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| Tal smashes Portisch |
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All of the matches were interesting, but one of the tenser matches, at least early on, was the match that pitted ex-world champion Mikhail Tal against the young Hungarian super-GM Lajos Portisch. Tal's final score of 5.5-2.5 doesn't reflect the closeness of the match!
They both qualified for the Candidates from the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal which had resulted in a 4-way tie for first between Tal, Vasily Smyslov, Bent Larsen and Boris Spassky.
They were followed by Leonid Stein, David Bronstein, Borislav Ivkov with Samuel Reshevsky and Portisch tied for the last spot. Portisch convincingly won the playoff match against Reshevsky.
The match would be would be 10 games in length with adjourned games played off after every two days.
Tal's second, Alexander Koblents, advised him to avoid playing the King's Indian because he believed Portisch would prepared for it. It was also decided that Tal would open only with 1.e4.
Tal thought it was the fifth game, a 56-move draw, that marked the turning point in the match. Leading by one game and playing black, Tal trotted out a sharp ten year old variation of the Nimzo-Indian. The game was adjourned and Portisch's sealed move had been the best. Tal spent the next two days analyzing the position which was even published, complete with analysis, in Riga Shakhmaty before they even played it out! When the game resumed Portisch missed a win and according to Tal, played without energy in the next two games, both of which were won by Tal.
The result was that Tal moved on and in the next match he defeated Larsen only to be soundly whipped by Spassky. Spassky then went on to defeat Petrosian and win the World Championship.
Prior to the match Portisch had been having a good year. He had tied for first with Geller at the Hoogovens tournament at Beverwijk and placed highly at Zagreb.
Upon arrival for the match it was apparent that he and his seconds (Hungarian IM Tibor Florian and another player who was probably Ferenc Koberl, a strong Hungarian master) were extremely well prepared.
Tal's second was, as usual, Alexandr Koblents. Earlier in the year Tal finished 3rd in the USSR Championship and he had convincingly won the Latvian championship.
The following game, the second, complete with tactics and psychological considerations, is vintage Tal. This game was played with the first game having been adjourned and it wasn't clear what the result of that first game would be.
Mikhail Tal - Lajos Portisch
Result: 1-0
Site: Candidate's Match Prelims, Bled
Date: 1965
Caro-Kann: Two Knights Variation
[...] 1.e4 c6 This was something of a surprise for Tal because Portisch rarely adapted the Caro-Kann and Tal and his team had not prepared for it. It was clear that Portisch had carefully studied Tal's match against Botvinnik in which Botvinnik had used the Caro-Kann in several games. Tal wrote that he now began feverishly trying to recall which lines he had NOT previously played. 2.♘c3 d5 3.♘f3 dxe4 Tal called this an insignificant, but rather well-known inaccuracy, adding that for a long time the strongest had been considered to be 3...Bg4, "not conceding white an inch in the center." It's not known why Portisch avoided the move which was played in the third game of the first Tal-Botvinnik match. In my database 3...dxe4 has been played quite often, but the results are not nearly as good as black gets with 3...Bg4.
3...♗g4 4.h3 ♗xf3 5.♕xf3 e6 is quiet solid and black has a number of reasonable choices at his disposal.
4.♘xe4 ♗g4 5.h3 ♗xf3 6.♕xf3 ♘d7 7.d4 ♘gf6 8.♗d3 ♘xe4 9.♕xe4 e6
9...♘f6 his looks reasonable, but in the long run it has not worked out well for black. 10.♕h4 e6 11.O-O ♘d5 12.♕e4 ♘f6 13.♕e3 ♗d6 14.♕f3 ♗c7 15.c3 ♕d6 16.g3 ♕d5 White is slightly better and went on to win in Lagno,K (2524)-Guo,Q (2447)/ Moscow 2016.
10.O-O Tal believed that 10.c3 might be slightly more accurate because that after ...Nf6 he can retreat the Q to e2 . However, Tal had something different in mind.
10.♗f4 ♘f6 11.♕e5 ♕d5 12.♕e2 ♗d6 13.♗e5 ♗xe5 14.dxe5 ♕a5+ 15.♔f1 ♘d7 16.f4 turned out to be better for black in Schieder,A (2238)-Jakits,L (2156)/Austria 2018
10...♗e7 11.c3 ♘f6 12.♕h4 After 12.Qe2 white's slight positional advantage would not have been in doubt. Tal preferred to lure the N to d5 from where it could not occupy a good defensive position at f8. However, this is achieved at the cost of the loss of several tempi, and black has time to stabilize the situation. 12...♘d5 13.♕g4 ♗f6 (13...O-O is a losing blunder. 14.♗h6 ♗f6 15.♕e4) 14.♖e1 Initially Tal wanted to play 14.Qe4 in order to force black to keep his K in the center, but noticed that after 14...Ne7 his initiative would disappear. Instead he allowed black to castle after which white can regroup his pieces. 14...♕b6 This prevents white from developing his Q-side. (14...O-O 15.♗h6 ♖e8 16.♖ad1 ♕b6 17.♗c1 with a good position.) 15.c4 This appears to be a mistake and possibly the best move is the restraining 15.a3 hoping at some point to exploit the illustrious pair of Bs. Tal avoided it for psychological reasons. He wrote that he had noted that while Portisch had an excellent sense of strategic nuances, he reacted much less certainly to abrupt tactical turnarounds. This, coupled with black's K in the center is what provoked this move. 15...♘b4 Attacking both white's B and d-Pawn.
