Dec-21-04
 | | Poisonpawns: Great counter attack by Spassky! Tal starts his attack on move 25 and Spassky goes blow for blow, great play by Spassky in this match. |
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| Dec-21-04 | | beatgiant: I think the snappy conclusion is 41...Nd3! so that if 42. Bxd3 Nxf2+ 43. Qxf2 Bxg2+ 44. Kh2 Qe5+, while 42. Qh4+ Kg8 doesn't help. |
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Dec-21-04
| | Poisonpawns: Note Spassky missed the simple 20..Bxb4! perhaps he feared Tal`s piece activity, but this was the last game of a 3 game collaspse by Tal in the 1965 canidates finals, marked by Tal over reaching in simple positions.It seemed that Tal hated "simple positions" sometimes and would at times, at the detrement of his position strike tactically when the position didn`t call for it.I think Spassky noticed this as well as Botvinnik in 1961, and exploited this flaw in Tal`s play.Chk out my growing collection "The Canidates" which are dedicated to those who "almost" made it to the top, but fell short. |
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| Dec-21-04 | | beatgiant: <Poisonpawns>:
On 20...Bxb4?! 21. Bxh6 gxh6 22. axb4, breaking Black's kingside at no cost, looks very strong for White. |
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Dec-21-04
| | Poisonpawns: <beatgiant> My friend your variation loses :-) 20...Bxb4 21.Bxh6? Bxe1(not gxh6?)Now we have a few moves but main line:22.Nxg7 Bxf2+! 23.Kxf2 Nxf4+!24.dxe4 Qxh4+ and you can see why this is winning. No Fritz needed on that one by the way :-).The other line:22.Bxg7 Ba5!(Bc3 is met by Qc1 with ideas of Qg5)Now fritz just wants 23.Bd5 exploiting the fact that Nf6 cant move due to the mating threats created by the entry of the Queen, Black is easily winning here.My move 23.Qc1 which is the only way to try to keep the attack going is met by 23...Nh7!24.exd5 Bb6 25.Nf3 Ra6!protecting the King side laterally!The position is very messy here and given time considerations etc. I could see why spassky avoids this, plus this is also in Tal`s style playing in murky complications. I know Korchnoi would have took the material and won though :-) |
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| Dec-21-04 | | beatgiant: <My friend your variation loses :-)> Good point, for some reason I thought 21...Bxe1 wasn't playable. On second look, you are right. There is also a line with a rook sac with 20...Bxb4 21. Bxh6 Bxe1 22. Qxe1!? gxh6, but here too it looks like Black can win by carefully avoiding White's cheap shots. |
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Feb-10-05
 | | aw1988: What about instead of Bxb4 Bxh6 white plays Nxh6+? |
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| Feb-10-05 | | beatgiant: <aw1988>
Did you have a specific followup in mind here after 20...Bxb4 21. Nxh6+ gxh6?20...Bxb4 21. Nxh6+ gxh6 22. Bxh6 Bxe1 23. Qxe1 Re8 24. Qe3 Nh5 25. Nf5 Qf6 looks fine for Black, as does here 22. Bd2 Bxd2 23. Qxd2 Nxe4 24. dxe4 Qxh4 or 22. Re3 Kh7. |
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| Feb-10-05 | | beatgiant: Another interesting try is 20...Bxb4 21. Nxg7. If then 21...Bxe1 22. Nxe8 is good for White, so 21...Kxg7 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Nf5+ Kg6, but again I haven't found a clear followup for White. |
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| Feb-10-05 | | beatgiant: But maybe Tal could play 20...Bxb4 21. Re3! with a good attack, for example 21...Kh7 22. Rg3 g5 23. Bxg5 hxg5 24. axb4 Rxa1 25. Qxa1 Nh5 26. Rg4 gxh4 27. Rxh4. |
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| Jan-27-07 | | morphyvsfischer: My, what a model example to the rule "The best defense to a flank attack is a counterattack on the center! 20...Bxb4 does win a pawn, but Black will have to retreat the B to f8, losing two tempi in his counterattack. White has something for a pawn after this, but Spassky's choice makes white's attack much less dangerous. No analysis needed; the counterattack more than works, and Black does not have clear sailing after 20...Bxb4 so much. Also notable is the ...Nc5 maneuver. 12...Re8 13 Ng5 is annoying, while 12...h6 is unnecessarily commital at the moment. 22... cxb3 23 Nxh6+ Kh7 24 Nxf7 gives white a ridiculous initiative for the B. The sac on move 25 is unsound; White needs to bring up the remainder of his forces with Bd2 and Re1. One of Tal's not so good sacs. |
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| Jun-06-08 | | Akavall: The game went well for Spassky, but Tal seemed to have a lot of practical chances. Maybe black could play 18...g6 not allowing white knight to get to f5? This should limit white's attacking potential. 
click for larger view |
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Dec-22-08
 | | notyetagm: Game 6. Tal - Spassky
from Steve Giddins' 50 Essential Chess Lessons by Inius Mella |
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Dec-22-08
| | notyetagm: 24 ... ?
click for larger view24 ...  a8-a6!
click for larger viewSpassky (Black) defends his kingside <LATERALLY> across the 3rd rank with his Queen's Rook, a <DEFENSIVE ROOK LIFT>. RULE OF THUMB: if an enemy rook goes on the attack (22 e3-g3), then one of your rooks needs to go on the defense (24 ... a8-a6!). This simple RULE OF THUMB would have saved me a whole 1/2-point in one of my club games last week. I should have defended my kingside <LATERALLY> with a <DEFENSIVE ROOK LIFT> just like Spassky did here (24 ... a8-a6!) but instead I chose an inferior piece setup and lost my three extra pawns fending off a vicious opposite-colored bishop attack. |
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