Alexander Konstantinopolsky
Notable Games

Alexander Konstantinopolsky

13 celebrated games · 110 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 110 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1931.10.15 Botvinnik, Mikhail vsKonstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich 0-1 Dutch Defense: Classical Variation 79 moves URS-ch07 Semifinal Group 4 USSR Championship semifinal, October 1931 — Konstantinopolsky is twenty-one and beats Mikhail Botvinnik with Black. Seventy-nine moves, almost all of them a rook ending: he walks his king from c4 to b1 to shepherd the b-pawn, and Botvinnik cannot both stop it and hold his own passers.
  • 1936.01 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsTolush, Alexander V 1-0 Pseudo Queen's Indian Defense 23 moves URS Trade Unions-ch04 Final Soviet trade unions championship 1936 against Alexander Tolush, one of the great attacking players of the Leningrad school. Twenty-three moves: 12.Bb5+ Kf7 stops the black king castling, and 18.Rc7 Qxc7 19.Qxd5+ Kf8 20.Qxa8 wins a rook out of nowhere.
  • 1938 Osipov, Ivan Vasilievich vsKonstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich 0-1 Rat Defense: English Rat 23 moves UKR-ch10 Ukrainian Championship 1938, twenty-three moves with Black. The knights do all the work: 18...Nc3 forks the queen's defenders, 19...Rxd3 20.Qxd3 Qxg5 wins a piece, and 22...Rd2 23.g3 Ne2+ ends it.
  • 1938 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsBoleslavsky, Isaak 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Pin Variation 49 moves UKR-ch10 Ukrainian Championship 1938 against Isaak Boleslavsky, later a Candidates finalist and one of the great opening theorists. A Sicilian Pin Variation; Konstantinopolsky pushes the c-pawn to c7 and holds the position together until 46.Qxa4 and 49.Qc3 break through.
  • 1939.01.27 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsKeres, Paul 1-0 Zukertort Opening 41 moves Leningrad & Moscow Leningrad/Moscow 1939 against Paul Keres, weeks after Keres shared first at AVRO. Konstantinopolsky wins the queens off with 33.Rxd6 Qxd6 34.Qxe6, then runs the knight around the board — 36.Nc5, 38.Ne6+, 39.Nc7 — to trap the rook and force 41.Re7.
  • 1940 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsAppel, Isaak 1-0 Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Symmetrical Variation 17 moves UKR-ch12 Ukrainian Championship 1940, seventeen moves. 12.Qh5 g6 invites the sacrifice and Konstantinopolsky takes it twice over: 13.Nxg6 fxg6 14.Bxg6 Rf7 15.Rxe6 hxg6 16.Rxg6+ Rg7 17.Rh6, three pieces thrown at the king and mate unavoidable.
  • 1940 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsRudakovsky, Iosif 1-0 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Fianchetto Variation 23 moves UKR-ch12 The same 1940 Ukrainian Championship, against Iosif Rudakovsky — himself a study player in this archive. 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Qd4 strips the king's cover, and after 20.Qg5+ Kh8 21.Rae1 the black queen is off on the queenside with nothing to defend with.
  • 1945 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsSmyslov, Vasily V 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined 54 moves URS-ch14 Final USSR Championship final 1945 against Vasily Smyslov, eight years before Smyslov earned his first World Championship match. Fifty-four moves: the h-pawn is the whole story — 47.h5, 48.h6+, and 54.h7 with the knight covering the queening square.
  • 1947.11 Levenfish, Grigory vsKonstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense: Two Knights Attack 23 moves Leningrad Trade Unions Team-ch07 Leningrad 1947 against Grigory Levenfish, former USSR champion. Twenty-three moves with Black: 19...Nd3+ 20.Bxd3 Bxb4 wins the queen for two pieces, and 21.Rxe4 dxc3 22.Bxc3 Rxc3+ picks the rest up.
  • 1948.09 Barsauskas, Vitautas vsKonstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line 21 moves URS-chT Republics 01st final Soviet team championship 1948, twenty-one moves with Black. White plays the classical bishop sacrifice 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 and it recoils immediately: 19...Ng5 20.Bf5 Nf3+ 21.gxf3 Qg5+ and the white king is the one that falls.
  • 1948.11.29 Keres, Paul vsKonstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich 0-1 Caro-Kann Defense: Panov Attack 50 moves URS-ch16 Final USSR Championship 1948, Keres again and Black this time — in the year Botvinnik took the world title and Keres finished among the challengers. Konstantinopolsky trades everything down with 34...Rxg2 35.Rxg2 Rxg2 36.Qxg2+ Bxg2+, and the f-pawn arrives on move fifty: 50.Rxc7 f2.
  • 1950.11.30 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsBoleslavsky, Isaak 1-0 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Classical Variation 73 moves URS-ch18 Final USSR Championship final 1950, Boleslavsky again and seventy-three moves this time — a bishop-against-knight endgame of the kind Konstantinopolsky taught for the rest of his life as one of the Soviet school's great trainers. The king walks c6–c7–b7–a6 while the b-pawn decides it.
  • 1952.12.23 Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich vsByvshev, Vasily Mikhailovich 1-0 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense 20 moves URS-ch20 Final USSR Championship final 1952, twenty moves and not a piece given up. The centre simply expands — 12.e4 Nb4 13.Qb1 Bb7 14.d4 — and after 19.b4 Bd6 20.Qd3 the black pieces have nowhere left to go.
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