Starting in mid-August back in 1985, the 2nd Jurmala International Chess Tournament was played. Six of the 14 players were living in Latvia and the other eight had not played in Latvia before.
Hungary was represented by its 1983 champion IM Tamas Utasi, Bulgaria by GM Ventzislav Inkiov, Denmark by IM Carsten Hoi, the Philippines by IM Andronico Yap and England by IM Daniel King.
The Latvians were headed by Mikhail Tal. A talented young player named Alexander Shabalov was also playing. In 1991 Shabalov found his way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and became one of the top players in the US for a while. He won the US Championship in 1993, 2000, 2003, 2007 and won or tied for first place in the US Open in 1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016.
According to GM Daniel King, "...for much of the tournament Tal cruised along, not giving the chess his all; instead he was enjoying relaxing with his wife and young daughter."
In the last round Tal could share first place if he beat Danish IM Carsten Hoi and according to King, "Hoi didn't stand a chance. Tal was gunning for him."
King described Tal's intense concentration and told how he "lit up a cigarette, sucking in the nicotine as though it were his life-blood, but never averting his gaze from the chessboard through the whole operation."
Mikhail Tal–Carsten Hoi1–0B06Jurmala1985Stockfish 15
Pirc Defense 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c3 d6 4.f3 f6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.g5 h6 8.h4 h5 8...e8 The reason for this is soon clear. 9.bd2 h5 10.e1 e5 This why black moved his Q. 11.dxe5 dxe5 equals. Van Wely,L
(2560)-Reinderman,D (2415) Wijk aan Zee 1993 8...e5 This is the usual
move here. 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.a3 e6 11.e1 e8 with equal chances. Jussupow,
A (2600)-Seirawan,Y (2570) Montpellier 1985 9.a3 The book moves here are
9.Nbd2 and 9.Re1 and as far as I know this is the only game in which this move
has been played. The reason for developing the N on a3 turns out to be an idea
that Tal had which will soon be apparent. 9.bd2 f4 10.c2 g5 11.g3 g4 12.c4 equals. Rasmussen,K (2295)-Hoi,C (2380) Naestved 1985 9.e1 f4 10.f1 g5 11.g3 e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.fd2 f6 14.a3 e6 15.c2 equals.
Zysk,R (2395)-Mohr,S (2400) Budapest 1988 9...f4 Tal had foreseen that
black was going to play ...Nf4 and that's the reason he played 9.Na3...so the
Q could go to d2 as part of his plan to drive back the N. 10.c2 White must
keep this B as it is one of his attacking pieces. g4 11.d2 Attacking the N
g5 12.xg5 Very nice! Retreating the B would leave him at a disadvantage.
King believed Tal saw the rough outlines of this sacrifice when he played 9.
Na3. 12.g3 xf3 13.xf4 gxf4 14.gxf3 e5 15.h1 h4 16.g1 h8 and
black has a promising position. 12...hxg5 White gets the advantage after
this, but retreating the N was worse. 12...g6 13.xf7 xf7 If he takes
with the R then white has 14.Bb3 13.xg5 g6 14.f4 The threat is 15.f5
driving the N back and trapping the B on g4. f6 15.f5 A tricky position has
resulted and before reaching it Tal had to visualize everything. e6 After this black's position is in the trash. 15...fxg5 Challenging
Tal's last move was the only correct plan. 16.xg5 16.fxg6 allows black
to equalize with f6 16...ge5 17.dxe5 xe5 18.f4 e6 19.xg4 xg4 20.xg4 exf5 21.exf5 White has all the play. Still, this was black's best
chance at survival. 16.h6 16.fxg6 This allows black to equalize because
it gives him good defensive possibilities after fxg5 17.xf8+ xf8 16...exf5 17.h3 17.exf5 was even stronger. ge7 18.xg7 xg7 19.f4 h5 20.h4 h8 21.f4 White still has a strong attack going. For example... f7 22.g4 g8 23.h1 g5 24.b3+ d5 25.xg5 fxg5 26.xh5 White is winning. 17...f4 A fine idea. Black must lose the piece anyway he plays to close the
K-side and thereby blunt white's attack. 17...h5 loses quickly after 18.xf5 17...xh3 is best met by 18.exf5 with two pieces under attack
black is losing. 18.xg7 xg7 19.hxg4 h8 20.xf4 This followup is the
only way white can maintain any advantage. xf4 21.xf4 Materially white
has a B+2Ps vs a R, but white has the initiative and black's K is exposed. h6 22.f2 Anticipating... h8. Anyway, white's K will be safer behind the mass
of Ps in the center. e5 With two Ps for the exchange and such a
strong centre, white has the better chances, but the win is a long way of.
This move, a panicky one made in time pressure, loses the game. Such things
happened a lot to Tal's opponents! 22...h8 was his best try. After 23.f1 h1 24.xh1 xh1 25.b5 h4+ 26.f3 e5+ 27.e2 27.dxe5 fxe5 28.e3 f8+ 29.e2 xg4+ 30.d3 xg2 and black has equalized. 27...xg4+ 28.xg4+ xg4 29.xc7 white is better, but here, too, the win is a long way off.
23.dxe5 White is now winning. fxe5 24.g3 The best because it stops
the unpleasant check on h4. 24.e3 h4+ 25.e2 f6 White is still better,
but at least black has some play. 24...g5 25.c4 Tjis prevents ...Qd2+
plus, once the N is centralized black is finished. f8+ 26.e2 f4 27.e3 f8 28.f1 e8 29.f3 h1 30.f2 a1 31.b3 b1 32.d3 c6 33.g3 This is what white has been building up to playing for the last few moves. xb2 33...xf3 34.xf3 xb2 35.f7+ d8 36.xb7 is winning rather easily.
34.gxf4 White has a won ending but it must be noted that he can still
lose the game if he is not careful!. 34.xb2 xf3 35.e2 xg3 36.f2
and a draw is likely going to be the outcome. 34...xf2 35.fxg5 xf3 36.e2 f4 37.d3 f8 38.g6 f3 39.f7 b5 40.e2 f4 41.f5 xe4+ 41...xg4 42.xd6 g2+ 43.f3 with a won ending. 42.f3 f4+ 43.g3 In this
final position black actually has a small material advantage of a R+2Ps vs. a
B+N, white has a mate in 20 moves. 43.g3 b4 44.e6 xf5 44...d5 45.g7+ e8 46.g8# 44...e8 45.g7 f3+ 46.xf3 e4+ 47.e3 d8 48.g8+ c7 49.c8+ b6 50.b8+ a5 51.xa7+ b5 52.c4# 45.gxf5 g7 46.g4 f6 47.cxb4 e4 48.f4 e3 49.xe3 g7 50.d7 c5 51.bxc5 dxc5 52.e6 c4 53.xc4 f6 54.f4 a5 55.a4 g7 56.e5 h6 57.d3 g7 58.f6+ f8 59.g7+ e8 60.g8+ d7 61.b8 c6 62.b5+ c5 63.d6# 1–0
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