LaviChess

Bogoljubov vs. Alekhine, Hastings 1922

Alexander Alekhine has to win to take first prize. He leaves his queen to be taken and captures Efim Bogoljubov's queen instead, and then a black pawn runs all the way to c1. Before the game is over, Black has made two new queens.

  • WhiteEfim Bogoljubov
  • BlackAlexander Alekhine
  • WhereHastings
  • WhenSeptember 21, 1922
  • EventHastings tournament 1922
  • Result0–1, Black won
  • OpeningDutch Defense (A90)
  • Length53 moves

In the fall of 1922, six strong players met in Hastings on the south coast of England: Alexander Alekhine, Akiba Rubinstein, Efim Bogoljubov, Siegbert Tarrasch, George Alan Thomas and Frederick Yates. Everyone played everyone twice. Capablanca and Lasker had both been invited but could not come.

This game was played on September 21. Alekhine had Black, and he needed to win. He wrote afterwards that he had to play for a win to make sure of first prize, while a draw was enough for Bogoljubov to finish third. So he chose a defense he almost never used in important games.

The tournament was decided only in the last round. Alekhine won with 7½ points, half a point ahead of Rubinstein. Bogoljubov and Thomas shared third place with 4½. Thomas is the same man who lost the king hunt in London ten years earlier.

The players

Efim Bogoljubov (1889–1952) was born in a village in what is now Ukraine. When the First World War broke out in 1914 he was playing a tournament in Mannheim, and he and the other Russian players were interned in Germany. Alekhine was allowed to go home, but Bogoljubov stayed, married and settled in Triberg in the Black Forest. He won the Soviet championship in 1924 and 1925, and in 1925 he won the great Moscow tournament ahead of both Lasker and Capablanca.

Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946) was born in Moscow and had left Russia the year before. He was 29. Five years later, in 1927, he beat Capablanca and became world champion. He defended the title twice against Bogoljubov, in 1929 and 1934, and won clearly both times.

Read more about Alexander Alekhine among the great chess players.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Efim Bogoljubov has the white pieces, Alexander Alekhine the black.

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Open on the analysis board

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Play like Alekhine

Guess the moves Alekhine played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

Play like AlekhinePlay like Bogoljubov

The moments that decided it

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After 30…bxc3: Alekhine leaves the queen on e8 to be taken and captures White's queen. The pawn on c3 is heading for c1.
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After 33…c1=Q+: the pawn has become a queen, with check.
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After 40…Qe2: according to Alekhine, no white piece can move without losing something.

The end

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The final position after 53…d5+. White resigned after 53…d5+.

Why the game is famous

Alekhine himself counted the game among his two finest. In his second collection of best games, published in 1939, he wrote in his notes to the game against Réti at Baden-Baden in 1925: “I consider this and the game against Bogoljubow at Hastings, 1922 … the most brilliant tournament games of my chess career. And by a peculiar coincidence they both remained undistinguished as there were no brilliancy prizes awarded in either of these contests!”

