Mikhail Tal
The Wizards Of Chess
A Magical Tal Game
by National Life Master Loal Davis
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Mikhail Tal
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Before I/we become enmeshed in some Tal magic, there is a MUST READ.
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Tal’s wife describes the personality of her husband.
See Comments.
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Tal versus Skuja Latvian Championship 1955
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1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Qc2 Re8 9. Rd1 c6 10. b3 Qc7 11. e4 a6 12. Ba3 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 Ne6 15. c5 dxc5 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 cxb4 18. Qa4 Bd7 19. Qxb4 a5
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The First Magical Moment
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White To Play
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20. dxe6
Tal spies ‘f7′ and a glorious material imbalance.
axb4 21. Rxd7 Qc3 22. exf7+ Kf8
Black’s step towards the center is understandable as he is concerned about
the material situation and wants his King attacking a Rook.
However
22… Kh8 23. fxe8=Q+ Rxe8 24. Rc1 Qxa3 25. Rcc7 b3
(25… Rg8 26. Nxe5 h6 27. Nxg6+ Kh7 28. Be4)
26. Rxg7 bxa2 27. Rxh7+
appears to lead to a perpetual check.
23. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 24. Rad1 Bf6 25. Bc1 Rxa2 26. Ng5 Qc2 27. Ne4 Be7
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What would you do as White?
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28. Rxe7+
Maybe I should have asked, “What would Tal do?”
Kxe7 29. Bg5+ Kf8 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Rd7+ Kh8
(31… Kg8 32. Nf6+ Kh8 (32… Kf8 33. Bh6#) 33. Rxh7#)
(31… Kf8 32. Bh6+ Kg8 (32… Ke8 33. Nf6#) 33. Nf6+)
32. h4
I believe the reason behind this is not to attack the King with the Pawn
or use it to disrupt the Kingside Pawns. This move supplies luft and allows
White to not respond to a first rank check by interposing with the Bishop.
A pinned Bishop is passive and Tal wants activity from all of his pieces.
Ra1+ 33. Kh2 Rd1 34. Nd6
Although this works out 34. Re7 may well have been a better move.
34… Qxf2
Whoops – Blunder; probably provoked by the fact that
White wants to do some attacking too.
With 34… Kg8 White is still better, but Black lasts longer.
35. Nf7+
Black’s Rook is hanging to an exposed attack and unless
Black wants to part with his Queen,
White’s Knight is immune to capture both now and later.
Kg7 36. Bh6+ Kf6
(36… Kg8 37. Rxd1 Qxf7
(37… Kxf7 38. Rf1 is similar to the game.)
38. Rd8+)
37. Rxd1 b3 38. Rf1 Qxf1 39. Bxf1 e4 40. Bc4 b2 41. Ba2 b1=Q 42. Bg5+ Kg7 43. Bxb1
1-0
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For the PGN file – See Comments
The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial Tournament 2012
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The Sorcerer From Riga / Mikhail Tal . |
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The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial will take place in Moscow from June 7 through June 19. . The confirmed participants are below: |
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Magnus Carlsen |
Vladimir Kramnik |
Levon Aronian |
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Teimour Radjabov |
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Hikaru Nakamura |
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Fabiano Caruana |
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. Three more players have yet to be announced. |
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Mikhail Tal / The Magician from Riga
by National Life Master Loal Davis
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Mikhail Tal
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| Mikhail Tal (November 9, 1936 – June 28, 1992) was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion. Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. Every game, he once said, was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem. He was often called “Misha”, a diminutive for Mikhail, and “The magician from Riga”. Both The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games (Burgess, Nunn & Emms 2004) and Modern Chess Brilliancies (Evans 1970) include more games by Tal than any other player. Tal was also a highly-regarded chess writer.He holds the records for both the first and second longest unbeaten streaks in competitive chess history. Many authorities consider him to have been the greatest attacking Grandmaster in the history of chess. On May 28, 1992, dying from kidney failure, he left the hospital to play at the Moscow blitz tournament, where he defeated Garry Kasparov. He died one month later. |
Tal Memorial 2011 / Final Standings
Levon Aronian had a rather dramatic win in the previous round against Peter Svidler. If Kramnik thought that Svidler would be ‘easy pickings’ in the last round and attempt to ‘cash in’ against a ‘wounded’ opponent, he was sorely surprised. Vladimir Kramnik lost in the final round.
If you think that ‘all opposite Bishop endings are drawn’ – think again. Magnus Carlsen had several opportunities to keep Rooks on the board, but chose to dive directly into an ‘opposite Bishop ending’. Hikaro Nakamura was on the losing end of a finely played ending.
The final two decisive games of the final round of the Tal Memorial 2011 Tournament are in the Comments Section below.Tal Memorial 2011 / Round 7
The seventh round of the Tal Memorial 2011 featured one decisive game. Nakamura ‘poked’ around with some aggressive attempts in the early part of the game, but then was ‘sent home’. He appeared to bypass a couple of ‘drawing’ attempts later on and was ‘ground down’ in the ending. Ivancuk scored a very nice win.
