Playing the
Playbook

White: Schroer, Jonathan
Black: Sawyer, Timothy E
ICC simul, 2002

Annotated by Tim Sawyer

1.e4

White is an International Master and a skilled attacker. He is much stronger blitz player than I am. Here he is playing one of his many online simultaneous exhibitions. I do not know how many other boards he was playing.

1...Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 c6 6.c4 Nb6 7.Nbd2 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Bf5!

Up to this point he was playing fairly rapidly against me. This 8...Bf5 variation is given in my Alekhine Defense Playbook. White seemed to be surprised by this move. He used about 30 minutes for his next two moves. In his recent book on the Alekhine Defence, Nigel Davies only considered 8...Bxe2 9.Qxe2 Qxd4 10.Ndf3 when White has a strong attack.

9.c5

A novelty. The line given in my book continues: 9.Nb3 e6 10.0-0 Be7 11.a4 N6d7 (It usually is in Black's interest to challenge any White piece on e5 and swap it off if possible.) 12.f4 Nxe5 13.fxe5 Bg6 =, 0-1/30. Popovych-Szmetan, World Open 1999.

9...Nd5

In view of the fact that I am behind in development I aim for safety and happily return to the hole he has left on d5. Since White spent so long on this 9th move, he must have been prepared for the obvious 9...Qxd4 10.Nxf7 Kxf7 11.cxb6 Qxb6, when clearly White has a lot of compensation for the sacrificed pawn. It will take a few moves for White to complete his development, but the Black weaknesses of his e-pawn and King cannot be covered up that quickly.

10.Ndf3 Nd7 11.Nc4 e6!?

This is a risky continuation because it leaves a big hole on d6. I decided to risk it so as to complete my development. At least this way my Bishop covers d6.

12.0-0 Be7 13.Re1 0-0 14.Bd2

14...Qb8!?

14...b6! seems to be the most aggressive continuation. I considered it, but decided not to mix it up with an IM whose tactical skills exceed mine. He had less than two minutes left on his clock while I had about 30 minutes, but there is a 35 second increment. I decided that I would force White to come up with a plan and a combination while his clock was ticking. 14...Qc7 is the most natural move.

15.Rc1 Bg4 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Bxf3 Re8 18.Qb3 Qc7 19.Red1

White waits for Black to force the issue and create a weakness that he can attack without deep thought. We both decide to wait for a mistake and repeat the position three times.

19...Rac8 20.Re1 Ra8 21.Rcd1 Rac8 22.Rc1 Ra8, 1/2-1/2

Game drawn by repetition.

Want to learn more about The Alekhine Defense? Click here to get more information on Tim Sawyer's comprehensive Alekhine Defense Playbook.