For example, in 2022 the national championship game was won by the team I support, Georgia Bulldogs.
But during the season they lost to Alabama Crimson Tide, who in turn had lost to Texas A&M, who lost to Mississippi State, who lost to Memphis Tigers, etc, etc.
Eventually the chain leads to one of the lowliest teams in the land, which can thus make a claim to be #1!
It is possible to play a similar game in chess, by which you trace your wins up to a victory over a reigning world champion, thus putting yourself in position to claim, however far-fetched the claim may be, to be #1!
The final link in my chain comes from Max Euwe's 1935 world championship match against world champion Alexander Alekhine. Below is his quickest win, which came in game 12.
Euwe - Alekhine
Grünfeld
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qb3!?
This is sixth-most popular in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, well behind 4.Nf3 and especially 4.cxd5, but was cutting-edge in 1935.
4...dxc4!?
This surrender-of-the-centre is the commonest continuation.
5.Qxc4 Bg7
In game two of the match, Alekhine lost with 5...Be6. He switched to the text in game four, and won. After that he started playing the Slav, returning to the Grünfeld in this game, when the score stood in his favour +5=3-3.
6.e4
Euwe played 6.Bf4 in game four.
6...0-0 7.Nf3 a6!?
Cecil Purdy, the first world correspondence champion, gave this move a double-question mark, claiming it "seems to be based on an extraordinary miscalculation." He quotes Grigory Levenfish as giving 7...b6!!, although it is not clear who has awarded the exclamation marks (probably Purdy).
Stockfish16 and Kokmodo14.1 like the text, and 7...Nc6, the former being today's commonest continuation.
8.Bf4 b5!?
 |
| Should White grab the proffered pawn? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
9.Qxc7
Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 agree this is best - necessary, even, if White is to get any edge out of the opening.
9...Qe8?
This is given an exclamation mark by an anonymous annotator in Mega24, but the move is a mistake. Black scores an excellent 63% in Mega24 after 9...Qxc7, the mainline running 10.Bxc7 Bb7 11.e5!? Nd5 12.Nxd5 Bxd5 13.Be2 Rc8, when Black has at least the better part of equality.
Purdy thought "Alekhine's original intention was presumably to play 9...Qxc7 10.Bxc7 b4 and win the e pawn, overlooking that 11.Na4 would threaten Nb6!" Purdy added: "Sheer lassitude." Others put Alekhine's play down to the fact it was his birthday*, and he had been celebrating earlier than was wise, especially for a 43-year-old.
Put simply, in both lines White is a pawn up. However, after 9...Qe8? Black's queen is awkwardly placed, and is arguably more inconvenienced than its opposite number, while after 9...Qxc7 10.Bxc7 Black will gain time on White's dark-square bishop and generate pressure against White's centre.
10.Be2
Possibly even stronger is the engines' 10.e5.
10...Nc6
10...b4 would seem to be an improvement, eg 11.Nd5 (11.Na4?? Qxa4) Nxd5 (11...Nxe4? 12.Nb6) 12.cxd5 Qd8!?
11.d5
The engines prefer 11.e5!? Nh5 12.Be3.
11...Nb4?!
The anonymous ChessBase annotator recommends "11...e5!" without further comment. The move is almost certainly an improvement on the text, but after 12.dxc6 exf4 13.e5 Ng4 the engines give 14.Nd5 Nxe5!? 15.Ne7+ Kh8 16.Nxe5 Bf6 17.0-0-0 Qxe7 18.Qxe7 Bxe7 19.Nd7, claiming the upper hand for White.
12.0-0 Nxe4!?
Desperation, but it may be there is already nothing better, although Purdy reckoned 12...Bg4 "might have prolonged the agony." Either way, the black queen's knight is trapped, so Alekhine sacrifices the other knight for two pawns, albeit in a position in which Black is already a pawn down.
13.Nxe4 Nxd5 14.Qc1 Bf5 15.Ng3 Rc8 16.Qd2 Nxf4 17.Qxf4
 |
| Black has a pawn and the bishop-pair, but they do not add up to a piece |
*****
*****
*****
*****
17...Bc2
As is pointed out in Mega24, Black can get mated after 17...Bxb2?!, ie 18.Nxf5 Bxa1? 19.Qh6 gxf5 20.Ng5. Better is 18...gxf5, but 19.Qxf5 keeps the white queen's rook safe as White threatens 20.Bd3 and 20.Ng5.
18.Qb4 Qd8 19.Ne1 Ba4!?
Preserving the bishop-pair, but at a cost.
20.Rb1 Bd4?!
This seems to make the situation worse, but the engines' suggestion of 20...Bc2!? would hardly have inspired Alekhine.
21.Nf3 Bc5 22.Qh4 Bc2
The bishop escapes entombment, but the whole manoeuvre has cost time.
23.Rbc1 f6!?
Prevents Ng5
24.Bc4+!?
This seems even better than 24.Rxc2 Bxf2+ 25.Rxf2 Rxc2.
24...bxc4 25.Qxc4+ Kg7 26.Qxc2
 |
| Now Black has neither a pawn nor the bishop-pair, and could resign to spare himself more agony |
*****
*****
*****
*****
26...Qa5 27.Qe2 e5
Probably not 27...Qxa2?! 28.Rxc5! Rxc5 29.Qxe7+ etc.
28.a3 Be7 29.Nd4!? Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Kh8 31.Nc6 Qc7 32.Qxa6 Rc8 33.Nf1 Rb8 34.Nxe7! Qxe7
Not 34...Qxc1? 35.Qxf6#.
35.Rc8+ Rxc8 38.Qxc8+ 1-0
*Alekhine was born in Moscow on October 31, 1892, at a time when Russia was still using the Julian calendar. This game was played on October 19, 1933, according to the Gregorian calendar, which had been adopted in most of Europe centuries earlier, and in Russia in 1918.
No comments:
Post a Comment