Tal is Inspired by Bronstein, Who Was Inspired by Barda.....

Dear chess lovers, I want to present you with a few games that pivot around a particular theme in the Ruy Lopez. I first encountered this theme while looking at the game Bronstein-Keres, Budapest Candidates 1950.

This was the last round, and Bronstein had to win to catch up with Boleslavsky. On the other side of the board was Paul Keres, one of the best players ever with the Black pieces in the Ruy Lopez. What to do? Bronstein decides on a dubious pawn sacrifice, but one which has clear ideas for attack.

But the following game was dated as being played 15 days before the Bronstein game! Did he know about it? Maybe, as correspondence games could go on for a year or two....

Bronstein was born in 1924. Tal was born in 1936. This next game was played in 1957, when Tal was 21 years old. Tal and Bronstein had a great relationship. They often stayed together when traveling to international tournaments.

Tal's trainer, Koblencz, tells a story where Tal and Bronstein were staying together....Koblencz left the room in the morning while Tal and Bronstein were playing blitz; when he came back a few hours later they were still playing, and had not even stopped to eat! This is how much they loved the game of chess. Blitz was their first love in chess, and a source of great joy to them both.

The interesting fact is also that Rashid G. Nezhmetdinov was on of Tal's trainers during his World Championship Match in 1960, but already they had a great relationship. Tal admired Nezhmetdinov's style; they had a similar idea of how to attack. This game was played one year before Tal's game....

Enjoy!

Peace.