen H seven.
These pieces are not too relevant for H eight right now.
So let's say Queenie eight because if g tanks have to, we can take hair and this position.
We're you know, we've got extra pressure now on page four and seven.
It's not really helped Black to have a piece of lunch for this position with Bishop H three look at.
So yeah, the pressure is mounting and this starts to be very problematic.
As example, this position where White is winning material and on Bishop f6 you have D5 drops looking
at C seven now.
Yeah.
This is just pretty clear that White's winning.
If Bishop takes g7967 check and 968 White's winning.
So anyway C five was played so Black is doing their thing.
White is doing his thing.
So it's quite amusing now that we get a situation off the G takes h, c takes h five, just totally
ignoring Black's threat to the night to get these two connected pass pawns so often this is very dangerous.
Two connected pass pawns are worth their weight in gold, especially, you know, on the sixth rank.
But one's on the seventh C takes me to now here.
Yes a reaction rook B one queen A5 shank king to queen takes a two, which is a mistake.
Black should play it seems queen a six check if king, a free queen, a free check.
And now Bishop Defreeze needed.
If the king steps on to the G file here.
Actually, Black does have a nice resource.
Can you see what that resource is?
If I give you 5 seconds to pawn with video, how does black play from here if king G2 in inspiration?
Yeah.
There's Bishop Faint.
And now if G takes a king, takes blanks.
Got the advantage?
What do we do?
90 to 96 blacks are going to get any advantage here that kicks the queen.
Sure, but look at this.
So, Bishop D7.
Yeah.
Anytime.
H7.
There's rook takes.
G seven.
So if taking hit rock takes this position, blacks in the driving seat, that's got the advantage there.
So anyway, so in a nutshell, Queen a six check was absolutely needed.
And if bishop defray this position.
G takes queen thanks Queen H for.
And here this this should approach equality.
It's very complicated still but it approaches a quality with check Rook takes B2 and Queen f6.
And even though even though it seems well black's piece up it's it's not a problem actually here after
Knight and free black's really tied up here and white can play C4.
This is crazy stuff if D4 Queen takes E5 check c5 and you can see why it's got quite a lot of compensation.
For the PC, it's about equal.
You might ask if Knight take C4, Rook takes b7 Rook C7.
And this possession is also it's an advantage for white.
So there are ways to navigate based on Queen A6 In a nutshell, Queen A6 was the way to go and I'm Bishop
D3, so we have that variation here where it leads to approximate equality.
Key thing is the king is not stepping on that G so quickly.
But anyway, Queen takes a two back to the game.
Queen Thanks A2 We have H seven and now this is why the game was nicknamed Harem by by Chess Gamescom.
There's so many queens that are about to emerge.
We've got three queens now.
Queens x f7, Queens Taxi two King F3, Knight c6g, Queen on G takes E6 check, which is an inaccuracy
actually why it should play G ain't quitting.
So for Queen situation with King C seven, we have Rook seven here and here there's Queen f7 seven for
check.
And here Queen six, eight, Queen six, eight, seven.
Queen efficient King C seven Queen B3.
This should end up with an advantage for white.
That is one way of playing it for an advantage it seems.
Okay, but in the game in the analysis, Queen G takes e6 change King C7 Queen four check King B since
Queen E six to E3 check inaccuracy here it seems Bishop de Frey is the way to go.
It seems we've advantage.
But let's go with this Queen E to e for Bishop c5 G ain't quitting.
Okay, so back to four queens, and now five queens are on the board.
So it's a magnificent flight of fancy.
And you might wonder.
Yeah, I just think Alekhine dreams of combinations.
His whole infrastructure, his whole basis of playing chess revolves around the combination.
And the fact that he has these strange dreams is a testament to something very special.
So, yes, this this five queen scenario he's dreamt up to dreamt up here is remarkable.
So if Black had played instead, Bishop takes E3, then Queen takes E free check.
And if D for that opens up this queen on G eight for Queen eight to be free chatter and this clears
things up for advantage for white So and you might wonder if King A5 then Queen takes the E5 check and
the queens are converging for the checkmate there so okay.
