Nezhmetdinov was an early version of Tal...his combinations were fantastic, if not always entirely sound. Every time I play over his games I get to thinking I could play like that, but, of course I can’t.
The following game was played against Oleg Chernikov (1936 – 2015), an International Arbiter and the 2000 World Senior Champion. It was played in a Russian team championship at Rostov-On Don in 1962.
After Chernikov played 11...Bf6 a position was reached that had long been known to be drawn and so after making it, Chernikov went for a stroll thinking Nezhmetdinov would take a quick draw. But, Nezhmetdinov sunk into deep thought and everyone wondered what he could be thinking about. Finally, after 45 minutes a youngster rushed up to Chernikov and informed him that Nezhmetdinov had sacrificed his Queen. Nezhmetdinov’s Queen sacrifice only netted him two pieces, but he hoped to attack the weakened dark squares around black’s King.
Immediately after the game it was thought black had a draw at best. Subsequent analysis reached the conclusion that the chances should be about equal if black plays 14...d5 instead of Chernikov’s 14...Re8.
However, since then it’s been discovered that black has several reasonable moves. While the engine evaluations after 14.Nc3 lead one to believe that the chances are even, practical results strongly favor black.
In the end, Nezhmetdinov didn’t succeed in overturning theory, but what does that matter? The depth of his plan and his flight of fancy are worth more than reams of engine analysis.
[Event "Chigorin Team Cup"]
[Site "Rostov-on-Don"]
[Date "1962.05.??"]
[Round ""]
[White "Rashid Nezhmetdino"]
[Black "Oleg L Chernikov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1962.??.??"]
{B35: Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6
5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 Ng4 9. Qxg4 Nxd4 10. Qh4 {After 10.Qd1
it is difficult for black to equalize as was known when this game was played.}
Qa5 {aiming for ...Nxc2+!} 11. O-O Bf6 $1 {This leads to a known draw. White
can play 12.Qh6 Bg7 13. Qh4 and repeating moves. Or, he can play 13.Qg5 and
after the exchange of Qs the endgame is drawn. Here Nezhmetdinov thought for
45 minutes.} 12. Qxf6 {White only get two pieces for his Q, but he hopes to
attack on the weak dark squares around black's K. Of you're wondering what the
engine thinks, Stockfish’s evaluation is that the position is almost dead
equal. Black can't try to grab material herewith 12...Ncb3} Ne2+ $1 $11 {
The position is equal.} (12... Nxb3 13. axb3 Qxa1 14. Qxe7 Qa5 15. Nd5 Qd8 16.
Bd4 f6 (16... Qxe7 17. Nxe7#) 17. Nxf6+ Rxf6 18. Qxd8+ {White has a forced
mate.}) 13. Nxe2 exf6 14. Nc3 Re8 (14... d5 15. Nxd5 Rd8 16. Bd4 Rxd5 17. exd5
Kg7 18. Rae1 Bf5 19. Re3 {White is better. Serwinski,B-Grabczewski,R Polanica
Zdroj 1965}) 15. Nd5 Re6 16. Bd4 Kg7 17. Rad1 d6 {Not the best.} (17... Rxe4 {
is met by} 18. Bxf6+ Kf8 19. Bc3 Qc5 20. Nf6 {with a promising position.} Rf4
21. Nxh7+ Kg8 22. Nf6+ Kf8 23. g3 Rxf6 24. Bxf6 {and white has the better
chances.}) (17... b6 18. Bc3 Qc5 19. Bb4 Qc6 20. Bc3 Bb7 {with equal chances.})
18. Rd3 {The R joins the attack.} Bd7 19. Rf3 Bb5 (19... Rxe4 $2 20. Bc3 $18
Qc5 21. Nxf6 Re7 22. Nxd7+ {wins}) 20. Bc3 Qd8 21. Nxf6 {[%mdl 32] Both sides
have been playing extremely well, but black's next move coats hom the game. He
needed to play 21...Rc8 and be prepared to eliminate white's deadly B on c3 by
sacrificing the exchange.} Be2 {[%mdl 8192]} 22. Nxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Alertly
played.} Kg8 (22... Kxh7 {isn't playable.} 23. Rxf7+ Kh6 24. Bxe6 Bxf1 25. Bg7+
Kh5 26. g4+ Kh4 27. Kxf1 {White is winning.}) 23. Rh3 {Not the best.} (23. Nf6+
{is much better.} Kf8 (23... Kg7 24. Nd7+ Kg8 25. Rh3 Bh5 (25... Qxd7 26. Rh8#)
26. Bxe6 fxe6 27. Nf6+ Kf7 28. g4 {White is winning.}) 24. Rh3 Rxf6 25. Rh8+ {
wins easily.}) 23... Re5 (23... Bxf1 {is met by} 24. Ng5 Kf8 (24... Bb5 25.
Rh8#) 25. Rh8+) 24. f4 {[%mdl 2048] As a result of whits's less than optimal
23rd nive black is under strong pressure, but there is no forced win/.} Bxf1 {
After this move black is completely lost. In annotating this game one one
author made no comment on this move. If it was bad to take on f1 last move,
it's still bad. Black could have put up stiffer resistance with 24... Rh5!} (
24... Rh5 25. Nf6+ Kf8 26. Nxh5 Qb6+ 27. Rf2 gxh5 28. Rg3 h4 29. Bg7+ Ke8 30.
Rc3 d5 {White is better, but black has reason to continue the games as he is
not witjout play.}) 25. Kxf1 (25. fxe5 {is a bit weaker.} Qb6+ 26. Kxf1 dxe5
27. Ng5 Qf6+ 28. Nf3 Re8 {White still has some work to do.}) 25... Rc8 (25...
Rh5 {would not nave been any better.} 26. Nf6+ Kf8 27. Nxh5 gxh5 28. Rxh5 Ke7
29. Rh7 Qb6 30. Rxf7+) 26. Bd4 {Nezhmetdinov is over finessing. The prosaic 26.
fxe5 was sufficient.} b5 27. Ng5 (27. fxe5 {Oddly, this is now a bad move!}
dxe5 28. Bxe5 Qd1+ 29. Kf2 Rxc2+ 30. Bxc2 Qxc2+ 31. Kg3 Qd3+ {Draw?} 32. Kf4 {
Who knows after this?} Qf1+ 33. Rf3 Qc1+ 34. Kg4 f5+ 35. exf5 gxf5+ 36. Kxf5
Kxh7 {This position is evaluated as 0.00, but that does not mean it's a draw!})
27... Rc7 28. Bxf7+ Rxf7 29. Rh8+ {[%mdl 512] A crisp finish.} Kxh8 30. Nxf7+
Kh7 31. Nxd8 Rxe4 32. Nc6 Rxf4+ 33. Ke2 {Black resigned. Among amateurs black
might well play on in a position like this, but in the case of string Masters,
to quote the Fritz program, "White us clearly winning."} 1-0
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