A Century of Chess: Budapest 1921
Our last glimpse of Alexander Alekhine has been on the evening of his round 12 game with Milan Vidmar at Mannheim 1914, with Alekhine leading the tournament by a point. With the outbreak of war, he quickly reached Russia and then for some time disappeared from the sight of the chess world. He served in the Russian army as a medic and was twice wounded and twice decorated. The story of the chess game for his life played against a Cheka inspector was ascribed to him (apparently a transposition from Osip Bernstein), although it seems that he was at one point actually held by the Cheka. In the aftermath of the revolution he worked as a film actor (!) and as a police detective (!).
In 1921, he left Russia never to return. He surfaced in Berlin and soon settled in France — as something of a surprise to the European chess community, which was under the impression that he had died during either the Revolution or Civil War.
Alekhine had very seriously considered other professions — he would received a law doctorate in 1925 — but his chess obsession clearly overwhelmed him. "The art of a cinema actor excites and moves me. I hoped it would replace the art of chess for me but that has not happened," he melancholically told a film colleague in 1920. He had won the first USSR Championship in 1920 and, upon his arrival in Western Europe, quickly resumed his winning ways. At Budapest he was a class ahead of a mid-range field, winning six games and losing none.
The tournament takes its place in chess history primarily for the introduction of Alekhine’s Defense — one of Alekhine's few ventures into hypermodern play (and one of the clearest illustrations of hypermodern principles). He introduced it in a round 5 draw with Saemisch and then again in a convincing win over Endre Steiner. The tournament was, in general, a high point in hypermodern innovation — with workouts for the Bogo-Indian, King's Indian, and especially Queen's Indian.
At Budapest, Alekhine's mature style becomes more apparent — above all, the tremendous dynamism of his endgames which is reminiscent of Pillsbury. This is what Paul Keres took from Alekhine: the sense that dynamic play actually become more crucial as material is reduced on the board. But Alekhine was also capable of winning attacking games of staggering power.
Ernst Grünfeld had a superb tournament — his first great result. He excelled in the openings, finding powerful rejoinders to both the Queen and King’s Indian, and played solidly in the middlegame. He actually led the tournament by a half-point entering the penultimate round but he lost to the easily-underestimated Kostić while Alekhine beat von Balla. Facing Alekhine in the last round, Grünfeld settled for a quick draw and clear second place.
Tartakower, who was quietly putting together a string of top-tier results, finished shared third with Kostić.
20-year-old Max Euwe continued to close the gap with the world’s elite, finishing a strong sixth, although his play was highly variable and he looked terrible in several games.
Bogoljubow had his first sub-par result since the war, ending an excellent run that carried him into the world’s elite in 1919-21. HIs weaknesses started to become apparent with this tournament — one-sidedly optimistic play that blinded him to danger.
Sources: Alekhine's wartime career is discussed in Isaak and Vladimir Linder, Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine annotates several games from this tournament in My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937.
