Copyright © 1970, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2000 Hanon W. Russell o Table of Contents Tak A Remembrance 1 | From the Author 3 4 ‘This ise revised and expanded filth edition of Tal-Borvinnik 1960 by Before the Match I ‘Mikhail Tal first published in English in 1970, Translated from Rus- Game One 2 oo Game Four 36 f Game Twelve 133 (left) and Mikhail Tal, Tal is shown at about the age that his great fame Sixteen 165, Anson, Art Dincctor The publisher wishes io express its thanks £0 Game Twenty 204 Glean Petersen, editor of Chess Life and the United States Chess ‘Game Twenty-one 20 this book, RMTal: A Remembrance ‘To several eurent generations of chess players, Mikal Ta, "The Wisant of Rigs.” was muse. Atthe close ofthe 1950s, when choss was ‘setling down 1 & sort of “siemific determinism” of positional play, ‘young Misha anived st the most exahed chess “Taburaory” to shake Up ‘he formule sd a a arg beaker fal of fan. Where his contempora. jes shuffled, he sacrificed. He showed ws that beauty and poetry still remained in the royal game. As Ragocin suid, “Tal docs not move pieces ‘by hands he uses 2 magic wand” ‘Mikhail Nekmyevich Tal was hor» in Latvia on November 9, 1936, Although he was not a hil prigy when he dil begin ascend, he soared so rapid thet n 1957 he was hot the youngest Soviet cham pion ever and rare ease that required FIDE to awaal him the tile of International grander while waving the opera requirement that it fist recognize him as master! ‘Tals famous sorcerers stare made Clint Eastwood's most iis ter sneer look like the ubiquitous happy-fce, Tas ple actly once rove Pal Benko to retreat behind dark glastes daring 2 game. Never fne-upped on oF off the boat, Misha countered sith laughably over Sasi, borrowed shades. Beako lost. ‘When Tal beat Bovinnik fr the wold championship in 1960 ‘be was at the time the youngest word champion eve. fll of vigor and briiance. Then, within months, he developed what was co become & lifelong ilies sd handicap to his play. He was found io havea diseased dey, Everachoss Fnac, he hospital forthe romoval ofthe offend ing orgeo in 1962, Tal reportedly tale chess uni the unesthesimsk 48 strapped oat During his convalescence, be would sneak out of the ospial o play at the local ches elo Twas fortunate enough to st next to Tal at smal table during the fnal World Championship of his hifeime, Kaspaow-Karpov, New York, 1990, about wo years boforeTal's death, AS ws sippd coffe in ‘he protection of private mecting room, we watched famous GMs com ‘ent in tum on the game af an oversized boar. Sere HE EEE eee eee1 was shocked by T's appeerance. His illness and is pasion had demanded from him a great price. Alnough barely $4, he seme physically anol an frail man, What har be bad lef was white. He had Ist traveled halfray acound the world by Je, a challenge to even the young and heel. On op of tha, this 30" anniversary of his own unfor table victory had brought him together with old chess adversaries and Did fiends, [twas clear that his day ad already included frequent cer- monial toasts to past bates a's prematurely wizened face was heavy Tidded he Ranehed over in his gray, double-ressed su, hs elbows Cn the table. is chin resting in his hands. The od stare was frankly abit laze. As the game unfolded, Kasparov was onthe attack, building up against Karp’ cased king, No less than Yasser Seirawan was taking 8 {um soar private demonstration hoard when it became clear te bashing K's were reaching a critical point. My eyes darted between the position and Tl as Leoverly checked is fce for resetion. Surely such an atack- ing game between titans sized the old juices in the Wizard somewhere own dep. Kasparov was now the young wtacking genius whose games reguariy amazed rood fll of grandmasters. How much ofthis new ‘pias could the “old” one Follow? “Tee next Kasparov move was anounced and repeated on the big boud, At the exact moment the piece found its neve square, Misha’ exhausted stare soddenly twisted into an exaggerated, caroon- lke ge ‘mace of pore revulsion, {hal expected hint follow up by baling is tse ani erying “Phew!” Obviously Tal hd feandthe move tobe a game spoiler. Everyone cic wt the“all” accept Emperer Gary's ne clothes, and Ta's face quickly regrouped self w 2 puasded tare. But from tha pint on inthe game, Karpo’s defers ta take contol. Inthe end it was Kasparov oho was eelieved to dia, Later. when the game bad ‘een analyzed worldwide, Kasparov's eulpit-move was fund tobe the same one that nity cote Tals face for tat revealing moment at the table Right up ani Hfe's last checkmate, Mikhail Ta, eight chess chanspion ofthe world sil ad the sorcery in his wand and in his eyes, His games will continue to inspire new generations of players to find the ‘swashbuckling andthe Betflin ches. Ia this book, he Shares with ‘you, a inmate way, his special mag Al Laverne Executive Director, US. Chess Feieration, 1988-1896 From the Author