Blindfold Chess - the book

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Thank you for your interest.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Now for a sensational game! (even for Alekhine) Alekhine - Saemisch Berlin Germany 1923 (both blindfold) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2 e6 4.0-0 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nf6 7.Bf3 Ne5 8.c4 Nxf3+ 9.Qxf3 Be7 10.Nc3 0-0 11.b3 Nd7 12.Bb2 Bf6 13.Rad1 a6 14.Qg3 Qc7 15.Kh1 Rd8 16.f4 b6 17.f5 Be5 18.fxe6 Bxg3 19.exf7+ Kh8 20.Nd5 1-0 GM Fritz Saemisch was considered Germany's best blindfold player and Alekhine remarked that he thought Saemisch was the second best blindfold player in the world and was very complimentary of his skills. (apparently Alekhine had this opinion about more than one player!) In this game note Alekhine's 3.Be2 avoiding theory and a later 8.c4. Then comes a spectacular queen sacrifice with 18.fxe6!!! (another one of Alekhine's sensational pawn lever journeys) and in the final position I'll let the reader figure out what is going on. (Hint: Tactical smorgasbord!)

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine - Reilly Nice, France 1923 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Rc1 c6 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bh4 a6 10.a3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 b5 12.Ba2 c5 13.Bb1 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Bb7 15.Rd1 Qb6 16.Ndxb5 Rfd8 17.Nd4 Rac8 18.0-0 Nf8 19.Qe2 Bxa3 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Qh4 Kg7 23.Na4 1-0 Black played the opening well and must have been pleased with his position. However he misses Alekhine's deep combinative idea against his king's position. Alekhine clips off a pawn and his opponent seizes the first chance to do the same but Alekhine refutes this elegantly. The final combination is real wit on the chessboard.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

The above game was 1 of 12 boards in a blindfold exhibition. The next game was another game from the same exhibition. The reader (and probably Alekhine too!) must smile when they see Black's opening but Black actually gets quite a good position. This is not the result of the opening but because Alekhine changes his mind at several points in the opening (6.h4 but following up with g3 and Bg2; 9.e5 etc) and the game sees Black counterattacking in the center over many moves. The moves in the middlegame are actually an extended version of cat and mouse play which is especially dangerous against Alekhine. However Black survives into the endgame where by virtue of some exceptional tactics Alekhine puts away the win. One has to marvel at the exceptional chess wit of Alekhine especially when one realizes he was conducting 12 games at the same time in his head! Magnificent!
Alekhine - Mouterde Nice France 1923 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nd7 3.Nf3 e6 4.c4 Ne7 5.Nc3 g6 6.h4 h6 7.g3 Bg7 8.Bg2 b6 9.e5 Bb7 10.exd6 cxd6 11.Bf4 e5 12.Be3 Nf6 13.0-0 Ng4 14.Nb5 0-0 15.dxe5 Nxe3 16.fxe3 dxe5 17.Nd6 Bc6 18.Ne1 Qc7 19.Nb5 Qb7 20.e4 Rad8 21.Qe2 f5 22.Nc3 fxe4 23.Rxf8+ Rxf8 24.Nxe4 Nf5 25.Qd3 Nd4 26.Nc2 Qd7 27.Rd1 Qg4 28.Nxd4 exd4 29.Nf2 Qe6 30.Bxc6 Qxc6 31.Ne4 Qe6 32.b4 Qg4 33.Kg2 Be5 34.Re1 Qf5 35.c5 bxc5 36.bxc5 Qe6 37.Qb3 Qxb3 38.axb3 Rc8 39.Kf3 Kf7 40.Ra1 Rc7 41.Ra6 Rd7 42.Ke2 Bb8 43.Kd3 Rb7 44.Kc4 Rd7 45.c6 Rd8 46.Kd3 Rd5 47.Rxa7+ Ke6 48.c7 1-0

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine, too, had bad games in his blindfold simuls. In some he was absolutely unrecognizable. The following game is from a 10 board blindfold simul in Milan, Italy in 1923. Alekhine scored +6, =2, -2. This was one of the two losses. Alekhine - Morelli 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 c6 3.dxc6 Qc7 4.cxb7 Bxb7 5.d4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 0-0-0 8.Bd3 e5 9.0-0 exd4 10.Nb5 Qd7 11.Bf4 Bc5 12.a3 Nh5 13.Bg3 Nxg3 14.fxg3 g6 15.b4 Bb6 16.a4 Nxb4 17.a5 Bc5 18.a6 Ba8 19.Kh1 Rhe8 20.Qd2 Nc6 21.Rab1 f6 22.c3 dxc3 23.Qxc3 Bb6 24.Bc4 Re3 25.Qc2 Kb8 26.Rfd1 Qe7 27.Bd5 Rxd5 28.Rxd5 Nb4 29.Rd7 Qxd7 30.Rxb4 Rxf3 31.Rf4 Qxb5 32.Rxf3 Bxf3 33.Qc1 Be4 34.Qf4+ Kc8 0-1 There were obvious signs that Alekhine never figured out what to do in this game. Perhaps the original positions for Black in the opening threw him off. However he never really went after the open black king position. It took him 23 moves to open the C-file! He let his opponent take every one of his pieces except the queen. In fact he played on so long that the end position led to a slaughter. Yes even Alekhine (along with all the other great blindfold players) had the occasional ugly game of chess.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

