CHESS
Tal stories
Raymond Keene
No assessment of the career of Mikhail Tal, who died three weeks ago, would be complete without giving the details of his smashing victory in the 1959 Candidates tournament which directly qualified him to play the world championship match against Botvinnik. Up to that time Candidates tournaments had been rather sedate affairs, in which the winner was usually the man who could minimise his losses and pick up slightly more wins than his rivals. Tal changed all this. The 1959 Candidates was the most bloodthirsty on record. Only against Petrosian did . Tal totally fail to penetrate an opponent's armour, while against Keres, Tal's chief rival, the Lat- vian's uncompromising approach actually led to him losing three games. When the next Candidates tournament came to be played in 1962 Tal had temporarily burnt himself out due to over-exertion and illness and Petrosian's victory in that year marked the apotheosis of the cautious — first prize through drawing technique. The 1959 tournament, therefore, was a heroic mo- ment in the history of this type of competi- tion.
At that time Bobby Fischer was often, and correctly, spoken of as a future world champion, but Tal disposed of him with consummate ease.
Tal — Fischer: Candidates Tournament, Round 6, Yugoslavia 1959; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 e5 7 d5 Nbd7 8 Bg5 Petrosian's variation, very popular during this tournament. The idea is to hamstring Black by pinning his king's knight. 8 . . . h6 9 Bh4 a6 An artificial plan. This move is the necessary prelude to unpinning his king's knight by means of. . . Qe8. If he does not play 9 . . . a6 White will cut across this idea with an inconvenient Nb5. However, from Black's point of view this whole manoeuvre is too artificial and time-wasting. More active is 9. . . g5 10 Bg3 Nh5 which is fine for Black. 10 Nd2 Qe8 11 0-0 Nh7 12 b4 Ng5 13 f3 f5 14 Bf2 Qe7 15 Rd l Nf6 16 c5 Bd7 17 Qc2 Nh5 18 b5 The openin* has not been a success for Black, since White s queen- side attack is now far advanced while Black's kingside counter is more or less dormant. If 18 . . . dxc5 19 bxa6 b6 20 Bc4 Qd6 21 a4 with a5 and Rbl to follow. 18. . . fxe4 19 Ndxe4 Nxe4 20 fxe4 Nf4 21 c6 Qg5 22 Bf3 bxc6 23 dxc6 Bg4 24 Bxg4 Qxg4 25 Be3 axb5 26 Bxf4 exf4 27 Nxb5 R17 If 27 . . . f3 28 Nxc7 Bd4+ 29 Khl fxg.2+ 30 Qxg2 Qxg2+ 31 Kxg2 Rxa2+ 32 Khl Rc8 33 Ne6 when White should win. 28 Qc4 Rc8 29 Rf3 Be5 30 Rcfl Kg7 31 a4 Ra8 32 Khl Qg5 This is the decisive error. He should play 32. . . g5. 33 g3 The finish, characteristic of Tal, comes like a whiplash, according to Harry Golombek who was the tournament arbiter. 33. . . Raf8 34 gxf4 Bxf4 If 34. . . Rxf4 35 Nxc7 Rxf3 36 Rxf3 and White wins due to the threat of Ne6+ 35 Nd4 Position after 38 Qd4+
Qh4 36 Rx14 Rxf4 37 Ne6+ Kh8 38 Qd4+ (Diagram) 38. . . R8f6 Or 38. . . 0f6 39 Rxf4. 39 Nxf4 KV 40 e5 dxe5 41 Qd7+ Black resigns Because of 41 . . . Kg8 42 0e8+ Kg7 43 0e7 Kg8 44 Rbl Qxf4 45 Rb8+ Rf8 46 Rxf8+ Qxf8 47 Qxf8+ Kxf8 48 a5.
Tal — Fischer: Candidates Tournament, Round 20, Yugoslavia 1959; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 e5 7 d5 Nbd7 8 Bg5 h6 9 Bh4 a6 100-0 Qe8 11 Nd2 Nh7 12 b4 Bf6 This is the first deviation from the previous game, but in terms of achiev- ing the freeing advance . . . f5 it seems to be even more dilatory. 13 Bxf6 Nhxf6 14 Nb3 Qe7 15 Qd2 Kh7 16 Qe3 Ng8 17 c5 f5 18 exf5 gxf5 If 18 . . . Ricf5 19 Bd3 Rf7 20 Rael when White controls the e4 square and will soon break open the game to his advantage with f4. 19 f4 exf4 This leaves him exposed on the bl-h7 diagonal. Black should have played 19 . . . e4, though 20 c6, along the lines of the previous game, leaves White with the advantage. 20 Qxf4 A powerful pawn sacrifice which Black should have declined
Position after 23 Re6 with 20. . . Qe5. 20 . . . dxc5 21 Bd3 cxb4 22 Rael Qf6 23 Re6 (Diagram) A beautiful piece sacrifice which exploits his superior mobilisation in the vicinity of Black's king. 23 . . . Qxc3 24 Bx15+ Rxf5 25 Qxf5+ KM 26 R13 Qb2 27 Re8 This penetration completely paralyses Fischer's position. 27 . . . Ndf6 28 Qxf6+ Qxf6 29 Rxf6 Kg7 30 Rff8 Ne7 31 Na5 h5 32 h4 Rb8 33 Nc4 b5 34 Ne5 Black resigns Black has no decent moves left and faces ruinous material loss.
Final scores in the Candidates tourna- ment were: Tal 20/28, Keres 181/2, Petro- sian 151/2, Smyslov 15, Fischer and Gligoric 121/2, F. Olafsson 10, Benko 8.
Tal's score was an unbelievably high one for a Candidates tournament: 181/2 (the score made by Keres) would normally have won with ease.
It is a comment, even taking inflation into account, on the increase in prizes in chess tournaments that Tal won $1000 for first prize in the Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade tournament while the prize fund for the forthcoming Candidates final, to be split between Nigel Short and Jan Timman, is close to $200,000.
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