Blowing Away Alekhine's Defence

I played this 30 min game against a Portuguese player.

My preferred method of meeting the Alekhine Defense is the very aggressive Four Pawns Attack. If you are good at attacking and tactics then I highly recommend this approach. GM Boris Alterman recommended the Four Pawns Attack in one of his ICC Gambit lectures. It's a very nice weapon for players who are in an aggressive mood. If Black doesn't know how to defend against it then he will likely be crushed. One big advantage of playing the Four Pawns Attack is that it is rarely used today. It's still a good opening. It's only out of fashion, making it a great surprise weapon.




I played the very aggressive 10. d5 which really puts the pressure on Black. I followed with 12. Nd4!? (12. Rc1 is also good). After that I played the super aggressive 13. e6--a move Tal would surely play (13. Qf3 is a good, solid alternative). 13. e6 is super aggressive and can lead to sharp, unclear positions. So, I played it against this 1900 player to see who would sink--me or him. I should have 'sunk' but unfortunately for my opponent, he was on unfamiliar territory.

I misplayed with 15. Qh5+ and I probably should have lost my advantage with this poor move. Lucky for me he did not capitalize on my mistake.

15. Qg4 was the correct move. (I don't know what the computer thinks.). Black should reply 15...Bh4+! with an unclear position. Further analysis would probably reveal White could take the bishop with 16. gxh4!?, allowing 16...Bxh1 17. 0-0-0 with the possibility of dangerous threats for Black to deal with. I've played these types of positions before with great success. I like White.

My opponent failed to take advantage of my mistakes and played a horrible blunder with 21...h5??, which allows the exchange sacrifice 22. Rxd5! with huge compensation for White. It was all downhill from there.

Against some openings it is okay to play the most aggressive treatment. I believe it is the case against the Alekhine Defence.

I'm not so sure it's a good idea to play the most aggressive line against every opening you face. You need to have a solid repertoire to obtain good, solid results.

cheers

Paul