Tal Sacs Queen In The King's Indian - Bobotsov vs. Tal, 1958

Mikhail Tal offered many audacious and quite a few suspicious queen sacrifices in his dramatic career. One of his finest, and probably soundest, queen sacrifices was his 1958 offering against Milko Bobotsov.

Tal immediately picked up two minor pieces for the queen and created such pressure that Bobotsov quickly gave more material back. The resulting play is among other things a perfect illustration of the value of dark-square pressure in the King's Indian Defense and especially of the dark-square bishop.

Interestingly, in offering his queen, Tal had a guide - Nezhmetdinov had offered almost the same sacrifice in 1956, but he was only able to earn a half-point against stiff resistance.

Lessons:

• Don't be afraid to give up your queen for long-term play.
• When under attack, fight to avoid passivity.
• The dark-square bishop in the King's Indian is to be highly valued.

My notes are below. It's hard to find many opportunities for stronger resistance near the end, but there are lot of pretty lines lurking.

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