Known as the Magician from Riga he had a highly imaginative and explosive style that led to complicated positions in which even the best players of the day went astray. His attacks were often rife with sacrifices (sometimes unsound!) and often resulted in some amazing games.
His opponent in the following instructive game was Anatoli Bannik (1921-2013, 91 years old) who was born in Kiev. A five-time Ukrainian champion, he qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship final seven times. Tal won the event with a score of 12.5-5.5. In this game Tal's sacrifice was a bit unusual...it was perfectly sound!
Anatolij Bannik–Mikhail Tal0–1E65USSR Champ Semi-Finals, RigaRiga URS1955Stockfish 17
E65: King's Indian: Fianchetto 1.d4 f6 2.f3 Ar the time this game was
played Tal already had a reputation as a fierce attacker, so it appears that
Bannik is going to play the opening on a conservative manner. g6 3.c4 g7 4.c3 0-0 5.g3 While not often seen, this move is statistically on a par with
5.e4 d6 6.g2 One annotator was of the opinion that 6.e4 is better because
it gives white a broad Pawn center. Although the text move has been very
rarely played the statistics do not support the claim. With either move
white's winning percentage renains almost identical, but after 6.e4 black's
winning percentage more than doubles and he wins more games than white. c5
This move is not part of the main line theory (either 6...Nc6 or 6...Nbd7),
but Purdy gave it a ! and it’s Stockfish’s top choice. The idea behind it
is to open the a1-h8 diagonal by playing ...cxd4. Of course if white advances
his d-Pawn the diagonal still becomes open. 7.0-0 Equally popular is 7.d5 c6 It’s interesting that this is by far the most popular move, but 7.d5
preventing the N from developing on c6 from where it has an effect on the
center seems like a reasonale alternative. 8.h3 This is probably not a very
good idea because it ever so slighly loosens the position of white’s K
without good reason as neither ...Bg4 or ...Ng4 are immediate threats.
Additionally, the P on h3 will come under attack. Either 8.dxc5 or 8.d5 were
good alternatives. cxd4 A good move that opens the long diagonal and opens
up the game. Black wants an open game because it will make it easier for him
to take advantage of the small weakness white has created on the K-side. 9.xd4 xd4 10.xd4 e6 The c4-Pawn is a target. 11.h4 A good move as the
Q was somewhat exposed on d4 and in any case there is no better square. 11.
Bg5 was a reasonable alternative. c8 12.b3 He has to play this to defend
the P because 12.Nd5 fails. 12.d5 b5 Undermining the N. 13.g5 13.xf6+ xf6 14.g5 xc4 us even better for black. 13...xc4 Black has the
superior position 12...h5 Tal’s plan is to play ...Bf6, attacking the Q
which isn’t particularly dangerous to white. On any case, the position is
equal. 12...c5 13.f3 h5 14.d2 f6 15.e4 xh3 Black has picked up a
P, but white has sufficient compensation. Karlsson,L (2495)-Hellers,F (2490)
Malmo 1987 13.d2 d7 14.ac1 f6 15.g5 Purdy unnecessarily questioned
tnns move and recommended 15.Qe4, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with
Babbik’s move. 15.e4 xh3 16.xh3 xh3 17.xb7 d4 18.e3 b8 19.e4
is completely equal. Palmason,G-Book,E Munich 1958 15...xg5 16.xg5 xh3 17.xh3 xh3 18.xe7 The position remains dead equal after 18.
Nd5, but this move results in a lost position because it leaves g3 weak. 18.d5 and white has nothing about which to worry. ce8 19.fd1 is completely
equal. 18...xg3 ...and wins. The move might be a bit
surprising because black has no minor pieces to join in the attack, so haw is
he going to win with only a Q and two Rs? One R actually because one of them
has to guard f7. 19.fxg3 xg3+ 20.h1 ce8 21.xb7 aiming for
Qg2 which is more important than pickong up the P. e5 22.g2 h5+ 23.g1 e3+ 24.f2 h6 White has no way to meet the threat of ...Rh1+ 25.xa7
This allows a mate in 11...not that ot matters. 25.f6 g5+ 26.f2 f5+ 25.f3 h3 26.g4 f5 27.f4 h1+ 28.g2 xf4 29.xf4 xc1 wins 25...g5+ Missing the mate, but Tal still has everything under control. 25...h1+ 26.g2 h2+ 27.f3 e8 28.g1 h5+ 29.g4 h3+ 30.f2 xg4 31.g1 h2+ 32.f1 f4+ 33.e1 xc1+ 34.d1 hxe2+ 35.f1 xd1# 26.f2 h2+ 27.e1 xc1+ 28.d1 c2 29.e7 xa2 Threatens to win with ...Qa5+. 30.f2 a5+ ...anyway. 31.f1 h1+ White resigned. 31...h1+ 32.g2 h5 33.e3 h2+ 34.f3 h3+ 35.e4 e8+ 36.d5 xd1+ 37.d3 e6+ 38.c6 c8+ 39.b6 c5+ 40.b7 e7+ 41.b8 c7+ 42.a8 c8# 0–1
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