Yo, what's up dear readers? Today, I have something truly insane for you—a game that almost feels unreal! But, before I start, let me share some surprising facts related to this game. This game was played in 1992, Moscow Blitz Championship. Where Mikhail Tal was facing the future world champion Garry Kasparov. Now, what is surprising here? (this is what you might be thinking of). Well, here is the shocking part—Tal was very ill at that point of time, so much so that he was supposed to be in the hospital, yes, he sneaked out of the hospital just to sit at the board and play against one of the greatest players in the world. At that moment, Kasparov had defended his World Championship four times! And he had played five world championship matches against Anatoly Karpov. So, Kasparov since becoming the world champion, he was the best player of the world for almost 20 years. While, Tal passed away just over a month later, like what a legend Tal was, we can clearly see how much he was sick at that time, yet played against Kasparov, but guess what, something incredible happened in this game after 17 moves...
Before I start discussing the game, here's a glimpse into Mikhail Tal's lifestyle—because you might be wondering what happened to his health or what led to his tragic end.
Tal's Life-style That led to His Tragic End
Mikhail Tal wasn’t just a chess genius—he was a real character both on and off the board. His lifestyle was as wild as his playing style. He was known for smoking and drinking, sometimes even during games! But but but, this carefree attitude came at a cost. As a result, he passed away at a very young age, 55 years old. Years of smoking, drinking, and health issues took a toll on him. Even after multiple surgeries and serious kidney problems, he never let go of chess. No matter how weak he was, he kept playing until the very end. What a legend!
Let's discuss about the game now!
1) THE OPENING
Mikhail Tal (white) vs. Garry Kasparov (black)
Tal started off the game with
e4 and Garry responds with the Sicilian
c5 which he's very familiar with. Then comes knight
f3 and
d6 from Garry. Then
bishop to b5, check, here we have the
moscow variation on the board, and Garry blocks with
knight to d7. Tal strikes the center with
d4, then we get Garry developing the
knight to f6 attacking the pawn. Garry proceeds with pawn to
a6, attacking the bishop, and asking what he wants to do. Tal captures the
knight on d7 with a check and Garry recaptures the bishop with his knight which is a weird backwards looking move but it is the best engine move. Anyway, Tal continues with
knight to c3, and
e6 from Garry, opening a square for his bishop to develop and then castle, then Tal plays
bishop to g5 attacking the queen, and then we get
Queen to c7. Tal develops his rook, and we got Garry taking on
d4, Tal recaptures with the knight and so Garry jumps with
Knight to e5 blocking the pawn as he couldn't develop the bishop previously in castle because...Okay, let me give you a chance to think,
why Garry didn't develop his dark-squared bishop to d7 in this position but instead played knight e5?
Great! If you were able to figure-out. If not then also Great! At least for trying, here is the break down:
Haha, as you know why Tal loved to create such chaos on the board! He loved to sacrifice, that's why he says,
"There are two types of sacrifices: the correct ones and mine."
Now back the game, let's continue from move no. 11.
2) REST OF THE GAME
Now the black's
knight on e5 is threatening the
b2 pawn. Here Tal plays
f4, and the thing is if you play
knight to c4, then...once again, pause here and think
what could happen if black plays Knight to c4? Yes, this is what could have happened:
And can you imagine Kasparov losing a game like this? No, Obviously not! Kasparov was one of the best calculators of the world, and he found
h6 (this move took him a lot of time to think) . Tal moves his
bishop to h4, again the point is if you attack the bishop with the knight, well easy, Tal can go
Bishop to g3 and then continue his attack:
So, Kasparov had to strike back with
g5, and yes, he did the same.
Now, we have reached to the end of this game. But this is where the actual fun is. White takes the knight, then pawn takes the
bishop on h4. Now Tal is gonna to open up the center with pawn takes
d6, then
bishop takes d6. Now...comes
Knight d5!! Tal roars in! A knight sacrifice, then pawn takes
nd5, and
e4 takes the d4 pawn, with a check by the rook, black moves his king to
f8, and the Tal plays
Queen f3. The threat is
ne6, rf1, maybe
re6 and the bring the other rook to
f1 and many other ways. Black can grab a pawn with bishop and try to get out with like bishop to
g3, but that's very very dangerous stuff you are playing with. Now what's the fascinating thing about this game, here is where it ends, yes! Apparently, Kasparov lost on time. He spend a lot of time on this game finding the best moves like h6.
3) THE COMPLETE GAME
So, this was all about it! I hope you guys enjoyed this blog, and let me know your thoughts in the comments and how many moves you got right, hehe. Goodbye till then, see you in the next one!
