june 16, 2001

Intoducing the Alekhine Defence

I prepared a little suprise for the second round of the February Main Tournament, the Alekhine defence! I scored two wins with it in this round.

White: DrChrome
Black: Earthdust
Event: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament,round 2
Date: 2001-04-26
(B01 Scandinavian (Centre Counter) D)

1 e4 d5 2 ed Qxd5 3 Nf3 Bg4 4 Nc3 Qe6+ 5 Qe2 Qxe2+ 6 Bxe2 Nc6 7 Nb5 0-0-0 8 Ng5 Ne5 9 Bxg4+ e6 10 Nxf7 Nxf7 11 Bxe6+ Rd7 12 Nxa7+ Kd8 13 Bxd7 Kxd7 14 Nb5 Nf6 15 0-0 Bc5 16 b3 Re8 17 Bb2 Ng4 18 Bxg7 Re2 19 d4 Bb6 20 c4 c6 21 Nc3 Rc2 22 Na4 Bc7 23 h3 Nh2 24 Rfe1 b5 25 Nc5+ Kd8 26 Bf6+ Kc8 27 Re8+ Nd8 28 Ne6 Kb7 29 Bxd8 Bxd8 30 Rxd8 bc 31 Nc5+ Kc7 32 Rd7+ Kb6 33 bc Rxc4 34 Rb1+ 1-0
On 8. Ng5 , I threaten Nf7 forking the rooks. His response 8... Ne5 covers the f7 square and the discovered attack on the light squared Bishop. But in reality, it cannot do both. 9.Bxg4 check! now black must choose, retake the bishop or cover the f7 square, he chooses the latter and goes down a piece. 10.Nxf7! this sacrifice gains more material. When the smoke cleared, Black still had unfavorably exchanged his rook for a Knight and is down 3 pawns. He was going to lose a rook anyway, he probably could have gained better compensation with 8...Bxe2. By move 30, his last knight is dead, there are no escape squares for it and it no longer has the protection of the dark squared bishop. There is little point in capturing it as black will be shortly mated. Seeing that, he resigned.

White: Earthdust
Black: DrChrome
Event: round 2: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament
Date: 2001-04-26
(B02 Alekhine, Scandinavian V)

1 e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 ed Nxd5 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 Bb5 Nxc3 6 bc Qd5 7 c4 Qe4+ 8 Qe2 Qxe2+ 9 Kxe2 Bd7 10 Rb1 a6 11 a4 ab 12 ab Nd8 13 Ne5 Bf5 14 d3 f6 15 Nf3 e5 16 b6 c5 17 Bb2 Ra6 18 Nh4 Bg4+ 19 f3 Be6 20 g4 Rxb6 21 Rhg1 Bd6 22 Nf5 Bxf5 23 gf 0-0 24 h4 Nc6 25 h5 h6 26 c3 Ne7 27 Ba3 Rxb1 28 Rxb1 Ra8 29 Bc1 Ra7 30 Be3 Ra2+ 31 Kd1 Nxf5 32 Bc1 Rf2 33 Rxb7 Rxf3 34 d4 cd 35 cd Rd3+ 36 Kc2 Rxd4 37 Kc3 Rh4 38 Rb5 Rh3+ 39 Kc2 Nd4+ 0-1
This is the Scandinavian Variation, characterized by the moves: 1e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 . White sacrifices a bishop on move 11, to what end I cannot determine, I assume it to be a blunder. After I forked the rook and king on 39, white resigned.

White: DrChrome
Black: mr.mojorisin
Event: round 2: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament
Date: 2001-04-26
(C45 Scotch Game)

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 ed 4 Nxd4 Bc5 5 Be3 Ne5 6 f4 Ng6 7 Nc3 d6 8 f5 Ne5 9 Qd2 Nf6 10 Bg5 Qe7 11 Nd5 Nxe4 12 Bxe7 Nxd2 13 f6 Bxd4 14 Kxd2 Be6 15 Nxc7+ Kd7 16 Nxa8 Rxa8 17 c3 Bb6 18 Bb5+ Nc6 19 Rhe1 gf 20 Bxf6 Rg8 21 g3 Rg6 22 Bh4 a6 23 Bd3 Ne5 24 Bxg6 hg 25 Kc2 f6 26 Bxf6 1-0
I love the Scotch! Black played an interesting fifth move, 5...Ne5. I belive the standard continuation is 5.... Qf6. I had all sorts of possible replies, I chose 6.f4, but I believe Qh5 is playable. Black played the dubious 11...Nxe4 placing himself on the short end of a very tactical position. After the exchange of my knight for his rook on 16, I have the edge material wise, but his pieces are more actively placed. Black blundered on 24 and 25, then resigned a hopeless position.

White: mr.mojorisin
Black: DrChrome
Event: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament,round 2
Date: 2001-04-26
(B05 Alekhine, Modern V, 4...Bg4)

1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 Bg4 5 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 e6 7 Bf4 de 8 Bxe5 Nc6 9 Bg3 Bxf3 10 Qxf3 Qxd4 11 Nc3 Bd6 12 Rd1 Qc5 13 Ne4 Qa5+ 14 c3 Bxg3 15 hg Nd7 16 Rxd7 Ne5 17 Re7+ Kxe7 18 Qe3 b6 19 Rh5 Nd3+ 0-1
Onn move 16, white retakes the bishop with the pawn rather than the queen. There can be only one reason, he wants to bring out the rook. So, I must be prepared for Rh5. With Nd7 and 0-0-0, and I am well set for anything white can throw at me. 16 Rxd7? was poorly concieved, he was expecting 16...Kxd7 then 17. Qxf7+ and black is in trouble. But I don't have to immediatly retake... 16...Ne5 ! and now white has lost material. When the anticipated Rh5 ? is played on 19, the responce Nd3+ wins the rook. White has traded his rook pair for my knight pair! Chagrined that his stratigies went ary, White resigned.

White: DrChrome
Black: ivo chiavi
Event: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament,round 2
Date: 2001-04-26
(C44 Scotch O)

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 d6 4 de f5 5 exf5 Bxf5 6 Bb5 Ne7 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bxc6+ bc 9 Be3 Nd5 10 Qe2 Nxe3 11 Qxe3 d5 12 Qc3 c5 13 0-0 Be7 14 b3 0-0 15 Nbd2 d4 16 Qc4+ Kh8 17 c3 dc 18 Qxc3 Be6 19 Rad1 1-0

White: ivo chiavi
Black: DrChrome
Event: February 2001 Main #1 Tournament,round 2
Date: 2001-04-26
(A56 Benoni D)

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 e3 d6 4 Nc3 b6? 5 Nf3 g6 6 Be2 Bb7 7 0-0 Bg7 8 Bd2 0-0 9 Re1 Nbd7 10 Qc2 cd 11 ed d5 12 cd Nxd5 13 Nxd5 Bxd5 14 a4 Rc8 15 Qd3 Bxf3 16 Bxf3 Ne5 17 Qe3 Nc4 18 Qxe7 Nxd2 19 Bb7 Rc7 0-1
These two games,against ivo chiavi, moved at a much slower pace than the first 4. The first four were allready finished by the time the 19th move was made in these games. I was declared the winner by virtue of my 8 points. ivo chiavi simply quit playing! I assume that he wanted to concentrate his efforts on tournament games where he still had the chance of advancing. There was still plenty of play left in both these games, in the scotch game he was only down a pawn (he gambited it). His situation in the other was worse, but by no means hopeless. As a result, I win all six games and advance to the third round.

My Tournament record: 33-8-1

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