Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game (part three)

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3, the main point of playing 4...Bg4 is to put pressure on the centre that White is building.

However, as Andrew Soltis points out in Winning With The Giuoco Piano And The Max Lange Attack (Chess Digest 1992), White can immediately play d4 anyway.

Miguel Najdorf - Izak Aloni

Polish Championship (Jurata) 1937

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3 Bg4 5.d4

The actual move-order of the game was 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.c3.

How should Black proceed?

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5...Bxf3!?

Most popular in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database is 5...Nf6, but 6.Qb3 seems a good reply.

Soltis implies that Black's best is to strongpoint e5 with 5...Qe7, when Grigory Levenfish - Alexander Tolush, USSR Championship (Leningrad) 1939, continued 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qb3 Nd8 (Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 prefer the sharp 7...0-0-0!?) 8.Nbd2 g6 9.dxe5, after which "White has the usual advantage in space," although Tolush won the game. Black could grab a pawn with 6...exd4!? 7.cxd4 Qxe4, but Soltis says 8.Nc3 Qg6 9.Nb5 gives "more than enough compensation."

Interesting is Mikhail Tal's 5...Qd7!?, after which White's score drops below 50%. The engines want White to gain space with d5!?, either immediately or over the next few moves, but in practice the usual continuation has been 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nbd2, when the engines reckon 7...exd4 gives Black at least equality.

All these lines need further testing - the Semi-Italian is not seen often enough to give definite verdicts in most lines.

6.gxf3

Also possible is 6.Qxf3 as White then has a double-attack on f7. Viacheslav Ragozin - Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, USSR Championship Semi-Final (Leningrad) 1936, saw 6...Qf6 7.Qd3 exd4 8.Bb5!? Qg6!? 9.0-0, when Ilyin-Zhenevsky grabbed a pawn with 9...dxc3?! and came under a very strong attack (but ½–½, 41 moves). The engines reckon ....Nge7, at move nine or, even better, at move eight, is more solid.

6...exd4 7.cxd4 Qf6 8.Be3 g6 9.Nc3 Nge7 10.Qa4!?

Komodo11.01's choice. Stockfish12 prefers 10.h4.

10...Qxf3!?

A brave decision. The engines approve, but much prefer White.

11.Rg1 0-0-0?

Castling into it, but White also has lots of play after the engines' 11...Kd8!? or 11...Bg7.

12.d5 Ne5 13.Be2 Qf6 14.Qxa7 Nf3+ 15.Kd1!

This is better than preserving the rook with 15.Bxf3, according to the engines.

15...Nxg1 16.Bb5 Qf3+ 17.Kd2 c6 18.dxc6 Nxc6 19.Qa8+ Kc7 20.Nd5+ Kd7 21.Qxb7+ Ke6 22.Nf4+ Ke6 23.Qxc6

White has a pawn and the bishop-pair for the exchange, but the complications are not over.

23...Bh6 24.Be2

Good enough, but the engines give a mating line: 24.Qc3+ Ke7 25.Qc7+ Kf6 26.Bd4+ Kg5 27.Qe7+ Kxf4 28.Rxg1, when Black can only delay, but not prevent, checkmate by giving up his queen.

24...Qxf4 25.Bxf4 Bxf4+ 26.Kd3?!

It was probably time to concentrate on king safety. The engines reckon White is still winning after 26.Ke1.

26...Nh3 27.Bf3?

The defensive 27.Rf1!? is best, according to the engines.

27...Rc8 28.Qa4 Be5

Black's king is suddenly looking the safer.

29.Rb1 Ra8 30.Qd7 Nf4+ 31.Ke3 Rxa2 32.Bd1 Rb8 33.b4 Ne6 34.Kf3?

34.Bb3, which was surely the point of 32.Bd1, is equal, according to the engines.

34...Bd4 35.Bb3 Rxf2+ 36.Kg3 Rxb4 37.e5+ dxe5?

37...Kg7 wins.

38.h4?

38.Bxe6 Rxb1 39.Qxf7+ Kg5 40.Qe7+ Kh6 41.Qh4+ etc draws.

38...Kg7

Now the king is safe, and Black has a winning advantage.

39.h5 Rd2 40.h6+

Najdorf tries to conjure up a perpetual, but there is none.

40...Kxh6 41.Rh1+ Kg7 42.Rxh7+ Kxh7 43.Qxf7+ Kh6 0-1