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When people ask me how they can improve, I always tell them to study master games. It's instructive, fun, and gives you real insight into other times, other cultures, and the struggles these men went though before being relegated to history. The following is a brief breakdown of my own study path. Hopefully it will inspire you to look over game collections with the same zeal I did (and still do!).

My first chess hero was Alekhine, who constantly amazed me with the depth of his combinations. As a 12 year old I swore that I would play just like him, never imagining that someday I'd acquire more placid, positional tastes.One thing that made me a huge Alekhine fan was his ability to find shocking solutions to difficult strategic questions. For example, his game against Rubinstein is still fresh in my mind today.

A Alekhine -- A Rubinstein
The Hague, 1921
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 a6 4.c5 Nc6 5.Bf4 [White plays to prevent Black's freeing ...e6-e5 advance. So far, everything made sense to me: White has an advantage in space and didn't want his opponent to burst the bubble.] 5...Nge7 6.Nc3 Ng6 7.Be3! [This move blew my mind! I would have understood 7.Bg3, and I would also have had no problem with 7.e3, but what was 7.Be3 all about? I had only learned how to move the pieces a few months earlier, and this Bishop retreat was something I simply couldn't grasp.] 7...b6 [Of course, now I have no trouble comprehending White's seventh move: by defending c5 and covering the d4-square, White continues to prevent Black from pushing his e-pawn to e5. In contrast, 7.Bg3 e5! 8.dxe5 (better would be 8.e3) 8...d4 (The Bishop on e3 prevents Black from pushing this pawn to d4 after ...e6-e5.) 9.Ne4 Qd5 gives Black an excellent position. By the way, Black's best reply to 7.Be3 was probably 7...Be7 (stopping h2-h4), though I would still prefer White after 8.g3 h5 9.h4] 8.cxb6 cxb6 9.h4! [What about things like castling early and development? This is the game that taught me that all the rules about strategy were meant to be broken!] 9...Bd6 [Alekhine pointed out that 9...h5 would have been answered by 10.Bg5 f6 11.Qc2 followed by Bd2, e3, a3, and Bd3 with advantage.] 10.h5 Nge7 11.h6 g6 12.Bg5 00 13.Bf6

Here I must quote Alekhine himself: "An extraordinary position after the 13th move of a Queen's Gambit! During the first thirteen moves White has played his c-pawn thrice, his h-pawn thrice and his QB four times, after which he has obtained a position in sight of a win, if not actually a winning one."
It's interesting to add that Fritz 7 starts off giving this position a slight edge for Black, then eventually changes its assessment to a microscopic plus for White! This certainly tells us something about the limitations of computers.
The rest of this instructive game is given without notes: 13...b5 14.e3 Bd7 15.Bd3 Rc8 16.a4 b4 17.Ne2 Qb6 18.Nc1 Rc7 19.Nb3 Na5 20.Nc5 Nc4 21.Bxc4 dxc4 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.Bxe7 Bd6 24.Bxf8 Bxf8 25.Nxd7 Rxd7 26.a5 Qc6 27.Qf3 Rd5 28.Rc1 Qc7 29.Qe2 c3 30.bxc3 bxc3 31.Qxa6 Rxa5 32.Qd3 Ba3 33.Rc2 Bb2 34.Ke2 Qc6 35.f3 f5 36.Rb1 Qd6 37.Qc4 Kf7 38.Qc8 Qa6+ 39.Qxa6 Rxa6 40.e4 g5 41.Kd3 Kg6 42.d5 fxe4+ 43.fxe4 exd5 44.exd5 Ra4 45.Rd1 Kxh6 46.d6 Kh5 47.d7 Ra8 48.Ke4 Rd8 49.Kf5 Kh4 50.Rh1+, 1-0.

The notes to this game can be found in, "My Best Games of Chess" by Alekhine. This two-volume set (1908-1923 and 1924-1937) should be in every chessplayer's library.

The next game once again introduced me to a seemingly incomprehensible move.

S Tarrasch -- A Alekhine
Baden-Baden, 1925
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Bb6 5.d4 Qe7 [A move designed to give e5 as much support as possible.] 6.00 Nf6 7.Re1 d6 8.a4 a6 9.h3 00 10.Bg5 h6 11.Be3 and here Alekhine, apparently for no reason, retreated the Queen to where it started by 11...Qd8!!.

