In his famous book My Great Predecessors, Garry Kasparov titled a chapter about Mikhail Tal "Bluff as a Weapon of Victory."
Indeed, there is no other world champion who sacrificed as many pieces and took as much risk as Tal. Yet as GM Averbakh humorously noted, Tal's opponents always had a win, but for some reason only in analysis after the game!
Tal deservedly earned a nickname "the Magician", but unlike Harry Houdini, he performed his escape tricks on the chessboard. So, how did Tal do it?
Let's look at his encounters with GM Vasily Smyslov at the Candidates' Tournament of 1959. Here are two positions Mikhail Tal had vs. the former world champion:
Vasily Smyslov vs. Mikhail Tal
1/2-1/2 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG 03 Oct 1959 Round: 15 ECO: B42
Mikhail Tal vs. Vasily Smyslov
1-0 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG 18 Oct 1959 Round: 22 ECO: B84
It is easy to see that in both of them Tal is down a minor piece for just a pawn. So, in such a situation how many points can you realistically hope to get out of two games against Vasily Smyslov, who was the world champion just a year ago? I think even half a point would have been a miracle. Tal scored 1.5 out of two!
Indeed, there is no other world champion who sacrificed as many pieces and took as much risk as Tal. Yet as GM Averbakh humorously noted, Tal's opponents always had a win, but for some reason only in analysis after the game!
Tal deservedly earned a nickname "the Magician", but unlike Harry Houdini, he performed his escape tricks on the chessboard. So, how did Tal do it?
Let's look at his encounters with GM Vasily Smyslov at the Candidates' Tournament of 1959. Here are two positions Mikhail Tal had vs. the former world champion:
Vasily Smyslov vs. Mikhail Tal
1/2-1/2 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG 03 Oct 1959 Round: 15 ECO: B42
Mikhail Tal vs. Vasily Smyslov
1-0 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG 18 Oct 1959 Round: 22 ECO: B84
It is easy to see that in both of them Tal is down a minor piece for just a pawn. So, in such a situation how many points can you realistically hope to get out of two games against Vasily Smyslov, who was the world champion just a year ago? I think even half a point would have been a miracle. Tal scored 1.5 out of two!
Check out the games noted above. It is a true method of SLP by Tal.
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Thank You @Avetik_ChessMood . This article helped me a lot and I also got a chance to learn about the art of Saving Lost Positions.
Wow! I loved this. I saved many games with this and even was able to win against some higher rated opponents! Thanks for creating this wonderful study!
this is soo good! thanks avteik!
Your blog reminds me of my favorite chess quote...
-The Hardest Game to Win is a Won Game -Emanuel Lasker- :]
-The Hardest Game to Win is a Won Game -Emanuel Lasker- :]
I am sure I will use this stuff! Thank you very much!
the trap that lead to the checkmate was awesome haha