When Tal met Fischer. Candidate cycle 1958-1959 in Yugoslavia
Portoroz, Yugoslavia [SLO], August 1958...
and the interzonal begins with 21 chess players participating. Among them, the 22-year old Mikhail Tal, already USSR champion, at the start of his road to the top of the world. But also the chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, then 15 years old, who had earned his invitation by winning his first US championship of 1957/58.
sources:
- [BF]: My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer, with Introductions to the games by Larry Evans, 1969-2008
- [MT]: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, by Mikhail Tal, 1997
- [VV]: Tal's Riddle by Viktor Vasiliev, 1973 / Виктор Васильев, Загадка Таля. Второе Я Петросяна, 1973
- Chess Life and Chess Review Archives
- Slovenian press
*all translations of the Slovenian & Russian texts were made after OCR, corrections & google translations slightly modified
Their first game came on round 12 and was a draw; with no great intense moments I think. More interesting seemed to me the Fishcers' win against Larsen. William Lombardy gave a colorful incident around it, a little from an hybris-nemesis theme [in Chess review 10/1958, 314]:
"One day before the commencement of the tourney. I had occasion to talk with Bent Larsen of Denmark and Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland. Larsen was relating that there were certain players in the tournament whom he had to beat in order to qualify. Among these were Cardoso, Fuster, Neikirch, Rossetto and Fischer. "Fischer is one baby I'm going to spank," he said.
Olafsson warned: "Don't be too sure. Be carerul!"
Larsen: "Don't worry. I can take care of myself."
Then came the big day. Fischer was to play Larsen. I suppose that nobody has guessed what happened?!
The "baby" spanked Larsen in 25 moves. Naturally!
And here I make another en passant play! Careful Olafsson spanked them both!"
It was intriguing getting into Fischer's mind via his game notes. He seemed quite analytical, going in depth in some variations [I didn't include everything in the pgns]. Tal seemed a little more descriptive in his own notes of the following beautiful game...
Finally both advanced to the next phase of the candidate cycle...
After a draw on the last round of Zurich tournament 1959, they'll face each other in Sep 1959 within Yugoslav candidates, that was held in Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade. 8 participants with 4 games each other. The winner would face Botvinnik for the world championship.
Fischer during an interview that gave to Dimitrije Bjelica some years later, was analyzing a Tal vs Smyslov game of that tournament [this part of the interview can be seen among others in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLAYkamdKsA ]. That game was a Caro-Kann one and as Fischer was showing 1...c6, he added:
"This reminds me of a funny incident in the same tournament, I was playing Tal and... and everyone was playing the Caro-Kann against me. As I was playing a variation that they thought was bad, and had bad results. So I played e4 against Tal, you know, and Tal played pawn here [c6] you know. And he held it and looked at me... held it for some seconds. And then he went to c5."
This scene happily seems to have been video-recorded [among others it can be seen in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj7bcxaN4qM]. I've made a gif of it. Not totally accurate, but I hope it's ok with timing...
Ficher & Tal played two sicilian games within that tournament with Bobby at whites. Searching in web, I've read about possibilities for both being that game. After an article by Dennis Monokroussos in here and some search, I finally reached to the an excerpt by Vasiliev [VV, p. 117], where the incident is described for the 13th round [=В тринадцатом туре].
So this game!
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Their following game was played on the penultimate round. Tal was seeking for a win so to secure 1st place; Fischer wanted to win for his pride as he was defeated already three times by Tal. A sicilian again. On this, Larry Evans wrote as a prologue, before Fischer's notes [in BF, p. 72]:
"This is one of the four games that Fischer lost to Tal who, in winning this tournament, earned the right to meet and trounce Botvinnik for the world championship.
In jest the whimsical Tal signed Fischer's name, in addition to his own, when asked for an autograph. "Why not?" he quipped, "I've beaten Bobby so often ... that gives me the right to sign for him!"
A careful reading of Fischer's notes will reveal a clear echo of the strong emotions that engulfed him during this tense encounter. He misses a win in the opening and several draws along the way, demonstrating dramatically how a continuously advantageous position can abruptly be turned into defeat by seemingly insignificant miscalculations."
Probably their relationship seems to be at the time a little intense; but will be back on this after the game. The 'autograph' incident more possibly didn't take place that day; but after the end of the following final round when Tal was declared the next contender. At least in the Slovenian press this is when Tal is mentioned generally giving autographs.
Back to the game, it had caused some comments on Tal's 18th, where he accepted a knight sacrifice that could lead to a draw. But also on Fishcer's 22. Qc6+...
Tal commenting the game afterwards, and especially on this Fischer's 22. Qc6+, wrote [MT, p. 123]:
"Every player has his own habit: one will first make his move and then write it down, while another will do things the other way round. Incidentally, in recent years Fischer has actively objected to this 'other way round', expressing the opinion that a scoresheet is not a black-board for writing down exercises. However, in our game Fischer first wrote down the move 22 Rae1!, without doubt the strongest, and wrote it not in his usual English notation but in European, almost Russian! Then he not very deftly pushed the scoresheet towards me. 'He's asking for an endorsement', I thought to myself, but how was I to react? To frown was impossible, if I smiled he would suspect 'trickery', and so I did the natural thing. I got up and began to calmly walk up and down the stage. I met Petrosian, made some joke to him, and he replied. The 15-year-old Fischer, who was essentially still only a large child, sat with a confused expression on his face, looking first at the front row of the spectators where his second was sitting, and then at me.