In the spring of 1960, evo Soviet chessplavers again met each ‘the inthe match for dhe champinship ofthe world. This time I played the role ofchlleazr. Twill tid the fac tha twas very Mlaterng that die world championship match between tiinnik and me aroused greet nrest mong chessplayer. Al the match games were analyzed in deal inthe pages ofthe pros. Grandmastr Ragozin headed the remarkable analysts Iv, soon after the finish ofthe dl, published books about the match. ‘Toad something to thei variations isa problem whichis by no means ey, But tis thor has not ted to do that. His goal was nox 10 iscover some move in the srugele through the eyes of detached ‘geval wo ry to give he personal feelings, thoughts, agitstion, and Aisppointmecrts ofa dices parixipat inthe combat. Let the reader not ‘complain than this bok. he will ot se Tal fguratvely speaking, in astarhed white shi std Ge, bt in his working elthes | will relate the Story ofthe mite, basicaly rom the beginning of tis intense due. ‘Ofcourse, such book might be tox cern extent, ne-sided. 1 therefore placed before myself one goal rev fo the reader, ideal, the diulectical developmental process ofa chess game, beginning with the ‘pening. A book this size doesnot permit me to give an opening manual, and in fac, such would be beyond the scope ofthis endear, __—_ach gaume is prefaced with a small intdocton, in whieh 1 discuss the atte before the game, o go infor a smal lyrical digression, sharing my thoughts thc 1 hod atthe time of the match Riga September, 1960 Bim EE eee eee te Hee Eee eeBefore the Match “The cherished deam of every chessplayer isto play x mach with ‘he World Champion. But bere is the paradox: he closer you cme w the realization ofthis goal, the less you think about it Ar the very beginning ‘of my erative pat | mentally depicted my meeting wth Botvinnik mare ‘an once. Botvinnik- the horo of our generation, on whose games and labors more than ove Pleiad of Soviet chessplayers has beea nartured. eter, thi goal became less of dream as Thecamse a member ofthe lrze _group of prtiepants who were playa series of tourna’ eading the right to pay a match with the Werld Champion. However, “current affis” somshow pushed these “sweet dreams” int the background, ‘Curiously enough, st the time of the Candidates Tournament, I did not find myself ance dreaming those dreams which until recenly had seemed ‘0 Forbidden. But the tournament ended, Thad succeeded in taking ist place and had earned the right wo play he match. then would seem tha here seas not mina 1 ose before preparations forthe maich should begin. Far from it My nervous reetion ter that marathon toumament hal been so great Ua Twas in no ‘condition to think about the math, or for that mater, any serous chess ‘work. nd there was not much time befor the beginning of the match Jessthan six montis, Rater than venturing it myself, Alexander Koblents sn began he basins of dccussing the problems of preparation forthe ‘moat impontant event in my ie ‘Uni thr time, {had considered myslt, and not without reason, mong the ranks of oumanneal chessplayers had only bad one cecasion to play an actual match (hat was in 1984, whem Lo tell the tat, really id aot imagine dat it was necessary 10 prepa for such a cones) ‘Therefore Twas completely unfair wi he specific character of this ype of competition. ‘Nevertheless, hare exist a huge diference between tournament sand match play. Fist of all, (0 express it coarsely. how is the bookkeeping: While in a toumament& participant is not bound by his int shoring at est inthe fia part of the tournament ~and ean venture ‘he luxury of “staying up Ise” atthe star, each match gone is equally ‘important. You see, it-& match there are no other competitors, 00 ‘outsiders anda chessplayer cannot plan in vance from whom he will win without Eu, with whom a draw will be sofficient and (as oft ‘happens to whom it wll not be shameful ose, The ost of each point in 8 match in comparison with a toumament grows twotoll 4 one bessplayer wins, then his rival astomatcally loses, and therefore match ganes aay vos apa fein of espns, thes have their own psychological charts. IF in the Ccanidacs Tours, brane weary eng oe a We se ‘oppvsent Forties and his was afer an terval of seven rounds. then ‘hats toe aid ahour amare, whore would meet the sain eessplaer (ay in and day on? Thi seven more axing, Finally, de problem of preparing fora matchis also sgnificanly more ciffcul T hive not set mentioned that my opponent was an ssurpassed master of home prepenion, If T often employed. tisky ‘aratons, it may have worked cut in a toumameat iT put my’opes on some sky opening adventure in 3 match, my BLT was certain € be called Ta word, | had comparatively Fite time in which to study he “ABCs” of match play, while my opponent, inthe Tas ea years, had efended his “Caunpionship Dissertation ony in this mii. Am. scaly, when we Begun to go over gumes play by Bowinnk since he hha won the