AVRO 1938, Round 11: Botvinnik's masterpiece

AVRO 1938 - Round 11

Botvinnik's double piece sacrifice just before the final attack was of rare beauty. Not only did White give up material but he also managed to escape the endless checks of the black queen before securing the win. It is up for discussion what was more difficult to calculate — the sacrifices or the king's escape.

With this win, Botvinnik reached second place in the standings table, which he is currently sharing with Reuben Fine.

Master Class Vol.4: José Raúl Capablanca

He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.

Ex-world champion Capablanca is having a hard time at the AVRO tournament

Reuben Fine, who started the tournament so confidently, is not doing well at all: the American suffered his third defeat of the event, against former world champion Max Euwe. In an extremely sharp opening variation, Fine found himself in trouble after allowing his opponent's bishop onto the strong f5-square:

Reuben Fine has fallen behind a bit, but can still hope for tournament victory

In his game against Samuel Reshevsky, Paul Keres signed a draw to secure the sole lead in the standings. The young Estonian scored the half point after surviving a worse position:

Three rounds before the end of the tournament, Paul Keres is in a good position to win

And what about the reigning world champion? Alexander Alekhine saw his opponent Salo Flohr missing a strong move, and then made the conversion to a win look easy:

Master Class Vol.3: Alexander Alekhine

On this DVD GMs Rogozenco, Marin, Müller, and IM Reeh present outstanding games, stunning combinations and exemplary endgames by Alekhine. And they invite you to improve your knowledge with the help of video lectures, annotated games and interactive tests

Alexander Alekhine is not too far behind, but it will be difficult to finish ahead of the three strong players that are above him in the standings table with only three rounds to play

Results of round 11

S. Reshevsky ½-½ P. Keres
R. Fine 0-1 M. Euwe
M. Botvinnik 1-0 J.R. Capablanca
A. Alekhine 1-0 S. Flohr

Standings after round 11

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	TB	Perf.
1		Keres,P	2718		7.0	11		½ ½	1	½	1 ½	1	½ ½	½ ½	36.75	2841
2		Botvinnik,M	2763		6.5	11	½ ½		0 ½	1	1 ½	½ 1	½	½	35.75	2798
3		Fine,R	2737		6.5	11	0	1 ½		1	1 0	½ ½	1 0	1	33.75	2802
4		Alekhine,A	2754		6.0	11	½	0	0		½ ½	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	27.75	2769
5		Reshevsky,S	2745		5.5	11	0 ½	0 ½	0 1	½ ½		½	1	1	29.25	2738
6		Capablanca,J	2732		5.0	11	0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 0	½		1	½ 1	24.50	2704
7		Euwe,M	2716		4.5	11	½ ½	½	0 1	0 ½	0	0		1 ½	24.25	2672
8		Flohr,S	2727		3.0	11	½ ½	½	0	½ 0	0	½ 0	0 ½		18.00	2560
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

Games

Links

• The eight best players in the world meet at the AVRO Tournament
• Round 1: Fine beats Botvinnik
• Round 2: Reuben Fine starts with 2.0/2
• Round 3: Alekhine and Botvinnik impress
• Round 4: Fine keeps the lead
• Round 5: Fine profits from his rivals' draw
• Round 6: The World Champions lose
• Round 7: Keres wins top encounter against Fine
• Round 8: The second half of the tournament starts
• Round 9: Alekhine wins against Capablanca
• Round 10: Four draws and some drama
• José Raúl Capablanca: "Everyone should know how to play chess"