[Event "Candidates Tournament"] [Site "Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade"] [Date "1959.10.26"] [Round "27"] [White "Fischer, Robert James"] [Black "Tal, Mihail"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B87"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "1959.09.07"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "28"] [EventCountry "CRO"] [SourceTitle "Candidates"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,104,24,23,40,37,44,34,29,25,27,28,39,29,27,18,30,-43,-46,-35,-47,-12, 73,65,77,65,73,62,84,85,70,72,50,63,73,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-61,-49,-58,-68, -168,-170,-165,-170,-170,-169,-174,-182,-174,-157,-170,-183,-188,-182,-185, -181,-183,-177,-173,-170,-171,-167,-225,-164,-167,-165,-180,-189,-189,-163, -174,-171,-223,-196,-246,-196,-220,-225,-225,-223,-225,-207,-425,-439,-439, -439,-374,-374,-381,-404,-695,-706,-729,-767,-988,-997,-1302,-1225]} {A battle royal was created by the mouth watering clash between two of the greatest players of all time in 1959. Mikhail Tal was at his best and was to go on to be the next World Champion in 1960 beating Botvinnik. Bobby well we all know what happened in 1972 with him. The auditorium, which held over 2000 spectators, was full of Yugoslavian soccer fans as a soccer match had been cancelled and they were whistling and shouting for Mikhail.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 {The theory was in its infancy at the time on this move beloved of Fischer in the najdorf system of the Sicilian Defence. Later the theory was investigated by Nigel Short against Garry Kasparov in the 19993 World Championship Match.} e6 7. Bb3 b5 8. f4 b4 9. Na4 ( 9. e5 $2 dxe5 10. fxe5 bxc3 11. exf6 cxb2 12. Bxb2 Qxf6 13. Qg4 Bb4+ 14. c3 Be7 15. Nf3 Qg6 16. Qxg6 hxg6 $15 {and black has an edge because he has a pawn advantage for little compensation.}) 9... Nxe4 {pawn grabbing but there is a fierce attack on the cards to defend due to blacks severe lack of development.} 10. O-O g6 11. f5 $3 gxf5 12. Nxf5 $3 Rg8 $2 (12... exf5 13. Qd5 Be6 14. Qxa8 Bg7 15. Be3 O-O 16. Qb7 $14 {and white has a material edge}) 13. Bd5 $3 Ra7 $1 (13... exd5 $2 14. Qxd5 Bxf5 15. Qxf5 Ra7 16. Qxe4+ Re7 $16 {White has a strong edge}) 14. Bxe4 exf5 15. Bxf5 Re7 16. Bxc8 Qxc8 17. Bf4 $2 {offering a piece sacrifice now 17...Qc6 attacks both the undefended Knight on a4 and threatens mate the position is actually pretty even now.} (17. c3 $14) 17... Qc6 18. Qf3 Qxa4 {Tal was unsure here whether taking the offered piece was best or simply going for a draw with the Queen swap was prefferable.} 19. Bxd6 Qc6 $1 20. Bxb8 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Qxb8 22. Qc6+ $2 (22. Rae1 Kd7 23. Qd5+ Qd6 24. Qb7+ Ke8 25. Qa8+ Qd8 26. Qxa6 Rxe1 27. Qb5+ Qd7 28. Qb8+ Qd8 29. Qb5+ Qd7 $11 {with a repeated position draw, Black cannot safely get out of the checks. Note is made that Bobby actually wrote down the move 22 Rae1 and suriptitiously displayed it to test out Tals reaction. Here a complete game of brinkmanship occured according to Mikhail. He deliberately laughed at the move and got up and walked around the auditorium trying to look non-plussed but in reality he was terrified of bobby playing the move which looks dangerous. Bobby watched Mikhail and then changed his mind-afterwards Mikhail asked Bobby why he changed his mind and Bobby replied 'Well you laughed at my initial choice'}) 22... Rd7 23. Rae1+ Be7 24. Rxf7 $2 $17 (24. Qf6 Rf8 25. Qxa6 f5 26. Qa5 $15) 24... Kxf7 25. Qe6+ Kf8 26. Qxd7 Qd6 27. Qb7 Rg6 28. c3 a5 29. Qc8+ Kg7 30. Qc4 Bd8 $6 $17 (30... Bf6 $19) 31. cxb4 axb4 32. g3 $6 $19 Qc6+ 33. Re4 Qxc4 34. Rxc4 Rb6 35. Kg2 $2 (35. b3 $17) 35... Kf6 36. Kf3 Ke5 37. Ke3 Bg5+ 38. Ke2 Kd5 $6 (38... b3 $2 {the position is such that if rooks swap off the position is drawn due to the h pawn promoting on a black square this endgame is called a wrong coloured Bishops endgame.}) 39. Kd3 Bf6 40. Rc2 $4 $19 { the retreat means bobby is lost -40 b3 was called for when its probably drawn.} (40. b3 $17) 40... Be5 41. Re2 Rf6 $6 42. Rc2 Rf3+ 43. Ke2 Rf7 44. Kd3 Bd4 ( 44... b3 45. axb3 Rf3+ 46. Ke2 Rxb3 47. Kf1 Bxb2 48. Kg2 Be5 49. Kh3 $11 (49. g4 $4 Ke4 50. h3 Rg3+ 51. Kf2 $19)) 45. a3 b3 $1 46. Rc8 Bxb2 47. Rd8+ Kc6 48. Rb8 Rf3+ 49. Kc4 Rc3+ 50. Kb4 Kc7 51. Rb5 Ba1 $1 52. a4 b2 $3 {now if 53.Kc3 then 53...b1=Q discovered check wins. A nice finish.} 0-1