acirce: Selected comments from Shereshevsky's "Endgame Strategy", starting at the position after 15..fxe5:<This ending is highly instructive. The position appears to be a 'dead' draw. It is hard to imagine that, without the opponent blundering, one of the sides can hope for success. But that is exactly what happened. Let us hand the word over to Alekhine himself:"The play in this ending is by no means so simple as it appears - especially for White. Black's plan, which will prove completely successful, consists of the following parts: (1) exchange one pair of rooks; (2) transfer the king to e6 where, being defended by the e-pawn, it can prevent the invasion at d7 by the remaining White rook; (3) operating with the rook on the open g-file and advancing the h-pawn, force the opening of the h-file; (4) after this White's king, and possibly his bishop, will be tied to the defence of h1 and h2 against invasion by the rook; (5) Black meanwhile, by advancing his a- and b-pawns, will sooner or later also open one of the files on the Q-side; (6) since at this point his king will still be on the opposite wing, White will be unable to prevent the invasion of the first or second rank by the black rook. It must be admitted that, had White from the very beginning realized that there was a real danger of him losing this ending, by careful defence he might have been able to save the game. But what happened was that Black played according to a definite plan, whereas White played only with the conviction that the game was bound to end in a draw. The result was an instructive series of typical patterns and stratagems, much more useful to students of the game than the so-called 'brilliances' of short one-sided games."
To Alekhine's words we can add that this deeply conceived active plan is based on the principle of two weaknesses. The first weakness of White's position will be the occupation by the black rook of the h-file, the invasion squares along which White succeeds in covering with his king. The second and decisive weakness becomes the open file on the Q-side, where the invasion cannot be prevented. It should also be mentioned that a part of any plan is the centralization of the king.>
17.Kf1? <After the correct 17.f4! White's chances would have been in no way worse.>
22..Rg8! <Black confidently carries out his plan. Three stages are already complete. It is unfavourable for White to prevent the advance of the rook's pawn by h2-h4, due to ..Rg4.>
27.Kf1 <The first weakness has been created, and White's king and bishop are tied to defending against the threats of the black rook. Now the decisive stage of the game commences. Black embarks on his Q-side pawn offensive.>
28..b5! <Starting the attack. If White plays passively there will follow ..c5, ..c4, ..a5, ..b4 etc. But this would have been a lesser evil than that which occurs in the game.>
32..Ra8 <The triumph of Black's strategy! His plan has been carried out. White has acquired a second weakness: the a-file occupied by the black rook. But the game is not yet over.>
33..Ra3! <Very strong.>
46..e4! <This energetic realization of his advantage is typical of Alekhine.>
