Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Alexander Alekhine playing against a valet Toccoa who has many witty quotations.
It's well worth checking out the funny stuff I've thought to cover.
This is in 1927.
Kismet Thomas Round three.
So e4 from Alekhine we have C6 d4 d59c3d tanks e496e, 4969g3.
And now there's quite cheeky moving away E5 from TYKWER.
This looks like it's kind of liberating.
Especially it's but also White's position off the 93 is quite active after he tanks D4 Knight takes
D4.
We have Bishop C5 and in fact here Alekhine chooses Queen E to check so Bishop e seven is played.
If Queen is seven, one could actually just take on E seven throw in Knight df5 check.
And this position is very strong for White's.
We can see that Black has kind of weakened squares like dark squares and white can castle queenside
later.
And you know, we're very strong possibilities.
So for example Bishop E6 there's Knight D6 six as well.
It's just a pleasant advantage for White's.
So a kind of concession here given that Bishop E6, we can just take that a concession to move back
here.
But on the other hand you could argue well kingside castling is out of the question, right?
So the thing is White can prepare now to console queenside with Bishop e free and one little perk of
castle in Queensland there could be an x ray against D eight.
We see C5 in this position like D5 and now Black Castle.
So White's can't console immediately because that Knight has been nudged and the Queen is stopping castling.
Here we have Queen C4, so White is trying to create an interruption on the default in order to castle
queenside legally we have rook e eight points of note if 95 Can you see what white plays here with Knight
on F5?
It's not just pretty, it's also pretty functional for ten points.
What would you play?
Okay, we can play Queen 65 half for 9/10 E seven check and winning material.
So anyway rook is played bishop defray so one is ready to console queenside be6 so Black is preparing
by leaving the knight on b8 Black is preparing bishop A6 What could possibly go wrong here if Bishop
f8 and White Castles Bishop e thinks Queen H four might be seven?
This position is quite nice.
We have the attacking gradients of a knight on F5.
If for example, we had.
Bishop D2 OC, Queen C seven.
Bishop C Fray Black does have resources though This is not the end of the world.
C4 This position should be about equal black could simplify.
Now I mentioned 1987 if queen a five hair.
Funny enough.
Test your attacking skills here.
There's actually a move here which is rather good from an attacking perspective.
So it looks as though a two is on the far right.
What do we do here?
We can actually play Bishop H.
Six trying to undermine key squares around the King.
If queen before once again Queen exchange Queen G5 and this position we can play H for.
With a strong attack brewing up.
So if Bishop takes Bishop takes this position, it's a strong attack and we can take on D seven.
Bishop takes G7 Desperado for Rook 27.
It's just much better here.
So yes, there is.
There is an interesting attacking prospect in that line with Bishop Evans, but it seems more prudent
overall.
There was a way of getting equality, as we saw.
So essentially, you know, this position.
If black treads carefully and is not materialistic, then it should be okay.
We see though be6 white castles, queenside and now not fair feeling any problems here with Bishop A6
that's played.
It's a tricky position before we get into Bishop.
A6 if Queen sees seven.
There's a fascinating move from an attacking players perspective here.
What do you think that is in this position for 100 points?
Sometimes splitting these pawns up is a defensive point here.
But if we can dice these pawns, there's magical effects.
Really.
Knight takes Gee, seven is a bit of magic here.
After King takes Queen H for Black has numerous issues to address.
As example, if King gets Bishop G5 Knight D5, we can take an inmate.
So let's try and improve on things there.
So here, if 1987 Bishop G.
Five the problem is here F6 is really vulnerable and Rook is seventh in threat threatened.
So Bishop B seven Rook takes E7 and we're crashing through like this.
So King j95 And what does black do about nine?
H Six or seven?
Queen D seven is the major one.
What is black to check?
This position is pretty desperate to do that, but otherwise black's getting mated.
King and Queen H eight is checkmate.
So okay.
And you might ask.
Hold on.
What about King H eight?
Bishop G five, 1987, this position with Queen C six.
We can play here Bishop at five actually.
And blacks under too much pressure wrote this rook tasty seven on this occasion.
Bishop Thanks.
Bishop takes a six check and we're just simply mating on H seven.
So it's funny stuff actually, if Queen C seven had been played, this is rather interesting 9/10 G
seven and instructive in its own right.
But anyway, Bishop eight six is played and guess what Alekhine plays here?
There is an x ray.
I'll give you a clue.
There's an x ray in this position.
Can we make anything of that x ray?
Can we profit from that x ray?
So for 200 points, what would you play?
It's funny, but 96 check is working.
Now, the point is, if king if a queen, succession is checkmate.
If King were getting a spot with me, Pattern Knight takes up seven chess.
It doesn't matter.
Queen's attacked because double check.
The king is forced to move King If eight Queen have saved his mates.
King h8 Queen G eight Jack Knight takes smothered mate pattern.
So let's follow through G tanks.
And the point is we've cleared the diagonal.
And now the very clever point here.
What are we playing this position?
We've all been attacked.
Yeah.
Bishop takes a seven check now in the game.
Nine takes eight.
Seven was played, which does give a weakness of the last move, neglecting G4, which means Queen G4
check is possible.
And that's the game continuation where one can win the Queen.