It sends a chill down my spine to see the Kings Gambit played positionally with the white pieces. In the next game Alekhine builds his position very slowly out of the opening and the pawn chain from c2 thru f5 to h3 is particularly picturesque. Then finally he uses the G-pawn lever to open the kingside. Alekhine wittily lets his opponent use the H-file but has everything in hand and takes it back for himself. One gets the feeling that Alekhine was playing for the crowd. He first opens the A-file for his opponent and allows him to come into his king's position and then goes pawn picking with his rook. When his opponent's rook leaves the last rank Alekhine plays a pretty checkmate with his own rook! Alekhine - Schwartz, Paris 1923 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bc4 h6 5.0-0 Nf6 6.d3 Be7 7.Nc3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 0-0 10.a3 Nd4 11.Qf2 a6 12.Be3 Ne6 13.f5 Nc5 14.g4 c6 15.Ba2 Ncd7 16.g5 hxg5 17.Bxg5 Nh7 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Kh2 Kh8 20.Rg1 g5 21.Qe2 Ndf6 22.Raf1 Rg8 23.Nd1 Rg7 24.Ne3 Rag8 25.b4 b5 26.Bb3 Rd8 27.Qf3 Rdg8 28.a4 g4 29.hxg4 Ng5 30.Qg3 Rh7+ 31.Kg2 Rh3 32.Rh1 Rxh1 33.Rxh1+ Nfh7 34.axb5 axb5 35.Rh6 Qa7 36.Rxd6 Re8 37.Rxc6 Qa1 38.Rb6 Qc1 39.Rxb5 f6 40.Qf2 Ra8 41.Qe2 Ra1 42.Rb8+ Kg7 43.Rg8+ Kh6 44.Rg6# 1-0

