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Boris Spassky vs Mark Taimanov
USSR Championship (1956), Leningrad URS , rd 13, Feb-01
Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer. Neo-Modern Variation (B68)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-20-10  Loser Of Threads: 26.Qg3 - i've kinda been staring at this position for like 20 minutes...i don't think i would even consider this move.

i would only be thinking about making 26.Nf5 work, you know what i mean? i would probably say to myself <i just need to guard e5 so i can play Nf5 without Qe5+, so maybe Rce1, then Nf5 or something, but then no, there's ...Ne4, so maybe something else...>.

but Spassky offers this queen trade, even though White's queen seems to be in an aggressive position, and Black's has just retreated to b8. there's a rule against that, right? like <don't exchange a well placed piece for a poorly placed enemy piece>? and i was already concerned about ...Ne4, and if black doesn't trade, then my queen being on g3 means a ...Ne4 will be with tempo.

and it's not like white is about to get checkmated and needs to bailout, right? there's some pressure on the queenside, but it doesn't seem critical yet. and is white's queenside pawn majority really that strong that spassky sees that he is winning after the trade? or at least better than he would have been had he kept queens on and continued to try to attack?

i don't get it. i have that feeling that i'm missing something even though i'm looking right at it.

Mar-15-14  tranquilsimplicity: <Loser of Threads> I felt exactly the same regarding the exchange of Queens.#
Mar-15-14  AsosLight: Yes, the queen exchange was absolutely brilliant. There was no other way for white to start pushing pawns without letting counterplay and nasty tactics. After the exchange black's queenside collapsed. This was a pure human move.
Mar-15-14  tranquilsimplicity: Oh..I actually meant that I was surprised that Spassky exchanged his Queen; my reasoning being as that of <Loser of Threads>.

But perhaps now we have the answer from you, <Asoslight>. Thanks.#

Mar-15-14  RookFile: Not sure what happened later, but I think Taimanov's play was excellent through the first 26 moves and he was fully equal, or even better, after 25...Qb8.
Feb-03-16  peterh99: I suspect the queen trade was possible because white's queenside pawns would easily win an endgame. Black's pawns were a mess.

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