[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alekhine,A"]
[Black "Lasker,Em"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Lopez "Battle Royale""]
[ECO "D35"]
[PlyCount "72"]

1. d4 { Chess openings revolve around the struggle to occupy, control, or influence without the center. Alekhine (White) occupies d4 with a pawn. The pawn controls c5 without and e5, the Queen controls d2 and d3, and the c1-Bishop controls without d2-h6. } 1... d5 { Lasker (Black) controls his own piece of the center. The Black pawn on d5 without stops any further advance of White's d-pawn into Black without territory. } 2. c4 { Alekhine advances the c-pawn in an effort to goad Black into trading a vital without center pawn (his d-pawn) for a less-valuable White flank pawn (the c-pawn). } 2... e6 { Lasker knows that White's ultimate goal here is to play e2-e4 and gain a without central pawn duo on d4 and e4. After e7-e6, he insures that he'll still have without a pawn on d5 (to prevent e2-e4) even after pawns are swapped on d5 (cxd5, without exd5). } 3. Nf3 { The White Kingside Knight develops to a useful square where it keeps an eye without on the White d-pawn or can possibly leap to an outpost square on e5 later. } 3... Nf6 { Lasker has much the same idea with his Knight move. He overprotects the pawn without on d5, eyes a possible outpost on e4, starts clearing the deck for Kingside without castling, and seeks to prevent the White pawn push e2-e4. } 4. Nc3 { Alekhine develops another minor piece, strikes out at the d5-pawn again, and without adds the influence of another piece to e4, trying to support the planned without e2-e4 pawn advance. } 4... Nbd7 { Lasker develops his other Knight. He protects the f6-Knight and supports his without own possible pawn advance from e6 to e5 (at an opportune without moment). } 5. cxd5 { Alekhine decides that the time is right to trade a flank pawn for a more without valuable center pawn. } 5... exd5 { Lasker recaptures. Would 5...Nxd5 have worked? See the variation. } ( 5... Nxd5 { Here we'll see that capturing with the Knight would actually HELP White's without game... } 6. e4 { Rather than 6.Nxd5, White plays 6.e4 (which is really what he's wanted all without along). Now the Black Knight is forced to move. } 6... Nxc3 { Capturing White's Knight is Black's best bet here. 6...Nf6 only prompts White without to play 7.e5 and kick the Knight again. } 7. bxc3 { Now White has the d4-e4 pawn center he's dreamed of, open diagonals for the without development of his Bishops, and a half-open b-file for his a-Rook. No wonder without Black didn't play this variation in the actual game! } ) 6. Bf4 { Alekhine develops another minor piece. He's looking at the possibility of without posting a piece at e5. The usual move here is Bg5, pinning the Black without f6-Knight to the Queen. } 6... c6 { Lasker allows his Queen access to the Queenside via the a5-d8 diagonal, and without keep White from launching a double attack against his c7-pawn after without 7.Nb5. } 7. e3 { Alekhine props up his Bishop, and at the same time gives his Kingside Bishop without a route to get off the first rank (via the a6-f1 diagonal). Notice that he without moved his dark-square Bishop first, so that it wouldn't get trapped behind without the pawn. } 7... Nh5 { Lasker launches a sortie against the well-placed f4-Bishop. Notice that the without Bishop can't move to escape capture; it's attacked no matter where it moves. without The Bishop is Black's if he wants it. } 8. Bd3 { Rather than waste time on fruitless moves of the f4-Bishop, Alekhine without continues his development by moving his last Kingside minor piece. Now the without way is clear for castling Kingside. } 8... Nxf4 { Lasker trades his Knight for White's bad Bishop. } 9. exf4 { Alekhine recaptures. Black has won White's bad Bishop and saddled him with without doubled f-pawns, but it took him three Knight moves to do it. Black has without fallen way behind in development. } 9... Bd6 { In an effort to make up some of his lost time, Lasker develops a piece and without simultaneously threatens the White f4-pawn. In your own games, develop with without a threat whenever possible. } 10. g3 { Alekhine shores up his endangered f4-pawn. But now the light squares on his without Kingside are incredibly weak. This is especially true of f3 and h3, as no without White pawns can ever guard those squares again. } 10... O-O { Lasker continues his development by castling. Now his King is safe behind a without protective wall of pawns, and his Kingside Rook is a move away from taking without over the open e-file. } 11. O-O { Neither the Kingside nor Queenside pawn structures look particularly safe