M Botvinnik
A. Alekhine
1 Nf3
2 d4
3 c4
4 Nc3
5 cxd5
6 e3
d5 Nf6 e6 c5
Nxd5
When this game was played it was thought that Black could equalize easily after 6 e4 (as Euwe had recently done against Alekhine in the return match). The line has since been improved for White, and now it is not clear that Black can equalize at all.
7 Bc4
8 exd4
Nc6 cxd4 Be7 0-0 b6?
11 Nxd5! exd5
12 Bb5 Bd7
13 Qa4 Nb8
It is sad to see such a lover of active play as Alekhine forced to retreat so ignominiously. After 13 ... Rc8, White can't win the a-pawn by 14 Bxc6 Bxc6 15 Qxa7 because of 15 ... Bb4!, threatening both 16 . .. Bxel and 16 ... Ra8. But the right answer to 13 ... Rc8 is 14 Bd2, now really threatening to win the a-pawn.
14 Bf4
15 Qxb5
16 Qa4
17 Bxd6
Bxb5 a6 Bd6 Qxd6
18 Racl
White has both open files under his control, and Black has nothing to look forward to but a long, difficult defense without active play. Poor Alekhine! This was the kind of position he hated the most—which is why Botvinnik steered for it.
Since White's queen cannot be permitted to establish itself in the heart of Black's position, this is forced. But the exchange gives Black no relief because White's remaining pieces are far more active.
19 Qc2
20 Rxe7
21 Qc7
Ra7 Re7 Qxe7 Qxc7
22 Rxc7
23 Kfl
25 Rc3!
If Black could bring his king closer to the center, say to d6, he might hope for salvation; but the king is needed to protect the kingside pawns. Alekhine decides to advance those pawns so he can centralize his king, but he only creates new weaknesses.
White's task is not as easy as it looks, for the slightest inaccuracy will let Black off the hook. An obvious plan for White is to get his knight to the center, but after 27 Nc2 Kf7 28 Ne3 Ke6, the knight is kept out of f5. If Black's h-pawn were on h6 instead of h5, then 29 g4 would allow the decisive occupation of f5 by White's knight. Alekhine avoided that danger with 26 . .. h5, but. ..
Now on 27 ... Kf7 28 Nf3 g4 (28 ... Kg6 29 hxg5 fxg5 30 Ne5 +) 29 Nel Ke6 30 Nd3 and 31 Nf4, the knight finds a powerful post in the center.
26 Nel g5 h5
28 Rc7
29 Nf3!
30 Nel
31 Nd3
32 f3
33 gxf3
34 a4
35 Rc6
36 Kf2
37 b3
38 Ke2
gxf3
A desperate attempt to free himself. If now 39 Rxb6 Kc7 followed by 40 . . . Nc6 with counterplay.
42 Nc6
Now Black will lose material but without getting any counterplay. The concluding moves: 42 . . . Rf6 43 Ne7 + Kb8 44 Nxd5 Rd6 45 Rg5 Nb4 46 Nxb4 axb4 47 Rxh5 Rc6 (if 47 .. . Rxd4 48 Rf5 and White is ready to advance his h-pawn without hindrance) 48 Rb5 Kc7 49 Rxb4 Rh6 50 Rb5 Rxh4 51 Kd3 and Black resigned.
The advent of World War II put a stop to most international chess activity, but Botvinnik continued scoring impressive victories in Soviet events. When the war ended, he resumed his attempts to arrange a title match with Alekhine.
Alekhine at that stage of his life was a physical and psychological ruin, and his death spared him the agony of what would have been a humiliating defeat at Botvinnik's hands. There can hardly be any doubt about the result: Botvinnik dominated all of his great contemporaries even when they were at the top of their form: In the 1948 match-tournament, he defeated Smyslov 3-2, Keres 4-1, Reshevsky 3V2-IV2, and Euwe 3V2-IV2.
Botvinnik's forerunners in the psychological method, Lasker and Alekhine, were primarily tacticians; Botvinnik was a strategist of the highest order, as many of his games from the match-tournament showed. He was quite capable of accurate, imaginative tactics too, but he resorted to tactical complications only when he needed to get out of trouble or change the character of the game. The following game
39 Rg6
40 Ne5
Kc7 Na6 Kc8
from the match-tournament is a perfect demonstration of how to create complications to exploit an opponent's time pressure.
White has been strategically outplayed. His pieces are tied up, and Black's threats, particularly ... Ne5, are hard to meet. Botvinnik, realizing that further positional maneuvering would be futile, decides to take drastic action to change the course of the game. And now, with Reshevsky in time pressure, is the time to do it.
This pawn sacrifice has two aims: first, to complicate the game in the hope that favorable tactical opportunities will turn up; second and more dangerous, to unsettle Reshevsky while he is in time pressure.
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