What is the point of this oddity? Again, let's see if Alekhine can shed some light on the subject: "This paradoxical move--the most difficult in the game--is very effective. The double idea is to prepare an eventual action in the middle--starting by ...exd4 followed by ...d6-d5 and, at the same time, free the e-file for the f8-Rook." At the time (remember that I had just turned 13 when I first played over this game) I didn't understand what he was talking about. Now that I'm old and wizened, it all makes sense. Nevertheless, I remember sitting around for days after first seeing 11...Qd8 with visions of the move replaying in my head over and over, trying desperately to grasp what was really going on. 12.Bd3 Re8 13.Nbd2 Ba7 14.Qc2 exd4 15.Nxd4 Ne5 16.Bf1 d5 [Now it's clear that Black would not want his Queen sitting on the e-file facing off against White's Rook!] 17.Rad1 c5 18.N4b3 Qc7 19.Bf4 Nf3+ 20.Nxf3 Qxf4 21.exd5 Bf5 22.Bd3 Bxh3 23.gxh3 Qxf3 24.Rxe8+ Rxe8 25.Bf1 Re5 26.c4 Rg5+ 27.Kh2 Ng4+ 28.hxg4 Rxg4, 0-1. Notice how Alekhine often solved his positional problems with small bursts of tactics?

Though this subtle stuff tortured my innocent mind, what really drew me to Alekhine was his knockout punch--this guy wiped out the strongest players of his day with devastating energy. Take Marshall, for example. I had gone over Marshall's best games just a couple months after learning how to move the pieces. To me, Marshall seemed unstoppable. Then I spied the following slaughter and quickly became a worshipper of the 4th World Champion.

A Alekhine -- F Marshall
Baden-Baden 1925
1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 [Not a good move, since White can now claim a strong central presence. Marshall knew this, of course, but he enjoyed experimenting and taking the game off the beaten path.] 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.e4 [Theory now prefers the more restrained 4.Nf3, intending to play e2-e4 at a later time while also stopping ...e7-e5 counters.] 4...Nf6 5.Bd3 [Black would have met 5.Nc3 in the same manner.] 5...e5 6.dxe5 Ng4 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bg5 [Alekhine saw that holding onto the pawn by 8.Bf4 allowed Marshall to grab the initiative with 8...Nb4. Instead, he plays for quick development, intending to make active use of his central pawn majority.] 8...Be7 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Nc3 Ncxe5 11.Nxe5 Qxe5? [After this, Alekhine virtually blows his opponent off the board. Far better was 11...Nxe5.] 12.h3 Nf6 13.Qd2! [A very strong move that has two purposes: it prepares to castle long and it covers the dark squares, thus intending f2-f4 and e4-e5.] 13...Bd7 14.Qe3! [Another important move. This stops Black from castling long and also keeps the enemy Queen off of d4 after the thematic f2-f4 advance.] 14...Bc6 15.0-0-0 0-0 [Trying to castle queenside by 15...Qa5 would have failed to 16.Bc4.] 16.f4 Qe6 17.e5 [The advance of the e- and f-pawns proves to be decisive. This was one of the first times I began to think about "imbalances." To quote my teenage notes: "In this case White has a central majority and Black has a queenside majority. Since White was able to make active use of his plus, while Black's majority just sits there doing nothing, this constitutes an advantage in force and thus leads to Black getting pasted."] 17...Rfe8 [Stopping the intended f4-f4.] 18.Rhe1 [White won't take no for an answer. The f4-f4 advance is once again on.] 18...Rad8 [The logical follow up was 18...Nd7, again preventing f4-f5. In that case Alekhine had intended 19.g4, with an obvious advantage.] 19.f5

The pawns sweep away everything in their path!

19...Qe7 20.Qg5 Nd5 21.f6 Qf8 22.Bc4! [Decisive, since an explosion on f7 will follow in many lines. Alekhine's use of the initiative still dazzles me, and I admit to having played through this game dozens of times over the years.] 22...Nxc3 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.fxg7 Nxa2+ [Alekhine points out that 24...Qe8 would have been met by 25.Bxf7+ Kxf7 (25...Qxf7 26.Qxd8+) 26.Rf1+ Ke6 27.Rf6+ Kd5 28.Rf8 and wins. It's been said that he claimed to have written his books blindfolded, never bothering to use a board and pieces. This might explain why he missed the far stronger 26.g8=Q+ (instead of 26.Rf1+) 26...Qxg8 27.e6+, when Black should quickly resign.] 25.Kb1! [Avoiding 25.Bxa2 Qc5+ 26.Kb1 Rd7 when Black has managed to survive.] 25...Qe8 26.e6 [Ripping Black's King position wide open. The rest is carnage.] 26...Be4+ 27.Ka1 [Also winning is the mundane 27.Rxe4 Rd1+ 28.Kc2 (and not 28.Kxa2?? Qa4 mate) 28...Qa4+ (28...Rc1+ 29.Qxc1) 29.b3. The text (27.Ka1) avoids this mess, instead aiming for a smooth, worry free assassination.] 27...f5 [Desperation. But 27...fxe6 28.Bxe6+ Qxe6 29.Qxd8+ Kxg7 30.Qd4+ is easy for White.] 28.e7+ Rd5 29.Qf6 Qf7 30.e8=Q+, 1-0. There was no need to experience 30...Qxe8 31.Bxd5+ Bxd5 32.Rxe8 mate. What can one do after seeing a game like this other than fall to the ground, whimper pathetically, and repeat, "I'm not worthy!" over and over and over.

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