Alekhine-Capablanca, 1924

Alekhine-Capablanca
New York, 4/2/1924, Round 12
QGD Slav Defense (D10)

Going into the 12th round (the halfway mark), the scores were: Em. Lasker 7.5, Alekhine 6.5, Reti and Capablanca at 6, and four players following at 5.

1. PQ4 PQ4 2. PQB4 PQB3 3. NQB3 NKB3 4. PK3 BB4 [In the tournament book, Alekhine gave some (imo unwarranted) criticism of this move.] 5. PxP PxP [5. … NxP 6. BB4! – Rubinstein-Bogoljubow, Hastings 1922] 6. QN3 BB1 7. NB3 [7. PKB4!? – ECO] PK3 8. BQ3 [8. NK5!] NB3 9. O-O BQ2 [The only move which promises equalization. – Alekhine] 10. BQ2 QN3 11. QQ1 BQ3 12. RB1 [The pawn sacrifice 12.PK4!? would have led to equalization at the most. – Alekhine] O-O 13. NQR4 QQ1 14. NB5 BxN 15. RxB [15. PxB PK4! – Alekhine] NK5 [=, ECO] 16. BxN PxB 17. NK5 [17. NN5? PQN3! – Alekhine] NxN 18. PxN Draw agreed

Given the competitive situation, this grandmaster draw is somewhat surprising. After this round, the scores were: Em. Lasker 8.5, Reti and Alekhine 7, Capablanca 6.5 and two players following at 5.5.