The AVRO Masterpiece
Raw PGN
[Event "AVRO 1938"] [Site "Rotterdam NED"] [Date "1938.11.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Botvinnik, Mikhail"] [Black "Capablanca, Jose Raul"] [Result "1-0"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 O-O 9.Ne2 b6 10.O-O Ba6 11.Bxa6 Nxa6 12.Bb2 Qd7 13.a4 Rfe8 14.Qd3 c4 15.Qc2 Nb8 16.Rae1 Nc6 17.Ng3 Na5 18.f3 Nb3 19.e4 Qxa4 20.e5 Nd7 21.Qf2 g6 22.f4 f5 23.exf6 Nxf6 24.f5 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Re8 26.Re6 Rxe6 27.fxe6 Kg7 28.Qf4 Qe8 29.Qe5 Qe7 30.Ba3 Qxa3 31.Nh5+ gxh5 32.Qg5+ Kf8 33.Qxf6+ Kg8 34.e7 Qc1+ 35.Kf2 Qc2+ 36.Kg3 Qd3+ 37.Kh4 Qe4+ 38.Kxh5 Qe2+ 39.Kh4 Qe4+ 40.g4 Qe1+ 41.Kh5 1-0
The Story
AVRO 1938 gathered the eight best players alive as an unofficial championship qualifier, and its most famous game is a collision of eras: Botvinnik, standard-bearer of the coming Soviet school, against Capablanca, the greatest natural talent of the old world.
The finish is one of the most quoted combinations in chess history. With 30.Ba3!!, Botvinnik deflects the black queen away from the kingside — giving up the bishop with check available against him — then 31.Nh5+! and 32.Qg5+ drive the king into a lost king-and-pawn geometry where White\'s e-pawn cannot be stopped. Capablanca hunts the white king with every check the position holds; Botvinnik had calculated at move 30 that the king escapes them all, ending on h5. Preparation and calculation defeating pure genius: the Soviet school announced itself here.