Starting with CBM 132, I have been writing a series of articles dedicated to the Alekhine Defence. Being used to defend this type of positions from my large experience as a Pirc player, my focus has generally been from Black's point of view, in the way that I tried to prove the positions being playable. However, I did not try to ignore the dangers and practical problems; on the contrary, I have unearthed some that were not known before, in order to provide the reader (and myself), with an accurate general view. Using the engines is tricky in this kind of positions. Engines sometimes are optimistic in bad positions, just because of the material balance and sometimes pessimistic, because of Black's lack of space. In the following game, White used a rare line and Black reacted in a way that had received an "?!" in my comments from the first article.
1.e4
Nf6
2.e5
Nd5
3.d4
d6
4.Nf3
g6
5.Bc4
Nb6
6.Bb3
Bg7
7.Ng5
e6
8.Qf3
0-0
9.Qh3
h6
10.Nf3
dxe5
11.dxe5
Nc6
12.Bxh6
Nxe5
13.Ng5!?
This is not too popular, but is not easy to meet. [13.Nxe5
Bxe5
14.Nc3
is the main line, with an acceptable position for Black.]
13...Nd3+
"A tempting continuation, warmly recommended by the computer." [My conclusion was, that the only playable move is the untested yet centralizing 13...Qd4
, although things are far from clear in this line, Black is alive and kicking.]
14.cxd3
Bxb2
15.Nd2
Bxa1
16.0-0
I ended my line here with the following comment: "Despite his extra-pawn and better structure, Black is in serious trouble. He cannot find a stable square for his bishop along the whole diagonal, which will provide White with several tempi for developing his attack."
16...Bd4
17.Nde4!?
Creating the well-masked threat of Bg7!, which did not work immediately because the f6-square was available for the king. [I remember that during my attempts to make this position holdable for Black I was mainly afraid of 17.Ndf3
, when Black has no useful move at his disposal. For instance, 17...Re8?!
is met by 18.Nxf7
Kxf7
19.Bg5
with strong attack. For the purpose of this form of attack, the knight is more useful on f3 than on e4, because it keeps the d4-bishp attacked and could jump to e5 if the bishop gets under a self pin (Qh7+, ...Bg7).]
17...Re8
The only move.
18.Nxf7
18...Qd7?
At first sight, it is not easy to prove a forced win for White after the acceptance of the sacrifice. When playing the text move, Black must have overlooked or underestimated his opponent's answer.
19.Be3!
White has a winning attack.
19...Kxf7
20.Qh7+
Bg7
21.Ng5+
Kf6
22.Ne4+
Kf7
23.Ng5+
Kf6
24.Nf3
Qd6
25.Bg5+
Kf7
26.Bh6
Qf8
27.Ne5+
Kf6
28.Qxg6+
Ke7
29.Bxg7
Qf5
30.Qh6
Nd5
31.g4
1-0