[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alekhine,A"]
[Black "Bogoljubow,E"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Annotator "Lopez "Battle Royale""]
[ECO "A13"]
[PlyCount "121"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 { Alekhine plays the "hypermodern" Reti Opening (named for fellow competitor Richard Reti). He'll allow Black's pawns to occupy the center, but then exert his own influence over the center by attacking Black's pawns with his flank pawns, Bishops, and Knights. } 4... Nbd7 5. b3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. Bb2 c6 8. d3 Re8 9. Nbd2 a5 10. a3 Rb8 { A wasted tempo. Bogoljubow may be thinking of supporting an advance of the b-pawn, but there's really no point or advantage to such an advance. Perhaps he'll fianchetto his light-squared Bishop and wants it to be defended by a Rook on b8. } 11. Qc2 Qe7 12. d4 b6 13. Ne5 Bb7 14. e4 { Alekhine has completed his development, has placed his pieces on advantageous squares, has a space advantage, and now decides to break the center. } 14... Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ng4 16. Nf3 c5 17. exd5 exd5 { Bogo's pieces have piled up on the e-pawn, which must fall. } 18. h3 Ngxe5 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20. cxd5 Qd6 { The smoke has cleared and we see White with a passed (albeit blockaded) d-pawn. It's attacked twice but defended just once, } 21. Qc3 { Alekhine distracts Black from the capture of the d-pawn. The e5-Knight is pinned (due to the threat of Qxg7 mate). White's plan is to increase the strength of the pin by playing f2-f4. } 21... f6 { Now the Knight is free to move away without the threat of Qxg7#. } ( 21... Bxd5 { fails because of } 22. Rad1 Qg6 23. Bxd5 ) 22. Rad1 { Alekhine was concerned about the threat of ...Bxd5. But Black had no intention of playing it, due to the reply Rad1 pinning the Bishop to the Queen (and later winning material). } 22... Re7 23. f4 Nf7 24. Rfe1 Rbe8 25. Rxe7 Qxe7 26. Bc1 Nd6 { By making continuous threats, Bogo has succeeded in replacing the Queen on d6 with a Knight. Knights (due to their low material value) are much better suited for blockade duty than the mobile and powerful Queen. } 27. Bd2 Qf7 28. Qd3 Qg6 29. Qxg6 { Alekhine swaps Queens before his opponent has the chance to crank up the pressure on the Kingside with ...Nf5. } 29... hxg6 { The doubled pawns are no big deal (yet) as White has no way to exploit this weakness. } 30. Kf2 Ba6 31. Bf3 Kf7 32. b4 cxb4 33. axb4 a4 { Bogo wants no part of 33...axb4 34.Bxb4 (after which his Knight will be threatened and his b-pawn will be isolated and a target). } 34. Rc1 Bc4 { This move is not designed to pressure the d5-pawn. Instead, Bogo plans to play ...b5 and didn't want his Bishop to be blocked behind the pawn. } 35. b5 { Alekhine sacrifices a pawn to launch an attack. His idea is to vacate b4, which allows Bb4. The point of that move is to allow the Bishop to control the square in front of the d5-pawn, covering its advance and making blockading more difficult. Then, if the Knight retreats, the pawn can safely advance one square. } 35... Ne4+ { Forking the King and dark-squared Bishop, thereby taking the initiative by forcing White's next move. } 36. Bxe4 Rxe4 { The d-pawn's defender is gone and White can't save his passed pawn. Meanwhile, Black has his own passed pawn on a4. The tables have turned! } 37. Be3 Bxd5 38. Bxb6 { Alekhine has lost his passed pawn, so he just creates another... } 38... Rb4 { ...which is promptly attacked! Unfortunately, Bogo should have played ...a3 and backed the pawn up with the Rook when necessary. In the race to promote, his pawn had an extra tempo on White's as the White Bishop has to get out of the way of the b-pawn's advance. } 39. Rc7+ Kg8 40. Rc5 Bc4 41. Ba5 Rb2+ 42. Ke3 Bxb5 43. Bc3 Rb3 44. Kd2 Bd7 45. g4 Rb7 { The Rook maneuvers to get behind the a-pawn... } 46. Ra5 { ...but Alekhine stops it cold. } 46... Kf7 47. g5 Rb6 48. h4 Rd6+ 49. Ke3 Re6+ 50. Kd3 Rd6+ 51. Ke3 Bf5 { Bogo's idea is to attempt a Kingside breakthrough and brings in the Bishop to aid in the effort. } 52. Ra7+ Ke6 53. Bd4 Bc2 54. Rc7 Bb1 55. Rb7 Bf5 56. Rxg7 fxg5 57. hxg5 Kd5 58. Ra7 Re6+ 59. Be5 { This position is a great illustration of why endgames with Bishops of opposite colors are usually drawn, even with other pieces present on the board. All one has to do to neutralize the enemy Bishop is place one pieces and pawns on the opposite colored squares from the ones on which the Bishop operates. This means that the Bishop has no targets to attack; it becomes basically a useless appendage. This position is a perfect "snapshot" of this technique in action. } 59... Bc2 60. Rd7+ Kc5 61. Rc7+ { Forcing 61...Rc6 62.Rxc6+ Kxc6 with a dead draw. The White Bishop can't be dislodged from e5 and it controls the a-pawn's promotion square. Likewise, White can make no headway on the Kingside, as the Black Bishop controls f5 and prevents the pawn advance f4-f5. The players agree to a truce. } 1/2