In 1968 the twelve best sports club teams met in Riga. Each team consisted of ten players made up of five men, two women, two boys and one girl. World Champion Botvinnik didn't play in Riga. Korchnoi, Spassly and Petrosian weren't there either because they were playing in Palma de Mallorca where they, along with Larsen, took the top spots. Otherwise almost all of the top Soviet GMs were in Riga.
The players in Riga was a who's who of Soviet chess: Polugaevsky, Taimanov, Smyslov, Bagirov, Kupreichik, Tukmakov, Geller, Vasiukov, Liberzon, Lein, Lutikov, Karpov, Gufeld, Kholmov, Suetin, Boleslavsky, Vaganian, Shamkovich, Stein, Kuzmin, Romanishin, Beliavsky, I. Zaitsev, Murrey, Tal, Keres, Bronstein and Mikenas.
Naturally most of the attention was given to the top boards, but with few exceptions thye were not real battles. One exception was Bronstein vs. Tal. The event was won by Burevestnik which means petrel, a type of seabird, that was popularized by Maxim Gorky's 1901 poem The Song of the Stormy Petrel.
Burevestnik was made up of Polugayevsky, Taimanov, Smyslov, Bagirov, Kapengut, Mikliaev, Kupreichuk, Gaprindashvili, Lemachko and Tukmakov.
By the way, IM Albert Kapengut (born 4 July 1944, in Kazan, Tatarstan) is best known as a teacher, theoretician and writer. He was the coach of GMs Tal, Gelfand and Shulman among others. After 2000 Kapengut has been a permanent resident of the US.
Tal was playing first board for Daugava which is named after a large river rising Russia that flows into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. His teammates were: Klovans, Peterson, Kirillov, Zhdanov, Kirpichnikov, Zolotonas, Nakhimovskaya, Rozhlapa, Vilerte and Mileika. They finished in twelfth place.
Bronstein was playing first board for Dynamo which finished ninth. In 1923 a system of sports and physical education clubs and societies was formed in the Soviet Union. These were called Dynamo (or Dinamo), from the Greek word meaning power or power in movement.
Bronstein's teammates were Zhuravliov, Buslaev, Belinkov, Pasman, Tsikhelashvili, Lipman, Titorenko, Muslimova, Kpbaidze and Zhuravliov.
David Bronstein - Mikhail Tal
Result: 1-0
Site: USSR Team Championship, Riga
Date: 1968]
Falkbeer Counter Gambit
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 This move set the spectators buzzing. According to Keres the K-Gambit is neither better nor worse than other openings, it's just out of fashion. Nevertheless, some spectators thought Bronstein was crazy to play it against one of the world's greatest tacticians. 2...d5 A Falkbeer Counter Gambit! In this aggressive counter gambit, Black disdains the offered P pawn and instead tries to open the center in order to exploit white's weakness on the K-side. 3.exd5 (3.fxe5 is an elementary trap. 3...♕h4+ 4.g3 ♕xe4+) 3...e4 After this move black's compensation for the P primarily consists of his lead in development, coupled with the exposure of white's K. This move fell out of favor after World War II because black encountered difficulties and eventually turned to 3.. .c6. 4.d3 ♘f6 5.dxe4 This is the oldest and most popular continuation. The main alternative is 5.Nc3, but Bronstein's move gives the best results. 5...♘xe4 6.♘f3 ♗c5 7.♕e2 ♗f5 This move dates back to Spielmann-Tarrasch, Mahrisch-Ostrow, 1923.
15...♗xh1 16.gxf4 White has promising moves like 17.Re1+ and 17. Bc4-h3 so Tal decides to close the a3-f8 diagonal which gives him chances of successfully defending himself, but his position is still difficult. 16...c5
7...f5 was the old move, but black is in poor shape after 8.♗e3 ♕xd5 9.♗xc5 ♕xc5 10.♘c3 O-O 11.♘xe4 fxe4 12.♕xe4
7...♗f2+ is inviting, but it too turns out poorly for white after 8.♔d1 ♕xd5+ 9.♘fd2 f5 10.♘c3 ♕d4 11.♘cxe4 fxe4 12.c3 ♕e3 13.♘xe4 ♕xe2+ 14.♗xe2 ♗b6
7...♕e7 is yet another move that ends poorly for black after 8.♗e3 and black has tried 7 different moves according to my database and none have worked out particularly well for black.
