Tactics - Did you just say Mikhail Tal? :)

When you take the word tactics people hear it as "Mikhail Tal" :)


Right from the day I started playing chess, though the zephyr carried only Anand(one of my all time favourites) into everyones ears , Mikhail Tal somehow always caught my attention with his superior quality of tactical strength.


Hear it from the GMs who have faced this guy and this is what they say about him
a)Believe me, playing in such a style, this guy has no chess future. – Peter Romanovsky (on a young Tal)
b)Even after losing four games in a row to him I still consider his play unsound. He is always on the lookout for some spectacular sacrifice, that one shot, that dramatic breakthrough to give him the win. – Bobby Fischer (on Tal)
c)Tal was a fearless fighter. Nobody could successfully accomplish so many incorrect maneuvers! He simply smashed his opponents. – Bent Larsen


Even a 1000 page book is not enough to describe his greatness and soundness with the tactics.Analyzing his chess games is tantamount to discussing what God looks like.
He kind of instilled a spirit in most of the youngsters who prefer the do or die way than play some serious strategies which most of the current day GM's do. (with all due respect for their games)


Let us quickly relive those crushing tactics and the games which literally would crush his opponents morale.


1) Game1: Mikhail Tal vs Andew Sokolov, Brussels WC 1988
  Opening:Catalan Opening (Open Defense)

Game link: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1140962

How could he even think of the crushing sac N*f7(move 14) after which it went N*f7-K*f7,Ne5+-Ne5,Be5-b6,Qf3+ and eventually captured the weak pawn on the e6 square. This is some freaking tactical chess! Hats off to the legend

  


2) Game2: Mikhail Tal vs Miguel Najdorf, Leipzig Open,1960.
   Opening- Sicilian Scheveningen variation (One of my favourite lines after Sicilian Najdorf)

                       
                        Game link: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1101501
1960 it was and this was the time he reached the peak of his career and was the world champion for 2 years 1960-61.Here in the game, I think move number 20 and 21 where he played Bh4-Ne4,R*e4-d*e4 were very critical. Wonder how the GMs even see such moves..That is why they are GMs :P

There are infact a lot more games which are of a superior tactical strength than the ones I have posted above :) Let us digest these small accurate moves 1st before jumping into his actual war field :)

My favourite and some famous quotes by Mikhail Tal:

a)Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine. – Mikhail Tal

b)There are two kinds of sacrifices; correct ones and mine. – Mikhail Tal

c)They compare me with Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. Lasker made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one! – Mikhail Tal

d)It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect these squares not once but four times! – Mikhail Tal

More to come on Queens Indian Defense Yugoslav system(I hate to play this from the black side :( ) and my all time favourite Stone wall and Slav Defense :)