1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 Nbd7 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 c6
Kasparov dubs this move with a “?!” mark but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it. This is simply an old school Orthodox Queen’s Gambit Declined.
Question: What is the issue? Black’s opening looks solid to me.
Answer: Well, there is no issue right now. It is Bernstein’s coming play which is the problem. Let’s
put it this way: What is weak now was normal then. Back then even strong GMs, including Capa himself, basically winged it in the opening, concocting all sorts of moves which would make the modern GM cringe. So in the opening stage, we shouldn’t judge 1914 openings by today’s standards. Believe me, a hundred years from now some annotator will be saying you and I played the opening like donkeys!
7 Bd3 dxc4 8 Bxc4 b5
This is the real error. ... b7-b5 is totally out of place in this situation since it will be next to impossible for Black to enforce ... a7-a6 and the freeing break ... c6-c5 without serious consequences.
Question: Then what plan would you suggest for Black?
Answer: Something like 8 ... Nd5 9 Bxe7 Qxe7 10 0-0 0-0 11 e4 Nxc3 12 bxc3 b6 13 a4 Bb7 14 a5 c5
keeps White’s advantage to a minimum, N.Dzagnidze-M.Gurevich, Chalkida 2009. 9 Bd3 a6
Hoping to play ... c6-c5 next move. 10 e4!
Much stronger than castling. White’s strategic threat is e4-e5, then swap bishops, leaving Black cramped, with a bad bishop and weak dark squares.
A move clearly at war with logic. Bernstein incorrectly reasons: Risk is the price for a chance at freedom. But his move passes the threshold of risk and enters the realm of foolhardy.
Question: How so?
Answer: Black now must expend huge effort to regain it, which in turn allows White a considerable
development lead.
Question: What should Black play instead?
Answer: Both Golombek and Kasparov suggest 10 ... c5. Kasparov’s analysis runs: 11 e5 Nd5 12
Bxe7 Qxe7 (12 ... Nxe7?! 13 Ne4 is even worse for Black) 13 Nxd5 exd5 14 0-0 c4 15 Bc2 0-0 “with a somewhat inferior, but acceptable game.”
11 dxe5 Ng4 12 Bf4
Kasparov gives this rather obvious response an exclam for some reason. 12 ... Bc5 13 0-0 Qc7?!
The open c-file is not a happy spot for the queen. Black should acquiesce to the admittedly glum line 13 ... Qe7 14 e6! fxe6 (not 14 ... Qxe6?? 15 Ng5) 15 e5 with advantage to White.
14 Rc1
Eyeing the exposed queen on c7. 14 ... f6
Question: Why not simply regain the pawn with 14 ... Ngxe5?
Answer: After 15 Nxe5 Nxe5 16 Qh5! (Kasparov gives 16 Nxb5! cxb5 17 b4) 16 ... Bd4 17 Nd5 Qd6
18 Rxc6! Qxc6 19 Bxe5 Black is not going to survive for long. 15 Bg3 fxe5?!
Better to rescue the dangling knight with 15 ... Ngxe5. 16 b4!
16 Ng5 Ndf6 17 Qb3 also looks very strong. 16 ... Ba7
Black is woefully behind in development and his position teeters. In battle, normal caution shouldn’t extend to the moment which requires a decisive, swift (and generally risky!) course of action.
Exercise (critical decision): Intuition tells us that a forceful
continuation is needed. How would you pursue the attack?
Answer: The time to strike has arrived. From this point I’m not sure how much Capa actually saw, or
if he even had a sequential framework for what comes next. Instead, Capa just began the attacking idea and flowed loosely with the chaos, calculating when the need arose.
17 Bxb5! axb5 18 Nxb5 Qd8 19 Nd6+ Kf8 20 Rxc6 Nb6
We sense the hidden energies within White’s position. Now they are unleashed. 21 Bh4!!