8.♘c3 ♕e7 9.♗e3 ♘xc3 This move is often seen and it is also usually given a question mark.
9...♗xe3 is probably black's best line. 10.♕xe3 ♘xc3 11.♕xe7+ ♔xe7 12.bxc3 ♗xc2 13.♔d2 with about equal chances.
10.♗xc5 ♘xe2 11.♗xe7 ♘xf4 12.♗a3
12.d6 has been tried, but it gives white no particular advantage after 12...♘c6 13.♗g5 ♘e6 14.d7+ ♔xd7 15.O-O-O+ ♔c8 white is a P down, but as compensation black has trouble completing his development.
12...♘d7 This is not a good choice, but it's understandable that Tal wants to prepare for Q-side castling in order to get his K to safety, but as will be seen, he cannot carry out his plan.
12...♗xc2 This is out of the question. 13.♖c1 ♗d3 14.♖xc7 ♘d7 15.♗xd3 ♘xd3+ 16.♔d2 ♔d8 17.♖xb7 The R on the 7th mops up. 17...♘3c5 18.♗xc5 ♘xc5 19.♖xf7
12...♘xd5 was recommended by Tartakower in Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie way back in 1925. 13.O-O-O c6 14.♗c4 ♗e6 15.♖he1 and despite being a P down white has the better game.
13.O-O-O Excellent! Tal now went into a deep think and spent an hour deciding on his next move after he realized his intended 13...O-O-O would lose a piece. 13...♗e4 White has multiple threats: 14. Rd4, 14.Re1+, 14.Nd4 etc and black can't defend against all of them so already his position must be considered as lost.
13...O-O-O 14.♖d4 ♘g6 15.g4 ♗xg4 16.♖xg4 My database has two games where this position was reached! Zaearnyi, A (2355)-Pessi,E (2355)/Bucharest 1996 and Bekker,S (2273)-Salimova,N (2265)/ Wijk aan Zee 2018. White won both games.
14.♘g5 This unnecessarily complicated matters.
14.♖d4 was straightforward and considerably better. After 14...♗xf3 15.gxf3 ♘g6 16.d6 c6 17.♗h3 O-O-O 18.♖e1 black is going down the road to defeat.
14...♗xd5 15.g3 In the old days, before engines, this move was usually given an exclamation mark or two because it's an unexpected move that few, if any, players would even consider. When asked why he played it Bronstein stated, "I could not miss the opportunity to play a move like 15. g3 against Tal, which I may not have again in my whole life." Actually, the move is not bad, but it gives white no real advantage.
15.♖e1+ is logical looking but, as it turns out, not significantly better! 15...♔d8
15...♗e6 16.g3 ♘d5 17.♘xe6 fxe6 18.c4 ♘5f6 19.♖xe6+ and white's position is vastly superior.
16.c4 h6 17.cxd5 hxg5 18.♖e7 f6 19.♖xg7 ♘h5 20.♖e7 ♘e5 21.♖e6 with approximate equality. 16...O-O-O was actually a better defense. AFter 17.♘xf7 ♗f3 18.♖d3 ♗e4 19.♖g3 g6 20.♘xh8 ♖xh8 with equality.
16...O-O-O 17.♗h3 f6 18.♘f7 ♗c6 19.♘xh8 ♖xh8 20.♗e6 ♖e8 21.f5 g6 and here, too, black has equalized.
17.♗c4
17.♗h3 looks better than it is. 17...♗c6 18.♖e1+ ♔f8 19.♗xd7 ♗xd7 20.♗xc5+ ♔g8 21.♖e7 ♗e8 22.♖xb7 and black even has slightly better chances in the ending.
17...♗c6 18.♘xf7
18.♗xf7+ ♔f8 19.♖xd7 ♖e8 20.♗xc5+ ♖e7 21.♗xe7# is pretty, but black has a defense.
