Complete games collection with his own annotations. Volume I 1905−1920 by Alexander Alekhine Copyright 2018 © Russian Chess House All rights reserved. No parts of the publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Edited by Kiril Kuznetsov Translated by Reilly Costigan Design by Alexey Belov Russian Chess House [email protected] or [email protected] www.chessm.com ISBN 978-5-94693-690-3 This book can be ordered directly from the publisher at the website: www.chessm.com Or try your local bookshops. Contents Foreword ....................................................................................................................... Part I GAMES PLAYED IN TOURNAMENTS, MATCHES AND CORRESPONDENCE PLAY a Early years. Moscow tournaments, a ................................................. !""# ........ #$ Beginning of %&'(")$% ........ % Tournament in Stockholm. Games &# .............................................................. Tournament in Wilno. Games)# ......................................................................."$ Consultation and *!+-/01#"& ...$% 2/+34-0%& ...%$ Part II ALEKHINE — THE STRONGEST CHESS PLAYER IN RUSSIA a !%&& ..................................) Petersburg and +&$ .........................................................$ (15(56"%.............................................) -2$&$) .........................................................." Index of Openings ....................................................................................................."") Index of Opponents..................................................................................................."" FOREWORD The great Russian chess champion Alexander Alekhine had such a charis- matic personality that any book about him should arouse incredible interest. The Russian Chess House, by no means trying to take advantage of this fact, is publishing a greatest works collection of this outstanding player, i. e. all the games commented by him. The idea is hardly new. In 1954, the publish- ing company Fizkultura i Sport came out with the book called 300 Selected Games of Alexander Alekhine (compiled by V. Panov) where Alekhine himself authored most of the commentary. Over the course of the next few decades this great games collection was astoundingly popular. The present edition, in all its volumes, features over 700 games commented by Alekhine. Additionally, numerous mix-ups in the dates of the games and their texts have been cleared up. A. Alekhine has authored games collection books of six tournaments (Hast- ings 1922, New York 1924 and 1927, London 1932, Zurich 1932 and Notting- ham 1936) and two matches (vs Max Euwe in 1935 and 1937). He has also co-authored numerous similar publications. Throughout his life, A. Alekhine collaborated with various Russian and foreign periodicals. The first such publications can be found in the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper in January and February, 1909. That same year his chess commentary often appeared in the Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie magazine. While in 1912 he headed up the chess section of the Novoe Vremya newspaper. One should also mention that he actively contributed to his brother Alexey’s magazine, Shakhmatny Vestnik (1913−1916). Nevertheless, Alekhine’s early development as a chess player is largely unknown. The majority of his games from that period have been forgotten. Also results of certain tournaments have vanished into oblivion. It is well-known that Alekhine’s chess career started with correspondence chess. Having played chess seriously since the age of 12 (according to Alekhine himself), he first took part in a correspondence tournament in 1905. This was the XVI Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie Correspondence Tournament, which lasted for roughly a year (although not all the games were finished). Alekhine came ŠţŖŨ 5 in first. Then the 1st Annual Count F. Shakhovskoi Tournament ensued, at which Alekhine came in 4th place with 6.5 points (6 of his games were not completed). Alekhine’s first tournament over the board was at the Spring Moscow Chess Club Tournament. The crosstable from this tournament has been lost, although the scoresheets of certain games were preserved. The Autumn Moscow Chess Club Tournament was a total fiasco for Alekhine who tied for 11th−13th place out of 15 players (however impossible that may seem). Alexander Alekhine along with his brother Alexey was on the entry list of the 2nd Annual Count F. Shakhovskoi Tournament, but no other information besides the participant list remains from that competition. Having learned from his first mistakes and tournament mishaps, Alekhine made a breakthrough and became one of the top Russian chess players by winning