Skills, if left untested, have a way of degenerating. Capa begins an attack which requires almost inhuman calculation ability to succeed over the board. The move is given an exclam by Capa, Golombek and Kasparov. In typically dramatic fashion, I trump them all by awarding the move the two exclams it truly deserves! Reuben Fine, a GM/psychologist and contemporary of Capablanca, claimed that Capa was something of an idiot savant, in that he made the correct move without knowing why it was correct.
Answer: No, I don’t buy Fine’s theory. Having gone through Capa’s games, I am convinced he
possessed computer-like accurate calculation skills as well. In fact, Capablanca said he visualized the position up to the 30th move from this point. The implications: Either Fine is wrong or Capa is a liar.
Question: What is the point of White’s last move?
Answer: The move is a precursor to a mind-bendingly deep exchange sac which drives Bernstein’s
king out into the wilderness for the remainder of the game. Just watch. For the record, the mundane 21 Nxe5 gives White tons of compensation and a winning position as well.
21 ... Qd7 22 Nxc8!
Here is the exchange sac. White’s minor pieces soon seep through the porous defences and Black’s king gets banished to the nethermost regions of the board.
22 ... Qxc6 23 Qd8+
The software always has to go and ruin the mystique. Houdini points out that 23 Be7+!! finishes Black off immediately: 23 ... Kf7 (or 23 ... Ke8 24 Qd8+ Kf7 25 Ng5+ Kg6 26 Qxh8) 24 Ng5+ Kg6 25 Qxg4 Qxc8 26 Ne6+ Kf7 27 Qxg7+! Ke8 (27 ... Kxe6 28 Rd1! mates) 28 Nd8! is crushing. But of course, only computers see such lines.
23 ... Qe8 24 Be7+! Kf7 25 Nd6+ Kg6
The king tentatively hobbles forward while his spirit lags a few paces behind. 26 Nh4+
Horrible, unspeakable threats hang in the air. 26 ... Kh5
The king flings himself against the bars of his cage in frustration. 27 Nxe8!
27 ... Rxd8 28 Nxg7+
Queens come off the board but the attack remains. White’s pieces swarm over Black’s king like a street gang mugging a straying and lost tourist.
28 ... Kh6 29 Ngf5+ Kh5 30 h3!
This is the point Capa visualized and assessed when he played 21 Bh4!!. Black has no chance of escape.
30 ... Nc8
30 ... Rdg8 31 hxg4+ Rxg4 32 f3 Rxh4 33 Bxh4 is also hopeless; and 30 ... Rd7?? 31 hxg4+ Kxg4 32 f3+ Kf4 33 g3 mate is even worse.
31 hxg4+ Kxg4
Bernstein breaks his personal long jump record. In his 1911 San Sebastian game against Capa, his king only reached g5! Here his king, wandering about on g4, played a deadly and rather hopeless game of hide and seek with White’s attackers.
32 Bxd8 Rxd8
The game is over. Black managed to escape checkmate at the cost of a totally hopeless three pawns deficit.
33 g3 Rd2 34 Kg2 Re2
Question: Shouldn’t he at least take the free a-pawn?
Answer: The pawn is poisoned: 34 ... Rxa2? 35 Nf3 Bb8?? 36 Rh1! mates.
35 a4! Nb6
And just in case you ask about taking the “free” e-pawn, I would like to point out 35 ... Rxe4 36 f3+ pops a rook.
36 Ne3+ Kh5 37 a5 Nd7 38 Nhf5 Nf6
Many of the old-timer GMs were notoriously late resigners. Kasparov very politely wrote: “Bernstein ‘forgets’ to resign.”
39 b5 Bd4 40 Kf3 Ra2 41 a6 Ba7 42 Rc1 Rb2 43 g4+! Kg6
Exercise (combination alert): White has a method
of picking up a full piece. How?
Answer: Double attack: Mate on g7 and hanging bishop on a7.
44 Rc7! Rxf2+
A dramatic bit of bluster. 45 Kxf2 Nxg4+ 46 Kf3 1-0