18.♗xf7+ ♔e7 19.♖e1+ ♔d6 20.b4 cxb4 21.♗xb4+ ♔c7 22.♘e6+ ♔b6 23.♘xg7 with unclear complications.
18...b5 This brilliant avoids the loss of the exchange. (18...♖f8 loses to 19.♖e1+ ♘e5 20.♗xc5) 19.♘d6+
19.♘xh8 bxc4 20.b4 c3 21.bxc5 ♘f6 22.♗b4 ♘d5 and black has a marked advantage.
19...♔e7 20.♘xb5 White has a nice game: he has the two Bs, a P for the exchange and black's K is exposed. Clearly Tal has survived white's surprising 15.g3. Still, his position is difficult to defends and as often happens, he missed the best defense and lands in a lost position. 20...♖hf8 He should have taken the opportunity to simplify.
20...♗xb5 21.♗xb5 ♖ad8 White has two Bs and a P for a R and N, but black still has chances to avoid the loss. In six Shootout games Stockfish scored +1 -0 =5 for white.
21.♘d4 Tal probably overlooked this move. 21...♗g2
21...♖f6 defending the B fails to 22.♖e1+ ♔d8 23.♘e6+ ♔c8 24.♘xg7 with the advantage.
22.♘e6 ♖f5 At this point both players were starting to suffer from time pressure and to inaccuracies begin to creep into the remainder of the game. 23.♖g1 ♗e4 This is a major error, but Bronstein does not take advantage of it. 24.♘c7 While not bad, this was probably not expected by Tal and so it may have forced him to use extra time.
24.♖xg7+ ♔d6 25.♖xd7+ was suggested by Keres, but it is not as good as taking the h-Pawn. 25...♔xd7 26.♘xc5+ ♖xc5 27.♗xc5 and Keres says white wins fairly easily. In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =3 so black would have some slight hope of drawing.
24...♖d8 25.♖xg7+ Now this is not the strongest and technically the position is equal.
25.♖e1 is difficult to answer. 25...♘f6 26.♘e6 ♖c8 27.♘g5 ♖xf4 28.♗d3 ♖e8 29.♗xc5+ ♔d8 30.♗b5 with a fairly routine win.
25...♔f6 26.♖f7+ ♔g6 27.♖e7 ♘f6 28.♘e6 ♖c8 (28...♖e8 is met by 29.♖g7+ ♔h6 30.♖xa7) 29.b3 Keres observed that black is lost and there is no point in criticizing wither player's moves because they were both in severe time pressure and anything can happen. 29...♖h5 Not the best defense, but as Keres observed, onw cannot be too critical because both players were in severe time trouble and in thta situation anything can happen.
29...♗d5 would have been better. 30.♗d3 ♗e4 31.♗a6 ♖e8 32.♖xe8 ♘xe8 33.♘xc5
30.♘g5 ♗d5 (30...♗f5 31.♗f7+) 31.♗d3+ ♔h6 As Keres observed, black did not have time to resign. 32.♗b2 c4 33.♗f5
33.bxc4 ♗xc4 34.♘f7+ Threatening Nd6, so... 34...♗xf7 35.♖xf7 The N can't move on account of Bg7 mate.
33...c3 34.♗xc8 cxb2+ 35.♔xb2 ♖xh2 36.♖xa7 ♖f2 37.♖a4 ♔g6 38.♖d4 h5 White has a won game but superficially it appears that the result has come down to whose P will queen first. Keres was critical of the way modern GM of his day played the first part of the game with meticulous attention to detail and then spoiled it by having to play moves at a lightening pace at the end. Better to be a little less prcise in the beginning so one can conduct the game "in an acceptable manner" at the end, he said. Thsi was one of the things that made the "old" chess without time increments, etc. fun, especially for spectators as time scrambles were always a delight! 39.a4 h4 40.a5 ♗g2 41.a6 ♘h5 42.♗b7 They have reached the time control, but neither player noticed. 42...♘xf4 43.♖xf4 Tal resigned..Powered by Aquarium
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