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Mikhail Tal vs Paul Keres
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 10, Sep-22
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 11 times; par: 63 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-15-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: Keres fought off in cold blood Tal's very wild, but unsound attack.
Oct-16-05  Chess Addict: 14...Bd4, why did Keres give up his dark-squared bishop?
Jan-22-06  notyetagm: Another unsound Tal attack.
Feb-10-06  Hesam7: Tal had the advantage but blundered it away. After 17. 0-0!


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Fruit gives:

17... O-O 18. Rae1 Bg4 19. Qd2 Rfe8 20. h3 Bh5 21. Bc2 Nxc4 22. Qxd4 cxd5 23. exd5 Qxe1 24. Rxe1 Rxe1 25. Kh2 Rc8 26. Bf5 Rd1 27. Qf2 Re8 28. Nc3 (eval: +0.76)

Depth: 19
6465M nodes
605K nodes

Apr-10-07  M.D. Wilson: When Tal sacrifices, you may as well take it. Keres certainly did.
Apr-14-09  DrGridlock: Tal played this game in the candidate's tournament after a game against Smyslov where a spectacular sacrifice won the game.

Tal wrote, "Such play so appealed to me that I decided: everything is possible! I suddenly saw a fantastic possibility of sacrificing two pieces: a knight on QN6 and a bishop on Q6. I carried out the plan, ran up against a simple refution, and continued to resist, prompted only by emotion, since I could have resigned much earlier. ... 22 ... QK2! I had overlooked this simple reply: now on PxN there follows Q-K6+ with the exchange of queens."

Tal began the sacrifice line with 15 NxB, but by move 17 still had the opportunity to change tacks with the reply 0-0. Rybka sees an advantage for white (.34), but not as large as given in other computer analyses:

o-o o-o
Rae1 c5
Bxe5 Qxe5
h3 Nh5
Rf3 Nf4
Qf2 Nxd3
Rxd3 Qe7

Jul-22-14  Xeroxx: reminiscent of Nakamura - Carlsen 2014.
Nov-18-14  tranquilsimplicity: Indeed. An unsound and over-ambitious attack by Tal. A game reminiscent of Nakamura v Carlsen 2014 for the first few moves.#
May-16-22  tympsa: Final white position when Tal eventually decided to resign , is pathetic . As a mediocre amateur club player I have habit to try to convert positions where top GM resigned against Stockfish 11. Sometimes it is really hard, sometimes I even lose or draw playing stronger side because engine is so damn tricky, but this one was so overhelming, poor SF did not have a chance to crawl out of deep hole where white was.

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