Tal Memorial 2011 / Rnd 3 / Black Friday
By National Master Loal Davis
Sergey Karjakin
There were three decisive results in the third round; all won with the black pieces. Karjakin missed a nice tactical sequence on the 56th move (DIAGRAM) but won his game anyway.
Click on the board to see what he missed.
Tal Memorial 2011 / Round 2
Magnus Carlsen |
Boris Gelfand |
| [Event "Tal Memorial 2011”] [Date "2011.11.17"] [Round "2"] [White "GMCarlsen"] [Black "GMGelfand"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2823"] [BlackElo "2746"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O Bd6 10. h3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12. Bb3 e5 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Bd2 O-O-O 15. d5 e4 16. dxc6 Qe5 17. f4 exf3 18. Rxf3 Ng4 19. cxb7+ Kb8 20. hxg4 Rh1+ 21. Kf2 Rxa1 22. Ne2 Bc5 23. Bc3 Qe7 24. g5 Rdd1 25. Ng3 Bd6 26. Qe2 Rg1 27. Qd3 Bc7 28. Ne4 Raf1+ 29. Ke2 Rxf3 30. gxf3 f5 31. gxf6 gxf6 32. Bxf6 Qh7 33. Qb5 Rg2+ 34. Kd3 Qd7+ 35. Qxd7 Nxd7 36. Bd5 Be5 37. f4 Bc7 38. Bc6 1-0 | |
Tal Memorial 2011 / Personal Outlooks
| Boris Gelfand, winner of the Candidates Matches in Kazan, is currently playing in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow. The same city will host next year the World Championship match between Gelfand and Viswanathan Anand, another participant of the Tal Memorial. |
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| “Mikhail Tal Memorial fits perfectly into my training program for the championship match against Anand – Gelfand said. – This is the strongest tournament composition in the world. Therefore, this will be a good test of my capabilities.” Gelfand added that he is not inclined to disclose his opening preparation for the match – “But at the some time I intend to experiment a bit.” |
Peter Svidler, who in 2011 won the World Cup and his sixth title of the Russian Chess Champion, said that Tal Memorial is his chance to finish the season on a positive note. “If I perform well in this tournament it will be a nice conclusion of a very successful year. And then with a clear conscience I can take a rest and start preparing for next season, which will be very difficult.” |
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| Svidler is not inclined to dramatize the fact that experts do not include him among the favorites to win the tournament, saying, “That is absolutely no shame.” |
Vladimir Kramnik is entering the competition with great ambition: “My spirit is always the same – to fight for the victory and try to use all my chances. But the distinguishing feature of this tournament is that includes almost all of the best chess players of the world. And the tournament will be very difficult for everyone.” “I will play from game to game, and by mid-tournament it typically becomes clear who will be in contention to win. It is very difficult to predict before the start of the competition, because at least the half of the field has a real chance to win first place,” – Kramnik said. |
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| Kramnik believes that the field is too strong and the tournament can’t be won with practical, safe and dry play. “To win the Tal Memorial, one should present a very strong and creative play. I know from my own experience that you can not win these tournaments with rational and boring chess. We must play our best chess and I am confident that the tournament will see some wonderful games.” |
Mikhail Tal Memorial 2011
Mikhail Tal – Eighth World Chess Champion
The 6th Mikhail Tal Memorial will take place from 16th to 25th November at the Pashkov House, Vozdvizhenka 3/5 in Moscow, Russia. Ten of the world’s top players will compete in the round robin tournament. The average elo as of 23rd September is 2775.
Participants:
Viswanathan Anand (India) – World Champion and winner of the recent Botvinnik Memorial
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) – currently topping the FIDE elo list, this year winner in Biel and co-winner in Bazna Kings
Levon Aronian (Armenia) – World team champion with Armenia
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) – Former World Champion, recently winner of the super tournament in Dortmund
Sergey Karjakin (Russia) – Co-winner in 2011 Bazna Kings
Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) – Winner of 2011 Capablanca Memorial, bronze medalist of the 2011 World Cup, World Championship Candidate
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) – Winner of 2011 Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee
Boris Gelfand (Israel) – Winner of the Candidate Matches, World Championship finalist
Peter Svidler (Russia) – Six-times Russian champion, winner of the World Cup, World Championship Candidate
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) – 2010 European and Russian champion
Mikhail Tal Memorial, previous winners:
2006 – Levon Aronian, Peter Leko, Ruslan Ponomariov – 5½ /9
2007 – Vladimir Kramnik 6½ /9
2008 – Vassily Ivanchuk 6 /9
2009 – Vladimir Kramnik 6½ /9
2010 – Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 5½ /9
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