Then he wrote down another move: 22 Qc6+?, and after 22... Rd7 23. Rae1+ Be7 24. Rxf7 Kxf7 25. Qe6+ Kf8! 26. Qxd7 Qd6 held on to my extra piece and adjourned the game in a won position. When I later asked Fischer why he hadn't played 22 Sael, he replied: 'Well, you laughed when I wrote it down!'"
Possibly Fischer didn't have a good time with Tal; besides the games. In an interview published in newspaper Delo on 27.10.1959, it was written...
| Slovenian text | google translation a little modified |
|
Fischer je razočaran... Najmlajši velemojster na sretu in udeleženec turnirja kandidatov. 16-letni Bobby Fischer, se je spet — kakor na Bledu — omejil na kratko izjavo o sebi in turnirju. Več kakor sam — je o tem spregovoril njegov sekundant Larsen. Bobby je menil samo tole: »Na turnirju me je razjezil Talj. Med igro se nasproti meni vede nevljudno. S takim vedenjem mi je onemogočil pravo osredotočenje in zato sem proti njemu izgubil. Drugače kakor on - so bili Smislov, Keres in Gligorič gentlemani. Želel bi, da bi namesto Talja zmagal Smislov. On je najmočnejši šahist. O sebi in v zvezi s turnirjem nisem nikomur dajal nikakršnih izjav. Moja zasebna stvar je, kaj mislim o tem in katero mesto bi mi pripadalo na tem prvenstvu.« In sekundant Larsen ga je dopolnil: »Bobbnyj je mnogo pričakoval od tega turnirja. Znano mi je, da je bil prepričan o prvem mestu zase. Resnično, tega pa mi ni nikdar zaupal glasno, a to ni bilo niti potrebno, ker sem to spoznal drugače. Bobby se je zmeraj vestno pripravljal na vsako partijo. Pri tem je kazal nekaj fanatizma in neomajne volje, kakršno ima lahko samo mladenič njegovih let, kadar se odloči, da bi mu karkoli uspelo. Verjamem, da je delal in se pripravljal bolj kakor ostali. Osebno sem zadovoljen s tem, kar je pokazal, čeprav bi bilo lahko še boljše. Kar se tiče Bobbyja, je razočaran. Prepričan je, da je malo dosegel glede na to, kar zmore. Toda, saj je še mlad in pozneje mu pojde gotovo bolje. Če bo tako nadaljeval, ga čaka velika šahovska kariera. Te mu je v marsičem podiral in ga spravljal v slabo voljo Mihalj Talj. Z njim je Bobby vsakokrat - psihološko nepripravljen, Talj pa je prav po tej strani daleč nad njim-... |
Fischer is disappointed ... The youngest grandmaster of fortune and a participant in the candidates' tournament. 16-year-old Bobby Fischer, again - as in Bled - limited himself to a brief statement about himself and the tournament. More than himself - his second-in-command Larsen spoke about it. Bobby thought only this: "Talj made me angry at the tournament. He behaves rudely towards me during the game. With such behavior, he prevented me from focusing properly and so I lost against him. Unlike him - Smislov, Keres and Gligorič were gentlemen. I would like Smislov to win instead of Tal. He is the strongest chess player. I did not make any statements about myself or the tournament. My private thing is what I think about it and what place I would belong to in this championship." And the second Larsen added: "Bobbny expected a lot from this tournament. I know he was convinced of the first place for himself. True, he never confided this to me out loud, but it wasn’t even necessary because I realized it differently. Bobby always diligently prepared for every game. In doing so, he showed some fanaticism and unwavering will, as only a young man of his age can have when he decides to succeed in anything. I believe he worked and prepared more than the others. Personally, I am pleased with what he has shown, although it could have been even better. As for Bobby, he’s disappointed. He is convinced that he has achieved little in terms of what he can do. But since he is still young and he will certainly do better later." If he continues like this, he has a great chess career ahead of him. Mihalj Talj knocked him down in many ways and put him in a bad mood. Bobby is with him every time - psychologically unprepared, and Talj is far above him on this side -... |
Vasiliev [VV pp. 118 & 124] is giving one more aspect...
| Russian text | google translation a little modified |
|
В пути любимым развлечением Таля было подтрунивать над Бобби Фишером. (118)... И к предпоследнему туру Таль был впереди уже только на очко. А в этом туре ему предстояло играть черными с сердитым Бобби Фишером, который, кажется, дрожит от желания выиграть наконец у Таля, чтобы отомстить за все обиды (в том числе и за ставшую знаменитой фразу «Бобби, ку-ку», которую Таль, улыбнувшись, произнес, проходя мимо Фишера в ресторане, и которая почему-то показалась тому страшно обидной). Утром зашел в номер Петросян, посоветовал сыграть все-таки защиту Каро-Канн. — Нет! Все равно буду играть любимую схему Бобика в сицилианской. (124) |
On the road, Tal's favorite pastime was to tease Bobby Fischer. (p. 118)... And by the penultimate round, Tal was only one point ahead. And in this round, he had to play black with an angry Bobby Fischer, who, it seems, is trembling with the desire to finally win against Tal, in order to avenge all insults (including the now famous phrase "Bobby, coo-coo", which Tal, smiling, he said, passing by Fischer in the restaurant, and which for some reason seemed to him terribly offensive). In the morning Petrosyan went into the room and advised him to play the Caro-Kann Defense after all. - Not! I will still play Bobik's favorite scheme in Sicilian. (p. 124) |
More probably this Fischer's bad mood against Tal didn't last. Within the Curacao 1962 a famous photo was shot, with Fischer visiting Tal in the hospital. While additionally he excluded explicitly Tal from the Soviet conspiracy in his article "The Soviets have fixed the world chess", published in Sports Illustrated of Aug 20, 1962.
A little of gossip that led me to some really great games...
....thanx for reading
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