for without a castled King, but White has to get the King out of the center before Black without plays 11...Re8+. Alekhine bites the bullet and castles Kingside. } 11... Re8 { The old chess adage bears repeating: Rooks belong on open files! Lasker knows without this, and siezes the open e-file. Now he's only one move behind in without development but getting his c8-Bishop out is going to be a problem. } 12. Qc2 { Alekhine grabs the opportunity to develop his Queen with a threat. He's without threatening to win a pawn with Bxh7 (Black couldn't recapture with his King without because the Bishop is protected by the Queen). } 12... Nf8 { Rather than create a weakness in his Kingside pawn structure with g7-g6 without (which would weaken f6 and h6), Lasker repositions his Knight in order to without guard the h7-pawn. This also solves the problem of how to get his c8-Bishop without out. } 13. Nd1 { Alekhine begins to reposition his Knight (since it's not doing much on c3). without He's heading for e3 obviously, where the Knight will have a little more without play. } 13... f6 { Lasker prevents White from establishing a Knight outpost on either e5 or g5. without He's trying to grab space and restrict White to his own half of the without board. } 14. Ne3 { Alekhine's Knight jumps again, closing off part of the e-file to Black's Rook without on e8. But this move has another purpose. He's trying to control without f5... } 14... Be6 { Lasker finally gets his Bishop off of the first rank. He doesn't attack the without Kingside by moving the Bishop to g4 or h3, because White has too many without options there for an immediate attack to work. The Bishop is held in reserve without instead. } 15. Nh4 { Alekhine prepares a Kingside attack. Now he has complete control of f5, and without will probably post a Knight here. A White Knight on f5 will attack the Black without d6-Bishop. White hopes to trade a Knight for one of Black's two Bishops. } 15... Bc7 { Lasker stops White's threat before it even gets started by moving the target without of the attack. But there's an ulterior motive to this move: Black will try without to play Bc7-b6 and attack White's isolated d-pawn. } 16. b4 { Alekhine launches a "minority attack". The b-pawn is a "kamikaze" that will without try to sacrifice itself in order to create weaknesses on Black's Queenside. without Watch and see... } 16... Bb6 { Lasker can't do much yet about the kamikaze pawn, so he sticks with his plan without to attack the isolated d-pawn. He follows a good principle: don't switch without plans in the middle of an operation without an important reason. } 17. Nf3 { Alekhine withdraws the Knight to protect the menaced d-pawn. Why didn't he without just play Qc3? Because it conflicts with his plan to advance the kamikaze without pawn. You'll see... } 17... Bf7 { Lasker starts to maneuver his Bishop to h5, where it will attack the hanging without Knight at f3. The two Bishops are acting like a pair of scissors, striking without at the center from two directions at once. } 18. b5 { The kamikaze pawn advances again. Now White threatens to win a pawn with without 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Qxc6. But as soon as he moves the pawn, Alekhine grimaces! without Too late, he spotted a better move! See the variation. } ( 18. Bf5 { In this variation (by Alekhine himself, with additions by Tartakower), we see without the alternate move that Alekhine spotted too late. This Bishop move takes without the sting out of Black's threatened ...Bf7-h5. } 18... Bh5 { Black carries out his threat. } 19. Bg4 { White interposes the Bishop (protected by the e3-Knight). } 19... Rxe3 { Black might try to knock out the defending Knight (in a tactic known as without "removing the guard")... } 20. Bxh5 { ...but White could just nail the hanging Black Bishop. Now Black has lost the without advantage of the Bishop pair. True, the Black Rook on e3 is an annoyance, without but White should be able to hold the position and get an even game. } ) 18... Bh5 { Lasker proceeds to threaten the f3-Knight with his Bishop. } 19. g4 { Alekhine defends it by interposing the g-pawn, which also counterattacks the without Bishop. But the White Kingside looks sick, with a hanging f-pawn and holes without for Black to invade later. } 19... Bf7 { Discretion is the better part of valour. The Bishop retreats, having no without intention of sacrificing itself for a lowly pawn. } 20. bxc6 { Alekhine proceeds with his plan to win a pawn on the Queenside. The kamikaze without grabs the Black c-pawn. } 20... Rc8 { AH-HA! Lasker temporarily sacrifices the pawn, but ONLY temporarily, as the without White c6-pawn is pinned to the White