Mighty Pawn

Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946), became the fourth World Champion after defeating the invincible Jose Raul Capablanca in 1927. The result of this match surprised almost everyone since Capablanca was the widely favorite to win (Alekhine never once defeated Capablanca prior to the match).

Alekhine's reign was a controversial one, after his surprising victory he always denied a rematch to Capablanca, even when the Cuban had legal rights as the first challenger. Alekhine played two title matches against Efim Bogoljubov in 1929 and 1934, winning both times.

In 1935 Alekhine accepted a challenge from Max Euwe, who was considered among the top three credible challengers (the other two were Capablanca and Flohr), Euwe defeated the Russian in a major upset that was attributed to Alekhine's serious drinking problem.

Max Euwe, as gentleman as he was, was quick to offer Alekhine a rematch in 1937; this time the Russian regained his title. Capablanca kept pushing to get his rematch, it never happened, he died in 1942. Alekhine went on to keep the title until his death four years later.

In the game below, White trades a Rook, Knight and Bishop for the Black Queen, just when Black thinks problems are over, out of the blue comes White's mighty c-pawn to finish all matters.