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

On December 1st, 1923 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada Alekhine played 21 opponents in a blindfold exhibition. This was the first time he had tried 20 or more and in fact the first time he had done more than 12. The opposition in Montreal was quite strong. Alekhine was involved in alot of struggles and quite a number of blunders (for him) and scored +12-4=5 and the score could have been worse for him. Interestingly he chose to play 1.e4 on the first 8 boards, 1.d4 on boards 9 and 10, 1.e4 on boards 11 to 15, 1.d4 on 16 to 20, and c4 on board 21 (the use of board anchors in his mind) He did remark however that he found this exhibition in Montreal easy to handle and it encouraged him to try for the world record of 26 a few months later in New York. Alekhine-Winfrey 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.f4 d6 5.d3 Nc6 6.Nf3 exf4 7.Bxf4 0-0 8.0-0 Na5 9.Bb3 Nxb3 10.axb3 b6 11.Qd2 Nh5 12.Rae1 Nxf4 13.Qxf4 c6 14.d4 Bb7 15.d5 c5 16.e5 dxe5 17.Nxe5 Bd6 18.Qf5 Bc8 19.Qh5 Bxe5 20.Rxe5 f6 21.Re3 Bd7 22.d6 Be8 23.Qd1 23.Qd7 24.Re7 Qc6 25.Rc7 1-0 Black adopts a policy of exchanging White's minor pieces but is left facing a passed D-pawn and centralised major pieces. The game has a humorous and photogenic ending. Black finally moves his queen and on its first active move it gets trapped. Maybe he should have continued moving his bishop.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine-Paquin Montreal 1923 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Be2 c4 7.0-0 Be7 8.Ne5 0-0 9.Be3 Be6 10.Re1 Bb4 11.Bg5 Bxc3 12.bxc3 b5 13.a4 Qa5 14.axb5 Qxb5 15.Rb1 Qa6 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Ng4 Bxg4 18.Bxg4 Qd6 19.Bf5 Qf4 20.Qh5 h6 21.Re3 Kh8 22.h4 Rg8 23.Rf3 Qd2 24.Re3 Rg6 25.Bxg6 Qxe3 26.fxe3 fxg6 27.Qxh6+ 1-0 Black plays to restrain White in the opening but his strategy is obviuosly bankrupt by move 16 as White opens the black kingside and attacks his king. An easy game for Alekhine.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine-Schwartz Montreal 1923 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nf3 Ne4 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Be3 Nc6 9.cxd5 Na5 10.Qc2 Bf5 11.Bd3 0-0 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Bg6 14.Ne5 Nd6 15.Nxg6 fxg6 16.Rfe1 Nac4 17.Bf4 Qf7 18.Bxd6 Nxd6 19.c4 Nf5 20.Bxf5 gxf5 21.Re5 Rad8 22.Rae1 c6 23.Re7 Rde8 24.d6 Rxe7 25.Rxe7 Qf6 26.c5 Qxd4 27.h3 Qf6 28.Qb3+ Kh8 29.Qxb7 Qc3 30.Kh2 Qxc5 31.Rxg7 Qxd6+ 32.Rg3 Qf6 33.Qxa7 h5 34.f4 Rf7 35.Qc5 Kh7 36. Rg5 h4 37.Qf2 Qh6 38.Qf3 Qf6 39.Qh5+ Qh6 40.Qxf7+ Qg7 41.Qxg7# 1-0 Black plays actively and puts the pressure on White in the opening but it all turns into an illusion as the white position is quite solid. Alekhine comes out of the opening with positional trumps (passed D-pawn, open E-file, more active major pieces) which he smoothly converts to cleaning up the seventh rank and opening the black king position.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine - Lamothe Montreal 1923 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bd3 b6 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g4 a5 12.g5 Be7 13.Rhg1 Qc8 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Bxe4 16.Bxe4 Rb8 17.Rd3 g6 18.Rh3 Qe8 19.f4 Kg7 20.Rxh7+ Kxh7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Qh6 Qa4 23.Bxg6 Qxf4+ 24.Kb1 fxg6 25.Qxg6+ .5 - .5 In this game Alekhine had a large advantage out of the opening and a classic kingside attack. However Black makes an unexpected move (Qe8) which Alekhine did not anticipate in terms of resourcefulness (both attack and defence). Probably he was caught up in the game sequence with the rook sacrifice on h7 and went ahead and played the combination anyways. (It is something I have also done in blindfold exhibitions on more than one occasion) This allowed Black a move that would turn the tables but instead he selects a counterattacking move with his queen (Qa4) which allows Alekhine an "out" with perpetual check.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

From looking at the games of this 21 board exhibition in Montreal in 1923 it is clear that it taxed Alekhine's powers of memory severely and the fact that it was his first "stretch" from 12 boards to 21 boards as well as the resourcefulness of the opposition caused him to make many unusual blunders in a wide variety of positions. The following game was definitely unusual for Alekhine. In a simple bishop and pawn endgame where he had a small advantage and at the point where his opponent gave him a chance to increase his advantage (with winning chances) Alekhine blunders to a drawn position and two moves later blunders the game away! Alekhine - Blanchard Montreal 1923 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 e6 7.Qb3 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.Nf3 0-0 10.0-0 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Nd2 b6 14.Nf3 Qf4 15.Rfe1 Bg4 16.Nd4 Rfe8 17.f3 Bd7 18.Qc2 Re3 19.Qd2 Rxe1+ 20.Qxe1 Re8 21.Qc1 Nh5 22.Qxf4 Nxf4 23.Bf1 Ne6 24.Rd1 Nxd4 25.Rxd4 Bc6 26.Kf2 g6 27.Rd2 Kg7 28.Re2 Rxe2+ 29.Bxe2 Kf6 30.Ke3 Ke5 31.f4+ Ke6 32.Kd4 Kd6 33.Bf3 f6 34.b3 h6 35.a4 g5 36.g4?? gxf4 37.h3 a6 38.a5?? bxa5 39.Bg2 a4 40.bxa4 Bxa4 41.Bxd5 Bc6 42.Bc4 a5 43.Bf1 a4 44.c4 Bf3 45.c5+ Kc6 46.Bc4 Bg2 47.h4 Bf3 48.Bf7 a3 49.Be8+ Kc7 0-1