15...♘e7 and Tal intended to meet this with, not the safe 16.Be3, but... 16.d5 cxd5 17.cxd5 ♘xd5 18.♕a4+ if only to prevent black from castling.
16.♖xe6+ The only continuation to justify the previous move. 16...fxe6 17.♕xe6+ Now Black is faced with a choice. A draw results from 17...Kd8 and Tal believed 17...Be7 gave him an acceptable position. 17...♔f8 Played instantly. Tal wrote that here too it seemed the normal outcome would be a draw, but neither player wanted it. In retrospect it seems black should have taken the draw!
17...♔d8 18.♕d6+ ♔e8 19.♕e6+ ♔d8 20.♕d6+ ♔e8 21.♕e6+ ♔d8 Drawn by threefold repitition.
17...♗e7 18.♗g6+ ♔d8 19.♗f5 ♕xd4 20.♗f4 ♖e8 and in this complicated position the chances would be about equal.
18.♗f4 With an obvious mate threat. 18...♖d8 The only successful defense and white clearly has the initiative.
18...♖e8 19.♗d6+ ♖e7 20.♖e1 and black is lost. Teh best line is... 20...♕c7 21.♗xb4 c5 22.♗xc5 ♕xc5 23.dxc5 ♖xe6 24.♖xe6 with a won ending. 24...♗xb2 25.♗e4 etc.
18...♕d8 also loses after 19.♖e1 ♘xd3 20.♗d6+ ♕xd6 21.♕xd6+ ♔f7 22.♕e6+ ♔g6 23.♕e4+
19.c5 ♘xd3 Portisch has no choice to give up his Q, but it is the only way to get any knid of play.
19...♕a5 20.♖e1 and black cannot prevent mate in at most six moves. 20...♕xc5 21.dxc5 ♘d5 22.♗d6+ ♗e7 23.♗xe7+ ♘xe7 24.♕xe7+ ♔g8 25.♗c4+ ♖d5 26.♕e8#
20.cxb6 Initially Tal had intended to force a draw with 20.Bh6, but now realized he could afford to get adventurous without risking losing. (20.♗h6 ♕xb2 21.♕xf6+ ♔e8 22.♕e6+ etc. ) 20...♘xf4 21.♕g4 ♘d5 22.bxa7 There is a rather unusual unbalanced material situation here: white has a Q + 3Ps vs a R + two minor pieces. According to Tal, if black has time to coordinate his forces then his chances will be preferable. But there are two factors preventing this: the P on a7 which bears attention and the temporary, but all the same real difficulties with the development of R on h8. 22...♔e7 With this move Portisch aims to simultaneously solve both problems, but the plan is a mistake. His idea is that his K directs itself towards the a7-pawn and now all possible checks hold no danger. For white's part, it's obvious that he somehow has to open lines on the Q-side in order make things uncomfortable for black's K over there.
22...g6 This is the correct move after which white would be slightly better, but Tal admitted that he did not know what the outcome would have been. He added that it seemed to him that the P on a7 insures white against loss. In a number of variations he manages, by giving it up with a8=Q to pick up by way of compensation both black's remaining Q-side Ps. 23.h4 ♔f7 24.h5 ♖he8 and even Stockfish cannot generate moves that give an advantage to either side.
23.b4 Apparently Portisch underestimated this. Since he can't capture the P it is allowed to advance and its advance causes confusion in the defensive ranks. 23...♖a8 (23...♘xb4 24.♖b1 ♖xd4 25.♕g3 ♖a8 26.♕c7+ followed by Qxb7 winning.)
23...♔d6 was Tal's suggestion, but would lose rather quickly after... 24.b5 and if 24...cxb5 25.♕g3+ ♔c6 26.♖c1+ ♔b6 27.a8=♕ ♖xa8 28.♕d6+ ♔a7 29.♕xd5 ♖ac8 30.♖b1 white is winning.
24.♖e1+ Also very good was 24.b5 and 25.b6. 24...♔d6 25.b5 White has two threats: the attacking 26.bxc6 and the restricting 26.b6 and black cannot satisfactorily meet both threats. 25...♖xa7 This loses instantly, but already it was very difficult for him to defend.
25...♔c7 26.♕g3+ ♔c8 27.♕a3 ♘c7 28.bxc6 bxc6 29.♕c5 ♖d8 30.♖b1 ♖d5 31.♕b6 ♖b5 32.♖xb5 cxb5 33.d5 ♘xd5 34.♕e6+ ♔c7 35.♕xd5 ♖xa7 36.♕c5+ ♔b7 37.♕xb5+ ♔c7 with a winning position.
26.♖e6+ ♔c7 27.♖xf6 Black resigned. (27.♖xf6 gxf6 28.♕g7+ wins the R.) Powered by Aquarium
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