AVRO, Round 6: The World Champions lose

by Johannes Fischer
6/8/2020 – Three World Champions are competing in the 1938 AVRO tournament: José Raúl Capablanca, Max Euwe and Alexander Alekhine, the reigning World Champion. But in round 6 all three lost. Capablanca was outplayed by Paul Keres (pictured), Alekhine found no remedy against Reuben Fine's stubborn defense and lost in the endgame while Euwe was too optimistic against Samuel Reshevsky. Salo Flohr and Mikhail Botvinnik drew. With 5,5 out of 6, Fine is still the sole leader. | Photo: Paul Keres | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)
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Young against Old

Round six of the AVRO Tournament was played in Haarlem, a city that is not far from Amsterdam. For the chess fans in Holland it may be an experience to see the best players in the world live, but for the players the constant travelling is exhausting. And the young players obviously cope better with this strain.

Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde (1638-1698): De Grote Markt in Haarlem with the St. Bavo church

As chance would have it, in round 6 the four oldest participants in the field — Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe and Flohr — met the four youngest participants in the AVRO tournament: Keres, Fine, Reshevsky and Botvinnik.

This unofficial match ended with 3½-½ for the younger players: only Flohr, the youngest of the older participants, got a draw against Botvinnik, but the three World Champions in team "Old" all lost.

Capablanca, World champion from 1921 to 1927 and at 50 years of age the oldest player in the field, played with Black against the 22-year-old Paul Keres and fell victim to a vigorous attack.

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Qe7+ 7.Be2 cxd4 8.0-0 Qc7 9.Nb3 Bd6 10.Nbxd4 a6 11.b3 Nge7 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Nxc6 "Apparently illogical because Black now gets rid of his isolated pawn, but in fact this move is rather unpleasant for Black. Black now is settled with new weaknesses on a6 and c6 and defending them poses him as many problems as defending the isolated pawn on d5," Keres said after the game. bxc6 14.c4 Be6 15.Qc2 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17.Qxc4 Rfb8 18.h3 Rb5 19.Rac1 Rc8 20.Rfd1 Ng6 21.Nd4 White is clearly better and tactical opportunities arise. After the game Keres said: "Maybe Capablanca only now realised that the intended 21...Rd5 is not possible. White would continue with 22.Nxc6! Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 Qxc6 24.Rxd6! and would be a solid pawn up while keeping the better position." Rb6 22.Ne6! Qb8 22...fxe6 23.Qxe6+ Kh8 24.Qxd6 23.Ng5 Rb7 24.Qg4 After playing on the queenside and a little tactical intermezzo in the center Keres now attacks on the kingside. Bf4 25.Rc4 Rb5 26.Nxf7 As Keres later admitted he did not calculate the consequences of 26.Rxf4 carefully enough. After Rxg5 26...Nxf4 27.Nxf7 26...h5 27.Qd7 27.Qxg5 Qxf4 28.Rd8+ Rxd8 29.Qxd8+ Nf8 30.Ba3 c5 he overlooked that White is clearly better after 31.Qc8 However, the text-move 26.Nxf7 also leads to a clear advantage for White. 26...Re8 27.g3 Qc8 28.Rxf4 According to Keres 28.Rd7! was even better. But the text is also clearly winning for White. Qxg4 29.Rxg4 Kxf7 30.Rd7+ Re7 31.Rxe7+ Kxe7 32.Bxg7 Ra5 33.a4 Rc5 34.Rb4 Ke6 35.Kg2 h5 36.Rc4 Rxc4 37.bxc4 Kd6 38.f4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keres,P-Capablanca,J-1–01938C09AVRO6

Alekhine, World Champion from 1927 to 1935 and again from 1937, was determined to win with White against Reuben Fine and tried a pawn sacrifice in the Open Spanish to put his opponent under pressure. But Fine defended carefully and finally reached an equal ending that he played much better than the World Champion which gave him his fifth win in the tournament.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7 10.Nd4 Nxe5 11.f3 Nf6 12.Qe2 Nc4 13.Bc2 Qd7 14.b3 Nb6 15.Re1 0-0 16.Bg5 Rfe8 17.Nd2 Nh5 18.Bxe7 Rxe7 19.Qe5 g6 20.g4 Ng7 21.b4 Rae8 22.Qf4 Na4 23.Re3 Qd6 24.Qxd6 cxd6 25.Rae1 Rc7 26.Nb1 Bd7 27.Rxe8+ Bxe8 28.Bb3 Nb6 29.Kf2 Kf8 30.Rd1 Ne6 31.Ne2 Bc6 32.Na3 Ke7 33.Nc2 Nc4 34.Ne3 h6 35.h4 Nb6 36.Bxd5 Bxd5 37.Nxd5+ Nxd5 38.Rxd5 Rc4 39.Ke3 Kd7 40.f4 Kc6 41.Rd1 Kd7 42.Rf1 Ke7 43.Kd3 g5 44.hxg5 hxg5 45.f5 Nf8 46.f6+ Kd7 47.a4 Ng6 48.axb5 Ne5+ 49.Kd2 axb5 50.Nd4 Nxg4 51.Nxb5 Ne5 52.Nd4 g4 53.Kc2 Rc8 54.Nf5 Rg8 55.Ng3 Rh8 56.Rf2 Nf3 57.Re2 Rh3 58.Nf5 Ne5 59.b5 Rf3 60.Nd4 Rxf6 61.b6 Kc8 62.Nb5 g3 63.Kb3 Rg6 64.Rg2 f5 65.Ra2 Kb7 66.Rd2 f4 67.Nxd6+ Rxd6 68.Rxd6 g2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Alekhine,A-Fine,R-0–11938C83AVRO6

