Once: <optimal play> Well spotted. The clue here is the date. We are at the cutting edge of theory with a King's Indian in 1926. That turns a not very inspiring game into a fascinating clash of ideas as two different chess ideologies come head to head.To give you an idea of the importance of the date, take a look at what Opening Explorer has to say about this particular variation:
This is the earliest game in the chessgames database where white plays 10. f4
There are just under 1,500 games in database where 9. Ne1 is played. The earliest of these dates from 1926, so this game is either the first or one of the first to feature that move. It's a pity that we don't have the precise date of this game - just 1926.
Rewinding still further, the first game to feature 8. d5 was also played in 1926.
A move order glitch means that 7. 0-0 was first played (in the database at least) in 1936. That's an interesting piece of time travel!
As to the game itself, white didn't seem to know how to combat this newfangled hypermodern idea of delaying a central thrust until the middlegame. So he follows chess doctrine of the time and tries to establish a broad pawn centre. Unfortunately (for him), he then embarks on a suicidal sequence of exchanges of e4. This has the sorry effect of handing over control of e4 to black, which is rarely a good idea.
But to be fair to white, it must have been astonishing to play in the 1920s and see these new hypermodern openings suddenly become fashionable. It must have felt like the aliens had landed.