Now you might ask.
Hold on.
So let's run this through.
If King H ain't, there's Queen Tanks F seven and now it seems black is in huge trouble.
If rook AFAIK we're just playing Rook takes the eight which pins that rook and then thanks very much
but let's try here.
1987 does not solve the problem of things here.
Instead of rook fight 1987 half What is why playing this position?
What would you play here if I give you 5 seconds to pause video.
There's actually a rather crushing treatment here with age five.
Funnily enough.
It just seems to be the strongest if nothing stays.
We play bishop at 530 then, mate.
So we've done, it seems, is to meet with the queen.
We've got the bishop out of the Queen square, which we want to make way of.
But this is devastating here.
Brooke takes these seven.
And yeah, if.
Queen bee.
As an example, Bishop cites If Rook, we can even play now what winds here Shackle sharks.
We're covering escape squares with the bishop.
So what would you play here?
Yeah we can play queenside f6 Jack and I'm Rook H7 is checkmate.
So funny stuff.
It does seem in that variation 925 is a killer.
Also night at five is pretty strong.
This shows also nice 495 we can play Knight G six check here and when the queen like this and Y is significantly
better there so yes it seems as though King h8 Queen six F7 is just not working for black.
Thanks to amazing resources.
And if King if there's just Bishop takes h six is checkmate.
If King takes eight seven, then we're getting our check and we can just take the Queen and this position.
Knight eight five is useful here.
Nine takes.
We're taking the rock and we're taking another piece later, soon.
If King G seven there's to have five check.
And the thing is here there's Queen Sykes have seven were threatening, mate and the Queen Bishop F
eight Brooke takes the eight.
So yeah, it does seem as though this is very unfortunate.
So Black tries to gather material nine takes h seven offering the queen up.
So Queen G four check King eight.
Now the white queen is not attacked to take here.
There wasn't too much choice here.
If King If a bishop takes h six is made so Queen G four, King H eight.
Taking the Queen of rook takes the eight.
If Bishop takes Danes, there's actually Queen a three, which is unfortunate.
If you look at this, this collection of pieces, Black is losing material.
Yeah, the rooks are not protecting each other.
If 96.
Yeah we just take that off and then this is strong for white.
So, Rook.
Takes the eight is played, but we still have Queenie for this aspect of the unprotected rook on eight
and also hitting E7.
So a double attack.
So that's nice.
Okay, 96 is played.
Otherwise, if Bishop we're just taking the rook.
There's no penalty for the Queen being there.
It seems so.
96.
Queen C six.
Bishop, F-8 NOI F-8.
Bishop C for Bishop takes H six, Bishop D five and now Queen C seven.
Rook asks Queen F for Rook c6.
Bishop takes a feint which weakens black on the dark squares and now answer the queen e5 shank limiting
replies notes f6 black doesn't want to be mated on with Queen.
Seven Can't move the King Knight six But now a powerful tactic in this position ends the game.
Five points.
What would you play here?
96, interrupting the rook from the knight.
If King G7 if the game continue, King G7, there's Queen G five Jack and Queen six f6 Simple enough,
very strong for one.
So, yes, 96 is just ending the game if C4.
We can actually play.
Queen at five track Hair and Queen 65.
So, yeah, it's very convincing.
There's nine takes of seven check.
So it's absolutely a winning possession here.
So it's interesting that this game had a kind of sucker punch.
And if you look up Sucker punch, there's actually a game.
One of my favorite games for the Reti champ mate which is Richard Reti against Tunguska, where there
was a kind of central operation which backfired on DA spectacularly the reti mate game where the of
mate Patton came from is absolutely fascinating.
So.
Todd Yeah, he seems to be playing quite actively in the sense about sometimes these, these central
fouls can backfire on him with moves like E5.
So in this case, yes, there's a default which is pretty dangerous for black.
And you might think, well, you know, fundamentally it's a shared file rights but exploits ability
in chess, you know, weakness is only a weakness if it can be exploited.
Exploit ability is often intimately linked with initiative.
The player with the initiative is more likely to be in a position to exploit weaknesses.
So yes, you could say, well, this is a shared file.
Why do such a disaster happen?
Well, White does have a leading development here.
Black's pieces are launched on the back row.
And it's just as we see, you know, there are fascinating variations behind the scenes.
Queen C seven for nine takes G seven, which is absolutely fascinating to study in its own right as
a parallel kind of game to this.
In this variation, we want to learn about the art of attack.
And if we want to take note of Alekhine being a fantastic annotator finding the rich resources in games,
I think he would approve of finding this resource.
9g7 okay.
To recap the game though, Queen C seven wasn't played bishop A6 and it the game really amplifies an
x ray.
So getting to exploit the X-ray with 9.86 jack liberating that X-ray, amplifying the effect of it,
taking out the downside of not losing the Queen by having this key check now made available.
So a sweet win of the Queen and winning further material here means that White does have a material
superiority.
And let's just go to the end of the game, the final possession.
So the final possession coming up.
Dance squares have been compromised on to the dark square Bishop exchange.
And this leads to a painful interference move.
96 ending the game.
So a sweet game from Alekhine.
Lots to learn here, including key variations.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as me.
Fans were much.