Starting with CBM 132, I have been writing a series of articles dedicated to the Alekhine Defence. Being used to defend this type of positions from my large experience as a Pirc player, my focus has generally been from Black's point of view, in the way that I tried to prove the positions being playable. However, I did not try to ignore the dangers and practical problems; on the contrary, I have unearthed some that were not known before, in order to provide the reader (and myself), with an accurate general view. Using the engines is tricky in this kind of positions. Engines sometimes are optimistic in bad positions, just because of the material balance and sometimes pessimistic, because of Black's lack of space. In the following game, White used a rare line and Black reacted in a way that had received an "?!" in my comments from the first article.
1.e4
Sf6
2.e5
Sd5
3.d4
d6
4.Sf3
g6
5.Lc4
Sb6
6.Lb3
Lg7
7.Sg5
e6
8.Df3
0-0
9.Dh3
h6
10.Sf3
dxe5
11.dxe5
Sc6
12.Lxh6
Sxe5
13.Sg5!?
This is not too popular, but is not easy to meet. [13.Sxe5
Lxe5
14.Sc3
is the main line, with an acceptable position for Black.]
13...Sd3+
"A tempting continuation, warmly recommended by the computer." [My conclusion was, that the only playable move is the untested yet centralizing 13...Dd4
, although things are far from clear in this line, Black is alive and kicking.]
14.cxd3
Lxb2
15.Sd2
Lxa1
16.0-0
I ended my line here with the following comment: "Despite his extra-pawn and better structure, Black is in serious trouble. He cannot find a stable square for his bishop along the whole diagonal, which will provide White with several tempi for developing his attack."
16...Ld4
17.Sde4!?
Creating the well-masked threat of Bg7!, which did not work immediately because the f6-square was available for the king. [I remember that during my attempts to make this position holdable for Black I was mainly afraid of 17.Sdf3
, when Black has no useful move at his disposal. For instance, 17...Te8?!
is met by 18.Sxf7
Kxf7
19.Lg5
with strong attack. For the purpose of this form of attack, the knight is more useful on f3 than on e4, because it keeps the d4-bishp attacked and could jump to e5 if the bishop gets under a self pin (Qh7+, ...Bg7).]
17...Te8
The only move.
18.Sxf7
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