Queen’s Indian Defence
Alekhine’s tournament book New York 1927 is one of the most mean-spirited and intellectually dishonest chess books ever written. The Russian, who quite obviously grappled with deep jealousy issues when it came to all things Capa, spouts venom throughout the book on his favourite target. Examples of the hate-speak:
1. “In the endgame, he (Capablanca) is not to be feared by a first-class master.”
2. “It’s unbelievable how self-consciously and weakly Marshall always plays against Capablanca!”
3. “Only then did it finally become clear to me how exaggerated were the general shouts of praise with which the quality of his performance in New York (1927) were greeted.”
4. “ ... his self-confidence grew in the extreme, indeed turned into self-idolization.” Well, okay, I admit criticism number 4 was possibly true!
Trust me. The entire book is like this! The tournament was played only a few months before their world championship match, and Alekhine was anxious to show Capa just who was boss. Well, as it turned out, Capa was boss and chairman of the board. He skated to a crushing victory 3½ points ahead of his nearest rival – Alekhine. In their personal games, they drew three, but Alekhine’s single loss to Capa turned out to be one of the most humiliating of his life.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6
Capablanca successfully played the Queen’s Indian at a time when few even knew what it was, essentially a hypermodern concept of controlling the centre via the wings.
4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 c5!?
Inviting a Benoni hybrid, but not such a good way of entering one. 5 ... Be7 is the more common route today.
6 d5!
Alekhine takes up the challenge “to avoid a draw”, he says in the tournament book. 6 0-0 cxd4 7 Qxd4 is the Hedgehog formation.
6 ... exd5
Question: Doesn’t this just drop a pawn for White?
Answer: No. Please see White’s next move.
7 Nh4
The pin regains the lost pawn. 7 Ng5 has been tried a few times: 7 ... Ne4 8 Nxe4 dxe4 9 Nc3 f5 10 Bf4 Qf6 11 0-0 and White’s development lead compensated for the missing pawn, E.Kengis-M.Womacka,
Baden-Baden 1990.
7 ... g6 8 Nc3 Bg7 9 0-0 0-0 10 Bf4
This natural but weak move allows Black to equalize. Instead, 10 Bg5! gives White an excellent Benoni. If Black tries 10 ... h6? then 11 Bxf6 Qxf6 (11 ... Bxf6? is met by the shocking 12 Nxg6!, winning on the spot) 12 Nxd5! Bxd5 13 Qxd5 Nc6 14 Qxd7 Rac8 15 Rad1! sees White emerge a pawn ahead in all variations (the threat is Rd6!), J.Fedorowicz-V.Mezentsev, San Francisco 2007; while 10 ... Qc8 11 cxd5 gives White a much better version of the game continuation.
10 ... d6
11 cxd5
Question: Isn’t this just a bad Benoni for Black too, whose light-squared bishop hits a pawn wall on d5.
Answer: Black looks okay here. Keep in mind, White’s knight went off for a jaunt on h4, so he lost time as well. Annotators often say a position is “equal”. Perhaps a distinction should be made between equality and equity. In this dynamically balanced position, Black has equity.
Question: Why can’t White keep recapturing on d5 with pieces, with the intention of hammering away on Black’s backward d6-pawn?
Answer: Your idea is playable and perhaps safer than the one Alekhine went for, but in most Benoni structures, Black gets counterplay against this plan. In this case Black looks fine after 11 Nxd5 Nxd5 12 Bxd5 Bxd5 13 Qxd5 Na6 14 Qd2 Qe7 15 Rad1 (15 Bxd6 is met by 15 ... Rfd8) 15 ... Rad8, when White would be foolish to take on d6.
11 ... Nh5
To take the pressure off d6.
12 Bd2 Nd7 13 f4?!
Correctly criticized by Alekhine who gives 13 e4, threatening Nf5. Now instead of Alekhine’s 13 ...
Nhf6, Black can try the more enterprising 13 ... Re8!, and if White follows through with Alekhine’s planned 14 Nf5, Black doesn’t look too bothered after 14 ... gxf5 15 Qxh5 fxe4 16 Nxe4 Nf6 with equity!
13 ... a6 14 Bf3?!
I hate that feeling when you sense something is amiss but you still choose to ignore the misgivings.
