A (Not So) Brief History of Chess, Pt. 3

Recap: The sitting world champion is grandmaster Emanuel Lasker of Germany. 

The aging Lasker was no match for a rising generation of youths in the chess world. In 1921, Cuban Grandmaster Jose Raul Capablanca defeated Lasker in a blowout, seizing the title from him violently. 

The Reign of Capablanca (1921-1927)

Playing against Capablanca was a stressful experience. He is one of a handful of chess masters to win more than 50% of their games (most games end in draws). His style was described by American grandmaster Bobby Fischer (one of the greatest players of all time) as “having a light touch.” He could initiate an explosive tactical sequence on the board, but he preferred to play defensively, piling pressure and pressure and more pressure until his opponents broke. During the years in which he was the undisputed champion of the world, he used this patient style of play to crush all rivals.

Observe this specimen of a game below:

Ossip Bernstein (White) vs. Jose Raul Capablanca (Black)

February 4th, 1914.

In this position, black has an annoying pawn on c4 which, if white is not careful, could promote. But other than that, to the untrained eye, this position seems totally equal. But just watch how Capablanca exploits his one advantage consistently, goading his pieces forward until his opponent capitulates.

Black plays Nd5, forcing white to play Rc2. Black then pushes further with c3, inducing white to play Rdc1 to form a solid barrier against that pawn. Capablanca responds with Rc5, readying Rdc8 to keep backing up the pawn on c3. 

Everyone’s eyes are on that c3 square! Trying to seize the initiative, white plays Nb3, attacking the rook on c5, and forcing Rc6. White then continues the chase by returning the knight to d4. After Rc7, another retreating move, white plays Nb5, forking the rook on c7 and the pawn on c3. 

Capablanca plays Rc5. Believing he could finally eliminate the pesky pawn, white jumped at the opportunity. Nxc3?? A flurry of pieces proceeded to fly off the board. Capablanca plays Nxc3, followed by Rxc3, then Rxc3, then Rxc3. No more promotion threats. No more problems for White, right?

In this position, White likely calculated that if Black plays Qb1 in this position, the white queen would simply intercede by falling back to f1. If Capablanca gets greedy and attempts to pin the queen to the king with Rd1??, he would checkmate his opponent with Rc8+, with checkmate coming the following move.

But White missed Qb2!! sacrificing the full queen, but also attacking the rook on c3. White can’t play Qxb2, because Rd1 would then be a checkmate for Black.

The moment Capablanca’s opponents think they’re safe, they instantly fall into a booby trap. This strategy allowed Capablanca to dominate the chess world for eight years.

The Reign of Alekhine: Talent, Drunkenness, Redemption (1929-1946)

In 1929, Jose Raul Capablanca was challenged by Alexander Alekhine, a French (formerly Russian) grandmaster who was also one of the five players awarded the title of grandmaster by Tsar Nicholas II in 1914. Alekhine displayed great tactical brilliance, giving him a definitive advantage in the middlegame (where there are a lot of pieces on the board), while also exhibiting a knack for solid endgame play. This left his opponents with a difficult conundrum. In most cases, if your opponent is launching a magnificent attack against your king, the solution is usually to trade pieces, decreasing the number of pieces on the board to lessen your opponent’s momentum. But to trade pieces against Alekhine would be to enter an endgame with him, in which no player could claim to be more proficient than he was. 

In 1929, Alexander Alekhine unseated Capablanca in a first-to-six-wins match. By the time Alekhine reached six, the reigning champion had only three wins.

Additionally, Alekhine was a prolific chess writer, and greatly influenced the game. His “Alekhine Opening” (e4, Nf6) is still played to this day. 

But who cares about boring openings when you can have exhilarating games!

In the game shown below, Alekhine is playing another titan of the era, Efim…good luck pronouncing that.

Efim Bogoljubov (White) vs. Alexander Alekhine (Black), September 21st, 1922

Alekhine to move…and win. The position is bordering on total chaos, and like any good tactician, Alekhine thrives on chaos.

B4! The pawn the white queen from the defense of the rook. Left with no choice, white plays Rxa8, aiming to trade pieces. Ignoring the attack on his queen, Alekhine fearlessly plays bxc3!!, capturing the white queen but allowing Rxe8. The first queen is sacrificed.

Ok, it’s not time for Alekhine to consolidate this position, right? Play Rxe8 and allow his pawn on c3 to be captured. The material will be nearly even, and he can play on, right? But Alekhine was not satisfied with the “safe” move. c2!!

Completely sacrificing another rook! Even though Alekhine is about to make a new queen, he would still be down a tremendous amount of material after the sequence of captures ends. But Alekhine was prepared. Following Rxf8+, he calmly slid his king to h7. After Bogoljubov plays Nf2, Alekhine promotes with c1=Q+, forcing white to defend with Nf1. 

Though he is up on material, Bogoljubov’s pieces stand idly, as useless as swords without sharp edges. In the bottom right corner, four pieces stand stranded behind their own pawns. The rook on f8 is doing who-on-earth-knows-what. Alekhine’s pieces are coordinated and ready to chip away at White’s position, slowly and surely.

The next sequence of moves is not that exciting (which is why I have skipped over them), but just know that over the next dozen or so moves, Alekhine slowly improves his position while Bogoljubov desperately tries to move his pieces. 

On move 47, now down 3 points of material, Bogoljubov plays Rd2, trying to attack Alekhine’s pawns and destabilize his position. Alekhine has many ways to win here, but he opts for the flashiest. Qe2!, sacrificing the queen for a rook! After Rxd2, fxd2, Kf2, exf1=Q+ (another queen…), and Kxf1 (…bites the dust), Alekhine has officially lost three queens in a single game!

And what does he get in return? This endgame, which, by virtue of his king being closer to his opponent’s pawns and his outside passed pawn (a pawn that other pawns cannot be stopped) on d6, he easily converts into a victory.

Alekhine was a tactical genius, and he had a keen awareness of even the most minuscule of weaknesses. Yet he had a personal problem: he drank…way too much. Since there were, in his mind, no credible challengers to his hegemony, he started to not take the game as seriously by the 1930s. In 1935, he was challenged by Max Euwe, a Dutch player whom Wikipedia describes as “rounded” (a nice way of saying he wasn’t really exceptional at any aspect of the game). The rules of the match were simple: win six games and get a total score, including draws, of more than 15, and you become the next world champion.

In the first 9 games, Alekhine took an early 3 game lead. His confidence skyrocketed, and so did his alcohol consumption. But Euwe rallied back, evening out the score before squeezing out a victory in the 26th game. 

Euwe won the match 15.5-14.5.

You may be asking, how long did Euwe’s reign last?

A full two years. In 1937, Alekhine, now cleaned up and humbled by his loss, challenged Euwe to a rematch. The final score was Alekhine’s 15.5 to Euwe’s 9.5. A complete blowout.

Yep, Alekhine was still the most dominant player in the world!

TO BE CONTINUED…