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Mikhail Tal vs Wolfgang Uhlmann
"Trojan Horse" (game of the day Nov-13-2017)
Moscow (1971), Moscow URS, rd 6, Nov-30
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation. Open System Euwe-Keres Line (C07)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Feb-08-03  Bears092: black should probably keep fighting here...
Feb-08-03
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: Yeah I know what you mean--he's not actually down in material. But if you look, it's hard to suggest a plausible move.
Feb-08-03  judokausa1: I think the reason he resigned was that he is about to lose massive material. What can black do to stop the threat of Bb5+ , Rac1, Qf8(Qxg7-Qxh8 if the knight moves it drops. The bishop is off limits due to the mate threat Qd8. Uhlmann is just recognizing that he has no moves left and white will start winning material soon.
Feb-08-03  ughaibu: I presume Tal had seen that effectiveness of the redeployment of the bishop from g5 to b4 up to and including the possible consequences from the final position when he played Nf5. Great game, but it could all have been homework.
Feb-08-03  drukenknight: I thought Uhlmann was doing well for a time.

I havent seen enuf games of Uhlmann to say about him but there are some players who seem to play really quite sharp moves for awhile then when something unexpected happens, they lose confidence quickly.

In the opening why not 7...f6?

After the game breaks open should he hit the Q w/ 14...Rd8?

Feb-08-03  drukenknight: what about 11...e5? get this central pawn mass moving, after all a larger pawn structure is about the only imbalance that is left for black to exploit; he's lost the chance to make attacks on the K for now.

instead of using these pawns it seems that black wants to buy more time for his Q to move about. Space for time, hmmm.

Feb-09-03  knight64: M. Tal plays really sharp opening moves...
Feb-09-03  mdorothy: DK: On 7...f6, I think his whole point was to lead up to your next questioned move, 11...Qxc3. He wanted the attack on the kingside. He made 11...Qxc3 because he thought he could win the knight, but Tal had an incredible sac on f5, opening the lines the other way. 11...e5 may have worked, I'm not quite sure. But, 14...Rd8 just loses immediately to 15. Qxd8#, remember the knight is pinned.
Feb-12-03  drukenknight: md. Geez I am stupid for missing that N pin. Blame it on the Mistybeach java viewer. (the default viewer was messed up probably due to a cookie or something.)

The reason I am opposed to Qxc3 is on theoretical grounds. if black is up in material then he should look to exchange down. By attempting to grab material a second time, almost invariably this sort of thing does not work. IN fact in my opinion grabbing an iso pawn (on c3) does not even gain material, so it should be discarded as a move.

what about 12...Qe5 allowing a check but then looking to gain material w/o breaking up the pawns.

Aug-11-03  PVS: There must be something better than 11...Qxc3.
Aug-11-03  crafty: 19. ... ♕e4 20. ♗c3 ♗d5 21. ♖xd5 ♕xd5 22. ♗xg7 ♕d8   (eval 1.70; depth 12 ply; 1000M nodes)
Aug-11-03  morphynoman2: I give you the commentaries to this game by both players:

7... Qb6 8. Qe2 cxd4 9. 0-0-0, with development advantage and initiative (Tal)

9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. Qd4 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qg5 12. Qa4 b5! 13. Nb5 Qe5 14. Kf1 Ke7 and the position is unclear; 11... Qb4=(Tal)

9... Bb4?!; 9... Be7 10. Be3 Qc7= (Uhlmann); 10. Qd2 Bg5 11. Qg5 Nd4 12. Bd7, winning; 10... Nf6 11. 0-0-0, with advantage and attack (Tal)

11... Qc3 is interesting; if 11... a6 12. Bxc6 Bxc6 13. Nxc6 Qg5 14. Qd6! Ne7 15. Rfd1! Nc6 16. Qd7 Kf8 17. Qb7, winning (Tal); 14... Nh6 15. f4 Nf5 16. Qc7 Qf6 17. Qb7 0-0 18. Rf3, with white advantage (Uhlmann)

12. Nf5!! Qc5 13. Nd6 Kf8 14. Nb7 Qb5 15. Qd7 Qg5 16. Qc6 (Uhlmann)

14... Nf6 15. Rad1 h6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Re6! fe6 18. Qe6 Kf8 19. Rd7 Qa1 20. Bf1, and white must win (Uhlmann)

15. Bd2!; 15. Ba4 was dubious because 15... b5 16. Bd2 Qc4 17. Bb3 Rd8! 18. Qc7 Rd7, and the game is even (Tal)

16. Bb4! and not 16. Rac1? Qxc1 17. Rxc1 axb5 18. Rc6 Rd8!, with black's advantage (Tal)

19... Nf6 20. Qh8 Ne4 21. Be1, winning (Tal)

Aug-11-03  Corben: With moves like 12. Nf5... one starts to believe in Tals magic, seems Uhlmann was a believer at move 19. Seems that in chess everything is possible.
Aug-11-03  mkdir: Tal was probably the greatest entertainer after world war 2....he is my all time favourite....
Aug-11-03  hickchess99: very instructive, super instructive even.
Aug-11-03  bunti: AS the computer program Crafty, noted Uhlman is not that far behind. However Uhlman spent an hour and fifty minutes thinking about Tal's 12th move of Nf5 and deciding on whether to accept Tal's sacrifice. Needless to say, at this point iin the match he was in serious time trouble. He had only a minute and a half left on his clock.
Aug-11-03  hickchess99: where does everyone get this information?
Aug-11-03  pkspks: tal was a great attacker and this games shows one of his good games go to www.chess.fm and go to the bottom and click on the game of the week with tal thats one of his best
Nov-07-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: <PVS> GM Lombardy thought that 11...Nge7 had to be made.
Nov-07-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Very demoralizing for Uhlmann - he was the world's leading exponent of the French!
Dec-05-04  Knezh: why not 7.dxc5?
Mar-01-05  kevin86: That's what world champs do:beat you when you play YOUR opening.
Mar-01-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  cu8sfan: I don't quite get the pun. I was expecting the White ♘♘ or at least one of them to wreak havoc behind enemy lines and was a bit disappointed how quickly both these horses disappeared from the board. A nice game nonetheless.
Mar-01-05  JohnTal: Great to be the featured player of the day with the Problem of the day and the Game of the Day.

Nothing like offering a Kt sac against a conservative French player like Wolf and eating him for lunch 8 moves later. Well done Mischa

Mar-01-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: This was 1971. Surely by now, Tal's opponents should have learned that moves like 9...Bb4?! only encourage him to sacrifice pawns.
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