Go back
What A Game !!! Tal-Korchnoi

What A Game !!! Tal-Korchnoi

Only Chess

Vote Up
Vote Down

Vote Up
Vote Down

After R8xe4 Tal decided to throw in the towel.

Great game.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
[pgn][Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1968"]
[Round "05"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Viktor Korchnoi"]
[ECO "C98"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Nc6 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Nf1 Be6 15. Ne3 Rad8 16. Qe2 c4 17. Nf5
Bxf5 18. exf ...[text shortened]... Rd2
32. fxe3 Ne2+ 33. Kh1 Ng3+ 34. Kg1 Re2 35. Qd1 Qb7 36. e4
R8xe4 0-1 [/pgn]
I thought white was supposed to play 13.d5 instead of 13.dc.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by SwissGambit
I thought white was supposed to play 13.d5 instead of 13.dc.
Also, isn't 23.b3 just a crude blunder?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Also, isn't 23.b3 just a crude blunder?
23. b3 does seem shocking coming from a player of Tal's caliber. He loses a pawn and his queenside falls apart.

Why not simply 23. Nxf6+, Nxf6; 24. Rad1?

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Also, isn't 23.b3 just a crude blunder?
You can just give 23... Nxc3 an exclamation mark too

Vote Up
Vote Down

23. b3 wasn't Tal's brightest move ever made though 😉

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by heinzkat
You can just give 23... Nxc3 an exclamation mark too
You're just mad that I beat you to giving the question mark.

Vote Up
Vote Down

What about 28...e4!! I think that move was brilliant, preparing an great counter-attack to get out of the pinned knight situation. Tal had nothing after that. This is a great game, really shows Korchnoi's great fighting/counter-attacking ability.

Does Tal annotate this game anywhere; from studying his games I'm sure he willingly sac'd the pawn thinking he had something either with a Qxh6 or he thought the pinned knight was very strong, overlooking 28...e4. The way he sac'd things I thought he was maybe thinking of sacking the Bishop and playing Qxh6 but I think that just leads to a quicker loss.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by homedepotov
23. b3 does seem shocking coming from a player of Tal's caliber. He loses a pawn and his queenside falls apart.

Why not simply 23. Nxf6+, Nxf6; 24. Rad1?
21. Be4! is Liberzon-Noval, Moscow-Praque 1968

(After 22. ... Nd5 =) Other possible moves are:
23. a4; 23. g3; and 23. Qg4!?; Qb6! which is given as equal. This and the following are derived from "Complete Games of Mikhal Tal 1967-73" by H. Thomas.
His annotations are taken from a number of soviet sources.

27. Rec1? Besser ist. 27. Bf7!? Qf7 28. Qc3 Rd4! with a slight edge for black.😀

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
[pgn][Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1968"]
[Round "05"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Viktor Korchnoi"]
[ECO "C98"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Nc6 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Nf1 Be6 15. Ne3 Rad8 16. Qe2 c4 17. Nf5
Bxf5 18. exf ...[text shortened]... Rd2
32. fxe3 Ne2+ 33. Kh1 Ng3+ 34. Kg1 Re2 35. Qd1 Qb7 36. e4
R8xe4 0-1 [/pgn]
You are right...an excellent game!😏