The American chess writer Irving Chernev went further still. In his book The Chess Companion (1968) he called the game “the greatest masterpiece ever created on a chessboard,” and as early as 1951 he had put it first among the three greatest games ever played. Second and third on his list were Pillsbury–Tarrasch from Hastings 1895 and Alekhine's game against Réti.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. d4 f5 The Dutch Defense. Alekhine wrote of the move: “A risky defense, which until now I had adopted only very rarely in serious games. But in this game I absolutely had to play for a win to make sure of first prize, whereas a draw was enough for my opponent to take third.” 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Nxd2 Nc6 7. Ngf3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Qb3 Kh8 10. Qc3 e5 11. e3 a5 12. b3 Qe8 13. a3 Qh5 The black queen swings over to the kingside, where White's king is. 14. h4 Ng4 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. f3 Nf6 17. f4 e4 18. Rfd1 h6 19. Nh3 d5 20. Nf1 Ne7 21. a4 Nc6 22. Rd2 Nb4 23. Bh1 Qe8 The queen goes back to e8. Black is aiming at the queenside, and two moves later he wins the pawn on a4. 24. Rg2 dxc4 25. bxc4 Bxa4 26. Nf2 Bd7 27. Nd2 b5 28. Nd1 Nd3 The knight lands in the middle of White's position. Alekhine wrote that the move prepares the combination that follows. 29. Rxa5 b4 The pawn attacks the queen on c3. White's rook on a5 can take the rook on a8, but Black has something bigger in mind. 30. Rxa8 White takes the rook on a8, and now the black queen on e8 is attacked. 30… bxc3 Alekhine leaves his queen where it is and takes White's queen instead. He gave the move two exclamation marks and wrote that it was much stronger than taking back the rook. Today we can see that both ways win for Black, but it is the queen sacrifice that made the game famous. 31. Rxe8 Both queens are gone. But the pawn on c3 is now only two steps from c1. 31… c2 “The point,” wrote Alekhine. The pawn moves on, and White has no time to stop it. 32. Rxf8+ Kh7 33. Nf2 c1=Q+ The pawn becomes a queen with check. White has two rooks for Black's queen, but it is Black who is attacking. 34. Nf1 Ne1 Now 35…Nf3# is threatened. The king on g1 is hemmed in by its own pieces, and the only empty square, h2, would be covered by the knight. 35. Rh2 The rook leaves g2, so that the king has a square to run to. 35… Qxc4 36. Rb8 Bb5 37. Rxb5 White gives the rook for the bishop. 37… Qxb5 38. g4 Nf3+ 39. Bxf3 exf3 40. gxf5 Qe2 Alekhine gave the move two exclamation marks and wrote that the position is like a chess problem: no white piece can move without losing something at once. He was right. White is already lost, and every piece move makes it worse. A few pawn moves are left, and they soon run out. 41. d5 Kg8 Alekhine wrote that after the natural 41…h5 White would have saved himself, with the knight via h3 and g5 to f3. It would not have gone that far, but Black's advantage would have shrunk a great deal. 42. h5 Kh7 43. e4 Nxe4 44. Nxe4 Qxe4 45. d6 cxd6 46. f6 gxf6 47. Rd2 Qe2 The queen is offered again, and Bogoljubov takes it. Soon only kings and pawns are left. 48. Rxe2 fxe2 49. Kf2 exf1=Q+ The game's second new queen. It is traded off at once. 50. Kxf1 Three black pawns against two white ones. With correct play, Black wins. 50… Kg7 51. Kf2 Kf7 52. Ke3 Ke6 53. Ke4 d5+ Bogoljubov resigned. The endgame is lost for White wherever the king goes.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Hastings tournament 1922"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1922.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Efim Bogoljubov"]
[Black "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Nxd2 Nc6 7. Ngf3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Qb3 Kh8 10. Qc3 e5 11. e3 a5 12. b3 Qe8 13. a3 Qh5 14. h4 Ng4 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. f3 Nf6 17. f4 e4 18. Rfd1 h6 19. Nh3 d5 20. Nf1 Ne7 21. a4 Nc6 22. Rd2 Nb4 23. Bh1 Qe8 24. Rg2 dxc4 25. bxc4 Bxa4 26. Nf2 Bd7 27. Nd2 b5 28. Nd1 Nd3 29. Rxa5 b4 30. Rxa8 bxc3 31. Rxe8 c2 32. Rxf8+ Kh7 33. Nf2 c1=Q+ 34. Nf1 Ne1 35. Rh2 Qxc4 36. Rb8 Bb5 37. Rxb5 Qxb5 38. g4 Nf3+ 39. Bxf3 exf3 40. gxf5 Qe2 41. d5 Kg8 42. h5 Kh7 43. e4 Nxe4 44. Nxe4 Qxe4 45. d6 cxd6 46. f6 gxf6 47. Rd2 Qe2 48. Rxe2 fxe2 49. Kf2 exf1=Q+ 50. Kxf1 Kg7 51. Kf2 Kf7 52. Ke3 Ke6 53. Ke4 d5+ 0-1

Download .pgn

Sources

  • PGN Mentor, Alekhine.pgn
  • Edward Winter: Efim Bogoljubow (Alekhine's notes in La Nation Belge, November 16, 1922)
  • Edward Winter: Chess Notes 3784 (Chernev on the game)
  • Edward Winter: Réti v Alekhine, Baden-Baden, 1925 (Alekhine's verdict of 1939)
  • Wikipedia: Hastings International Chess Congress
  • Wikipedia: Efim Bogoljubow

The moves compared in two sources: PGN Mentor and Alekhine's own annotated score in the Belgian newspaper La Nation Belge of November 16, 1922 (reproduced by Edward Winter, translated from French notation). They are identical, 106 half-moves. Bogoljubov resigned after 53…d5+. The date, September 21, 1922, is Winter's. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 14, 2026