Jul-17-02
 | | Sneaky: Tal's first game against a master! "Of course, I first played against a master in a simultaneous display. The young master Ratmir Kholmov, who had just made a very successful appearance in the 1947 Chigorin Memorial Tournament, came to Riga, and therefore we were highly intrigued. I won in, as it then seemed to me, combinative style."
-- The Life and Game of Mikhail Tal |
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Jul-18-02
 | | refutor: good for tal refuting the anti-anti-meran setup of kholmov :) |
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| Jul-18-02 | | mprchess: This was against a master...? |
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Jul-18-02
| | Sneaky: yes but please consider it was a simul. The master was handicapped, and playing a young Tal at the same time. The smart money was on the youngster. |
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| Nov-29-02 | | PVS: Kholmov was a young master then, he became a grandmater in 1960. He won the Lithuanian championship ten times and made the finals of the Soviet championship sixteen times. |
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| Nov-29-02 | | Vilkacis: Kholmov was a very strong player with a style not unlike that of Tal. Had he been from another nation, his name would be better known. His career spanned over half a century, he won the championship of Arkhangelsk 1940 and St. Petersburg 1995. After the war, the period 1945-1960, his development was not rapid. He had very few international opportunities. |
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| Apr-09-04 | | ArturoRivera: This game means nothing to Tal beacause the wizard of Riga didnt were recognized for his positional play but for his ability to make unexpecteds moves on unexpected time. |
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| Aug-18-04 | | Peter Trujillo: It,s always intructive to see a good exchange sacrifice. many players would miss such a tactic. |
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| May-03-05 | | sfm: There's still a game after 20.Rxb7, Qxb7 21.gxf3 |
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May-03-05
 | | WannaBe: <sfm> ???
20.  xb7  g2# |
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| May-07-05 | | sfm: <WannaBe> Nope! The black queen is at b5! :-) |
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| Jun-06-05 | | mormonchess: No, the game is over. White has no saving move. 22. ...Qg2#. |
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| Aug-27-06 | | jmi: This is interesting....18. xf3!! is very insidious. White is in a hopeless position even if the a-file remained on the back rank because gxf3 and Black would subsequently play cxb5 followed by  xf3 and neither White's nor the can stop Black's rogue without sacrificing material. |
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Jan-08-08
 | | DarthStapler: What's amazing is that Tal's notes imply that when he reviewed the game many years later, he didn't even consider it to be a combination since it was so simple for him |
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| Mar-13-08 | | sombreronegro: I fully expected R x f3. I got the gist that a rook on d3 was aiming at the bishop. Fianchettoed bishops under these circumstances are very much worth a rook and white's bishop was the antidote. The open g file turns out to be worth even more.20 g x f3 ? Offer the rook back with 20 R x b7. It is apparent that white is lost anyway even if he takes being a pawn down and with nothing but doubled and isolated pawns. |
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| Sep-18-08 | | pom nasayao: explossion at kb6! |
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| Sep-18-08 | | Mikhail Tal fan: wow! another masterpiece of Tal and only at 13 years old! P.I.P Misha Tal |
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| Apr-16-09 | | True2theGame: Masterfully Done! Bravo!!! I find it amazing that 16)...Rd8 really wasn’t intended to hassle the Queen on d1, neither did 17)...Rd3 ever have any intentions on haggling the pawn at c3. This is the difference between club level thinking and the brilliance of Tal! A Brilliant mind see's 16) Bf3 as blunderous and immediately begins securing an impenetrable mating sequence. (even if both rooks stay on the 1rst rank!) |
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Sep-11-10
 | | sisyphus: In "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," he gives an alternative line for White: <If 20 R-N1 RxQBP!>. (That isn't the best defense, of course.) As long as I'm putting my two cents in, 8.Bxf6 hands the advantage to Black. Perhaps the Botvinnik Variation wasn't as well known then as it is today. |
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| Nov-09-11 | | DrMAL: First game in Life and Games of Tal book he was only 12 years old (not 13 yet as post above states) and playing in simul, where, as another post above states, opponent was master. And he finds himself in Botvinnik variation, wow! Fortunately, white played weaker version with 8.Bxf6 instead of 8.Bh4 for some analysis on the latter see my posts in early October starting with Kasparov vs G Timoshchenko, 1981. This does not "hand advantage to black" as post above states; actually it is equal game then, 8.Bh4 keeps advantage with white. 9.exf6 recapturing pawn simplified a bit more but opening was still complicated, with this instead of 9.g3 maybe black could have started to get some edge here (after 9...Qxf6 or 9...Bb7 or 9...Nd7 not 9...Bb4 played). White's lead widened with 11...Bxc3?! instead of 11...Bb7 or 11...Nd7 but theory for this opening was not yet developed back then (one could hardly expect anyone let alone young boy to figure it all out OTB). 13.a4! was strong move, idea is to open Q-side so that black cannot safely castle there (either). At this point 14.Nd2 or 14.Rb1 would have been strong. Instead, white opened center with 14.Ne5?! giving advantage to Tal via 16...Rd8! played. Here, 17.Qc2?! was small inaccuracy (17.Qc1) but after 17...Rd3! 18...axb5?! seemingly innocuous move was another error (18.Rfe1) and Tal started winning combination with 18.Rxf3!! Here is eval on move 18. Tal's 19...Qxb5 was small inaccuracy but 20.gxf3? stepped into M5. Houdini_20_x64: 27/86 13:31 8,608,288,140
-0.55 18.Rfe1 Qxc3 19.Qxc3 Rxc3 20.axb5 Rxf3
-1.32 18.axb5 Rxf3 19.Rxa7 Rxc3 20.Qb2 Bc8
-3.66 18.Qb1 Rxf3 19.gxf3 Rg8+ 20.Kh1 Qd5
Twelve year old boy playing Botvinnik variation against master and surviving is already amazing. But Tal's ability to spot tiny errors and win from them in such complications was even more impressive. Soviets were impressed with Fischer decade or so later when he played Tal, but Fischer was mostly just entertaining to Soviets whose attitude was something like, "very nice but we already have one, in fact he is already youngest ever WC!" (or about to be). HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAL! |
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| Nov-09-11 | | AnalyzeThis: White didn't know what he was doing in the opening, and paid the price. |
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| Nov-10-11 | | DrMAL: I'm not sure how much anyone knew about Botvinnik variation in 1949. White played well for a simul game, this opening requires time to calculate moves. But Tal's play at any age was great, it is totally amazing he was only 12! |
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| May-27-12 | | MarkFinan: Wow!! Simul, or no simul, Tal plays great... I think I'm gonna declare him my favourite 'old player' after going through this and a few other of his early 49-50 Tal games.. He was 12 years old here (apparently <DrMal> ;)), and the ONLY other players games that iv'e looked at, and been kinda mesmorised with at that age are Carlsens... Both Geniuses, It comes so easy to Carlsen, just like It did to Tal... They make me jealous lol |
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| Jul-31-12 | | JCRchess: Not to take anything away from Tal. He's an all-time great, someone whose play I've been a fan of and admired for decades. I can't help but feel as though 14.) Ne5? is one of those moves that GM Kholmov must have been wondering about why he found himself committing to it. |
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