| Nov-24-04 | | solstys: Yikes! A disaster for Tal. Nevertheless, he's still my favorite. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | Shams: yeah, by 1979 he was in bad shape. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | ughaibu: In 1979 he won his interzonal with the second highest percentage an interzonal has ever been won with. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | Minor Piece Activity: I'll be dumb- who was the first ugi? |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | ughaibu: Kotov in 1952. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | Shams: I was not aware of that, but I really meant he was in bad physical shape, so not consistent at the board. Am I misinformed? |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | ughaibu: I dont know about that. I think his troublesome kidney was removed in the late 60s after which his results regained their consistency. Perhaps Benzol can give us the full story. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | Benzol: <ughaibu> You're right that Tal's diseased kidney was removed in the late 60's. As soon as it was his results improved dramatically. However, his form could still waver in consistency. He had brilliant results in the early 70's but then failed badly in the interzonal in 1973 because his health played up.
In 1979 his play in Montreal and the interzonal was reminiscence of the 1957 - 1960 period but against Polugaevsky in the candidates match 1980 he failed to register even one win in eight games. If I remember rightly his brother passed away during the match so it wasn't exactly his own health that was the problem.
His results from here until 1984 were rather mixed but improved again in 1985. He ended up in a play off match with Timman (the result was a drawn match) in 1985 (Timman went through on tie break) and although in individual games he played as formerly he couldn't seem to play consistantly for long enough when it counted. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | ughaibu: Thanks Benzol. |
|
| Nov-24-04 | | sneaky pete: The year is wrong. According to a newspaper column by Hans Ree, this game is from a simul given in June, 1959.
White should have played 19.Kh1 .. with an unclear position. |
|
Nov-06-06
 | | Joshka: So 6...g5 having never been played before, is really a blunder that Tal didn't punish correctly? was this a simul game? |
|
| Mar-11-09 | | Sem: By the looks of it Tal played Black! |
|
| Sep-29-09 | | tivrfoa: <Sem: By the looks of it Tal played Black!> every time Tal loses, someone says something like that. xD
beautiful game! Well done J Van Eijbergen |
|
| Apr-14-12 | | balzarius: Tal got punished in his own sacrificial style by a probably master strenght player.However,it was only a simul game,but a wonderful one! |
|
| Sep-16-21 | | Gaito: 
click for larger viewPresumably Tal played 8.Nxd4 quickly and without a careful analysis of the consequences. Otherwise he would almost certainly have played 8.Bxg5 which is the refutation of Black's funny sixth move.
A good advice for the grandmaster who gives a simultaneous exhibition is to ask the organizers (before the exhibition begins) which players are the strongest players among the participants. Kasparov usually did that. I remember a simultaneous exhibition by Kasparov in Mexico City; before he began playing he asked the organizers to please tell him where the strongest players were seated, so he could be especially careful on those boards. |
|
| Sep-16-21 | | Gaito: 
click for larger viewWHITE TO MOVE
10.Qe3 would have given White a comfortable edge, but presumably Tal had got the idea that his opponent was a weak player (perhaps because of his bizarre sixth move), and so played 10.e5??, avoiding the exchange of queens, but overlooking Black's strong rejoinder 10...Qc6! Judging by the continuation of the game it is clear that Black was far from being a weak player; maybe he was a strong coffee-house player or an expert-rated player. Had Tal known that beforehand, he would likely have played differently. |
|
| Sep-16-21 | | Gaito: Black missed at least one stronger move (11...h5! instead of 11...Nh6?!) whereby he could have obtained an unstoppable K-side attack; but he was lucky that Tal faltered again in the following critical position:
click for larger view
WHITE TO MOVE
After 14.Bxf7+! Kf8 (14...Kxf7 15.Qxf5+ would give White the tempo he needs to get a good position) 15.Qg4 h5 16.Qh3 Nh4 17.Bb3 Qxg2+ 18.Qxg2 Bxg2 the position would be somewhat unclear and White would at least have time to finish the development of his Q-side pieces. (See diagram below):
click for larger view. Instead, Tal played 14.Qg4?
It is really curious that Tal should have overlooked a typical Tal move like 14.Bxf7+! but probably he still was laboring under the impression that his opponent was a patzer or something like that, so Tal didn't pay much attention to the choice of moves when it was his turn. That is only my conjecture, and I could be mistaken. |
|
| Sep-16-21 | | Gaito: Black concluded the game in grandmasterly fashion: his five last moves were strong and powerful, and not even the engines are able to find any improvement in the way Black concluded his attack. Once Bobby Fischer was slaughtered in similar fashion in a simultaneous display, and his only comment after the game was. "Gee, terrific!" See that game in this link:
Fischer vs R Burger, 1964
As a kibitzer mentioned:
<perfidious: Sometimes the lambs slaughter the butcher.> Likewise, Tal might have said to his opponent: "Gee, terrific!" |
|
| Sep-23-21 | | Gaito: Another famous GM crushed by an amateur in a simultaneous dispay can be seen in this link: Reshevsky being chekmated in nine moves!
Reshevsky vs Z Margalit, 1958 |
|
Kibitzing
sac: 19...Bc5