Saturday Solving:
More Soviet Tactics – Alekhine Strikes

Here is the solution to the previous Saturday Solving position. Black’s loose pieces quickly dropped off after Botvinnik’s accurate continuation:

While not too difficult once you see it, the finish was quite pretty, and ruthlessly logical in Botvinnik’s trademark style. The g4 bishop was the final defender of black’s kingside, and after picking it off the second player’s position should fall apart quite quickly. Indeed, this is what happened in the game with the help of some well calculated tactics.

The next position up for examination continues the Soviet Championship trend. This position is from the first ever Soviet Championship(!) in 1920. Interestingly, this game was played almost exactly one hundred years ago at the time of this writing.

Black is to move. This combination was found by the master of attack himself, the future World Champion Alexander Alekhine. In this position, the situation does not seem entirely clear. Black is a pawn ahead, and yet white’s pieces are very active. By combining several mating threats Alekhine found a clever way to end the game immediately.