Fischer-Spassky 1972 WCH Game 13 (B04)

Fischer once again pulls a new opening out of his seemingly inexhaustible bag of opening tricks for the WCH by playing the Alekhine's Defense, last seen in the 1935 WCH when Euwe played it vs. Alekhine!

"This defense is completely hypermodern in spirit and yet it was well known for more than 100 years before Alekhine launched it into 20th-century master competition with a win over A. Steiner at Budapest in 1921. It's history can be traced from Allgaier's Lehrbuch (1811) to Alexandre's Encyclopedie (1837) down to Schallop's condescending remarks in the 7th edition of Biguier's Handbuch. It was warmly embraced by Reti and the hypermoderns as a means of shocking the dogmatic Dr Tarrasch and the sneering classical school. When Dr Lasker defeated Maroczy with it in the great NY 1924 tnmt, it  had really arrived." MCO-X

"Black's brazen 1st move provokes White into gaining space by crossing over to Black's side of the board. The game immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive players. 

"The negative view of Alekhine's Defense must (also) be given full consideration. Black simply gives away space for no significant return. Sometimes White routinely obtains control of the board, leaving Black with little room to manuever. There is enough danger of this happening to make most GMs avoid Alekhine's as a frontline defense. using it instead as a surprise weapon to unsettle an opponent" MCO-XV