Efim Bogoljubov vs Alexander Alekhine, Dutch Defense, A90, Nimzo-Dutch Variation
Hastings 1922.
This is the famous Triple Queen Sacrifice game played between Bogoljubov and Alekhine (Aljehin) in the elite portion of the Hastings tournament of 1922. The organizers invited four of the best European masters and two English masters to compete in a double round-robin, in what was one of the strongest tournaments at the time. Along with Efim Bogoljubov and Alexander Alekhine, the other participants were Siegbert Tarrasch, Akiba Rubinstein, George Allan Thomas and Fred Dewhirst Yates.
These are the final standings:
Alexander Alekhine 7.5/10
Akiba Rubinstein 7/10
George Alan Thomas 4.5/10
Efim Bogoljubov 4.5/10
Siegbert Tarrasch 4/10
Fred Dewhirst Yates 2.5/10
Alekhine won with only half a point ahead of Rubinstein, but the highlight of the tournament wasn’t him winning, but the immortal game he played against Bogoljubov. It was a relatively uncommon Dutch defense, in which Alekhine went for a standard plan of attacking on the kingside, preventing queenside counter play and advancing in the center, and Bogoljubov played as if he wasn’t really familiar with the plans in the Dutch. He misplaced his pieces, lost valuable tempi, and, what’s worse, created numerous weaknesses in his pawn structure which Alekhine swiftly exploited.
Black got an easy kingside attack and transferred all his pieces next to white’s king. Bogoljubov’s reaction to Alekhine’s attacking maneuvers was less than ideal. He voluntarily gave him outposts on several key squares and the position was strategically lost.
But Alekhine didn’t go for a slow positional grind “Karpov style”. He pushed and gained an advantage on both sides of the board until white cracked. What followed was a brilliant tactical sequence which made this game famous. In a series of precise moves, Aljehin ended up sacrificing three queens. In the end, Bogoljubov resigned in an ordinary 3 vs 2 pawn ending, but what led up to that was an unforgettable display of attacking genius by Alexander Alekhine.
At the time of this game, in 1922. Alekhine was yet to win his world championship title against Capablanca, and he would hold it from 1927.-1935., when he lost it to Max Euwe. Efim Bogoljubov was a challenger for the title against Alekhine on two occasions, in 1929. and 1934., but he lost both times.
Game moves:
1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Nxd2
Nc6 7. Ngf3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Qb3 Kh8 10. Qc3 e5 11. e3 a5
12. b3 Qe8 13. a3 Qh5 14. h4 Ng4 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. f3 Nf6 17. f4
e4 18. Rfd1 h6 19. Nh3 d5 20. Nf1 Ne7 21. a4 Nc6 22. Rd2 Nb4
23. Bh1 Qe8 24. Rg2 dxc4 25. bxc4 Bxa4 26. Nf2 Bd7 27. Nd2 b5
28. Nd1 Nd3 29. Rxa5 b4 30. Rxa8 bxc3 31. Rxe8 c2 32. Rxf8+
Kh7 33. Nf2 c1=Q+ 34. Nf1 Ne1 35. Rh2 Qxc4 36. Rb8 Bb5
37. Rxb5 Qxb5 38. g4 Nf3+ 39. Bxf3 exf3 40. gxf5 Qe2 41. d5
Kg8 42. h5 Kh7 43. e4 Nxe4 44. Nxe4 Qxe4 45. d6 cxd6 46. f6
gxf6 47. Rd2 Qe2 48. Rxe2 fxe2 49. Kf2 exf1=Q+ 50. Kxf1 Kg7
51. Ke2 Kf7 52. Ke3 Ke6 53. Ke4 d5+ 0-1