White
Start with 1.e4, aiming to play open lines of the Sicilian: 1...c5.
After 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3, Tal scored 74% against 5...a6 with 6.Bg5, 79% against 5...Nc6 with 6.Bg5, 81% against 5...e6 with 6.Be2 and 72% against 5...g6 with 6.Be3.
Against 2...Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 he scored 71% with 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5.
Against 2...e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 he scored 74% with 5.Nc3, and against 4...Nc6 he scored 69% with 5.Nc3, rising to 83% when he met 5...Qc7 with 6.Be3.
He was happy going down the main line of the Spanish: 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3, usually meeting 7...d6 with 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 and 7...0-0 with 8.c3 d6 9.h3, scoring 68%.
He met the Marshall Attack: 7...0-0 8.c3 d5 with the main line 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5, but after 11...c6 he played both 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3, scoring 67%, and 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.d4 Bd6 14.Re3, scoring 63%.
In the main line of the Open Defence: 5...Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 he scored 64% with 9.c3.
Against the Steinitz Deferred: 4...d6 Tal scored 85% with 5.0-0.
Against the Berlin: 3...Nf6 he scored 72% with 4.0-0, happily entering the main line of what is now known as the Berlin Wall: 4...Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nxf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3. Tal's opponents more often played 5...Be7, against which he had disappointing results the five times he played the main move 6.Qe2, scoring just 50% in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, but scoring a win and a draw when he refined this with the line 6.dxe5 0-0 7.Qe2.
Tal met other third moves in the Spanish too infrequently to give a repertoire recommendation.
Against the Petrov: 2...Nf6 he scored 64% with the main line 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3.
Tal met the Philidor: 2...d6 three times, scoring two wins and a draw with 3.d4.
Against the French: 1...e6 2.d4 d5 he played the Tarrasch: 3.Nd2 marginally more often than the Winawer: 3.Nc3.
The vast majority of Tal's opponents replied to 3.Nd2 with 3...c5, when Tal scored 73% with 4.Ngf3.
The main reply to this in his games was 4...Nc6, when he scored 79% in the seven games he played 5.Bb5 and in the seven when he played 5.exd5.
Today 4...cxd4 is probably more popular. Tal always played the main line, 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4, although he only scored 50% with it, albeit against top-class opposition.
Against 3...Nf6 Tal scored 92% with 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.Bd3 (White's last two moves were often reversed) Nc6 7.Ne2.
Tal met other third moves in the French Tarrasch too infrequently to give a repertoire recommendation.
Against the Caro-Kann: 1...c6 Tal scored a stupendous 95% with 2.c4!? Most opponents replied 2...d5, against which he usually transposed into a Panov Attack with 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nf6, scoring 71% with 5.Nc3. A handful of opponents replied 2...e5, which Tal beat whether he continued 3.d4!? or 3.Nf3.
Against the Pirc: 1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 Tal scored 88% with the Austrian Attack: 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3.
Against Alekhine's Defence 1...Nf6 he generally went for a modest centre with 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3, scoring 63%.
Tal rarely faced the Scandinavian: 1...d5, but on two of the three times he reached the position after 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 he preferred what is now the fashionable 4.Nf3!? to the main move 4.c4.
Black v 1.e4
Aim for a Sicilian Najdorf: 1...c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6, with which Tal scored 65%.
Against 6.Bg5 Tal's most-common response was 6...e6 7.f4 Qb6, when White usually sacrifices a pawn with 8.Qd2 Qxb2, or plays 8.Nb3 and castles long. Either way, both players need to know a fair bit of theory.
Against 6.Be2 Tal scored 62% with 6...e5, usually continuing 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0.
Against 6.Bc4 he scored 70% with 6...e6 7.Bb3 b5.
Against 6.f4 he liked 6...e6, meeting today's favourite, 7.Qf3, with 7...Qb6 8.Nb3 Qc7.
The moves 6.Be3 and 6.g3 were rare birds in Tal's day but, as against 6.f4, he preferred 6...e6 to the 'Najdorf move' 6...e5.
Tal faced 6.a4 twice, winning both times with 6...Nc6.
He usually met 4.Qxd4 with an immediate 4...Nc6, and he scored 77% by meeting 3.Bb5+ with 3...Bd7.
Against 2.Nc3 Tal scored 78% with 2...Nc6, meeting both 3.g3 and 3.f4 with 3...g6.
