<In (this) game Tal had been horrified to run into a variation prepared by Savon's Soviet Army Club teammates, and his prospects to hold after the adjournment looked dismal....Tal recalls a bizarre incident after resumption of play:

We were playing with a clock of far from perfect construction, and on which the flag fell at nowhere near the time control. I saw that by rights White had at least a minute left, and to demand a loss on time in such circumstances seemed blasphemous to me. All these thoughts occurred in a flash, and before the controller had time to record the fall of the flag, I made a move and pressed my clock. The game subsequently ended in a draw.>

For once your way with words have failed you.

A 'Good Sport' is someone who says 'well done' after blundering away a won game.

What Tal did went way beyond 'Good Sport'.

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When I first heard this tale I tried to put myself in Savon's shoes.

I lost on time, my opponent refused to accept it. I have the better postion do I play for a win....

...I'd find the dilema so awkward I'd almost wish my opponent had claimed the game on time.

Tal?

He was the best ever at creating OTB problems for his opponents to solve.

Now he's given me (and now no doubt others here imagining themselves in the same situation) a problem off the board in a game I was not involved in and I don't know what to do.

I love winning and I'd set the crudest, cheapest, slyest, nastiest trap I can think of to win. I don't think I could win that one.

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