The Final Fork, Part 2

Hi again!

If you read part 1 of "The Final Fork" you know that we left off from the game Reti-Alekhine in a critical position:

White is attacking on the queenside. He wants to play bxc6 and then quickly win the c6 pawn. Black has been attacking on the kingside, but it is a lot harder to see what he is going to do. The white king is over there, but checkmate is not so simple. Unless you are Alexander Alekhine !

If you found Black's next move, give yourself a pat on the back. A gigantic pat on the back! Actually maybe you should ask your parents to get you some ice cream!! Because this is the type of move that if Alekhine didn't see it and play it, it might never have been discovered.

Well, there has been a hurricane that swept the pawns off the board. Now there are only two on each side. Even if Black wins a pawn somehow, it will be hard or impossible to win the game. There is a battle of pieces going on, and both sides have some pieces "hanging" (under attack). Black could take the rook on c1 but then White would take on e3.

Alekhine realized that despite there being no queens and only a few pawns left, he could still launch an attack. The knight on b7 is out of play so Black has an extra piece for a few moves! In this position, Alekhine flung his pieces into the attack. The rook on e3 has been under hanging for five moves, but Alekhine just leaves it there.

Let's see that final position:

An amazing geometrical position. The wandering knight on b7 is lost because of the fork, so Reti resigned. Alekhine's brilliant play basically swept all the pieces off the board starting with 26...Re3!!, leading to this simple final position. Many people consider this the best game ever played.