CHESS
Rigan magic
Raymond Keene
Ihad intended this week to go into more detail on the results of the Manila Olym- pics but my deliberations were interrupted by the sad news that the brilliant former world champion from Riga, Mikhail Tal, died in Moscow on 28 June at the age of 55. It was ironic that Tal spent his entire career playing under the hammer and sickle, and that, just as Latvia achieved its long sought after independence and competed as a separate state in the Manila Olympics, Tal should die.
In the 1950s Tal treated respected grand- master opponents like so much chaff being mown down by his razor-sharp intellect. He took terrible risks but the defects were only exposed by hours of midnight oil well after the games themselves had been play- ed and Tal's wins had been chalked up on the score chart. In 1960 he defeated Botvinnik and, had he looked after his health and retained the world cham- pionship, his youth and daring might have made the game considerably more popular internationally, well before Bobby Fischer achieved this in 1972.
Tal's health was always feeble. He suf- fered from kidney disease and was addicted to both nicotine and alcohol. At Hastings in 1974 he actually drank the hotel out of cognac, but played perfectly well next day while his less experienced drinking companions went down to a man.
This week's game, a vital stepping-stone on Tal's path to becoming world cham- pion, is a memento of the way his genius blazed in the late 1950s.
Tal was as brave off the chessboard as he was courageous on it. In 1961 he could have postponed the revenge title match against Botvinnik on the grounds of ill- health, but he insisted on playing. On a number of other occasions, notably the Curacao Candidates' of 1962, Tal virtually insisted on playing from his hospital bed when doctors ordered him out of tourna- ments. This chivalry contrasts starkly with the attitude of many modern sportsmen, chess players included.
Tal — Smyslov: Candidates, Bled 1959; Caro-Kann Defence.
1 e4 c6 2 d3 d5 Nd2 e5 4 Ngf3 A most unusual method of countering the solid Caro-Kann. 4 . . . Nd7 5 d4 Sacrificing a tempo is justified in view of the passive placing of Black's queen's knight. White now obtains a superb mobilisa- tion. 5 . . . dxe4 6 Nxe4 exd4 7 Qxd4 Ngf6 8 Bg5 Bel 9 0-0-0 The watchword is swift development of White's forces. 9 . . . 0-0 10 Nd6 White has free play for his pieces and is in complete possession of the central files. His knight at d6 dominates the board and it is quite natural that
Position after 11 . . . b5 Tal soon turns his attention towards a sacrificial solution. 10 . . . Qa5 11 Bc4 b5 (Diagram) 12 Bd2 Driving back the black queen but, as we shall soon see, there is also a deeper point to this retreat of the other bishop. 12 . . . Qa6 13 Nf5 Gaining a tempo against the black king's bishop so that the knight can press against the g7 pawn, a critical defender in front of the black king. 13 . . . Bd8 14 Qh4! The retreat 14 Bb3 would, in fact, permit Black to free himself with 14 . . . c5, threatening . . . c4 to crowd White's bishop out of play. Instead, Tal decides to take Black's king's fortress by storm, whatever the cost in material. 14 . . . bxc4 15 Qg5 Nh5 Returning the piece to mitigate the attack. 15 . . . Ne8 16 Qxd8 Nef6 17 Qa5 favours White, due to his sounder pawns in the endgame but the most intricate defence to White's brutal threat of Qxg7 mate is 15 . . . g6. In that case, however, White would play 16 Nh6+ Kg7 17 Bc3 Qxa2 18 Nh4 Qal + 19 Kd2 Qa6 20 N(h4)f5+ Kh8 21 Nd6 Kg7 22 Rfel c5 23 N(h6)f5+ Kg8 24 Qh6 gxf5 25 0g5+ Kh8 26 Nxf5 Rg8 27 Re8 and wins. 16 Nh6+ Kh8 17 QxhS Qxa2 18 Bc3 This move kills two birds with one stone. It stops Black's mating threats and Position after 18 . . . Nf6 presses towards the vulnerable g7 pawn in the black camp. 18 . . . Nf6 (Diagram) Smyslov cracks under the pressure. He had to play 18 . . . Bf6. 19 Qxf7!! A beautiful move which im- mediately terminates the game. If 19 . . Rxf7 20 Rxd8+ followed by checkmate or 19 . . . Re8 20 Qg8+ and however Black captures 21 Nf7 is smothered mate. 19 . . . Qal+ 20 Kd2 Rxf7 21 Nxf7+ Kg8 22 Rxal Kxf7 23 NeS+ Ke6 24 Nxc6 Ne4+ 25 Ke3 Bb6+ 26 Bd4 Black resigns A remarkable game, typical of Tal's dazzling sacrificial style.
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