A Study Position

How does a position reached in a game played many years ago become an important study position?

Consider a position from Euwe -- Smyslov, Moscow 1948. The game was played in the fourteenth round of the five-player world chess championship to determine the successor to Alexander Alekhine. Max Euwe finished in last place, winning only this single game.

White to move

In Paul Keres, World Chess Championship 1948 (1949), the author criticizes Euwe's move from this position, 27.Qe3. Euwe's position is so strong that this move "assures him of an easy win." But, "he misses the worthy finishing combination ... which would immediately have forced Black to resign" (332).

This position appears as number 1 in Thomas Engqvist, 300 Most Important Tactical Positions (2020). The first 27 positions in the book highlight five basic tactical ideas--"tricks" is Engqvist's term. The first three positions, the writer tells us, are "from top level chess where one highly qualified player missed a fork at a certain point. It pays to study positions where a strong player missed a tactical solution" (13).

Engqvist mentions that Keres gave the move played in the game a question mark, offers Keres' improvement, and also discusses a second alternative to the text move.