Game 9 in the book: Alekhine's win over Georg Marco at the International Tournament at Stockholm, 1912. A Philidor's Defence annotated by Alekhine, who plays White.
4…Nbd7Marco's favourite defence, which I also have adopted on several occasions (compare game No. 47), but I have since come to the conclusion that against logical and sound play it is not altogether satisfactory.
6.O-OSacrificial combinations commencing 6. Kt—Kt 5 or 6. B x P ch turn to Black's advantage.
6…O-OAfter Castling, Black's development becomes laborious and he has not the slightest chance of a counter-attack. It seems to be more in the spirit of the defence to play: 6. ....P—K R 3 followed by P—B 3, Q—B 2, Kt—B 1, P—K Kt 4 and Kt—Kt 3. This system was adopted successfully by my opponent in several recent tournaments (Yates—Marco, The Hague, 1921; Wolf—Marco, Pistyan, 1922). This line of play forces White to play with great care, for Black's manœuvre on the King-side may develop into a serious attack.
8.a4In this variation it is essential once and for all to prevent Black's P—Q Kt 4.
8…h6The anxiety to provide against Kt—Kt 5 or B—Kt 5 is natural enough, but the resultant weakening of the King's position may have unfortunate consequences, as the bad development of the Black pieces does not warrant this move.
9.Bb3After 9. B—K 3 Black could have played 9. ....Kt x P, followed by P—Q 4. By preventing this manœuvre, the text-move maintains White's supremacy in the centre. However B—R 2 would have been still better (see Bogoljuboff v. Niemzovitch, Stockholm, 1920).
10.h3To prevent Black from playing Kt—Kt 5 in reply to 11. B—K 3.
10…Kh7Black adopts an unsound plan in an already difficult position. The development of the Queen-side by P—Q Kt 3, B—Kt 2 and Q R—Q 1, followed by an attempt to stabilize matters in the centre by P—Q B 4, would have been more to be recommended.
12…Kg7All this laborious manœuvring aims at getting the K R into play. But Black will not have even this meagre satisfaction, as White, now fully developed, will initiate a direct attack on the Black King.
13…Ng8If 13. ....Kt—R 4; then 14. Q—Q 2, followed by P—Kt 4 and P—B 4, etc.
15.Qg4The strongest continuation of the attack. After the move in the text Black has nothing better than to sacrifice the K Kt P, which will give him the necessary time to exchange the White K B. If on move 9 White had played B—R 2 Black would not have even this small resource.
17…Nxb3Or 17. ....P—Kt 4; 18. B x Kt followed by Q—R 5 and wins.
19…Bd7If now 20. Kt—Kt 4? the White Queen is lost by 20. ....B—K 1.
21.Ng4threatening 22. P—K 5, etc.
22.Ne2This Knight now journeys to Kt 6 and decides the game in a few moves.
25.Rd3Here White could have won a second Pawn by Kt x R P, but he prefers to play for a mate.
26…Rxg6Frustrating White's intended combination, which would have terminated the game brilliantly. The threat was: 27. R—B 4 followed by 28. Kt x R P, Kt x Kt; 29. Q x Kt ch, K x Q; 30. R—R 4 ch, K—Kt 4; 31. B—K 3 or R—Kt 3 mate. This threat could only be parried by giving up the Exchange, which anyhow leaves Black without hope.
Alexander Alekhine, My Best Games of Chess 1908–1923 (1927) · Public domain · source