Take Botvinnik for example. He was known as a solid positional player, but in some of his games you will find that he could attack like Tal. Or, look at Tal's games. He was the best attacker of his day, but he could still play positional chess and endings with the best of them if he had to. So, really it is more a case of preference than ability as the following game shows.
The Moscow City Championships were strong, sometimes stronger than international tournaments. The first champion was Alexander Solovtsov (1847-1923) who won the championship in 1899.
Looking over the list of city champions some of the better known champions include Nenarokov, Goncharov, Bernstein, Alekhine, Cukierman, Grigoriev, Verlinsky, Panov, Riumin, Alatortsev, Kan, Belavenets, Smyslov, Lilienthal, Kotov, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Bronstein, Simagin, Averbakh, Petrosian, Vasiukov, Zaitsev, Balashov, Lein, Dvoretsky, Gulko, Tseitlin, Sokolov, Kuzmin, Kholmov, Timoshenko, Bareev, Morozevich and Najer just to name a few.
The 1968 Moscow City Championship was very strong with 8 GMs, including the World Champion Tigran Pertosian. He played his usual solid, but boring chess and this event was his second strong tournament in a row where he went undefeated. The first was Bamberg, but there in more than one game he was on the verge of defeat. In the end, he tied with Lother Schmid two full points behind Paul Keres.
Petrosian was one of the most boring players who ever held the world championship, but in the following game he unleashed fire and brimstone on Yakov Estrin. For more on Petrosian see my post Some things about Petrosian you may not know HERE.
Tigran Petrosian - Yakov Estrin
Result: 1-0
Site: MoscowChampionship
Date: 1968
English Opening
[...] 1.c4 e5 2.g3 ♘c6 3.♗g2 d6 4.♘c3 ♗e6 Keres was critical of this because it allows white to play 6.b4 with no prepartion. Keres recommended the immediate 6...g6. 5.d3 g6 Black usually plays 5...Qd7. (5...♕d7 6.b4 g6 7.b5 ♘d8 with a slight advantage.) 6.b4 White can mke this important move without any preparation which is why Keres didn't like 4... Be6. Here 6...Nxb4 would be met by 7.Qb3 which causes problems for black. 6...♕d7 7.b5 ♘d8 8.♘f3 ♗g7 Estrin i not playing the opening very good. He nees to prevent Ng5.
8...f6 To prevent the threat of Ng5. 9.a4 ♘e7 10.O-O ♗g7 11.♗a3 O-O 12.♕b3 with equlity. Perkins,A (2305)-Tarjan,J (2405)/Graz 1972
8...♗h3 This turns out poorly for white. 9.♗xh3 ♕xh3 10.d4
10.♘g5 ♕g2 11.♖f1 ♕xh2 Not this. 12.♘d5 ♖c8 13.♕a4 c6 14.b6 a6 15.c5 and white is winning.
10...♗g7 11.dxe5 ♘e6 12.♘d5 O-O-O White is much better. Navara, D (2720)-Ledger,A (2413)/Wokefield Park ENG 2007 8...h6 This prevents Ng5. 9.a4 ♗g7 10.♗a3 f5 11.♖c1 ♘e7 12.O-O O-O with equality. Molner,M (2459) -Kretchetov,A (2276)/Los Angeles, 2013.
8...♗h6 was recommended by Keres in order to prevent Ng5 and exchange off white's strong B, but he offered no further analysis and there does not seem to be any examples. Play might run... 9.♗xh6 ♘xh6 10.♘g5 Anyway. 10...a6 11.a4 O-O 12.♘xe6 fxe6 Guarding d5 and opening the f-file, but white retains a slight advantage.
9.♘g5 e4 This, too, draws criticism from Keres because white is better developed and so black should not open the position. (9...♘f6 10.♘xe6 fxe6 11.O-O O-O leaves white with a slight advantage.) 10.♗b2 exd3 11.♕xd3 a6 You might expect the positional Petrosian to play something like 12.O-O or 12.a4 here. Instead he sees that black has some problems. His K is not safe anywhere and he is going to have trouble on the a1-h8 diagonal which he opened up with 9...e4. 12.h4 This move is also good...just not as good as 12.b6!
12.b6 This excellent move was missed by annotators. 12...cxb6 13.♖b1 ♘f6 (13...♗f5 14.♘ge4 ♘e6 15.♘xd6+ wins.) 14.♘ce4 ♘xe4 15.♘xe4 O-O 16.♗xg7 ♔xg7 17.♖xb6 is winning for white.
12.b6 c6 13.♘ge4 d5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.♘xd5 ♗xb2 16.♘c7+ ♔e7 17.♕c2 ♕d4 (17...♗xa1 18.♕c5+ mates next move.) 18.♖d1 wins
12.b6 ♘c6 13.♘b5!!13...♗xb2 (13...axb5 14.♗xg7) 14.♘xc7+ ♔e7 15.♖b1 ♗g7 16.♘gxe6 fxe6 17.♘xa8 wins.
12...axb5 13.cxb5 ♘e7
13...♘f6 is met by 14.♘ce4 ♕e7 and after either 15.Qd4 or 15.Qc3 white has a big advantage and a potential Q sacrifice. 15.♕d4 ♘h5 16.♕xg7 ♘xg7 17.♗xg7 ♗d5 (17...♖g8 18.♘f6+ ♕xf6 19.♗xf6 and wins.) 18.♗xh8 (18.♘f6+ ♕xf6 19.♗xf6 ♗xg2 20.♖g1 O-O 21.♖xg2 here, too, white is winning.) 18...♗xe4 19.♘xe4 ♘e6 20.♘f6+ ♔d8 21.♗xb7 is winning for white.
14.♕d2 O-O This is dangerous, but there isn't much black can do. 15.h5 gxh5 This is asking for trouble.
15...h6 is his best chance. 16.♘xe6 fxe6 17.♘e4 leaves white with good attacking chances, but at the same time, black has defensive resources.
16.♖xh5 ♗f5 17.♗e4
17.♘d5 was also a good possibility. 17...♗xb2 18.♕xb2 ♘xd5 19.♗xd5
17...♗g6 18.♖xh7 By sacrificing the exchange Petrosian removes the last defense of black's K. 18...♗xh7 19.♗xh7+ ♔h8 20.O-O-O Bringing the R into the action. Black no longer has any chance of defending himself. 20...♘g8 21.♖h1 ♘h6 22.♘d5 f6 23.♘e4 Even here white could sacrifice another piece! (23.♘f4 fxg5 24.♖xh6 gxf4 25.♗f5+ ♔g8 26.♗xd7 and wins.) 23...♖xa2 24.♖xh6 Not to quibble, but 24.Bf5! was even more crushing. (24.♗f5 ♕xf5 25.♖xh6+ ♗xh6 26.♕xh6+ ♔g8 27.♘e7+)
24.♗f5 ♖xb2 25.♕xh6+ ♗xh6+ 26.♖xh6+ ♔g8 27.♘exf6+ ♖xf6 28.♘xf6+ ♔g7 29.♘xd7 ♔xh6 30.♔xb2
24...♗xh6 25.♕xh6 ♕g7 26.♕h4 Further resistance is useless so Estrin gave up.
26.♕h4 ♕xh7 27.♗xf6+ ♖xf6 28.♕xf6+ ♕g7 29.♕xd8+ ♕g8 30.♕xg8+ ♔xg8 31.♘ec3 and the two Ns and Ps win easily against the R.
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