DrGridlock: There's a very nice analysis of this game in Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy."After 8 moves, Watson comments, "Which side is being more 'modern'? White dances around with his king and ignores weakneses, whereas Black moves the same knight for the sixth time, when no other piece has been touched!"
To Watson, this game illustrates the triumph of "rule-independence" where "analysis and work come first, and the supporting vergiage comes later (if at all) for the sake of closure, or more often, for the sake of the popular audience."
Watson notes that Black's alternative at move 9, ... g6, prompted White to seek 9 h4 as a better alternative to Ne5.
Watson concludes, "I don't think the average modern professional would play through it with a feeling of amazement or incredulity. We have internalized the modern pragmatic approach to such an extent that the moves seem almost 'normal.' But it would be great fun to see this game annotated by Tarrasch, Capablanca, or even Alekhine! I suspect we would get a number of expressions of horror, at least between moves 5 and 9, as well as a healthy dose of ridicule."
Kibitzing
