An aggressive setup against the Alekhine ⎸Road to GM, Game 14

S. Tomic vs Z. Bender, B02, Alekhine Defense
2018 Zagreb Championship, Round 6, 06/09/18

I finally played a good attacking game at the Zagreb Championship. I played an opponent about 200 points higher rated than me. He usually plays the Scandinavian, which I’d prepared for, but (after thinking for about 10 minutes) he went for the Alekhine Defense (or Aljohin, Алехин). I had prepared a line against 1…Nf6 about a month ago. It’s an attacking setup in which the bishops go on d3 and e3 and point at black’s weakened king (since the f6 knight is now stuck on b6). The variation is risky for white because in some lines black can win a pawn, but the attacking prospects more than compensate for that.

My opponent made a couple of errors and got a lost position. I sacrificed my bishop and forcibly won material. After that the conversion was relatively quick and easy.

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