Alekhine writes: “A totally weak move after which the game is hard to save. Losing time, only to place one’s own piece on a worse square in order to force an opponent’s to a better one.”
14 ... Nhf6 15 a4 c4!
Very strong now that White no longer has easy access to Nd4 and Nc6. Black vacates c5 for his knight.
Question: Isn’t it going too far giving your hero an exclamation mark for this rather obvious Benoni plan?
Answer: The plan is obvious today, mainly because of games like this one. Don’t take such plans for granted. Someone first invented them. You and I are just copycats. At that time it was a novel idea, so the exclam is for the creativity behind it.
16 Be3
Question: This move looks incorrect. Why did Alekhine block his e-pawn?
Answer: I think Alekhine was worried about the line 16 e4 b5. The queen check on b6 indirectly protects the not-so-loose b5-pawn.
16 ... Qc7 17 g4?!
Thus begins the attack which never was. Alekhine says he just went for it since he considered his position strategically busted anyway.
Question: Is this ferocity or simply desperation? Is White really lost here to the point where he must begin such a desperate attack?
Answer: I’m not sure. A famished tiger views everyone else as food. Perhaps the move is a sign of
both ferocity and desperation. Let’s try a calmer strategic approach, say 17 b4, before Black locks things down with ... Nc5: 17 ... cxb3 18 Qxb3 Rac8 19 Bd4 Qc4 20 Qd1 Ne8! 21 Bxg7 Nxg7 22 Ne4 f5! (White can’t touch the d6-pawn) 23 Ng5 Nc5. Clearly White stands worse here too, but perhaps not as bad as what happens after his lash-out move.
17 ... Nc5 18 g5 Nfd7 19 f5!?
The pawn lunges forward with a cry of outrage. White, hoping to brazen it out, gains more real estate without purposeful destiny. In so doing he leaves a gaping hole on e5, similar to the aftermath of a pulled tooth.
19 ... Rfe8 20 Bf4 Be5
Before he gets shut out with f5-f6.
21 Bg4 Nb3 22 fxg6 hxg6 23 Rb1
Exercise (critical decision): Black can play 23 ... Bxc3 24 bxc3 Qc5+
which picks off White’s d5-pawn. Would you give up your precious dark-squared Benoni bishop for White’s central pawn?
Answer: It’s not even close. White collapses after the swap.
23 ... Bxc3!
Question: Really? Giving away his dark squares?
Answer: Principle: Counter in the centre when attacked on the wing. It was a good decision. White can’t easily exploit the dark squares since his pawn on g5 gums up the works.
24 bxc3 Qc5+
The counterattack begins in earnest. Black’s queen watches her rival on g1 with cold eyes.
25 e3 Ne5 26 Bf3
26 Be2 Bxd5 is also completely hopeless.
26 ... Nd3 27 Kh1 Bxd5 28 Rxb3 Nxf4
Question: Are there other ways for Black to win?
Answer: As Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Let me count the ways.” Another win lies in 28 ...
cxb3 29 Qxd3 Bc4 30 Qd1 Bxf1.
29 Rb1 Rxe3
The “attack” descends into a murky, troubled dream and White’s deranged forces talk to themselves, as if addressing the air. The rest is a bloodbath. Alekhine claims he was in too much time pressure to know to resign. More tournament book hogwash. The true reason, of course, was that Alekhine simply couldn’t muster the courage to stick his hand out and resign to his hated rival.
30 Ng2 Rxf3 31 Rxf3 Nxg2 32 Kxg2 Re8 33 Kf1 Bxf3 34 Qxf3 Qxg5 35 Re1 Rxe1+ 36 Kxe1 Qg1+ 37 Kd2 Qxh2+ 38 Kc1
The castaway on the deserted island watches glumly as his rescue ship recedes into the horizon.
38 ... Qe5 39 Kb2 Kg7 40 Qf2 b5 41 Qb6 bxa4 42 Qxa6 Qe2+ 0-1
Such losses between rivals leave deep scars within the mind. Alekhine paid Capa a very rare compliment at this point: “I feel ashamed of this game, but readily admit that my opponent took impeccable advantage of my errors.” Resentment is futile in the face of elemental calamity!
Game 21