te of World Champion (1948), it Ji not cake much to convince us that che overwhelming majority of them were payed in tile Imatches, in which he had three mes defended his tle, and once covered i as often chided for the fact that only one month after the conclusion of the Candidates “Tournament, T entered the Fist Totemationat Toumament at Rigs (and it was extremely unimportant). Here I mast frankly admit that thie appearance was also one of the ingredients of my preparation for the match, Chess fans, probably. focased their station onthe Ist that in the majority of my gas in this ‘oumament, | tumed out to bee the defensive, sometimes right rom the ‘opening. Insmach as defense is slways been my “Actilles Hel" dd ‘ot tueat lig. [nal fires, it mst be noted tha the pace Was St by {he two winners ofthe tournament, aris Spassky and Vladas Mikenas heir results at the end were 50 impressive, that I al po time in tis competition, saw any porsibliy of Being their equa However, be that it may, my trainer and I were fil satisfied ‘ith the creative results of the toumanen. And besides, this small, leant tournament in Rigs in my opinion, was an exuemely valuable fension reliever. It is interesting to uote that T fel est tied after the turament than Idd before it. Atthe same, Thad begun my preparation 4 Peet Bae ieee Caetano eee{forthe fonbeoming match in camest. Tis customary to consider tat preparation for each competition 4s divided into three clemens: (1) a chess element (osically the ‘openings: (2) u psychological element and (3) physical element “The analysis of innovations by Soviet and foreign theoreticians ters int the fiat clement now search, 2 beter continuation in his ot ‘hat opening variation, The psyebelogical element includes primaity a ‘etiled analysis ofthe games oe future opponcal ful compechension of his strenghis and weaknesses snd percesion of his manne o a8 ‘commonly called is syle of play. PhYsea preparation, it seems to me Ties tot solely in the walm of chess. But we gave fundamental sonsideraton 1 physical pcpartion tht would give me beter chances ‘of having fest ming i ach tiring atch, rather than generaing wo saileases of theoretical novelties However, due to general fatigne, i ured out that T'was notin any condition 1 shapen any ‘opening edges anyway. Therefore, we did not ‘ea too much tine prepare he openings. 1, understandably, felt daning the mach tht T could ‘tbe sated with my ests in dhe iil stages in many games, But tere were also advantages fom the outset ofthe fst game, I fle “hungry” for chess, and wha is een aor important, Fight tothe beginning of the 2ist gare, never et too “al” Nevertheless of course, we sent a considerable amount of ime ‘over the chessbourd AS far asthe openings were concemed, our basic problem was to “find ovr own level” so that would be spared from having to “re invent the whe!” during the match, Bascal, it did not seem necessary 19 us that my opening repertoice had 1 be changed, Tirst ofall, {bad trio the possibility of varying openings in tournaments, especially with White and also in defense of 1 dS. In any case, we examined several sysiems, except forthe Sician Defense ‘which Valnoet always use in answer ea say “in any case" because otvinnik, in his preceding matches, had nce opened once with his e- pai The last tm in any competition forthe Weed Charpionshp that the di so as in a game With Reshevsky in 1943, afer he had already secured ist place. And in the toumaenls in which Botvinnik had ‘eeasonalypartifpaed, he, ab ale, payed dé or 4 onthe fst move, ‘enturng 1 64 nly with those opponents who seemed vo be relatively ‘weaker. Anda sharp reorganization actully cannot belpin he course of ft strugele, since itis understood thar it takes a while to become accusimed to positions encountered forthe Fist time in tournament ‘So ter they were, our opening plans. For Back to perfec the syxtems fomeriy employed by me in closed openings, and for White basically 2 examine the variations employed by Botvisik in answer 10 ef, which Intended to play fom the very being ‘We focused most of oar tention on arlyZing the games of Botvina. 1 wl ot ide te fact ha this was not an ey probes. Fat of al, it was no easy because the majority ofthe World Champion's eames were already well known and the quality of play -the hay’ of logics ‘Conceptions thesct consistency i the reaiaton ofa pln, the ability to impos: his syle of play on his opponent, tbe iepreactbke endgame technige - this was also quite fuilar 1 us. Boisinsik’s care entrance into compe sions recently also played a role. Is ue that as 8 rile, these appearances weee rater sucess. In the lst ive years, Botti, except fo is Weald ‘Championship matches, had participated in the Otympiades 1 Amsterdam, Moscow ane Munich hore he tained good results, Iosing only one tame. To his eet, the World Champion di share Fst place in dhe Moscow Intrational and won & small touramaent in Holland. He likewise hed Paticipsted in the People’s Sparakiade of the ‘USSR. Thu probly was all. On te basis ofthese Bes it was necessary 0 come 10.3 coneusion about the contemparsy Barvinnie We were convinced that my fora opponent had not recently ‘one in foe any voluntary intensification ofa svgae, and in those cases when he was caught up ina combinational "sto." he was es sre of himself. 