Alexander Aljechin was on a decline after having several successful years behind him, beating Capablanca, Euwe and others winning the world championship. Maroczy himself had at this point given up his chess career, and certainly his dreams on becoming world champion. In this game, Aljechin sacrificed a pawn prematurely that puts Maroczy in a very comfortable position against the World Champion, and where he should be able to win the game. However, Aljechin finds a titanic solution that turns the game 180 degrees.
In the position below, white (Aljechin) seems to be losing. He has some unclear tactical possibilities that are based on the poor position of blacks king, but he also has trouble guarding his pieces properly. Also, blacks king can always flee to d8 where it's relatively safe.
Can you find white's plan? Hint: the square e5.
For variations and comments, press "move list" to the right, after the sequence is solved. Good luck! :)
wow really cool!
Very nice.
Well, this was pretty impressive play. But I won't pretend to have solved this with no mistakes. The first move was the hardest.
1931 is not Alekhine in decline but Alekhine at this peak.
As far as I know, it is after Aljechins superior win in the San Remo tournament in 1930 that his career is starting to slowly die down.
wow
nice
not bad
San Remo was a peak performance for Alekhine but Bled 1931 was also a superlative performance--the tournament you cite a game from--where he scored 5.5 points ahead of the strong field. His career is not dying down.
give me a break!
awesome
Ajechin is Alekhine right? good game!!
Yes! Aljechin = Alekhine :)
Why? His play and career were not "slowly dying down" in 1931. What do you want?
Based on the literature that I've read, Alekhine seemed to has passed his peak by then, ie 1931. What do I want? :) come on, it's not a big deal!
OK, it's just odd to regard his career as in decline when he is still getting crushing victories over strong competition, even if San Remo the previous year can be considered even more crushing.
It's like saying Fischer's career was in decline in the 1972 Spassky match because he lost 5 rating points as a result.
You know what they say... Queen and Knight is all right ;-)
:)
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