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After 66.Rb8 b2 67.f5 Kc2 68.Ke4 or 68.Kf4, White is winning.

Here is analysis by Fritz: (3.22) (25 ply) 68.Ke4 Ra4+ 69.Ke5, (6.17) (24 ply) 69...Ra3 70.Rxb2+ Kxb2 71.g4 Rxh3 72.f6 Re3+ 73.Kf4 Re1 74.g5, or (6.57) (24 ply) 69...Ra5+ 70.Ke6 Ra3 71.Rxb2+ Kxb2 72.g4 Re3+ 73.Kf7 Kc3 74.g5.

Emanuel Lasker in his book on the match, "Games Played In The Return Match for the World's Championship", noted the missed win by Bogoljubow. However, Lasker's analysis of the position was not entirely correct.

Lasker stated, <"It is a pity that Bogoljubow did not win this game because in it he made many excellent moves,....">.

Lasker was of the opinion that had Alekhine lost this first game, he would have been warned not to indulge too freely in flights of fancy, such as his 7th move in this game (7...Qb6). While by drawing this lost game, he believed Alekhine was encouraged to go on with the tactics of complication, even though he had to run unsound risks. Lasker concluded the match results justified Alekhine's procedure.

Reuben Fine and Fred Reinfeld in their book, "A. Alekhine vs. E. D. Bogoljubow - World's Chess Championship - 1934", also noted the missed win with 66.Rb8. They provided extensive analysis showing the win in many variations.

They stated, <"Here Bogoljubow - apparently under the misapprehension that the position had been repeated three times - agreed to a draw.">

Fine and Reinfeld stated their variations show White's game to be rather easily won, but admitted the win would not be that easy to discover in time pressure.

Bogoljubow in his book on the match, "Schachkampf um die Weltmeisterschaft" provided his explanation, with extensive analysis showing the missed win after 66.Rb8 b2 67.f5.

My German is not good, but I think I have his main points.

Bogoljubow stated that Alekhine claimed a draw with 65...Kd3, indicating that he believed this move would repeat the position for the third time.

Bogoljubow stated that he had doubted this, but in time trouble and with a not entirely correct game score, he left the decision to the match officials (Schiedsrichters).

As we now know, Alekhine's claim was incorrect, and the game should have been continued.

The game clocks for this game showed that Bogoljubow had used had used 4 hours and 45 minutes, and Alekhine had used 4 hours and 15 minutes.

They give Alekhine's comments to the game which appeared in <Tijdschrift van den Nederlandsch-Indischen Schaakbond>.

According to the score the game ended with 65.Rc8+:

<Here I offered a draw, which Bogoljubow accepted, partly because he was in serious time trouble. The game is nevertheless a draw indeed, as shown by the following variations...>

The crucial line is 65...Kd3 66.Rb8 b2 67.f5 (Alekhine correctly assesses 67.h4 as a drawn) Kc2 68.Kf4 Ra4+ 69.Kg5 Ra3 70.Rxb2 Kxb2 71.g4 Rxh3 72.f6 Rf3 etc.

<Hier reklamierte Dr. Aljechin, während seine Uhr lief, Remis durch Zugwiederholung, offenbar in der Annahme, daß sich nach 65....Kc3-d3 - was er dann auch aufschrieb - zum drittenmal dieselbe Stellung ergeben hätte. Bogoljubow überzeugte sich nicht selbst, sondern fragte den Schiedsrichter Herrn Hild. Dieser befand sich in dem Glauben, Aljechin hätte schon 61...Kd3 gezogen und bejahte Bogoljubows Frage. Der wieder gab sich sofort zufrieden und die Meister begannen zu analysieren. Das alles spielte sich in wenigen Sekunden ab. Von anderer Seite wurde dann sofort aufmerksam gemacht, daß die Züge erst zweimal wiederholt wurden, das automatische Remis daher nicht gegeben sei. Die Analyse zeigte, daß Weiß auf Gewinn steht. Es hätte 66. Tb8 Kc2, 67. g4! b2, 68. Ke4! geschehen sollen, Weiß opfert seinen Turm und gewinnt mit den Bauern. Auch 67. h4 b2, 68. Ke4 dürfte genügen. Bogoljubow erklärte sofort, er fühle sich in keiner Weise geschädigt; er habe nur an die Fortsetzung 66. Tb8 Kc2, 67. f5 gedacht, die ohnedies nur zum Remis führt, und zwar wegen 67.... b2, 68. Kf4 Ta4+! 69. Kg5 Ta3, drohend sowohl Txg3+ als auch Tb3. Zur Durchrechnung anderer Varianten fehlte ihm die Zeit, da er für 15 Züge nur etwa 7 Minuten zur Verfügung hatte.>

In short:

After 65.Rc8+, Alekhine claimed a draw via three-fold repetition while his clock was running.

Bogoljubov didn't check himself but asked the arbiter Hild instead who wrongly assumed that 61...Kd3 had been played and so answered Bogoljubov's question with yes.

Efim was contend and both started to analyse. All of this took just a few seconds.

Then, someone pointed out that it had only been a two-fold repetition. Analysis gave the following winning lines for White:

66.Rb8 Kc2 67.g4! b2 68.Ke4! with White sacrificing his rook and win with the pawns. But 67.h4 b2 68.Ke4 should also have been sufficient.

You are right. In this position ...

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...white played 50.Qxe6.

50.Qh8 really looks good!

Later, the final position:

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