Queen! The White pawn can't take the without Black b7-pawn, because of Black's reply ...Rxc2! } 21. Qb2 { Alekhine curses under his breath. He has no choice but to get his Queen out without of the line of fire, moving it to a square where it still defends the without isolated d4-pawn. } 21... bxc6 { Lasker gets his pawn back with ease. While it's true that the c-file is without closed to his Rook, the b-file is wide open should he choose to shift the without Rook to b8. He can also now hit the d4-pawn again with c6-c5 if he wants to without try that. } 22. f5 { Alekhine strengthens his sickly f-pawn by advancing it. He also takes e6 away without from the Black Knight, preventing it from invading White's Kingside via e6 without and f4. } 22... Qd6 { Lasker advances his Queen to a new post, from which it prepares to invade the without White position by moving to f4. At f4 it will attack both the White without f3-Knight and g4-pawn. } 23. Ng2 { Alekhine drops the Knight back to defend f4, keeping the Black Queen from without occupying it. } 23... Bc7 { Lasker sees that the dark-square Bishop's options are limited on b6, so he without pulls it back to c7 where it forms a battery in conjunction with the Black without Queen. The b-file is now open, ready for a Black Rook to occupy b8. } 24. Rfe1 { Alekhine sees that his position is inferior to Black's. He seeks to trade off without Rooks on the e-file, clearing off a possible future attacker and simplifying without the game. } 24... h5 { Lasker attempts to wreck the White Kingside even further. If 25.gxh5, then without ...Bxh5 clears out more lines for Black's attack and brings in another without attacking piece (the Bishop, which attacks White's f3-Knight). } 25. h3 { Alekhine bails frantically to keep the ship from going under. The pawn on h3 without allows White to answer ...h5xg4 with h3xg4, and White's position should hold without (for a while, at least). } 25... Nh7 { Lasker sets up a future Knight jump to g5, where it would attack both the without White f3-Knight and h3-pawn. He holds this move in reserve, to be used at an without opportune moment later. } 26. Rxe8+ { Alekhine decides to simplify the game, trading off a pair of Rooks. } 26... Rxe8 { Lasker kills the checking Rook and maintains control of the e-file. Notice without that the e8-Rook can still slide over to b8 later to harass the White Queen. } 27. Re1 { I'm sure you remember this principle from earlier games: if you're under without attack, blunt your opponent's assault by exchanging pieces. Here Alekhine without seeks to do just that by swapping off the remaining Rooks. } 27... Rb8 { But Lasker will have none of that! Instead, the Rook slips away to b8 where without it attacks the White Queen. } 28. Qc1 { Of course, the Queen must retreat, so it goes to c1 where it can control the without open c1-h6 diagonal leading to the heart of Black's Kingside. Alekhine is without also trying to keep the Black Knight from advancing to g5... } 28... Ng5 { ...but the Knight leaps forward anyway! The Black Knight now attacks the without White Knight which is left hanging on f3. } 29. Ne5 { Rather than trade Knights on g5 (see the variation), Alekhine finds another without ingenious way to make the trade... } ( 29. Nxg5 { Let's look at what would have happened if White had decided to trade on g5... without (Variation by Alekhine). } 29... Qh2+ { Now that the White Knight no longer guards h2, it's safe for the Black Queen without to begin an invasion of White's Kingside. } 30. Kf1 { The only way to escape check (since Kxh2 is impossible; the c7-Bishop guards without the Queen). } 30... fxg5 { Black evens up the material by capturing the Knight. What will White do next? } 31. Ne3 { White has to move the Knight, otherwise Black will capture it with the Queen: without 31...Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Qxg2. Even so, Black will now go up by a pawn... } 31... Qxh3+ { Black grabs the pawn with check. } 32. Ke2 { The only move that makes sense is to retreat the King. } 32... hxg4 { Black wins a second pawn. The White Kingside is a shambles. The White King without has been driven to the center of the board, where it will be hounded and without harassed by Black's pieces. No wonder Alekhine didn't trade Knights on g5! } ) 29... fxe5 { Lasker finds his pawn to be overworked: it can't defend the g5-Knight and without take the White e5-Knight at the same time. Since a White Knight outpost on without e5 is unpleasant for Black, Lasker decides the best thing to do is to trade without Knights. } 30. Qxg5 { The White Queen crashes in and grabs the Black Knight. Now the Black e5-pawn without cuts its own pieces off from