| May-06-05 | | woodenbishop: I was the team captain and he (Seirawan) played second board. In our match against Russia, Tal offered a draw to Yaz and he approached me and said, "Tal offered me a draw but I think I'm better so I'm going to refuse." And he won a very nice game. Impressive, because Tal had a big name while Yasser was young, but he had faith in himself, which you need if you want to succeed. -PAL BENKO (This is the game in which Tal offered Yaz a draw before the game commenced.) |
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| May-12-06 | | MagnaPsygnosis: <woodenbishop>
U r joking.....right.
Anyway, i am A great Yasser Seirawan Fan, but I like tal also....
I think this a brilliant game anyway... |
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| Aug-18-07 | | Katana: True...Tal did offer a draw to Seirawan and black was slightly better at that point. So the obvious reaction would be to accept the draw. But Yasser felt comfortable with his position wich had a sort of reversed Dragon feel to it and decided to play on, wich indeed troubled Pal Benko, the teamcaptain, because the Russians were so strong and a draw was more than welcome. So Yasser surprised Mikhail by refusing the draw offer and eventually won the game! |
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| Aug-18-07 | | Silverstrike: <MagnaPsygnosis> He's quoting Pal Benko. |
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| Oct-27-10 | | Ulhumbrus: 19...c5? is a serious positional error which puts Black's King's Bishop out of play until it is too late to save the game. Instead of this, defending the d4 pawn by 19..Be6 instead avoids putting the Black KB out of play eg 19...Be6 20 Nd2 Rac8 21 Nc4 Rb8! 22 Qc2 Bb4 |
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| Apr-19-11 | | sergeidave: <(This is the game in which Tal offered Yaz a draw before the game commenced.)> Hmmm... how strange.
According to Seirawan's last book, it was on the 25th move that Mischa offered a draw from a better position, to which Seirawan replied "I'd like to play". But, I do remember a mention about Tal offering a draw before a game, although I'm not exactly sure where I heard or read that. |
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| Apr-19-11 | | Shams: What a brilliant and unusual motif at the end whereby white gains a tempo to push the h-pawn! |
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Apr-20-11
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Odd--I thought Black was much better after 23...cxb4. The finish is almost worthy of an endgame study, as Black is reduced to repeating himself even as his position deteriorates. |
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| Oct-31-11 | | wordfunph: GM Seirawan's recollection of this game..
<"I arrived at the table, the gong sounded and the games were underway. Mischa and I shook hands....and for the first time, I realized Mischa had a birth defect known as complex syndactyly. On his right hand, Mischa's little finger and ring finger were fused together, as were his index finger and middle finger. The effect of this was seemingly to give him two thick fingers and a thumb.> |
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Oct-31-11
 | | Retireborn: I remember reading an issue of NiC some years ago, in which Tal lamented that he'd lost every game he'd played against Seirawan up to that time. |
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| Oct-31-11 | | wordfunph: <Retireborn> from Seirawan's book Chess Duel.. Classical Games versus Mikhail Tal
Seirawan-Tal, Valetta, Malta 1980: 1-0
Seirawan-Tal, Niksic, Yugoslavia 1983: 1-0
Seirawan-Tal, Montpellier, France 1985: 1-0
Seirawan-Tal, Brussels, Belgium 1988: 1-0
Tal-Seirawan, Skelleftea, Sweden 1989: 0.5-0.5
Seirawan: four wins. one draw. Classical Score 4.5-0.5 |
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Oct-31-11
| | Retireborn: <wordfunph> Yes, I think it was in the Nic report about the Brussells 1988 World Cup that I read that. Reminds me of Korchnoi in "Chess is my Life" complaining how he always lost to Keres (who in turn always lost to Portisch!) |
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| Mar-25-12 | | Everett: <..and for the first time, I realized Mischa had a birth defect known as complex syndactyly. On his right hand, Mischa's little finger and ring finger were fused together, as were his index finger and middle finger. The effect of this was seemingly to give him two thick fingers and a thumb.> http://chessville.com/images/Benko_... Picture seems to be taken from the hospital during Curacao '62, when Tal fell ill. |
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| Mar-25-12 | | JoergWalter: <When I was ill in Curacao, Bobby Fischer made a point of visiting me in the hospital. -- Mikhail Tal > |
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| Aug-07-17 | | Nf8: <I was the team captain and he (Seirawan) played second board. In our match against Russia, Tal offered a draw to Yaz and he approached me and said, "Tal offered me a draw but I think I'm better so I'm going to refuse." And he won a very nice game. Impressive, because Tal had a big name while Yasser was young, but he had faith in himself, which you need if you want to succeed. -PAL BENKO> Seirawan's version is a bit different: https://twitter.com/AntonSquaredMe/... |
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| Aug-07-17 | | ChessHigherCat: Seirawan was totally fearless in that game!
Regarding the Seirawan quote: <"..and for the first time, I realized Mischa had a birth defect known as complex syndactyly. On his right hand, Mischa's little finger and ring finger were fused together, as were his index finger and middle finger. The effect of this was seemingly to give him two thick fingers and a thumb.> It didn't stop him from playing the piano through (like Django Reinhardt on the guitar, except his fingers were fused together in a fire): <Despite a physical defect – from his birth he had only three fingers on his right hand – he [Tal] played the piano, and not at all badly. His first wife, Sally remembers that one the evening when they met, Misha was playing some Chopin etudes. Besides Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov were his favorite composers"> https://smile.amazon.com/Russian-Si... |
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Aug-08-17
 | | tpstar: <Complex Syndactyly> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe... http://www.tabladeflandes.com/zenon... |
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Kibitzing
