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Mikhail Tal vs Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian
"Tiger in the Tank" (game of the day Jun-20-12)
USSR Team Cup 1974  ·  Pirc Defense: Classical Variation. Quiet System Chigorin Line (B08)  ·  1-0
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Kibitzer's Corner
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Jan-22-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  randomsac: Very good game from Tal. He took complete control of the game with <both> rooks controlling open central files. Also, his development was superior and killed the black king with a sequence even I could find with such piece activity.
Feb-06-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: Houdini 1.5a sees a mate in 13, all forced, in 3 secs at d=18 as follows: 23...Rxf7 24.Qxf7+ Kh8 25.Qxg6 Bf5 26.Nf7+ Kg8 27.Nh6+ Kh8 28.Nxf5 Qd7 29.Qh5+ Kg8 30.Ne7+ Kf8 31.Qf3+ Ke8 32.Nc6+ Be5 33.Rxe5+ Qe6 34.Rxe6+ Kd7 35.Qd5+ Kc8 36.Re8#. There are a few minor variations but nothing alters the final result. And nothing is more conclusive than a forced mate.

How much of this did Tal see before 23.Bxf7+? Probably not that much. He figured that with 3 pieces attacking Black's king and only one defending it that there was a forced mate in there somewhere. And he was right.

How much of this did Petrosian see after 23.Bxf7+? Also probably not that much. But he probably reasoned just like Tal did, and he was right also.

Feb-07-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  drukenknight: given the above, then is 21...Bh6 the correct move?
Feb-10-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <drunkenknight> Well, no. I let Houdini 1.5a run all day and overnight starting from the position after 21.Qf4 and it indicated a mate in 11 at d=27 after 21...Bh6 22.Rxe8 Qf5 23.Bxf7+ Kg7 24.Qd4+ Qf6 25.Qxf6+ Kxf6 26.Re6+ Kg7 27.Rxg6+ Kh8 28.Rxh6+ Kg7 29.Rg6+ Kh8 30.Rd4 Rxf7 31.Rh4+ Rh7 32.Rxh7#. A great example of cooperating pieces and a testament of the strength of White's position.

However, your suggestion is in good company. Houdini indicates a mate in 11 at d=27 after 21...Be5 (an obviously desperate attempt to delay the inevitable), a mate in 15 at d=27 after Petrosian's 21...Nd7, and a mate in 20 at d=28 after 21...Bf6. The relatively "correct" move is 21...Qf5 at d=28 since that's the only move where Houdini failed to find a forced mate by White but after Houdini's 22.Qh4 Qxg5 23.Qxg5 it's only a matter of time since Black only has 2 pieces for his queen. I'm sure that Houdini would have found a forced mate after 23.Qxg5 if I had let it calculate sufficiently longer, or if had slid forward and restarted the analysis after 23.Qxg5.

So Petrosian was apparently lost after 21.Qf4 and I certainly can't tell you what the losing move was although I suspect that Tal's knight sacrifice by 19.Neg5+ was correct regardless of whether it was accepted or declined. Houdini agrees with me, evaluating the position as very favorable for White if the sacrifice is declined at [+1.88], d=27 after 19...Kh8 20.Qf4 Nc6 21.Nxf7+ Bxf7 22.Bxf7 Qf5 23.Qxf5 gxf5 24.Rd7 Bxb2 25.Rxc7 and evaluating the position as lost for Black if the sacrifice is (unwisely) accepted as Petrosian did at [+10.01], d=27 after 19...hxg5 20.Nxg5+ Kg8 21.Qf4 Qf5 22.Qh4 Qxg5 (desperation time) 23.Qxg5.

All I can say is that Petrosian should be faulted for allowing Tal to achieve such a position with his rook, knight, and queen way over on the q-side out of play while all of Tal's pieces commanded the center, the open files, and the squares around Black's k-side. But I also can't say what Petrosian could have / should have done differently. If I didn't know better I would have thought that Morphy was playing White and NN was playing Black.

