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Benito Higinio Villegas vs Alexander Alekhine
Buenos Aires (1926), Buenos Aires ARG
French Defense: Classical. Burn Variation (C11)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-12-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: This used to be the only game in the database where Alekhine won with the French Defense which had no annotations.

But I think the Knight endgame deserves more attention than it has received. This might count as a neglected Alekhine endgame masterpiece. Either that, or Villegas might have missed the opportunity to pull of a major upset.

The key position arrives after 29...Nd5. Alekhine has just sacrificed a pawn beginning with 25...Nb6. Did White play the best defense? If yes, then in its own quiet way, the pawn sac is every bit as impressive as some of his more famous mating sacrifices. If not, the game still illustrates how difficult a Knight ending can become.

May-12-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: <An Englishman> Thanks for drawing my attention to this game. I always love a knight ending!

I don't know that 25...Nb6 is a pawn sacrifice, as Alekhine would have seen that he will get the pawn back on c3 or b4 or (as happened) a2. As for Villegas, Houdini approves his play right up to 45...h5. The pawn ending he exchanges into then is simply lost, but he could have drawn with something like 46.Ne4 Nxg2 [46...g4 47.g3] 47.Nxg5 followed by b6+. The black king will then be too far away to defend the last pawns.

May-12-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Morning: Good work on the research, <Retireborn>. Odd as this might sound, I believe Villegas' mistake makes this game even more suitable for the endgame manuals as an example of how to (and how not to) save a Knight ending.
Jul-03-20  aliejin: Beautiful endgame by Alekhine !

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