AVRO 1938, Round 4: Fine keeps the lead

by Klaus Besenthal
6/6/2020 – After another win in the fourth round, this time against former world champion Max Euwe, 24-year-old Reuben Fine from New York (pictured) is still leading the standings table of the AVRO tournament in the Netherlands. Fine has collected 3½ points, and thus has a full-point advantage over World Champion Alexander Alekhine and Paul Keres.
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AVRO 1938 - Round 4

The fourth round was played in Groningen. The city is located in the north-east of the Netherlands, not far from the mouth of the Ems into the North Sea, so the players actually travelled by plane from Rotterdam, where the third round was played.

Alexander Alekhine had to agree to a draw early in his black game against Salo Flohr: after 23 moves, so much material had already been exchanged that the world champion had no chance of winning the game.

 
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1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 Bb7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 d5 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.a3 Be7 10.b4 c5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.bxc5 Nxc5 14.Nb3 Nfe4 15.Be3 Rc8 16.Nxc5 Bxc5 17.Bxc5 Rxc5 18.Qb2 Ba6 19.Rfc1 Qc7 20.Rxc5 Qxc5 21.Nd4 Rc8 22.Bh3 Qc3 23.Qxc3 Rxc3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Flohr,S-Alekhine,A-½–½1938AVRO4

Salo Flohr

Salo Flohr effortlessly achieved a draw against World Champion Alekhine 

Reuben Fine had more success with the black pieces than the World Champion. Against Max Euwe, the young American quickly obtained a winning position after the latter had granted him control of the centre:

 
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1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Qb3 c6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Qf4 10.Bd3 e5 11.0-0 Be7 12.Rfe1 exd4 13.Nxd4 0-0 14.Bc2 Nf6 15.Rad1 g6 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Re4 Qc7 18.Qe3 Kg7 19.h4 h5
In this still somewhat balanced position, Euwe loses the thread. 20.Rf4?! Better was 20.c5! in order to consolidate the space advantage. Black would have more trouble making use of his bishop pair in this case. 20...Re8 21.Qxe8 Qxf4 22.Nf3 22.Ne6+ Bxe6 23.Qxa8 Bg4 would have been very bad for white. After 22.g3! Qg4 23.Qe4 Qxe4 24.Bxe4 Bg4 25.f3 Rd8 Black would have won a pawn lihe he did in the game, but the circumstances would not have been quite so precarious from White's point of view. 22...Rb8! Now Bg4 can no longer be prevented. This means that Black will take control of the centre: his perfectly coordinated pieces are all highly effective. 23.Qe4 Qxe4 24.Bxe4 Bg4 25.Rd2 Re8 26.Bd3 Rd8 27.b3 Bxf3 28.gxf3 Bxh4 29.Kg2 Bg5 30.Rd1 Bf4 31.Kf1 It was not better to play 31.Bc2 Rxd1 32.Bxd1 Bd6 If White does nothing, the black king will go to f4, controlling the kingside. 31...h4 32.Kg2 f5 33.Kh3 Kf6 34.Kg2 Rd4 35.Kh3 g5 36.Bc2 Rxd1 37.Bxd1 Bd6 38.Bc2 Ke5 39.Kg2 Bc5 40.Bd3 a5 41.Bc2 f4 42.Bg6 Kd4 43.Bf5 Kc3 44.Bc8 Kb2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Euwe,M-Fine,R-0–11938AVRO4

Max Euwe

Max Euwe was World Champion for a short time (1935-37), but did not put up much resistance in his game against Fine 

There was also a quick draw between José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik. With his pair of bishops against Capablanca's knight, Botvinnik might have been able to play on a bit longer, but that would have probably not been seriously promising.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.Qb3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nbd7 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Rd1 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Qa5 13.0-0 Nb6 14.Bd5 Rb8 15.a3 e6 16.Bf3 a6 17.Nde2 Nd7 18.Ne4 Ne5 19.Rc1 Bd7 20.Nd4 Ba4 21.Qc3 Qxc3 22.Nxc3 Nxf3+ 23.gxf3 Bd7 24.Rfd1 Rfd8 25.f4 Be8 26.Ne4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Capablanca,J-Botvinnik,M-½–½1938AVRO4

Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Botvinnik — the 27-year-old Soviet player might reach the very top in the future  

Paul Keres also achieved a victory, over Samuel Reshevsky. Reshevsky had come out of the opening phase a piece down after he had not handled the starting battle correctly, but at least he had some compensation in the form of two pawns and some initiative. But when the American failed to capture a third pawn, Keres finally got on the road to victory:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d4 Nxe4 8.Re1 f5 9.dxe5 d5 10.Nd4
From Black's point of view, a lot depends on his ability to maintain his control of the light squares in the centre. His chances to do so look good, especially since White has given up his bishop, which is important for the attack. 10...c5 Also would have been good 10...Bc5! , after which the c6-pawn would obviously have been taboo. 11.Ne2 c6 12.Nf4 g6?! This pawn push, which prevents Dh5+ but does nothing for development, is certainly not optimal. Better was 12...Qc7 13.c4! The logical attack on the black centre. d4 14.Qa4 Bb7 No chess player likes to make this move. A few months earlier, Tolusch played here against Ragozin 14...Qd7 and the game continued 15.f3 Ng5 16.e6 Qb7 17.h4 should actually lose (in the end, he managed a draw). 15.f3 Ng5 16.h4 Most uncomfortable for Black would have been 16.Nd2 followed by Nb3. 16...Nf7 17.e6
Black can no longer save the knight. There would follow e6-e7 and, in case of Bxe7, Nd5 and possibly Bg5 are strong. 17...Qxh4 18.exf7+ Kxf7 19.Nd3 Bd6 20.f4 Rae8
Obviously Black has gained some initiative for the piece: White's queenside is not yet developed. 21.Qd1 21.Rxe8 Rxe8 22.Nd2 21...g5 22.Nd2 g4 23.Nf1 Re4 24.Nf2 Rxe1 25.Qxe1 Re8 26.Qd1
26...Qh6 Here 26...h5! was best to fight for the draw. 27.Nd3 Bc8 28.Bd2 Qh4 29.Qc2 Re2 30.Re1 Rxe1 31.Bxe1 Qe7 32.Qd2 h5! White cannot find good squares for his knights. 33.Ne5+ Kg7 After 33...Bxe5! 34.fxe5 Qxe5 it would not have been easy for White to get an advantage. 34.Qe2 Strong was 34.Nxc6 possibly followed by b2-b4, but Keres probably did not want to open the long diagonal for the c8-bishop. 34...h4 35.Nd2 Bd7 36.Nb3 White has successfully solved the problem with the knights. Be8 37.Nc1 Bf7 38.b3 Bh5 39.Ncd3 Kh6 40.g3 h3 41.Qb2 The game is blocked on the kingside - white now moves over to the queenside. Be8 42.Qa3 Qa7 43.Qa5 Be7 44.Bd2 Black no longer has a reasonable move, while White could still push b3-b4. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keres,P-Reshevsky,S-1–01938AVRO4

Paul Keres

Another promising player — 22-year-old Paul Keres

Results of Round 4

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

Standings after Round 4

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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