Alekhine’s Eleven Moves

The game, move by move

The Winawer

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e6 The French Defence
3. 2. d4 The second centre pawn
4. 2… d5 Challenging it
5. 3. Nc3 The knight holds e4
6. 3… Bb4 The Winawer The bishop comes out to hit the knight that is holding the centre. It is a real variation and still played; what follows is not the variation’s fault.

Traded on c3

1. 4. Bd3 The bishop to d3 Onto the diagonal that ends at h7. It is the piece that mates, from g6, one square short of the end of it.
2. 4… Bxc3+ Taking the knight Black trades a developed bishop for a knight and gives White a pawn on c3 — and a diagonal.
3. 5. bxc3 Recaptured with the pawn b2 to c3, which empties b2 and opens a3 to f8. That is the diagonal the mate is built on.
4. 5… h6 A pawn to h6 The move that costs the game: a tempo spent on nothing, in a position where White needs exactly one.
5. 6. Ba3 The bishop to a3 It takes e7 and f8 away from a king who has not moved, and it never does anything else. Two of the mating squares are settled here, on move six.
6. 6… Nd7 A knight to d7 Developing, and blocking the queen’s path along the eighth rank. Black is now taking his own squares away.

The centre clears

1. 7. Qe2 The queen to e2 Onto the file the black king is standing on, with one pawn in between. Nothing about the position looks urgent yet.
2. 7… dxe4 Taking on e4 And the pawn on e6 is now the only thing between the white queen and the king.
3. 8. Bxe4 The bishop recaptures
4. 8… Ngf6 The second knight out Hitting the bishop on e4 — a threat White is happy to answer, because answering it puts the bishop where it needs to be.
5. 9. Bd3 Back to d3 The bishop steps home, and d3 to g6 is now clear. Everything is in place; Black has one move left.
6. 9… b6 A pawn to b6 The last quiet move of the game.

A queen for one square

1. 10. Qxe6+ The queen, on e6 Given away for the f7 square. Taking her empties f7, and f7 is what the bishop on d3 needs to reach the king.
2. 10… fxe6 Taken Blocking instead — with the bishop or the queen on e7 — loses to Qxe7, held there by the bishop on a3. So Black takes, and f7 is empty.
3. 11. Bg6# Checkmate The bishop lands on g6 and checks through the square the pawn has just left. The bishop on a3 has e7 and f8; Black’s own queen has d8 and his own knight d7. Eleven moves.