Puzzles from the Games of Mikhail Tal

20. ... Bxh2+!was played by Tal in his game against Spassky in Montreal, 1979. This was the strongest tournament ever held since the introduction of FIDE ratings. Of the top ten players in the world, only Bobby Fischer was not present. Tal finished second although he actually scored the same points as the winner, Karpov. The latter had just successfully defended his world championship against Korchnoi in Baguio and Tal had been one of the seconds on his team. Perhaps this explains why they both had such a great tournament.

The move played is a type of the well-known "Greek Gift". After 21. Kxh2, Tal followed up with 21. ... Rh5+ (also good is 21. ... Ng4+ 22. Kg3 Rg5 23. f4 Ne3+ 24. fxg5 Qc7+) 22. Kg1 (22. Kg3 Ne4+ 23. Bxe4 Qh4+ 24. Kf3 Qxe4+ 25. Kg3 Qh4#) 22. ... Ng4 and White resigned as mate is unavoidable - 23. Re1 Rh1+ 24. Kxh1 Qh4+ 25. Kg1 Qh2+ 26. Kf1 Bxg2/Qxg2 and Qh1#

Here we have Ribli - Tal from the Candidates Tournament 1985 held in Montpelier. Tal won with 26. ... Rxf3 27. Nxf3 (27.Kxf3 Qd3+ 28. Kf2 [28. Qe3 fxe4+ 29. Kg2 Qxe3] 28... fxe4+ 29. Kg2 Qe2+ 30. Kh3 Qxd1) 27... Qxd1 28. Ng5 and White resigned without waiting Black's reply (28. ... Qh5 or Qd7 would both be clearly winning)

This is from Tal - Koblenz (Riga, 1957). Tal won with 36. Rf6+ Rf7 (36... gxf6 37. Bh6+ Rg7 38. Bxg7+ Ke7 39. Bxf6+ Kd6 40. Be5+ Kd5 41. Bb8 Qxc3 [41. ... Rxh7 allows a mate in one - 42. Qd4#] 42. Qxc3 also gives a winning advantage) 37. Qxg7+ and Black resigned as White's attack leads to mate.

This is from a game that Tal played by telephone in 1969 between himself as Black and the readers of "Pionerskaya Pravda" (the official, heavily circulated, national newspaper for children and teenagers in the Soviet Union) as White. If you played 26. ... Nf4+ then you did better than Tal on this occasion as he played too nonchalantly here and chose 26. ... Ng3+ which should only have resuted in a draw after 27. Kh4 Nf5, but the readers instead chose 27. Kh6 which allows mate (27. ... Rg6+ 28.Kxh7 Ne4 29. Rf2 Nxf2 30. d4 Ng4 31. Kh8 Nf6 32. Nc3 Rg8#) but Tal once more went wrong with 28. ... NF5+ allowing Rg7 with perpetual check. After the correct 26. ... Nf4+ Black would be winning: 27. Kh6 (27. Kh4 h5! and Black will mate with Rg4) 27. ... Rg6+ 28. Kxh7 Rg7+ 29. Kh6 (29. Kh8 Ng6#) Kg8 and White cannot prevent mate by Rg6 (30. Rg2 only delays the inevitable by one move after Black takes the White rook).

P.S. The manoeuvre that Tal overlooked had been seen in the Carlsbad tournament of 1911 in the game between Rotlewi and Fahrni which the White player won in 81 moves: perhaps showing that studying the classics can be useful!

29. ... b4!!. This move opens the door of the White King's fortifications. There followed 30. axb4 a5 31. Nb5 Qb7 32. b3 (there is no rescue in 32. Na3 axb4 33. Nxc4 dxc4) 32. ... Qxb5 and White resigned in view of the continuation 33. bxc4 Qa4+ 34. Kb2 Qxb4+ 35. Ka2 Qa4+ 36. Kb2 Rb8+ 37. Bb6 d4 and Black is mating. The game is Mestrovic - Tal (Sarajevo 1966).

Tal was Black in this game played against Larsen in Bugojno in 1984. Here he shocked his opponent with 28. ... e2!!, so much so in fact that Larsen resigned immediately. 29. Qxe2 naturally loses to 29. ... Nf3+ 30. Qxf3 Rxe1+ 31. Kf2 Rf1+ and Black also loses a piece after 29. Rexe2 Nf3+ 30. Kf1 Nxd4

Another Tal - Geller game. This time it's from a match between the USSR and Yugoslavia played at Budva in 1967. Tal played 23. Rxd5! Rxd5 24. Qf3 and Geller resigned. It was perhaps a little premature - although he is clearly worse, one example continuation would be 24. ... Rexe5 25. Qxf7+ Kh8 26. h3 Qb4 27. Kh2 Rxg5 28. Bxd5 Qf8 29. Qxc7 when White would have the advantage due to his extra pawn and the weakness of Black's back rank, but nevertheless there would still be some way to go before victory could be claimed.

P.S. Tal didn't always have his own way against Geller. Overall they had 22 draws and 6 wins each.

The game is Tal - Geller (USSR Championship, Riga 1958). The tournament was particularly important for Tal because it was held in the town of his birth, but even more than that, it was also a zonal tournament towards a match for the World Championship. To qualify he had to finish in the top four. Unfortunately, he didn't get off to a good start, only scoring 50% in the first half of the tournament but he finally managed to find his form (as Geller found out in this game!) and went on to finish in first place ahead of Petrosian, Bronstein and Averbakh.

In the position in the diagram, Geller had just played 25. ... gxf6, overlooking Tal's deadly response: 26. Re7! (26. Bxh7+ Kxh7 27. Qh4+ Kg7 28. Qg3+ is only a draw and 26. d7 Re2 27. Ba4 Kf8 is even advantageous for Black) 26. ... Qxd6+ (if 26... Qxe7 27. Qg4+ Kf8 28. dxe7+ Rxe7 29. Qxc4 with a winning advantage for White; and if 26. ... Rxd6, Black loses because of 27. Qh4) 27. Qxd6 Rxd6 28. Rxe1 Rd2 29. Rc1 Rxf2 30. Be4 Rxa2 31. Rxc4 a5 32. Rc8+ Kg7 33. Rc7 and Black resigned.

This is Honfi - Tal (Suchumi, 1972). Tal forced his opponent's King into the open with 30. ... Rxc3+ 31. Kxc3 Bb4+!! 32. Kxb4 after which there followed 32. ... Qa5+ 33. Kc4 Qa6+ resulting in the loss of White's queen on e2 and therefore White resigned. Note that 31. ... Rc8+? would have been a mistake as this would simply have driven the White King into safety after 32. Kd2 Qxb3 33. Ke1