1 he obtained a poston in the opening in whieh he had the inaive. diem his opponent, under presse, could only hope for & mira, and this occured very, very rarely. The discovery was made thst ‘inmany games, Botvinnik woud agree o& minimal edge in the endgame, hich af 2 rule, would lead to success thanks to his highly plished technique, | But the most important coaclasion at which we arrived ia ‘examining al of his games mighthave been tha uring a game Boinnik ives most of his consideration wo strategic questions ot being distracted by diferent tactical variations. This an be bot a plus (consisteny in the realization of a plan) and a minis, since in several postions his luncerestimation of the tactics showed considerably in his results. For fv" SSARESFESABSSOSOMORBGRISE SE ESEIOEUSIEO#SEESOESESESIEEEE‘example, in several games in his match with Vasily Smyslov, in particular In he th game ofthe 1957 mach, andthe L1th and 2d games ofthe eum match Aoi as seen in Rocinsik-Gurgenids in the People’s IL Sparakiade of the USSR, when though Botwvinnik had restricted his opponent according t0 al rules of ehoss statzay, he was aot able (2 realize the vantage which he tad bined all hat ha been required ‘was some sharp tsa! play, In this respec, his games anit foreign chesspayers seem les sihificant since in many of he encounters where chad strategic superiwly, his was fully suisen w bring hore the ull, point These were, en, probably all the conclusions which we were able to drew fom the Werld Champion's gums. We diew some interesting cmclosons fom sttinics. panicula. Bocvinnik hod lst only to games in tournament play since 1956, to Pal Keres inthe Alekhine Iterestonsl Memos Toornment and to Dueckstein inthe XIE Chess Olympiade. Both games, in which Botvinnik bud Black, “onfrled under the banner ofthe Sila." Farber, in several other gumes played with te Sicilian, Botvinaik's position was ‘ot too favorable for long time. One ght recall his meeting with Bent ‘Larsen atthe XII Chess Olsmpiade in Moscow. osvinnk ha achieves most of his sucess employing the Cro- Kano Defense when he badd Blick, although this dense itis trae, bad ly undergone trial in one competion, the return match with Smyslov, while the appearance ofthe French Defense in Botvinik’s games was becoming rarer ad rarer in recent yeas. Only in Munich, aysinst Wolfgang Unlmann, oid Botvinik ansver 3 6 with 1.6, and then it can be assumed that the Geran Gramaster (hen still a Master) refrained from 24 a Re himself usually played the French ‘We did not find one game in which Botvinnik played. Whi against the King's Indian when he cod 2.5. It was not clear which sytem Botvinnik would wse in ep othe King’s Indian Defense, since in is games, the sold Fanchetio ofthe Kigg Bishop had been most encountered, as well asthe recently fashionable Saemisch Attack. The small numboe of games played by Bosviank could not give ws satisfactory answers to our many interesting questions. In short the prepartion for th mats was “a preparation wth many unknowns” and ony the match itself would give the answers oa the question March, 1960, impercepiily approached. Further events developed rapidly. The arrival in Mescow inthe eveing, the drawing oF Tes, the est of which was that wea have Whiten he fs ame the nest day. the mate's opening ceremonies, and then March 15th, the fist round, Tensor sya ign ap al te Seach wow SOUR fal une ne eo ee tre ps ce aa a er” Tra Somes cert me SAV Cog TS Boab Stearman SUS hone Se Sty eC mainte ie Sou moetpens Sriennsonwanssseee ae a oe tee elo: “onennorory ide Sherman Scroceccnites cha cece Sy fo a rn oh whe Bevtacenea ane Sins seena 9b thet stn fourm ste mincogton Ppa being cup nates SSpconlociy Bonne Game One Tuesday, 15 March 1960 losing ceremonies atthe Candi- dates” Tournament in Belgrade, a Yugoslav radigcommentator asked sme: "What will ou play a the ist move as White nthe fst game of your match with Bowvinnik?” 1 ‘romsed, without much reflection, to begintha gamey advancing my cepa and didnot want to break ‘my word forno reson whatsoever that nowithstaming. the move ef 18 nt $0 bad itl. ‘Mikhail Tab-Mikhall Botvinnik French Defense 1 e2-e4 (0.01) €7-e6 (0.01) Tethie a surprise? Notas ac as Fam ‘concerned, At lest, preparing for the match, my waiver Aleander Koblents realized that is use fof the French Defense was areal possibilty. Although this opening did aot bring Bowinnik ny special success im his second match with Smyslo. Boevinik’s exceptional ‘reatve ability id noe provide any basi fr assuming tha he would shy away fom dt very French Derense which so many times had