art of planning (Alekhine def.) part 13/25

Please note that all the info. in this post are taken from outside sources, they will be mentionned in the last section (special thanks and others sources section)..AND DON'T FORGET TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR COMMENTS UNDER EACH DIAGRAMS!!!

                                                         Alekhine defence

 This opening is named after the chess player Alexander Alekhine, who introduced it in the Budapest Tournament in 1921.  This opening oftem push to an immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, ... which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive fighting players in general.

 Zoom out section:













In this post, we will studying 6 differents variations of this defence.  They will be: the Modern variation, the scandinavian variation, the exchange variation, the 4 pawns attack variation, the Lasker variation and finally, the Mikenas variation.



Zoom in section:

1- Lasker variation section:



     The Alekhine Defense has always been the opening that has puzzled me the most.  Since I was a child, I was taught that the goals of the opening were to occupy and control the center while bringing my pieces out as quickly as possible, and while facing the Alekhine Defense I could do all of these with the gain of time chasing my opponent's Knight all around the board! How can it be good for Black?  This proves to be an example of the complexity of chess, and just how hard it is to refute many seemingly dubious ideas in practice ("The Poisoned Pawn Variation" in the Najdorf Sicilian is another good example). However, let's try to accomplish this impossible mission and destroy the Alekhine! In order to do this we need to take maximum advantage of the above mentioned factors, namely:

1) We need to develop as many pieces as possible

2) We need to grab as much space with our pawns as possible

3) We need to use these advantages to launch an attack as quickly as possible, before Black has a chance to catch up in development.

4) We should be ready to sacrifice some material to maximize our advantage

Now let's see how we can implement these principles in practice.  The move sequence that meets all the above mentioned criteria is as follows:

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. c5 Nd5 5. Bc4 and after the natural move 5...e6, we play 6.Nc3! offering a pawn sacrifice. Black must be very careful in order not to lose right away as the following game demonstrates:



   

     While 8...Bf8 was proven a mistake and 8...g6 creates weaknesses around the King (White can play 9. Bh6 and then h4-h5 in that instance), what happens on 8...Kf8 defending the g7 pawn and keeping the solid position?  Unfortunately for Black, White still keeps a very long lasting initiative thanks to the vulnerable Kf8.

Look what happened in the following game:

     Another great expert of the Alekhine Defense, GM Lev Alburt tried to improve Black's play by playing 5...c6 instead of 5...e6, but again it was a big upset for Black (notice the rating difference between the players!)







2- Mikenas variation section:



     in the next game a great expert of the Alekhine Defense, Soviet GM Vladas Mikenas, refused to accept the sacrifice. But he was playing one of the best tacticians of all time - IM Rashid Nezhmetdinov, so it was another catastrophe for Black:

3- Modern variation section:

4- Scandinavian variation section:

5- Exchange variation section:

 6- the 4 pawns attack section:

Youtube "excellent link" section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5w9r6MFIZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh3SqKSI86c

To be avoided section:

Personnal's game section:

More about planning section:

White: - White's often imposing a mass of pawns in the centre often includes pawns on c4, d4, e5, and f4.

           - White must take advantage of the lose of tempi of his enemy (fast development & open play after it completed..)

           - ....Especificaly in the 4 pawns attack...., White must either secure his advantage in space or make use of it before Black succeeds in making a successful strike at it.. 

Black: - Black allows his King's Knight to be driven about the board in the early stages of the game, in the expectation of provoking a weakness in White's centre pawns

          - ....More specificly in the 4 pawns attack,.... Black allows White to make several tempo-gaining attacks on the Knight and to erect an apparently imposing pawn centre in the belief that it can later be destroyed.  Also, Black must also play vigorously because passive play will be crushed by the White centre.

Quebecor's games section:

Nathalia Pogonina's games section:



Special thanks section:

I just wanna said a BIG SPECIAL THANKS at Borgqueen, thanks my friend for give me some good ideas for the structure of this post..

AND ALSO, a BIG THANKS at:  

thamizhan, Gserper, Arunabi, FM_Eric_Schiller, mircea_1956, ChessRenewal, Pogape and Oldbill !! Thank you all for make this topic possible!!! IMP!!!!! NOTE...The thamizhan, Gserper, Arunabi, FM_Eric_Schiller content's was a GREAT HELP!!! THANKS..

Others references:

-ChessMaster 10

-Fritz 10

-Chess books       - My Greats predecessors by Kasparov

                         - My System by Nimzowitsch

                         - Website of FQE

- youtube                                                          

 www.pogonina.com

-wikipedia

That's ALL for the Alekhine defence!.. I hope you had appreciated ;)

 C_H_E_S_STAR