Aleksandrs Koblencs
Notable Games

Aleksandrs Koblencs

14 celebrated games · 78 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 78 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1937 Steiner, Lajos vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Panov Variation 35 moves Brno Brno 1937, Black against Lajos Steiner, one of the strongest Hungarian masters of the decade. Koblencs answers 1.e4 with the Alekhine Defense, castles queenside into the attack, and grabs everything on offer: 17...Qxa3, 18...Nxc3, 20...Na2, and after 26...Rxd1 he is simply a piece up.
  • 1938.04 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsEliskases, Erich Gottlieb 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Double Fianchetto Attack 47 moves Milan Crespi Memorial 07th Milan 1938 against Erich Eliskases, who in those years was beating Spielmann and Bogoljubow in matches and was rated among the very best in Europe. Koblencs walks the h-pawn up the board — 32.h4, 33.h5, 35.gxf6 — and after 43.Bxe5 Ne8 44.Bxf6 the kingside is stripped bare.
  • 1939 Book, Eero vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Open System 34 moves Kemeri International-02 Kemeri 1939, Black against Eero Book, Finland's leading player. Book throws the entire kingside forward — 17.h5, 20.g5, 22.h6, 23.Qxh6 — and Koblencs takes all of it; when the attack finally runs out, 33...Ngf8 34.Qxf8+ Nxf8 costs White the queen for a knight.
  • 1941.03.14 Apsenieks, Fricis vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 Queen's Indian Defense 31 moves LAT-ch09 Latvian Championship 1941 with Black against Fricis Apšenieks, the country's leading master of the previous generation. 21...Nd4 gives back the knight to win the bishop on e4, and the queenside pawns fall one by one: 27...Rxa3, 28...Bxf3, 30...Ra1+.
  • 1945 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsRagozin, Viacheslav 1-0 English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian 43 moves URS-ch14 Final USSR Championship final 1945 against Viacheslav Ragozin — Botvinnik's long-time training partner, and himself a study player in this archive. Ragozin gives the exchange with 26...Rf3+, and Koblencs answers by taking the rook in the corner with 28.Bxh8 and running the queenside down: 41.Ra8+ Kb6 42.Rxa5 Kxa5 43.Bc3+.
  • 1945 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsRudakovsky, Iosif 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Classical Variation 62 moves URS-ch14 Final The same 1945 championship, against Iosif Rudakovsky — also a study player here. Sixty-two moves of Scheveningen Sicilian, decided by a single passed a-pawn: 44.a5, 48.a6, 57.a7 and 59.a8=Q, with the knight fighting the black rook every step of the way.
  • 1945 Alatortsev, Vladimir vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined 25 moves URS-ch14 Final Also from the 1945 final, twenty-five moves with Black against Vladimir Alatortsev, twice USSR Championship runner-up. Koblencs plays a Dutch-style pawn storm out of a Queen's Gambit — 7...g5, 11...Ne7, 13...h5, 14...h4 — and the h-file does the rest: 18...Qh2+ 19.Kf2 Rh3 20.Bd2 Qxg3+, and 25.Rb3 Rh1+.
  • 1952.05.25 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsNei, Iivo 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense 41 moves URS-ch20 Semifinal USSR Championship semifinal 1952 against Iivo Nei, the dominant Estonian player of the era and later Spassky's second. A Lasker Defence taken into a rook-and-knight ending, where 31.Rc8+ cuts the king off and the rook works behind the lines until the black position collapses.
  • 1952.03 Tal, Mikhail vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Delayed Exchange Variation 47 moves LAT-ch09 Latvian Championship 1952 — Koblencs with Black against a fifteen-year-old Mikhail Tal, the boy he had already begun training and would coach through two World Championship matches. He absorbs everything, takes the queenside apart with 35...Rxa4 and 36...Rxa2, then breaks the king's cover: 38...Nxg3 39.fxg3 Rxg3+, and 46...Rxf3 47.Qxf3 Qg1+.
  • 1953.02 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsTal, Mikhail 1-0 Game fragment 19 moves LAT-ch10 Final The Latvian Championship final a year later, and this time the trainer has White. The record preserves the game from move twenty-three, with Koblencs already attacking: 25.f5 gxf5 26.Nxf6, 27.Qh5, and the exchange sacrifice 28.Rxf4 exf4 that lets 29.Nd5 into the position. It ends 41.Qc7+ Kf8 42.Qd6+.
  • 1956 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsLein, Anatoly 1-0 Old Indian Defense 41 moves URS-ch24 Quarterfinal USSR Championship quarterfinal 1956 against Anatoly Lein, later a grandmaster and Moscow champion. Black wins the h-pawn with 35...Qxh3 and it is a mistake: 37.Rxf8+ Bxf8 38.Qg6+ Bg7 39.Qe8+ Kh7 40.Qxh5+ Kg8 41.Qf7+, the queen alone driving the king to its death.
  • 1959.08 Konovalov, V vsKoblencs, Aleksandrs 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation 15 moves URS-chT Republics 06th Group3 Soviet team championship 1959, and the shortest game in the archive at fifteen moves. Koblencs meets the Alapin Sicilian with 7...f5, opens the centre with 9...e5, and 11.Bb5 e4 12.Nd4 Bd7 traps White in a tangle where 13...Nxd4 14.Bxd7+ Nxd7 15.cxd4 loses the bishop on g5 outright.
  • 1962 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsKampenuss, Peteris 1-0 Indian Defense: Wade-Tartakower Defense 104 moves LAT-ch19 Latvian Championship 1962 — 104 moves, the longest game in the archive. Koblencs queens twice in three moves, 91.b8=Q Bxb8 92.axb8=Q Rxb8 93.Qxb8, and then spends another eleven moves winning queen against knight before 104.Qxd6.
  • 1971 Koblencs, Aleksandrs vsKrumins, Edgars 1-0 Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian 29 moves Riga Riga 1971, the last game in the archive and Koblencs at fifty-five, by then far better known as Tal's Maestro than as a player in his own right. Twenty-nine moves: 21.cxd5 and 22.dxe6 open every line at once, 24.Rxf8+ Kxf8 25.e5 rips the bishop away, and 27.Qxh7 leaves 29.Nd7+ unanswerable.
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