Mikhail Tal Obliterates A Greedy French Defense - Tal vs. Uhlmann, 1971
Few would willingly capture a poisoned pawn against Mikhail Tal, but GM Wolfgang Uhlmann thought the c3-pawn in the following game was only slightly poisoned.
Unfortunately for him, the poison proves mortal as Tal finds two incredible moves to secure a forced win. He starts with a pleasing knight sacrifice to open the e-file (12.Nf5!!), but it's his follow-which reroutes the bishop to exploit the dark squares (15.Bd2!!) that really finishes off the game, producing another miniature in Tal's incredible collection.
Lessons:
- Don't take poisoned pawns.
- Castle early.
- Open the e-file against an uncastled king.
My brief notes are below.
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I'm the VP of Chess and Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2014, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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