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Vasily Smyslov vs Svetozar Gligoric
Yugoslavia, Beograd 1959  ·  Indian Game: West Indian Defense (E61)  ·  0-1


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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-19-03   Benjamin Lau: Why not 19 e4? Wouldn't the fianchetto protect the pawn?
Jul-19-03   Yuri54: Benjamin Lau:
19.e4 Bxh3, 20.Bxh3 Nf3+ with a very bad game for white
May-13-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: I can't believe this game was played in the Candidates' tournament. Poor Smyslov!
Aug-12-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  nasmichael: The joy and sorrow of chess--anything is possible, in any game, ever. It is the players which commit to the telling of the story, and it is their choices at any given moment that send the game towards its end.
Jan-19-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: < Benjamin Lau: Why not 19 e4? Wouldn't the fianchetto protect the pawn?>

Paraphrasing GM Gallagher on the proposed move 19 e4, <"Every time you push a pawn it weakens squares. This time it is f3 and the punishment is severe">.

19 e4 <weakens f3> BxNh3 20 BxBh3 <deflection from f3> Nf3+ <double attack> and 21 ... NxBd2 wins a piece.

Oct-05-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: White To Play: 18 ?


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Here Smyslov played an -incredible- blunder for a player of his class. He played 18 Rc3-c1?.

Position after 18 Rc3-c1?:


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Question: what is the tactical problem with this move? Answer: it greatly restricts the <MOBILITY> of the White b1-queen!

Whenever you move one of your pieces or pawns, you need to make sure that none of your pieces get <TRAPPED> or have their <MOBILITY> greatly reduced as a result. So you need to ask yourself not one question but -two- questions whenever you move:

1) Did I just <TRAP> the piece that I moved? (Escpecially(!) if you just moved a piece forward from a square it cannot go back to.)

2) Did I just <TRAP> not the piece that I moved but a different one of my pieces by <SELF-BLOCKING> a critical flight square or <BLOCKING> a line of retreat?

That is, you must be tactically alert enough to be on the lookout for -any- of your pieces losing a great deal of their <MOBILITY> and thus being on the verge of being <TRAPPED>.

Oct-05-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: <CONTINUED>

Now we clearly see the problem with Smyslov's 18 Rc3-c1?. This move -greatly- reduces the mobility of the White b1-queen. In fact, the White b1-queen can move safely -only- along the b1-h7 diagonal, to the d3- and e4-squares in particular! Thus after 18 Rc3-c1?, the White b1-queen is safe on only the three squares b1, d3, and e4.

So Black (Gligoric) plays 18 ... Bd7-f5!, taking away all of these squares along the b1-h7 diagonal from the White b1-queen, and suddenly Her Majesty has no where to run away from the Black f5-bishop.

Position after 18 ... Bd7-f5!:


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How can Smyslov now meet the threat to his queen? The obvious 19 e2-e4 weakens the f3-square and loses a piece to the <DEFLECTION> combination 19 ... Bf5xNh3 20 Bg2xBh3 <deflection from f3> Nd4-f3+ and 21 ... Nf3xBd2.

Seeing no good way to meet the threat of 19 ... Bf5xQb1 without losing at least a piece, Smyslov resigned, a shocking 18-move loss for a player who had been the World Champion just a few years earlier.

Nov-19-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  hesyrett: Everything said so far about Smyslov's 18 Rc1 is true, but it can't be called a blunder because there is no viable alternative.  Black is threatening to win White's Q by ...Ra1, and castling drops a R (18 O-O? Nxe2+); 18 Bc1 Nxe2 is almost as bad, and 18 Qd3 runs afoul of 18...Bb5, so White must try 18 Qe4, but then good old 18...Bf5 kills him in a different manner than in the game--details left to the next kibitzer!

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