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

The next game contains Alekhine's biggest blunder of the entire exhibition. His opponent blundered with 10...Rxf6?? allowing 11.Qxe4 snagging a piece (because of the pin) and winning quickly. Instead Alekhine played 11.Bg5?? losing the bishop to Nxg5 (because of the pin) and ends up an entire rook down. 11.Bg5?? was a knee-jerk reaction to the bishop being attacked by the rook. Its happened to me before and I have saved more than one game by taking a deep breath and refocusing (would have been interesting to know what was going thru Alekhine's mind) Alekhine - Duberger Montreal 1923 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Qe2 Bxc3 7.dxc3 Bg4 8.Bf4 0-0 9.0-0-0 f6 10.exf6 Rxf6?? 11.Bg5?? Nxg5 12.Qe3 Nxf3 13.gxf3 Bxf3 14.Bh3 Bxd1 15.Rxd1 Nd7 16.Be6+ Kh8 17.Bxd5 c6 18.Bb3 Qf8 19.Qe1 Re8 20.Qd2 Nc5 21.Kb1 Nxb3 22.axb3 Re7 23.Ka2 Ref7 24.Qd4 c5 25.Qd5 Ra6+ 0-1

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine-Sawyer Montreal 1923 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e3 b5 6.a4 b4 7.Na2 e6 8.Bxc4 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qe2 a5 11.e4 Nbd7 12.Bg5 Re8 13.Nc1 Bb7 14.Nb3 Qb6 15.Rfd1 Ba6 16.Rac1 Bxc4 17.Rxc4 h6 18.Be3 Qb7 19.Qc2 Rec8 20.Rc1 Ra6 21.h3 Bf8 22.Bf4 Be7 23.Ne5 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Nd7 25.Bf4 Nf6 26.Qe2 Raa8 27.Qf3 Nd7 28.e5 Ra6 29.Nd2 Qa8 30.Ne4 Qb7 31.b3 Qa8 32.g4 Rf8 33.g5 hxg5 34.Bxg5 f6 35.exf6 Qe8 36.Rxc6 Rxc6 37.Rxc6 Bxf6 38.Nxf6+ Nxf6 39.Bxf6 Qg6+ 40.Qg4 Qb1+ 41.Kg2 Rxf6 42.Rxe6 Qf5 43.Qxf5 Rxf5 44.Re5 Rf4 45.Rxa5 Rxd4 46.Rb5 1-0 Alekhine himself commented that this type of game was rare in a large blindfold simul exhibit - involving the slow buildup of a deep positional plan and an eventual breakthru rather than playing a sharp winning combination. Tripling on the C-file was just a start. Much harder to find was Qe2-Qf3 and Nd2-Ne4 although the G-pawn lever must have been pretty easy for Alekhine to play - as he had played it in many other games in the past. The alternative 36.fxe7 and 37.Nd6 would have cracked thru quicker but perhaps too much to anticipate with 20 other games clammering for Alekhines attention.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

Alekhine-Wilson Montreal 1923 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 c6 8.Nc3 f5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nxd5 Be6 11.Nf4 Bf7 12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.Bc4 Nc6 14.Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.Qb3+ Ke8 16.Be3 Bf8 17.Rfd1 Rc8 18.d5 Ne5 19.d6 Qf6 20.Qa4+ Rc6 21.Rac1 Bxd6 22.Rxc6 Nxc6 23.f3 Nc5 24.Qc4 Ne5 25.Qg8+ Qf8 26.Qxh7 Qe7 27.Qh8+ Kf7 28.Qh5+ Kf8 29.Bf2 g5 30.Ng6+ Nxg6 31.Qxg6 1-0 With the threats on d6 the position collapses completely. Alekhine was at his best in this game (with a lot of help from his opponent). On move 9 his opponent misses 10.Nxd5 and then his position becomes rapidly worse. With the black king position open its only a matter of speculation of how Alekhine will choose to finish.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Blindfold Chess - the book

The following game is interesting from a psychological perspective. Dudley Le Dain was a long time player, journalist, organizer, promoter from the Montreal area. In the game Alekhine never gets going out of the opening (in an opening with which he had much previous success) and I attribute this mainly to the chess playing skills of his opponent. However at the end when the game had simplified to an easy technical win for Black in a rook and pawn ending, the game was agreed drawn. The mark of a gentleman and in recognition of the daunting task that Alekhine had taken on? Most players would have played on to win. How strong a chess player was Dudley Le Dain? I would say master strength or approaching master strength based on the early moves of the game. Maybe someone viewing this from Quebec (Larry?) could add input. Alekhine-LeDain Montreal 1923 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nc6 5.f4 d6 6.Na4 Bb6 7.Nxb6 axb6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nd4 12.Qf2 b5 13.Bb3 Nxb3 14.cxb3 Nd7 15.Be3 f5 16.Qc2 fxe4 17.dxe4 exf4 18.Bxf4 Ne5 19.Bxe5 Rxf1+ 20.Rxf1 dxe5 21.Rd1 Qe7 22.Rd5 c6 23.Qc5 Qxc5+ 24.Rxc5 Re8 .5-.5