Vladimir Alatortsev (1909-1987) was a Soviet player, author and administrator. His name has passed into obscurity, but during his peak years Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2646 in 1940 which put him at #21 in the world.
He was Botvinnik’s early rival in Leningrad, but Botvinnik, who was two years younger, established his dominance over Alatortsev right from the start and wound up with a + 9 -0 =2 record against Alatortsev.
During his career, he was champion of both Leningrad and Moscow, and he played in the Soviet Championship finals nine times, with his best results coming in the 1930s and early 1940s. After WWII his star began to fad Alatortsev never got the opportunity to compete outside the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Honorary Emeritus Grandmaster title by FIDE in 1983. Alatortsev died in Moscow at age 77 on January 12, 1987.
[Event “USSR Championship, Moscow”] [Site “Moscow URS”] [Date “1950.11.16”] [Round “?”] [White “Vladimir Alatortsev”] [Black “Victor Liublinsky”] [Result “1-0”] [ECO “E47”] [Annotator “Stockfish 17.1”] [PlyCount “79”] [EventDate “1950.??.??”] {E40: Nimzo-Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 Nc6 { This is a poor choice because black does not have much success with it. He gets more active play with either 5…d5 or 5…c5} 6. Nge2 e5 7. d5 Ne7 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Nxc3 d6 10. O-O Ne8 {In this position black has tried many moves, but none of them have been especially successful which is an indication that his 5th move was inferior.} (10… Bf5 11. e4 Bg6 12. h3 Nd7 13. g4 {with a pronising position. Soos,B-Milner Barry,P Moscow 1956}) (10… Ng6 {This is perhaps his best move.} 11. b4 Qe7 12. Qc2 Re8 13. Bb2 e4 {with equal chances. Khurtsidze,N (2447)-Zhao,X (2543) Batumi 2012}) (10… a5 11. Qc2 Ng6 12. Bd2 Ne8 13. f4 {White is better. Zagoriansky,E-Liublinsky,V Moscow 1945}) 11. f4 exf4 12. exf4 Bf5 {Hoping to eliminate the potentially dangerous B aimed at his h7.} 13. Be2 (13. Bxf5 Nxf5 14. g4 Ne7 15. f5 {was an equally goiod alternative.}) 13… Bd7 14. Be3 f5 {The point of his 10th move. He holds up white’s K-side advances, but his position remains passive and so white has other options.} 15. Bf3 Nf6 16. Re1 Ng6 17. g3 a6 18. b4 Re8 19. Qd3 h5 { Black’s position is very passive and so he is motivated to make a vain attempt to get some play. Defensive moves have little practical value} 20. c5 h4 21. c6 bxc6 22. dxc6 Be6 23. Bd4 hxg3 24. hxg3 Nf8 25. Re2 Qe7 {His best chance was to occupy d5 with a P (25…d5) because now white gets control of this square.} 26. Rae1 Qf7 27. Bxf6 {This excellent move settles the issue. He gives up the two Bs in order to take control of the critical d5 square.} Qxf6 28. Nd5 Qf7 29. Kf2 Kh8 30. Qd4 Kg8 31. Re3 Reb8 {With his K-side demonstration coming to nothing, black tries his luck on the Q-side, but white’s domination of the center prevails.} 32. Rh1 a5 33. Bh5 {Black could (and should) resigm.} Bxd5 ( 33… g6 34. Nf6+ Kg7 35. Ng4+ Kg8 36. Nh6+ {mates in 5} Kh7 37. Bf3 Qe7 38. Nxf5+ Kg8 39. Qh8+ Kf7 40. Qg7+ Ke8 41. Qxe7#) 34. Bxf7+ Bxf7 35. Rb1 Rb5 36. a4 Rd5 37. Qc3 axb4 38. Rxb4 Rc5 39. Qd3 Ra6 (39… Rxc6 {Not that it really matters, but there was no rrason to avoid this.} 40. Re7 {leaves black completely tied up.}) 40. Qxa6 {Black resigned. Not a flashly game, but a solid positional performance by Alatortsev.} 1-0
