Category: Lessons from the Masters

April 7, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Just recently, I came across a couple of interesting posts about Alekhine. Have you ever wondered how the 4th World Champion sounded, and how he moved the pieces? Take a look at these links! On the chess24.com Community page: 1938 radio interview with Alexander Alekhine On the Chessbase.com site: Rare film footage of Alexander Alekhine…

March 26, 2016 Matthew Sadler 1 comment

One of the things that made Alekhine very frightening to play against was his inventiveness in the openings. His particular forte was provoking quick crises in solid-looking 1.d4 openings. Alekhine was a master at forcing the opponent to solve concrete problems an at unexpectedly early moment in the game. Without the buffer of modern opening…

March 25, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

A day late on my site, but still heartfelt. A post to mark the 70th anniversary of Alexander Alekhine’s death. During a visit to Paris a couple of summers ago, I made a trip to the beautiful Cimetière du Montparnasse to visit his grave. I took a chessboard with me on which Kasparov had once…

March 15, 2016 Matthew Sadler 14 comments

While playing through Alekhine’s “Collection of Best Games”, my attention was caught by this position from Alekhine-Reti Vienna 1922.   It’s a famous position of course, but I couldn’t escape from the feeling I’d seen this diagram in another old book: I had an image in my head of how it looked on the page…

February 29, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in the past couple of years is “Learn from the Legends – Chess Champions at their Best” by Mihail Marin (Quality Chess). Marin takes 9 great champions – Rubinstein, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Karpov, Kortchnoi and Carlsen – and examines a particular facet of their play…