the next two Moscow Chess Club Tournaments. A few games from that period, includ- ing certain correspondence games, became well-known thanks to the efforts of Eduard Dyckhoff, editor and chief of Fernschach, who published 8 games he received from Alekhine (without commentary) in his magazine and especially thanks to Edmond Lancel, the head editor of the Belgium magazine L’Échiquier and the head of the chess section in La Nation Belge newspaper, which from 1936 through 1939 published Alekhine’s earlier games with his notes. In between the aforementioned Moscow tournaments, Alekhine took part in the main tournament of the VI DSB Congress in Dusseldorf where he tied for 4th−5th place while beating two of the top three in impressive fashion. This helped him to gain recognition on the international chess scene. Shortly after this event he tied a small match against H. Fahrni (1.5−1.5) and won a quite peculiar match against Bardeleben. Upon returning to Moscow, he played matches against B. Blumenfeld (+4−0=1) and V. Nenarokov (+0−3=0). At the All-Russian Amateur Tournament, being held at the same time as the M. I. Chigorin Memorial Tournament in February-March 1909, Alekhine achieved even greater success while also gaining the title of maestro. Other victories came pouring in. But as is sometimes the case, a sharp spike is followed by a fall. At the annual spring tournament in Moscow, which incidentally used to be considered the city championship, the young master managed to come only in 5th. Moreover, he lost his game against the tournament winner, A. Goncharov. Alekhine wasn’t able to take revenge against him in the XVII Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie Tournament, as both of their games ended in a draw. Nevertheless, Alekhine’s devotion to chess and self-improvement coupled with incredible natural talent did the trick. Victories at the next Moscow tournaments ensued (however not all these results have been preserved), although the results from large international-scale tournaments in Hamburg 6 ŠţŖŨŠţŕ in 1910 and Carlsbad in 1911 are a testament to the fact that a top-notch Rus- sian player had emerged on the world chess scene. After moving to St. Petersburg to study at the Imperial School of Jurispru- dence, Alekhine began playing (with much success) in Petersburg tournaments. However, in the Moscow-Petersburg matches in 1911 and 1912 he played first board for the Moscow team, drawing twice against E. Znosko – Borovsky. Also in 1912 after a marvelous victory at the Nordic Championship Alekhine hits a road bump. In the All-Russian Championship in Vilnius in August-September he only ties for 6th and 7th places (with G. Levenfish) in a pool of 10 players (A. Rabinovich dropped out after the first round). However, the next year, 1913, the young master established himself as one of the strongest players in the world. After a convincing victory in Scheveningen, and sharing first prize with A. Nimzowitsch at the All-Russian Chess Tournament, Alekhine reached the peak of his career before the Russian Revolution in 1917. He came in 3rd at the international-scale tourney in St. Petersburg in April-May 1914 behind Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca! Just a week later, the bronze medal winner at this large chess competition graduated from the school of jurisprudence with the title of titular advisor. Roughly around this time Alekhine first tried his hand at chess journalism. In 1912, he headed up the chess section in the Novoe Vremya newspaper, and then (as already mentioned above) he started contributing to his brother Alexey’s magazine, Shakhmatny Vestnik. The onset of WWI had a devastating impact on the world and Russian chess community. A large tournament in Mannheim, in which Alekhine was awarded first prize, ended prematurely. Some Russian chess players were interned. After returning to Russia and holding various charity events in support of his colleagues who remained in Germany, in October-November 1915 Alekhine took part in the Moscow Chess Club Tournament (called the Moscow City Championship in certain sources and actually having such stature). In 1916, after going on tour in April and May in Odessa in Kiev he joined the army as a volunteer on the Galician Front. In the Tarnopol hospital, the famous blindfold game against Feldt (M. Fischer) was played. After this a blank page follows in biographical resources on Alekhine’s career. Only a few games remain from that period. Alekhine’s book and his journal make note of results from a Triangular in Moscow in April-May 1918 and a few games that were played during the Odessa tour in October-November 1918. However, the next year went down in the chess history books, as the Moscow Championship was officially held in the Soviet Union