Original subtitles

hi everyone this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn

and today I would like to show you how to play

against the not so popular

but yet dangerous opening

Alekhine defense

and I wanna show you one of my recent games

actually from a tournament I played in Foxwoods

Foxwoods Open

and this game I think is very instructive because No. 1

it shows you White's setup

which is very important and No. 2

it shows you the middle game plan

followed by an endgame plan

where black had no counterplay whatsoever

and White's play was crystal clear

and I think very instructive

so let's start so the car

sorry the alkaline begins after e 4

knight of 6 e 5

Knight d 5

d 4 d six

so this opening is not too popular

but nevertheless

usually black knows quite well the theory

because if black chooses to play this opening

most likely he is booked up

and white has a lot of different options

to play against

this opening but I prefer to play this system

c 4 knight b 6

and now of course f 4

this is called the four pawns attack

it's very sharp and if you know your theory

you can play this definitely for white

but the system I prefer is actually

based on the positional nuances

after E takes d and here black has two options

C takes d or E takes d well

E takes d is actually more passive and I would I would

I don't wanna cover it right now

but I wanna cover C takes d

and this is the typical Alokine setup

where black is gonna play G 6

Bishop G 7 and then try to talk White Center

so

the system I'm gonna show you is called the Veronish

Variation named after Russian players from that city

and

this is actually the same system that we cover

in my opening book co authored with Genjin Albert

chess openings for white explained

and this actually getting really popular

at the highest level now for white

so let me show you what I mean

night c 3 g 6 bishop e 3

bishop g 7 rook c 1 notice this is very important

the development of the queen side

supersedes the development of the king side

and I'm gonna show you why

castles b three

so all of White's moves Bishop e 3

rook c 1 and b 3

is aimed at one thing and one thing only

to stop black from playing freeing d five

this is the whole point behind the system

that black wants to play d 5

and of course now it's impossible because of c 5

there is no knight c 4

so we took away the square for the knight

and of course knight d 7 simply drops a pawn

so this is No. 1

we plan to prevent any counter play with the move d 5

number two

if white sorry

black plays night c 6

then we always have now the move d 5

and even though the diagonal is wide open

the bishop is shooting nowhere really

there are no targets

and the knight is quite nicely defended

and notice that the chain a 2

b 3 c 4 d 5 is really cutting off blacks b 6 knight

and this is the key

we're gonna play against this bad piece

which eventually

will cause black some serious problems

so this is actually what happened in my my game 90

65 and I'm gonna go

in detail and show you how to play here

but more typical move is e 5 and after d takes E

d takes e Queen takes rook takes

this position has been played a number of times

and the key to understanding this position

is that white has typically very good play here

No.1

the knight on b 6 is misplaced and after the move c 5

black has nothing better than to go back to d 7

and after for example night of three

night c 6 White can play bishop c 4

and notice that immediately

knight g 5 is coming into the play

f 7 is weak Knight is coming to B 5 and d 6

and so black is really struggling to find his game

so this is very important

to know that this endgame favors white

but the typical move 96

is something that you might see often enough

because this is a simple developing move for black

and now after d 5 Black plays 90 e five

so it seems as though white is behind in development

he still has to play with his bishop from F1

the Iron G1 and Castle Short

but the key again

to understanding this position is that fundamentally

white has superior pawn chain

and better piece placement

so after bishop e 2 preventing I g 4

f 4 is a serious threat

and the question is how does black try to free himself

for example e 6 leads to all sorts of problems

for example after f 4

the only move is now knight to d seven

and after d takes e Black has to sacrifice a pawn

for example f takes e

Queen takes d 6

so this is no good

and the only way to try to justify Black's play

is to play F 5

and this is what happened in my game with idea

to try to play F 4

and now

black has made what is called a chronic weakness

if you can spot it immediately

it's the square E6 and the backwards portal E7

so after the move f 4 which is very strong

black again is faced with some serious problems

either to retreat back to d 7 or f 7

and again there is no point than to play f 5

or to try to play aggressively

and try to get at least one of the bishops

and now bishop takes

it's okay to give up a bishop pair

because after F takes G and I G e 2

Black cannot stop bishop coming to d 4

and really trade the powerful dark square bishops

whereas black pawns are really weak

the knight on b 6 is completely dead

and black has no active play whatsoever

so in just 14 moves

take a look at the pawn structure and at the pieces

black is really struggling to find any counterplay

so from this point on I think

it's very instructive to show you

the next stage of the game

the middle game

which actually quickly falls into the endgame

and how white methodically plays

against the weak e 7 pawn

and using the weak e 6 square

to create

real powerful chances in the middle game and endgame

so after night g 2

Black simply played the developing move bishop f 5

which again looks normal and now I I could castle

but I figured well

after night d 7 Bishop d 4 knight f 6

ideally I wanna trade the light the dark square bishops

so why not to play Bishop d 4 right away right

because now black cannot stop the trade so night d 7

possibly night of 6 this is his idea Bishop takes g 7

King takes g seven and now simply Castle

so now my one of my knights is gonna get to D four

with the permanent outpost

very beautiful square

e 6 is just one move away from d 4

and of course the e file is open for my rook

now this is one of those

positions where black has one weakness

although it's a chronic weakness

but in chess as we all know

usually one weakness is not enough to lose the game

so I think

it's very instructive to see how white tries to find

a second front to create a second weakness

after which Black's position will collapse

so queen b 6 check queen d 4

forcing the queen trade

king of 7 takes knight takes

by the way

pawn takes is not something I should be afraid of

because I can simply play either knight d 4

followed by a 4 and really