So be one cleaning.
And now there's only one.
Funny enough, there's only one move for advantage here.
For why?
This is the fascinating thing about this move.
24 He does this amazing conception where there's only one move here.
It looks as though, well, the bishop's attacked.
Do we move that?
What would you play here for?
200 points.
So if there's any sort of attack here, I think it's this like this this move is iconic and iconic move
to actually give advantage for why only one move.
So what would you play here?
You might want to pause the video.
Think about it carefully.
Okay.
The move is actually important.
Rookie sex is an ingredient.
Quite often pinning is an ingredient part of successful attacks.
So by pinning in the night, you know, all of a sudden data is more sensitive, for example, or before
these points where the night doesn't have any real influence.
The power of the pin piece is illusionary, is important for our attack potential.
Now, here, I'm not going to go into the other moves because there's already been extensive analysis
so far.
So let's just.
Well, apart from one, though, let's let's just give another example.
Just one example.
Bishop e2.
If Bishop E2 plank takes on E3 and site F tanks, there's Queen E for check, Queen taxi, E for Queen
Saint's, E for King F2.
And in fact, the poor rook drops and black is actually winning here.
Yeah.
So?
So Bishop A2 doesn't help.
So yeah, the key point is to this pin and now Queen text F one is played, but this is actually going
into a mate force champ mate queen thanks.
F1 black had to play bishop G4 check if Queen G tanks G4 Bishop takes E3 Queen Tanks e3 Shank Queen
C5.
And here queen takes king takes king, too.
So Black had to go in for this for a bit more fight.
If head d4 Queen G takes the Falkirk C, that pins piece comes into its hand, its pendant.
And this is just mating.
So okay.
But Queen takes F one.
We see the power of the pins.
P So we're saying this knight's illusionary on these kind of key squares.
So just bear this in mind that rook h sex is a, is a kind of pivotal part of this attack that this
knights pins.
So just to amplify this a little bit more visually, so this it's kind of completely paralyzed.
And we have here a move which exploits also you know it's there's also another pin against the bishop.
So multiply that illusion effects and what what square is spectacularly undefended here.
And there's also a weakness of the last move.
So, in fact, we have if you think about the intersection of the pin pieces and the weakness of the
last move that's joined that in, there's an Achilles heel that has been created in Black's position.
That's the whole point of pinning and the pinning head, Well, there's an Achilles heel that has been
generated.
So what is the key move here for 200 points?
There are two pieces that are absolutely pinned to the king, and this helps drive forward our attack
using key squares, which are pretty devastating to make use of.
So which square is my use of?
Okay, I'm about to show it's Queen Bee for Shaq.
You know, we can play queen before they're both pinned.
Queen Bee five And now another square, not really defended now is made use of queen the check after
King six.
We have now Queen E to a free check Queen seeds A4 and now Queen A takes A4 check.
Queen thanks A4 queen size A4 is checkmate.
Yeah it's it's a fun stuff it's it's really an amazing flight of fancy and shows You know the queen
really has dreams about combinations and he grows his whole attacking chess around that to try and create
these wonderful combinations key features of this you know, combination.
For me, it's the power of the pen pieces, the squares that you get access to.
And in combination with the weakness of the last move, that B force crowd was absolutely pivotal in
a final combination part of this.
So I hope, yeah, it's instructive to think about pin pieces when attacking basically.
I mean, that's the big theme here overall as far as the opening theory is concerned.
Sure.
Yeah, it's nice to have a weapon and a surprise weapon.
So I would recommend Bishop C one if you want to take this analysis and build on it for your repertoire.
Because the reason I also am kind of excited to analyze that is we're in territory which is very, very
exciting here.
If Bishop is having the Alekhine shattered gambit.
So this could make form part of a strong repertoire.
This whole system here, if you get the McCUTCHEON system, kind of have something against McCUTCHEON
Bishop before CounterSpin Okay, I hope you enjoyed that analysis.
Got something from it that's so much.