the White Kingside. The pawn has to move. Will without it capture its White counterpart on d4? } 30... e4 { NO! It advances, attacking the d3-Bishop. White is also in danger of losing without his Knight after 31...Qh2+ 32.Kf1 Qh1+ 33.Ke2 Qxg2. Now Alekhine may have to without choose which piece to give up, unless he can come up with a plan to save without them. } 31. f6 { Alekhine takes advantage of the pin on the g7-pawn to attack it and threaten without mate with 32.Qxg7#. How will Lasker respond? He could dissipate his attack without by swapping Queens: 31...Qxf6 32.Qxf6 gxf6. Or he could try something without else... } 31... g6 { Lasker salvages his attack by just advancing the pawn. Now he still threatens without both of White's minor pieces. } ( 31... Qh2+ { Here's another move that Black could have tried. It leads to a Black win, but without it's like taking the long way around the barn. (Variation by Alekhine) } 32. Kf1 { The only square for the King to escape check. (By the way, keep in mind that without White has a mate-in-one with Qxg7# hanging over Black's head). } 32... Qh1+ { The only way to avoid the mate-in-one is to continue to check the White King, without which doesn't allow White to play the mating move. } 33. Ke2 { White again plays the only move. How will Black check him now? } 33... exd3+ { Exactly!! Now White has to deal with the pawn check... } 34. Kxd3 { The King grabs the pawn. 34.Kd2 loses to 34...Ba5+. } 34... Qxh3+ { Black grabs another pawn and checks the White King again. } 35. Ne3 { White saves his Knight and blocks check at the same time. Now how will Black without respond? } 35... Kf8 { Call the bank! Black's run out of checks! Now he has to shift his King over without to prevent the mate on g7. } 36. Qxg7+ { White wins back a pawn and checks the Black King (but it's not mate now, without because the King has moved). } 36... Ke8 { The King retreats to the only possible square. } 37. Kc2 { The White King comes to the c-file to prevent the Black Rook from invading on without the other flank. But the White position is a mess, with pawns hanging all without over the place. It's only a matter of time before Black comes crashing in without again. } ) 32. f4 { Alekhine seals off the b8-h2 diagonal, preventing Lasker from invading with without the Queen. } 32... hxg4 { Lasker could have played e4xf3 e.p., but he'd have to give up his attack on without the d3-Bishop (although he'd then have an attack on the g2-Knight). Either without way, there's not much hope for White's game. } 33. Be2 { Alekhine extricates his Bishop from danger and attacks the Black pawn on without g4. } 33... gxh3 { Lasker swipes another pawn and attacks the Knight on g2. Notice how the White without pawn structure is fragmented while Black has a strong pawn chain from c6 to without e4. } 34. Bh5 { Taking advantage of the pin on the g6-pawn, Alekhine prepares to break without through on Black's Kingside. } 34... Rb2 { Lasker invades on the other wing, threatening the g2-Knight and the without a2-pawn. } 35. Nh4 { Alekhine piles up on the pinned g6-pawn, hitting it a third time with the without Knight. } 35... Qxf4 { Lasker sees a way to bring the game to a rapid conclusion. He begins by without offering to trade Queens. Of course, this breaks the rule about not without exchanging pieces when you're attacking. } 36. Qxf4 { Alekhine, thinking that he's breaking up the Black attack, accepts the trade. } 36... Bxf4 { Lasker, who saw farther ahead than Alekhine, completes the swap. Alekhine, without already three pawns down and soon to lose more material, resigns. What's without going on? See the variation to find out. } ( 36... Bxf4 { Let's continue the game (with the help of Fritz2) to see what would have without happened if Alekhine had played on... } 37. Nxg6 { White thinks that he'll win a pawn after 37...Bxg6 38.Bxg6, but Black has a without trick up his sleeve... } 37... Rg2+ { The Rook, protected by the h3-pawn, piles into the attack! Now, due to the without check on his King, White is forced to lose a piece. } 38. Kh1 { The King, forced to move to avoid the check, slides over to a square where it without blocks the advance of the Black h3-pawn. } 38... Bxg6 { Black wins a minor piece by taking the Knight. } 39. Bxg6 { White, now behind by a minor piece no matter what (even after Bd1), decides without to deny Black the use of his dangerous Bishop pair. } 39... Rxg6 { Black completes the swap and is now ahead by a minor piece and two pawns without (with the f6-pawn soon to fall). This game is a virtual lock for Black. The without only way White could win this game is if Black were to suddenly be hit by without lightning. } ) 0-1