With this win Fine defended his lead and now has 5½ points from first six games – an impressive performance, especially if you keep in mind that the field of the AVRO Tournament consists of the world's eight best players.

Reuben Fine

The game between Max Euwe, World Champion from 1935 to 1937, and Samuel Reshevsky was similar to the game between Alekhine and Fine. Euwe sacrificed in the opening, but Reshevsky defended precisely and finally managed to win in the endgame.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.f4 Nc6 9.d5 Nb8 10.Nf3 c6 11.Qb3 cxd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Nd7 14.Be2 Qa5+ 15.Bd2 Qb6 16.Bc3 Bxc3+ 17.bxc3 Qe3 18.c4 Qxf4 19.0-0 Qc7 20.Kh1 Nf6 21.Qe3 Bg4 22.Qh6 Bxf3 23.Rxf3 b5 24.cxb5 Qe5 25.Re1 Nxd5 26.Rh3 Qg7 27.Qd2 e6 28.Rd3 Rab8 29.a4 Nb6 30.Qb4 Rbc8 31.a5 Nd5 32.Qb3 Rc5 33.Bf3 Rb8 34.Bxd5 Rcxb5 35.Qa2 exd5 36.Rxd5 Qc3 37.Rf1 Rb2 38.Qa4 Rb1 39.Rdd1 Rxd1 40.Rxd1 a6 41.h3 Rb5 42.Ra1 Kg7 43.Qa2 Qb2 44.Qa4 Rg5 45.Ra2 Qc3 46.Ra1 h5 47.Qa2 Rf5 48.Kh2 g5 49.Qa4 Rf4 50.Qa2 g4 51.hxg4 Qe5 52.g3 Re4 53.Qb1 Re2+ 54.Kh3 hxg4+ 55.Kh4 Rh2+ 56.Kxg4 Qe2+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Euwe,M-Reshevsky,S-0–11938D70AVRO6

Salo Flohr and Mikhail Botvinnik played the only draw of the round. However, Flohr missed  a couple of good chances to get his first victory in the tournament.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Na6 9.Bxa6 Qxg2 10.Qf3 Qxf3 11.Nxf3 bxa6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Ne5 f6 14.Nd3 Rfe8 15.Nc5 Bf3 16.Nb3 Kf7 17.Rfc1 Rac8 18.Kf1 e5 19.Nd2 Bd5?! Now White gets a strong passed pawn on the d-file. Preferable was 19...Bb7 with a roughly equal position. 20.e4 Be6 21.d5 Bh3+ 22.Ke2 Bh6 23.Rc3 Bg4+ 24.f3 Bd7 Nach 24...Bxd2 25.Kxd2 Bxf3 26.Ke3 Bg4 27.Rac1 White has more than enough compensation for the pawn. 25.a4 Bf8 26.Rc4 g5 27.Rac1 g4 28.fxg4 Bxg4+ 29.Kd3 Bd7 30.b3 Bh6 31.Bd6 f5 32.Rc7 Kf6 33.R1c5 Another possibilty was 33.Ba3 e.g. Rxc7 34.Rxc7 Bc8 35.Rc6+ Kg5 36.Bc5 with a clear advantage for White. 33...Rxc7 34.Rxc7 Bc8 35.Rxa7 Kg6 36.Be7 Bxd2 37.Kxd2 fxe4 38.d6? The wrong pawn. After 38.b4! Black is in big trouble, e.g. Rg8 39.Ke3 Kf5 40.Rc7 and White will advance his b-pawn and win. 38...Kf7 39.d7 Now the game peters out to a draw. Bxd7 40.Rxd7 Rxe7 41.Rxe7+ Kxe7 42.b4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Flohr,S-Botvinnik,M-½–½1938D84AVRO6

Results of round 6

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

Standings after round 6

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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