Annotated chess game: Resurrecting the Alekine's Defense

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ANNOTATED GAME

Resurrecting the Alekine's Defense
elyhim (2302) vs. stalhandske (2090)
Annotated by: elyhim (1200)
Chess opening: Alekhine's defence (B04), modern, Larsen variation

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36. Re5

renewing Rd7+

36... a4

Now this is interesting! Black has managed to create a threat. The idea is that if 36. b3 axb3 37. axb3 Ra8 or Rf8!? is given black a chance to make things interesting. But I doubt that is enough to hold to the end. If anything it does create complications

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37. Qd3

Dealing with the threat by threatening something more urgent I. e Qh7+

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37... Bg8

preventing Qh7+

38. a3

This stops all of black's hopes on the queen side. This is what black should have done on move 25.

38... Qf6

!! very good move that is very cunning. I can not remember the exact line but I did see a possibility of a queen exchange on f4 that lead to a draw. So avoided it.

39. Qe4 Rd6 40. g3

rules out any queen exchanges on f4

40... Rd7

now black is dead in the water all he can really do is move his rook back and forth while white continues to push forward.

41. Bb1

Kh2 and f3 lead to the same drawing lines.

41... Rd8 42. f3

Now 42. f3 followed by Kf1 going to e3 prevents black from exchanging queens. On e3 the king will defend d4 and after f3-f4 white will end up with two past pawns for the win. Stalhandske resigns. In conclusion, Stalhandske did prove that Alekine defense is still alive and doing well. However, the true test of the Alekine test does not lay in the opening but in the ending. It has to be said that white does have most of the chances to win coming out of the opening. yet, despite this advantage I am quite confident that I could have easily defended this game to a draw after 28. ...Bf5! In short, this is a great defense for amateur players because of it's great defensive resources. Because of the rating difference it was up to me to prove that my positional skills were better than Stalhandske's. Had Stalhanske found and played 28. ...Bf5 then he would have achieved a great victory by achieving a draw over a player most likely 400 points north of his own.

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