Alexander Alekhine vs Oscar Chajes (1911)

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Alexander Alekhine vs Oscar Chajes
Karlsbad (1911), Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) AUH, rd 13, Sep-07
English Opening: Agincourt Defense (A13) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 34 times; par: 44 [what's this?]

explore this opening	find similar games	1 more Alekhine/O Chajes game
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Dec-21-04		notyetagm: Tactical demolition by Alekhine, from Seirawan's tactics book.

Dec-30-05		notyetagm: This game is a tactical tour de force by Alekhine.

Oct-07-06		Gypsy: <17...Ba6> Nothing works: I. 17...Qa5 18.Bd2... II. 17...Qc5 18.Rc1... III. 17...Qc4 18.Qa4...

Feb-11-07		crwynn: A bit of an openings mishap for Chajes, I think; Alekhine's 2.e4 was rather cheap I think, but it paid off with Chajes's too-straightforward attempt at fighting for d4 (4...g6, with an unpleasant structure that immediately runs into problems). Perhaps 4...Nd4 (even more straightforward!) is not so bad? Also 4...Nf6 5.d4 cd 6.Nxd4 Bb4 is okay for Black I think.

Jun-16-07		notyetagm: Position after 17 ♖a1-b1 click for larger view <Gypsy: <17...Ba6> Nothing works: I. 17...Qa5 18.Bd2... II. 17...Qc5 18.Rc1... III. 17...Qc4 18.Qa4...> I simply adore this combination played by Alekhine, how it exploits the <ALIGNMENT> of the Black pieces in every variation given above. <I. 17...Qa5 18.Bd2...> Exploits the <DIAGONAL ALIGNMENT> of the Black a5-queen and Black b4-knight with the <PIN> 18 ♗f4-d2: click for larger view <II. 17...Qc5 18.Rc1... > Exploits the <VERTICAL ALIGNMENT> of the Black c5-queen and Black c8-bishop with the <SKEWER> 18 ♖b1-c1: click for larger view <III. 17...Qc4 18.Qa4...> Exploits the <LATERAL ALIGNMENT> of the Black c4-queen and Black b4-knight with the <LATERAL PIN> 18 ♕d1-a4: click for larger view Note that Alekhine (White) saw that the <SKEWER> 17 ... ♕b5-c4 18 ♖b1-c1? does -not- work in this variation because Black has the <RUBBERBAND> 18 ... ♕a4-c6!. Black's problems in this position all stem from the simple fact that his queen is both <PINNED> to the Black b4-knight as well as being the knight's <ONLY DEFENDER>. So in attempting to <UNPIN> the queen, Black must also keep her in contact with the Black knight in order to <DEFEND> it. Keeping the Black queen in contact with the Black knight results in either a <DIAGNONAL>, <VERTICAL>, or <LATERAL> alignment that White can exploit with a <PIN> or <SKEWER>. A masterful tactical display by Alekhine in exploiting the forced <ALIGNMENT> of his opponent's pieces.

Dec-15-07		nionios: A very nice tactical game that required deep calculation from White's part!But it must be noted that Alekhine used some very good opening play to exploit his opponent's opening mistake(4...g6?).In fact the game was stratigecally won on move 7(7.Ndb5!) and Alekhine's tactical ability finished off the game!The move 13.b4 was brilliant and crowned Alekhine's excellent play by giving him a won position after a number of practically forced moves!

Jul-08-08		notyetagm: <nionios: A very nice tactical game that required deep calculation from White's part!But it must be noted that Alekhine used some very good opening play to exploit his opponent's opening mistake(4...g6?).In fact the game was stratigecally won on move 7(7.Ndb5!) and Alekhine's tactical ability finished off the game!The move 13.b4 was brilliant and crowned Alekhine's excellent play by giving him a won position after a number of practically forced moves!> Alekhine simply overwhelming a weaker opponent.

Apr-07-11		aliejin: "Alekhine simply overwhelming a weaker opponent." In this game black plays weak but chajes was a good chessplayer , for instance two times won to capablanca And by no means this is a simply way to win

Sep-28-11		SeanBurdine: Alekhine's 13th move destroyed Chajes' position. After that it was all over but the shouting.

Feb-18-14		Poisonpawns: After 4..g6? are comments really necessary?

Feb-18-14		Morphized: Alekhine's tactical shot was pretty impressive indeed, but Chaje's terrible positional play made it much more simple: 4... g6? click for larger view Destroying the dark squares... Every dark diagonal is weak, since there are two dark squares pieces (the f8 bishop and the queen) covering 4 diagonals. 8... a6?? click for larger view From this point, I'd say that the game is already positionally lost for several reasons: 1) Chajes gave up one of his two dark squares pieces, which is far from being enough to cover up everything. 2) After fxe5 axb6, the black knight on g8 will basically never manage to get into the play: h8 and f8 are under white's control, and Nge7 won't lead to anything, since c6, c8, g6, d5 and f5 are controlled by white. Moving the c8 bishop out with b6 and Bb7 with the idea of Ne7 and Nc8 doesn't seem to lead to anything either. 3) the new white pawn on e5 yields eternal control over the d6 square and prevents forever Chajes from playing d5. By the way, Stockfish gives <+2,26> on move 11 with material equality, which is usually the synonym of an opening disaster. I believe that black had to play f6 on move 11 in order to free his knight, instead of allowing this tactical destruction. Of course, the rest of the game was very entertaining, but the said can be said about the the Opera Game: black's early mistakes made a spectacular win quite easier!

Aug-22-19		Mini Morphy: 21 Rook b8 wins!

Dec-09-22		GrahamClayton: If Alekhine attempts to immediately exploit the weak d6 square by 12. Nb5, Chajes can respond with 12...Rxb5 13. Bxb5 Qa5+ 14. Qd2 Qxb5.

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