The USSR Spartakiad comprised two separate quadrennial competitions: the Summer Spartakiad and the Winter Spartakiad. The competitions were conducted between the Republics of the Soviet Union.
In 1952 the Soviet Union decided to join the Olympic movement, and international Spartakiads ceased. However the term continued to exist for internal sports events in the Soviet Union of different levels, from local up to the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR.
The first Soviet Spartakiad was held in 1956. The competition had local level qualifying competitions, with the summer finals traditionally staged in Moscow and the winter finals in Sverdlovsk.
In the summer of 1959 Mikhail Tal was at the height of his powers having taken first place in Zurich, ahead of Gligoric, Fischer and Keres. Come September he would dominate the Candidates’ Tournament held in Bled, Zagreb and Belgrade.
In The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal he related that while he was preparing with the Latvian team for the up coming Spartakiad, which was to be held at the Central Chess Club in Moscow in August, he suffered an attack of kidney trouble, but decided to play anyway.
Early in the preliminary group he realized that he wasn't going to be able to accomplish much because when he had just sacrificed a N against Keres, he suffered another kidney attack and lost interest in the game.
The following day the had another attack when the Latvian team was playing Leningrad and Tal was facing Boris Spassky. Tal wrote that he was sorry about the game, an exceptionally hard fought one that was won by Spassky, because it could have been one of his best. The result turned out to be similar to their game the previous year in the USSR Championship that was held in Riga. In both games there were mistakes and the winner should have been the loser!
Boris Spassky - Mikhail Tal
Result: 1-0
Site: Spartakiad Qualifications, Moscow
Date: 1959
Closed Ruy Lopez
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 ♘f6 5.O-O ♗e7 6.♖e1 b5 7.♗b3 O-O 8.c3 d6 9.h3 ♘d7 10.d4 ♘b6 At the time this move, originally analyzed by the Bulgarins, was quite popular and Tal played it frequently. 11.♘bd2 Spassky thought about playing 11.Bd5 here but concluded that after 5... Bb7 white has nothing. (11.dxe5 ♘xe5 12.♘xe5 dxe5 13.♕h5 is equal. Fischer-Tal, Portoroz 1958)
11.♗e3 was preferred by Tal. 11...exd4 12.cxd4 and in the 1954 USSR Championship Antoshin played 12...d5 while at Portoroz, 1958 Panno preferred 12...Na5
11...exd4 12.cxd4 d5 Spassky was critical of this system stating he did not understand why black would spend two moves (. .. Nf6-d7 and ...Nd7-b6 in order to exchange on d4 and play ...d6-d5. 13.♗c2 This was played by Vasiukov against Furman, Moscow-Leningrad Match, 1959 which continued 13...♗e6 Tal played this instantly indication home preparation.
13...♘b4 14.♗b1 dxe4 15.♗xe4 ♘4d5 and black's Q-side is weakened while the occupation of d4 isn't worth much.
14.e5
14.a3 ♕d7 15.b3 f5 16.exf5 ♗xf5 17.♗b2 ♖f6 18.♗xf5 ♕xf5 19.♖c1 Kurajica,B (2530)-Nikolac,J (2475)/Wijk aan Zee 1977. White is better.
14...♕d7 Spassky's evaluation of the opening is quite revealing. Black has weakened his Q-side: there is a hole on c5 and the c-Pawn is backward, white has a P-majority on the K-side and the P on e5 restricts black's pieces. Black's plan is to undermine e5 with ...f7. On the Q-side he should aim for ...c5 otherwise white can exploit his P-majority on the K-side.
14...♘b4 This apparently logical plan fails after 15.♗b1 c5 16.dxc5 ♗xc5 17.♘b3 ♗e7 18.♘fd4 White's threats of 19.a3 or 17.f4 and 20. f5 or even 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Qh5 give him a winning position.
15.♘b3 ♗f5 16.♗g5 Spassky wants to exchange Bs in order to exploit the weakness of the dark squares on the Q-side.
16.♘c5 fails to gain anything. 16...♗xc5 17.♗xf5 ♕xf5 18.dxc5 ♘d7 19.♕xd5 ♘b4 20.♕e4 ♕xe4 21.♖xe4 ♘c2 22.♖b1 ♘xc5 with good play.
16...♗b4
16...♖fe8 was played in Fischer-Reshevsky, 2nd Piatagorsky Cup, Santa Monica, 1966, but after 17.♗xe7 ♖xe7 18.♖c1 ♘b4 (18...♘c4 19.♘c5 ♘xb2 20.♕e2 black is lost.) 19.♘c5 ♗xc2 20.♕d2 ♕e8 21.♕xb4 a5 22.♕c3 ♗g6 23.♘h4 ♘a4 24.♕b3 ♘xc5 25.♖xc5 Reshevsky was forced to resign at move 38.
17.♖e2 ♖fe8 Tal offered a draw with this move, but because white is better, Spassky declined. 18.♖c1 After the game Tal said that 18.Nh4 which offers to exchange Bs and the organize a K-side attack is the one he feared, but Spassky concluded that the attack would be difficult to carry out plus black would get Q-side counterplay 18...♘c4 19.♘a1 This ugly looking move is actually quite beautiful! The idea has the goal of driving back black's only active piece, the N on c4, with b3. Before making this move Spassky spent a lot of time to convince himself that black can't exploit the poor position of the N on a1 and win the P on d4. 19...♗xc2
19...f6 allows white to gain the advantage after 20.exf6 ♖xe2 21.♕xe2 gxf6 22.♗xf6
19...♗e4 is refuted by 20.♖xe4 dxe4 21.♗xe4 with excellent play for the exchange.
