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Vladimir Petrov vs Alexander Alekhine
Margate (1938), Margate ENG, rd 5, Apr-24
Catalan Opening: Open Defense (E02)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-20-04  Taidanii: In the end game, Petrov's knight is gorgeously placed on d4. That's the source of Alekhine's problems in the endgame. He can't exploit either of white's doubled pawns as weaknesses, and thus: white plays 27. b5.
Mar-20-04  Dillinger: what if 18...Bxe5 19.fxe5 Ne4 or something like that, to double on e and take off the dangerous knight?
Mar-20-04  Lawrence: <Taidanii>, both Fritz and Junior suggest 29...Kc6 for Alekhine and if White plays 30.Nd4+ then 30...Kb6. Now Petrov has to decide whether to take the g7 pawn (Junior) or retreat the Rook to a3 (Fritz). In either case Petrov is a bit ahead but Alexander Alexandrovich's situation is not desperate.
Mar-21-04  Lawrence: <Dillinger>, Junior 8 gives 18...Bxe5 19.fxe5 an eval of +0.23 whereas 18...b3 gets a -0.30 (i.e. half a pawn stronger) and is the first candidate, so looks as if Alekhine made the right move at that stage of the game. (12 min. search)
Mar-21-04  Lawrence: <Taidanii>, have you seen http://www.chesscafe.com/winter/win... a teenaged Capablanca, member of the Columbia University baseball team? If the link doesn't work it's chesscafe.com, Edward Winter's Chess Notes number 3258.
May-05-05  KODIAK: Alekhine mated!! Wow, I am getting a new respect for Petrov. He also demolished Kotov with the same opening. Does anyone know more about Petrov's career and history? He is obviously very strong GM.
May-05-05  Ziggurat: A book on the life of this player was recently published, see

http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwa...

May-30-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Kodiak> I had never heard of him before today, and am quite impressed with some of his games.
May-30-06  Nomen Nescio: It seemed that Alekhine's main goal was to double Petrov's pawns.
Sep-06-07  Autoreparaturwerkbau: <OCF> Isn't that The Petrov of Petrov's defense?
Sep-06-07  paul1959: <Autoreparaturwerkbau> No , the Petrov (A.) of the defence died in 1867. V. Petrov name is sometimes spelled Petrovs (Chessmetrics).
Mar-02-08  Whitehat1963: A move away from mate, the reigning champ takes one on the chin in a game that features the Opening of the Day.
Mar-02-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: He's played some nice games.
V Petrov vs R Grau, 1939
Mar-02-08  anjyplayer: Piece activity is paramount, even if it comes at the cost of doubled pawns.
Jun-10-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: I really don't understand Kd7/e7. Just a total waste of time. The Knight has to move after a b4 push anyway, so why not 23...Nb7?
Jan-05-13  altai: Why not ...7.b5?
Jan-05-13  fokers13: <altai> 8.Nxb5 with a terrible position for black.
Jul-26-18  zanzibar: Reinfeld annotated this game in <Chess Review (1938)> p143.

White good (!) moves: 15, 22, 24, 26, 27, 31

Black bad (?) move: 21

The magazine's lead into the game gives this:

<A curious game, which Petrov plays with an energy and ingenuity reminiscent of his great adversity>

Reinfeld closing comment:

<The concluding phase has all the incisiveness and piquancy of a fine problem>

Jul-26-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <A curious game, which Petrov plays with an energy and ingenuity reminiscent of his great adversity>

Talk about damning with faint praise.

Would that be great adversary, rather than great adversity?

Jul-26-18  JimNorCal: Yes, surely it is "adversary" which is not faint praise at all :) Perhaps zanz fat-fingered in a typo, or perhaps autocorrect messed up the wording. I doubt that the magazine editors wouldn't have spotted the wrong word but of course that's another possibility.
Jul-26-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <JimNorCal>, the very first words are what inspired <damning with faint praise>, in conjunction with the remarks which followed; seems odd to compliment the play after referring to the game as a whole as being 'curious'.
Jul-27-18  zanzibar: I plead guilty to fat fingers - "adversary" it is/was.
Jul-17-21  Stanco: "Piece activity is paramount, even if it comes at the cost of doubled pawns" anjyplayer, yes, but only if you're skilled at transforming stored energies
Jul-17-21  sudoplatov: A short-ply look with Stockfish indicates that 23... Ke7 is the culprit; 23...Ne4 is suggested as equal.
Sep-20-21  carpovius: Too Russians played a crazy game...
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