Alexander Alekhine vs A Popovic (1930) Check This Out!

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Alexander Alekhine vs A Popovic
"Check This Out!" (game of the day Oct-23-2023)
Simul, 36b (1930) (exhibition), Osijek YUG, Dec-23
Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit (D31) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer). [35434 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Aug-21-05		jamesmaskell: That is so cool. Meeting a check with checkmate!

Aug-21-05		buscher07: Yes, I have never seen that before. I wonder how many possible chess games out of all possible games would end with check and responding with checkmate... is there a way to calculate that?

Aug-21-05		offramp: Part of the calculation would have to be that in Alekhine's games almost everything known in chess happens once.

Aug-22-05		jamesmaskell: I think chessgames posted aomething about that. They apparently have a search engine which can look for any wierd things like that. Should be on the kibitzers cafe.

Dec-07-05		TheAlchemist: Cool! <Part of the calculation would have to be that in Alekhine's games almost everything known in chess happens once.> Yes, it seems that these kind of things only happen to Alekhine :-) And, btw, the place should be "Osijek" and not "Osjek".

Dec-07-05		Saruman: Fantastic game!

Dec-07-05		yunis: well prepared by these two gyes a cooked game' iam a parapsycholog 'trust me

Dec-05-08		WhiteRook48: Popovic: Check. You can't mate me, deal with check first. Alekhine: Yes I can- MATE! Popovic: WHAT??

Dec-16-08		WhiteRook48: Alekhine is a good player, but... take a look. The third worst chess loser is Alekhine, who resigned spectacularly against Grunfeld by throwing the King across the room. Nimzowitsch is second, in one game, shouted, "WHY MUST I LOSE TO THIS IDIOT?" (Cuz I'm an idiot) First is some unknown Danish guy who lost with some move involving his Queen. He snuck back in the tournament and cut the heads off all the queens. :)

Dec-21-08		WhiteRook48: meeting a check with checkmate... amazing, but let's face it, it's Alekhine

Dec-23-08		WhiteRook48: 43. Rc2# actually is practically forced. However 42...Bg6+ was practically forced too. Hey Popovic, do you make popcorn? Does Alekhine eat it?

Jan-01-09		WhiteRook48: So cool, this game is. So I'm supposed to be sitting here hanging on c2 while my lookalike is stuck on h8? Poor us.

Jun-01-09		steve123456: Um, chess geniuses, will u guys please tell me why 19....axb6 or Qxb6 wasn't played??Or 21.... Qxd3??

Jun-01-09		beatgiant: <steve123456> On 19...axb6 20. Rh8+ Kxh8 21. Qh6+ Kg8 22. Rh1, I don't see a defense to the mate threats. On 21...Qxd3 22. Qh6 Qc4+ 23. Kb1 Qd3+ 24. Ka1, Black runs out of checks and again I don't see a defense.

Apr-28-12		Xeroxx: nice mate

Jan-17-15		sachistu: This game was analyzed in Ceskoslovensky Sach, 1931, p61 and in Sahovski Glasnik, 1931, p145. Strangely, no one mentions 41..Bb5! when it seems an entirely different outcome is likely! And, as mentioned by <TheAlchemist>, Chessgames should change the site to Osijek.

Oct-04-15		TheFocus: From a simultaneous clock exhibition at Osijek, Yugoslavia on December 23, 1931. Alekhine scored +33=3-0. See <Sahovski Glasnik 1931>, pg. 145-146.

Oct-04-15		TheFocus: Exhibition was in 1930. <TheFocus> can't seem to focus.

Oct-23-23		Cecco: According to the engine with the apparently brilliant 19. Bb6 Alekhine wasted the huge advantage he would have had with the simple 19. Bxc4 and, after 19. ... Qxd2 20. Bxd2, with the attack of the rooks on the h-file. As already noted, black could have won, in the end, with 41. ... Bb5.

Oct-23-23		piltdown man: Just beautiful.

Oct-23-23		goodevans: <Cecco: ... As already noted, black could have won, in the end, with 41. ... Bb5.> I think Black played with much imagination in this game and it's a pity for him that he missed 41.Bb5! but there would still have been plenty of play in the game and opportunities for one or other to go wrong. 42.Bxf2+ Kxg2 43.Rxa8 Bxe2 is pretty much forced but then it gets complicated. For instance, White could try 44.Rxa7 hoping for 44...Rxa7 45.Bxa7 Bxf3 when the passed pawns for both players make for a hugely complex endgame. In that case Black would have needed to find 44...Bxf3!. That would have allowed White to win his R with 45.e7 Rxe7 46.Rxe7 but after 46...Kxf2 the Black passed pawns would probably have proved too much for White's R. 44.Rxa7 is just one 'for instance' and there are alternatives that are equally complicated. I'd wager that even if Popovic had found 41...Bb5!, Alekhine would still have made a good fist of it. Nice pun.

Oct-23-23		Check It Out: Great game, spectaclar finish, and of course the pun...what can I say.

Oct-23-23		FSR: One of those rare instances, mostly seen in movies, where "check" is answered by "check and mate." Another such example, though much less pretty, is C Wainscott vs W Brock, 2013.

Dec-17-23		Sirius69: Even with the strong 41-----Bb5 instead of the inferior 41----g5? Black can only draw with correct play.

Dec-21-23		Honza Cervenka: After 41...Bb5! 42.Bxf2+ Kxg2 43.Rxa8 Bxe2 44.Rxa7 Rxa7 45.Bxa7 Bb5! black neutralizes both white passed Pawns and wins easily. Anyway, it is quite apparent that the game was played in a simul. I don't think that in a serious game AAA would have missed quiet 33.f3! +-, not to mention 17.Bh6 Qe7 18.Bxg7 Qxg7 19.Ng5 +-.

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