20.♕xc2 ♖e6 21.♕f5 h6 22.♗f4 ♖f8 23.b3 Spassky gave himself a ? for this move calling it a mistake which is brilliantly exploited by Tal. According to Spassky the correct move was 23.Qg4 which would have left black in a very difficult position. A more sober evaluation is that after 23.b3 white has foreited his advantage and allowed black to equalize.
23.♕g4 keeps a slight advantage. The best line is now 23...f5 24.exf6 ♖fxf6 25.♖xe6 ♕xe6 26.♕xe6+ ♖xe6 27.b3 and white is somewhat better. In Shootouts using Stockfish white scored +2 -0 =3.
23...f6 This excellent move is the equalizer. 24.♕g4 Spassky gave himself another ? and called this move the turning point because after this move white's entire strategic plan goes down the drain. Also, black's pieces are becoming active...his N on c4 "for which white had prepared an unenviable fate bursts into white's camp with terrible force at the square e4." Again, that seems a bit harsh because engines evaluate the position as only very slightly (0.30) in black's favor. Perhaps, like pigs, some positions are more equal than others and so Spassky is right after all!
24.♗xh6 was incorrectly give by Spassky as leading to a slight advantage for white after 24...fxe5 25.♕g4 ♘b6 26.♗e3 and he claims white has a good position. Stockfish prefers black by a hair.
24.♗xh6 This is actually a losing blunder. To wit: 24...fxe5 25.♕g4 ♖xf3 Overlooked by Spassky! 26.gxf3 ♕f7 and white is lost. For example: 27.♕xg7+ ♕xg7+ 28.♗xg7 ♘xd4 and wins as seen in a Shootout. 29.♔f1 ♔xg7 30.bxc4 ♘xe2 31.♔xe2 dxc4 32.♘c2 ♗c5 33.♘e3 ♗xe3 34.♔xe3 ♖h6 35.♖d1 ♖d6 36.♖g1+ ♔f7 37.f4 exf4+ 38.♔xf4 c3 39.♔e3 a5 40.♖g5 ♖c6 41.♖g1 ♖d6 42.♖g5 ♖c6 43.♖g1 b4 44.♔d3 ♖d6+ 45.♔c4 ♖d2 46.a3 c5 47.a4 ♖a2 48.h4 ♖xa4
24...f5 25.♕h5 ♘d6 Things have changed from a few moves ago; now white is on the defensive. Black is threatening 26...Ne4 and 27...g6 winning a piece. 26.♘c2
26.♔h1 A pass to demonstrate black's threat. 26...♘e4 27.♔g1 g6 28.♕xh6 g5
26.♖xc6 Spassky examined this move, but luckily rejected it because after 26...♕xc6 27.♖c2 ♕e8 and white has no compensation for the exchange.
26...♘e4 27.♘xb4 ♘xb4 28.♘e1 White's main disadvantage here is the poor position of his Q. 28...c5 29.♖b2 cxd4 30.♕d1 Withdrawing the Q from its poor position has not substantially improved his position any. 30...g5
30...♘c6 31.♘d3 b4 32.♖bc2 ♘c3 with an even greater lock on the position.
31.♗h2 ♖c8 32.♖xc8+ ♕xc8 33.f3 ♕c3 Tal has achieved a winning position, but he is also in time trouble which results in a few less than optimal moves.
33...♖c6 This was even better. 34.fxe4 ♖c1 35.♕d2 ♕c3 36.♕xc3 dxc3 37.♖e2 d4 winning easily.
34.fxe4 ♕xb2 This mistakes leaves him fighting for a draw.
34...fxe4 This leaves black with all the winning chances, but even with careful play white should be able to survive. 35.♖d2 d3 36.♗g3 d4 37.a3 ♘d5 38.♕g4 ♘c7 39.♖d1 d2 40.♕xe4 dxe1=♖+ 41.♗xe1 ♕e3+ 42.♕xe3 dxe3 43.♗a5 ♖e7 44.g3 h5 45.♔g2 ♖f7 46.♖d8+ ♔g7 47.♖d6 e2 48.a4 ♖f1 49.♖d7+ ♖f7 50.♖d6 ♔f8 51.e6 ♖f1 52.♖d8+ ♔e7 53.♖d7+ ♔xe6 54.♖xc7 bxa4 55.bxa4 e1=♕ 56.♗xe1 ♖xe1 57.♖h7 ♖e2+ 58.♔f3 ♖a2 59.♖xh5 ♖a3+ 60.♔f2 ♖a2+ 61.♔f3 ♖a3+ 62.♔g2 ♖a2+ 63.♔f1 ♖a1+ 64.♔f2 ♖a2+ 65.♔e1 ♖a1+ 66.♔d2 ♖a2+ 67.♔c1 g4 68.h4 ♖xa4 69.♖g5 ♔f7 This is a draw.
35.exf5 ♖c6 36.♗g3
36.♕h5 This looks good, but it fails to produce anything. 36...♘d3 37.♕e8+ ♔h7 38.♕xc6 ♕f2+ 39.♔h1 ♕xe1+ 40.♗g1 ♘f2+ 41.♔h2 ♕xe5+ 42.g3 ♕xf5 43.♕b7+ ♔g6 44.♕c6+ Black is forced to accept a draw.
36...d3 A final time pressure blunder that leaves him dead lost.
36...♕c3 is sufficient for the draw. 37.♔h2 (37.♕h5 ♕xg3 38.♕e8+ ♔h7 39.♕f7+ etc.) 37...d3 38.♕h5 d2 39.♕e8+ ♔h7 40.♕f7+ ♔h8 and white draws.
37.♕h5 d2 38.♕e8+ ♔g7 39.♕e7+ ♔h8 40.f6 Now it's apparent why black needed his Q on c3. 40...dxe1=♕+ 41.♗xe1 Tal resigned. A see-saw battle. Powered by Aquarium
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