Tal Attacks or Did I Repeat Myself?
Mikhail Tal was on his way to the world championship when he faced Milko Bobotsov on his way to beconing the first Bulgarian grandmaster. Tal played the King's Indian Defense which Bobotsov challenged with the Saemisch Variation characterized by f3. Tal did not use e5 or Nc6, but played c5 and Nbd7. Bobotsov did not play 7.dxc5 or 7.d5. A few moves later the game entered Tal's sacrificial labyrinth. Bobotsov was offered Tal's queen. It was a sacrificial offering made two years earlier by Rashid Nezhmetdinov. Did Bobotsov know that and prepare to deal with it? We do know that he was now seeing Tal's face and hearing the ticking of his clock. I suggest that before seriously studying the position, two equal players start play after move 11.Nd5 with 5 minutes each. That is one of my training methods. This variation has been tested since this game, especially in the last twenty years. I first was shown the game decades ago in New York by a Bulgarian refugee from communism. Here is the game and a review of theory.