Jun-01-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  1askel2: I would appreciate Tal's preparing of the combination more than the combination itself, which is in fact quite simple. When you have so much better mobilation of pieces and weaknesses in the enemy's king's fortress, sacrifices come into your mind spontaneysly,especially into Tal's.
Jun-20-12  LoveThatJoker: GG

LTJ

Jun-20-12  Chess Magician: A brilliant sacrifice from Mikhail Tal
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: 21...Bh6.
Jun-20-12  NewLine: More like "Paper Tiger".
Petrosian's play here was extraordinary awful.
By move 18, he had all his pieces on the back rank(2 of them on the original square), except for the king(?!) and bishop(7'th rank), while Tal had all his pieces running and kicking!
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  weisyschwarz: Quiet riot! Petrosian played so sluggishly, and Tal with utmost precision.
Jun-20-12  atakantmac: chessdr
after 26.Nf7+ it's mate in 11 that's what engine says
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: Not to take anything from Tal's imaginative play, but Tigran must have had an exceptionally bad day.
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  RookFile: I think he was in trouble when Tal got e5 in.
Jun-20-12  beatgiant: How about a temporary pawn sac for activity with 14...Nc6 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Bxc7 Rd2. If now 17. Bd3 Ng4. Black will probably get in ...Bxc3, when White's extra pawn is one of the doubled, isolated c-pawns. At least, I don't think it could be worse than the line in the actual game.
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  sorokahdeen: Some times the "bad-day-factor" can be an amazing thing in chess.

This was certainly not Petrosian's best finest hour and you wonder why. Was he coming down with something? Did he have the flu? Did he just receive bad knews about someone in his family? Was he doing Tal a favor? Trying to provide him with a spot in some important tournament to someone's advantage or was it just a blunder that led to a rapid downward spiral? In a reversal of their roles in this game, Tal once dropped a piece to Petrosian and lost in under 25 moves on the white side of a French defense and that, too, wasn't a game that proved anything.

It is certainly a bad game by Petrosian, but even at the highest levels, bad games crop up on occasion to leave you craving the dirty details of their backstories.

Funny how the things you don't know about the players can be more interesting than the games themselves sometimes.

Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Memethecat: Fantastic play by Tal. You would expect Tigran to refuse the poisoned N sac on a better day.
Jun-20-12  YoungEd: It seems that White has a huge (maybe winning) advantage by move 13! Safer king, better development, more center control, more prospects on the d- and e- files. Not even Petrosian can get away with the Pirc against Tal!
Jun-20-12  Tigranny: Why 7...Nb8? 7...Ne5 looks fine to me...
Jun-20-12  King Death: <Tigranny> Maybe White can play (after 7...Ne5) 8.Ne5 de 9.Be3 and go for the usual queenside squeeze though his knight will have to lose time to clear the way for c4-c5. The move 7...Nb8 is the normal line but 6...Nc6 has never had a great reputation because of 7. d5. Either way it's tough for Black to play for a win in the Classical Pirc if White heads for drawish lines.
Jun-20-12  KingV93: Attack, attack, attack. Tal makes it look so easy! First rate demolition of the Modern Defense.
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: Tiger may have earned his stripes,but at least this time,Tal took them.
Jun-20-12  drnooo: almost a miniature: should have called it
FAST & FURIOUS
Jun-20-12  Petrosianic: Half of Tal's wins beg for that description.
Nov-28-12  chezzy: 23...Rf7, 24.Qf7, Kh8 25.Qg6, Kg8 26. Re7
Qf8, 27. Qh7 mate.
Mar-02-13  marljivi: 21...Bh6 22.Re8!!Qe8 23.Qf6Bg5 (23...Qc6 24.Bf7 )24.Qg6Kh8 25.Qh5Kg7 26.Qg5Kh7 27.Rd4Qe1 28.Bf1 .No,no,Tal is Tal...
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