Author: Jorge Pichard
Date: 00:19:35 03/15/03
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On March 15, 2003 at 03:18:32, Jorge Pichard wrote: >Tal regards the following game as being one of the most fascinating games he >ever played. It is 1957 and Tal is playing in the USSR Championship in Moscow >and he is playing at his most brilliant best, he has already scored 4.5/5 and >his sixth victim is to be the draughts champion of Kazan. > >Mikhail Tal has the Black pieces and plays the French Defence > >1.e4 e6 >2.d4 d5 >3.Nc3 Bb4 >4. e5 c5 >5. Bd2 (a3 is considered to be sharper) Ne7 >6. a3 Bxc3 >7. Bxc3 b6 >8. b4 Qc7 >9. Nf3 Nd7 >10. Be2 Nc6 (Both players fight for control of the centre) >11. 0-0 0-0 >12. bxc5 bxc5 >13. dxc5 This is where the genius of Tal is evident. Having pondered the various >options he decides that if he can capture the e pawn then he will be able to >dominate the centre of the Board. He mentally calculates all the likely moves up >to move 20 and visualises the position he would like to achieve by move 20. >13.…..Ncxe5 >14.Nxe5 Nxe5 >15. Qd4 f6 >16. f4 Nc6 >17. Qe3 Rd8 >18.Rad1 e5 >19. fxe5 fxe5 >20. Bb5 Bb7 > >[D]r2r2k1/pbq3pp/2n5/1BPpp3/8/P1B1Q3/2P3PP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 1 > >And here is the ideal position that Tal had visualised at move 13. At last he >can relax in the comfort that the fight for the centre has been won, lean back >on his chair, puff contentedly away on his cigarette and spare a glance to see >how his Championship rivals were faring. It was then that an awful realisation >hit him, what if his initial assessment of the postion at move 13 had only been >superficial ? What if his opponent had made a far deeper assessment of the >position, realising that Tal’s control of the centre posed no threat to him. >Mikhail Tal squirmed a little in his chair and prepared for a salutary lesson.. > >Within just 12 more moves it was all over….Tal’s position was destroyed. > >The question is how many program will play the next move 21.Qg3, and if you let >your program analyze this position could tal have saved this game ? > >Pichard > >21. Qg3 (the pressure on the e-pawn will eventually force Black to advance one >of the centre pawns, thus destroying the harmony of the two pawns abreast) …Rd7 >22. Rf2!! Re8 >23. h3 ! Ba8 >24. Ba4 ! Bb7 >25. Kh1 Ba8 >26. Rf5 e4 >27. Qxc7 Rxc7 >28. Rfxd5 e3 >29. Rd7 e2 >30. Bb3+ Re6 >31. Bxe6+ Kf8 >32. Bxg7+ >1-0 > >Oh ! Who was the draughts champion showing such a fine aptitude for Chess >?………Rashid Nezhmetdinov. These two players were destined to meet a further three >times, Rashid being victorious by 3 games to one (his only loss coming about >when he blundered when in a winning position). > > > >Message: >During his professional career, his style was characterized by risk and daring, >and he reveled in tactical duels and complex combinations... A man of >unbelievable tactical vision, he was able to calculate long, complicated >variations after merely glancing at a position... Considered to be an unsound >player, he nevertheless confounded his critics by constantly winning tournament >after tournament... > >As Botvinnik said in 1960 after losing the championship to Tal... "I was >surprised by his ability to figure out complex variations. Then the way he sets >out the game; he was not interested in the objectivity of the position, wether >it's better or worse, he only needed room for his pieces. All you do then is >figure out variations which are extremely difficult. He was tactically >outplaying me and I made mistakes." > >Tals coronation meant to some a new era of attacking play was at hand... Many >players and coaches went so far as to insist that their students play >aggressively and sacifice whenever possible... But as Tal stated the next year >when he played Botvinnik again... "These poor students must have breathed a sigh >of relief when I lost to the title back to Botvinnik. Now they could play calm >positional chess again"...
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