He varied his replies against 2.c3 but scored an impressive 75% with 2...d5.
Black v 1.d4 and Others
After 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Tal scored just 49% with his most-common choice 3...Bb4 but 65% with 3...c5. The latter games usually continued 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6, a position Tal often reached via the move-order 2...c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6.
Tal twice faced the main line 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+, scoring a win and a draw with 8...Nfd7.
Much more popular in his games was 7.Nf3, a position often reached via the move-order 6.Nf3 g6 7.e4. After the main continuation, 7...g6 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Nd2, Tal scored 78% with 10...Na6.
Against 3.Nf3 Tal scored just 51% with his most-common choice 3...d5 but 70% with 3...c5.
In the main line after the latter, 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5, Tal scored 75% with the slightly unusual 5...g6 6.Nc3 Bg7. It was only after 7.e4 that he at last played 7...d6, transposing to a position I have already covered.
There seems no good way for White to exploit the delay in playing ...d6 - none of Tal's opponents pushed the d pawn to d6, presumably fearing the pawn would be weak in the long run - so perhaps the main effect of delaying ...d6 is to gain time on the clock.
Against 3.g3 Tal scored 75% with 3...c5, rising to 80% in the main line 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6. If White declined to push the pawn, instead opting for 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4, Tal scored 70% by taking over the centre with 5...d5 6.Bg2 (6.cxd5?! Qxd5) e5.
Against 2.Nf3 Tal scored 68% with the immediate 2...c5.
He only faced the Trompowsky 2.Bg5 three times, winning both games in which he replied 2...e6.
Against the English: 1.c4 Tal scored best (64%) with 1...e5. All his opponents continued 2.Nc3, which Tal usually met with 2...Nf6, scoring 67% with 3,g3 Bb4 and 87% with 3.Nf3 d6.
Against 1.Nf3 Tal usually replied 1...Nf6, scoring 63% with 2.c4 c5 and 89% with 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7.
Tal won the 1959 Candidates' Tournament in large part thanks to beating Bobby Fischer in all four of their games. Here is the shortest.
Fischer - Tal
Candidates' (Yugoslavia) 1959, Round 13
Sicilian Sozin
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4
White has a big choice at move six, but the text was very much a Fischer speciality.
6...e6 7.Bb3
This may well look strange to anyone not au fait with the Sozin Variation but it is the main move, the point being to stop ...b5 coming with tempo.
7...Be7
Fourteen(!) rounds later Tal against the same opponent preferred 7...b5.
8.f4 0-0 9.f3 Qc7 10.0-0
Both players will probably have known a game played the previous year, Khana Muchnik - Lev Polugaevsky, USSR Championship Semi-Final (Baku), that was agreed drawn after 10.f5 Nc6 11.Be3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.0-0-0 b4 14.Na4 Rb8 15.fxe6 fxe6.
10...b5 11.f5!?
This may be premature. The analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 reckon White should take time out to counter Black's queenside expansion by playing 11.a3!?, but that seems slow.
11...b4 12.Na4
 |
| How should Black proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
12...e5!
This opens the b3-f7 diagonal but gains a bigger foothold in the centre and stops White opening the f file.
13.Ne2 Bb7 14.Ng3 Nbd7 15.Be3 Bc6 16.Bf2
Preparing a defence of e4.
16.Qb7 17.Rfe1 d5
An old rule-of-thumb has it that when Black can successfully play ...d5 in the Sicilian he has at least equalised. Certainly the engines reckon Black is much better.
18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Ne4 Nf4 20.c4 g6 21.fxg6 f5!?
Also strong is the simple 21...hxg6.
22.g7
22.gxh7+ Kh8.
22...Kxg7 23.Qg3+ Kh8 24.Nec5 Nxc5 25.Bxc5 Bxc5+ 26.Nxc5 Qc7
The smoke has cleared and material is level, but White is busted. Black's minor pieces are more active than White's and the apparent weakness of the black king is illusory.
27.Qe3 Rae8!
This is much stronger than 27...Nxg2?! 28.Qxe5+ Qxe5 29.Rxe5.
28.Re2
This is tantamount to resigning but hopeless for White is 28.g3 Nh3+ 29.Kf1 f4.
The game finished:
28...Nxe2+ 29.Qxe2 Bxg2 30.Nxa6 Qa7+ 31.Kxg2 Rg8+ 32.Kh3 Qg7 33.Bd1 Re6 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment