Masterclass with Alekhine: Strategic Insights from the Exchange Variation of the French Defense

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00:00 Introduction
02:45 What is the Correct Trade?
06:57 Plan Works Like a Swiss Watch
07:31 How Should We Respond to Nf3?
09:17 The Multi-Purpose Move
10:04 Alekhine Fetches the Weapon
11:27 The Worst-Placed Piece Principle
12:11 Sam Shankland Rule
17:33 Game Summary

The series on instructive chess classics continues with a beautiful game of Alekhine! The idea is to show those games of the world champions against lower-rated players, where ideas are clearly demonstrated in instructive fashion. The problem with modern games between equally strong players is that they are too chaotic and subtle. Extracting the right lessons is not so easy from those games.

In this game, Alekhine is playing against William Winter, a two-time British champion. White chooses the Exchange Variation of the French Defense, an opening many French players dread. Alekhine gives them hope, by creating an early imbalance and deciding to castle long. Then he starts coordinating his pieces extremely beautifully, even forming the "Alekhine's Gun"! The game shows several strategic insights, e.g. dominating the only open file, creating strong squares for our pieces, and even activating the worst-placed piece in a seemingly impossible way. Alekhine was a genius regarding piece activity, and this game clearly shows it.

Please give me your thoughts on this game by commenting on this video. What were the main lessons you extracted from this game?

Here is the game: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...