The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster

The rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster - That's enough, for the moment, of "AlekHyne", my nom de blunder on the FICS website. But what of the player to whom the handle is an hommage - the Russian-born world champion Alexander Alekhine (pronounced Al-yekh-een, if you really want to show off, which makes a bit of a nonsense of my FICS handle)?

It would be a relief to look at some of his games. Nigel Short shows me an exhibition game Alekhine played against Joaquin Torres in Seville in 1922 in which the finish is so beautiful that it's hard to believe Torres wasn't colluding. Short, though, insists that it is genuine.

Torres v Alekhine, 1922 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 Bc5 11. c3 0-0 12. f4 Qe8 13. Be3 Bb6 14. Nd2 Bb7 15. N2f3 Rd8 16. Qc2 c5 17. Nb3 c4 18. Nbd4 c5 19. Ne2 Qc6 20. Rad1 h6 21. Rf1 Kh8 22. Kh1 Qg6 23. Neg1 Qh5 24. Nh3 d4 25. cxd4 cxd4 26. Bxd4 Bxd4 27. Rxd4 Rxd4 28. Nxd4 Qxh3! 29. gxh3 Nf2+ 30. Kg1 Nxh3# 0-1 The exclamation mark after black's 28th move is Alekhine's own.

He annotated the game in the first of his three-volume games collection, now repackaged in a single volume called Alexander Alekhine's Best Games. In his analysis, which Short says is not always to be trusted, Alekhine implies that he saw the queen sacrifice and mate from seven moves out.

Whatever the truth, it is a thing of beauty. As another world champion, Max Euwe, said of him: "Alekhine is a poet who creates a work of art out of something which would hardly inspire another man to send a picture postcard."

Short also refers me to Alekhine's extraordinary performance in the 1931 Bled tournament, in which he trounced a field of golden-age immortals. He won 15, drew 11 and lost none of his 26 games, finishing 5.5 points ahead of the second-placed player. "It was an unbelievable performance," says Short. "He left them for dead.

This was before the cirrhosis had really taken effect. He was in his prime, a very dynamic player and a great opening theoretician." One of his victims at Bled was Nimzowitsch, summarily dismissed in the sort of battily direct game that grandmasters just don't play any more.

Alekhine v Nimzowitsch, 1931 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 f5 7. f3 exf3 8. Qxf3 Qxd4 9. Qg3 Nf6 10. Qxg7 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Rg8 12. Qh6 Rg6 13. Qh4 Bd7 14. Bg5 Bc6 15. 0-0-0 Bxg2 16. Rhe1 Be4 17. Bh5 Nxh5 18. Rd8+ Kf7 19. Qxh5 Black resigns 1-0

"Nimzowitsch correctly resigned here," remarks Alekhine, "as there are no decent moves for black. Even 19. ... Kg7 would lose the queen after 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Bh6+. This was, I believe, the shortest defeat in his career." A nicely understated sign-off. Those were the days.