black cannot really justify the opening of the a file

because it's not going anywhere

the 9 on C3 does all the defensive job

so after queen takes b 6 night takes b 6

my next move is obvious Knight to d 4

and this is very easy and crystal clear plan for white

what's my plan play rook c 2

e 1 rook e 3

double up on the e file

and then try to create a second front

either on the king side

or potentially on the queen side

so night g 7

Rook c 1 night c 5 is nothing to be afraid of

I'm gonna play rook e 3

double up and really the g 3 square cannot be much

or a counter chance for black

so notice that Black's opening is really passive

and this is the perfect setup to try to exploit it

so my opponent plays rook c 8 and rook e 3 knight f 8

so he says alright I'm gonna create a defensive stand

I'm gonna put a rook on c seven

night on f 8 and I don't mind if night takes on f 5

because pawn can simply recapture back

so this is my opponent's plan

and he is a very solid 22 player but nevertheless

I have to find a way to break through

rook f to e 1 rook c 7

so far I can say that all my moves

we have played about 23 moves are all crystal clear

make perfect sense and I reached

what is called the best position for my pieces

my rooks are perfectly placed

my knight is perfectly placed on d 4

the only option now is to find the plan

so let us try to figure out

what white should do in this position

how he should create a second front for his pieces

well No. 1 playing on the Queen side is really tough

playing B4 and C5 which is typical is impossible

if I play a 4 followed by a 5

I could probably try to play

maybe to lure him to play a 6 and then play knight a 4

knight b 6 and then b 4 and then somehow c 5

but yet this is quite long and pointless

because we have a completely wide open king side

especially

with the e 6 square in our hands

the rook from e 3 can quickly jump to g 3 or h 3

and the king can come to f 2

g 3 h four

so this is kind of

hint to you to try to find the next move for

for white and the plan

so No. 1

I wanna trade one of my knights for the knight on F8

if I play 96 right away well

he can take with the bishop

and there is simply no weakness anymore on e 7

and the e 6 square is gone

white is still better

especially after night d 5

I'm actually gonna win a pawn

so this is actually losing for black

so he has to be careful and after night e 6

perhaps

he should take with the knight

and then play something like king of faith

and after 95 retreat back

so again white has advantage

but how to break through not so easy

so the key now is I play night C 2 b 5 first right

so the rook has to go to d 7

and then now I play night B six

so here what

black cannot take me because after d takes E

he's simply gonna lose

and of course

I'm gonna trade the knight for the knight on f eight

so by the way night g 5 is a threat

so he plays king f 6

Night takes Rook takes

using a small tactic that I can take the pawn on a 7

because of rook a 8

but now the second night comes to d four

so the first part of my plan is done

I traded the defender the knight on f 8

now it's the good knight against the bad bishop

so let's see what happens next

my opponent plays a 6

and I'm not really afraid of the move b five

king f 2

rook f 7

and now notice that the king from f 2 is gonna be 3

h 4 but before I do that

now again white can trade to favorable for rook endgame

and this is one of those things that you have to

kind of calculate ahead of time

because a lot of the times rook endgames are drawish

so I played king g 3 h 5 because g 4 is gonna be weak

and now this allows me to execute a mini combination

Rook e 6 check exclaim

he cannot take because after pawn takes

he's gonna be down a piece

so king has to go now Knight takes bishop

he has to take with the pawn

otherwise

he's gonna lose the e 7 pawn and simply king to h four

and now there is no defense from king takes h 5

or king to come into g five and simply penetrate

on the king side

well at this position

you can say that black is completely lost

but since it's a rook endgame

even playing down a pawn

black can still try to find chances

so I have to be very careful

so

my opponent correctly opens up the queen side with b

five

c takes B a takes B

I pick up a pawn and now rook is 7

so rook is coming to c 2 and now I play king to g 5

rook c 2 rook e 2

cause I don't wanna let the rook

loose on the second rank and now rook c five

and here I simply pick up the pawn on e 7

Rook takes d 5 and again if I try to be

try to simplify as much as possible

such as rook takes king takes

it's probably winning for me

but remember any rook endgame down a pawn

especially if you give your opponent some kind of play

would not be so easy to win

like in this position

even if I play a 4

for example maybe b 4

it's not so easy for me to break through

probably after rook a 2 I should be able to win

but what about No.1

I have to calculate moves such as rook d 3

a 5 takes a 6

now Rook a 3 is probably losing because I taken a 7

so that one I can calculate until the end

but what if he simply plays oops

rook to a 5 again

go figure how do you prove that it's winning position

now the H pawn has to run and probably win it

but nevertheless

always always try to find easier ways to win

especially if your opponent has a weak king

so in this particular position

I spotted something way ahead of time when I played

king to g 5

the weakness of his king

and the really passive position of the rook and f 7

so now I don't trade the rook

I play rook to e 8

and my opponent is actually in time pressure

he plays b 4 which looks quite strong

and then another quiet move

Rook 2 to e 6

and it turns out that oops

my opponent's king is actually in a mating net

from which there is no defense

so my last opponent's move is rook to d two

and almost reach time control move 39

yet he can resign after rook g 6

check rook h 6 check rook to h eight

and now there is simply no defense from rook 6 to h 7

mate

so you see instead of playing on a rook

endgame up a pawn by trading the rook on f 7

it's always important to try to find

faster ways to win

especially if your opponent's king is weak

so here this is already over and my opponent resigned

so looking over this game

it's clear that black

never got any counterplay from the opening

so Alekhine was completely harmless

and pay attention to the setup of white pawn structures

a 2

b 3

c 4

d 5 No. 1

developing the queen side

this is a prophylactic approach

so that black cannot play d 5

and No. 2 once I traded the bishop on g 4

it was just a matter of technique

centralizing your pieces doubling up on the e file

and finding a way to break through

opening the second front and easily winning the game

so I think this is very instructive

and I hope you learn

how to play and beat the alkaline defense

thank you very much bye bye