Unearthing a Masterpiece (with a great background story!) Bobotsov-Tal, 1958

Then, in 1957, Nezhmetdinov played in the Finals of the USSR Championship. The tournament was won by Tal, and Spassky placed 4th,  but Nezhmetdinov won against both Tal and Spassky!

Here is the game which he won against Tal. Alex Pishkin gives the following introduction in his book, "Super Nezh"

"This game was played in an atmosphere of high anxiety. It was the 6th round of the championship. The 20-year old master Tal, having 4.5 points of 5, was suddenly leading the tournament. He had defeated such GMs as Taimanov and Bronstein. Now, not a young, nor famous master, was on his way. Tal knew Nezh was strong in attack and was good at playing the Sicilian Defense with White. That's why he chose the French Defense as an opening surprise for Nezh. However, Tal was playing this defense only for the second time in his life- a mixture of reckless bravery and giddiness from success. At this point Tal's opening "preparation" was over."

And here is his win against Spassky:

And here is a photo of Nezhmetdinov, congratulating Tal on his victory in the Championship.

Nezhmetdinov congratulates Tal- USSR Championship, 1957

It is quite possible that the friendship between these two "Romantics" of chess started at this point. Their styles are very similar! Sometimes you look at a game, and you cannot tell whether it was Tal or Nezhmetdinov who was making the spectacular sacrifices!

Nezhmetdinov's score against Tal was 3-1; NO DRAWS!

This is what Tal had to say about Nezhmetdinov:

" His games reveal the beauty of chess and make you love in chess not so much the points and high placings but the wonderful harmony and elegance of this particular world."

When preparing for his 1960 World Championship Match against Botvinnik, Tal selected Nezhmetdinov as one of his trainers.

Then, in 1961, Nezhmetdinov played the following game against Tal. Later, when someone asked Tal what was the happiest day of his life, he replied: "The day I lost to Nezhmetdinov!"

OK! Back to the main point of this story! One year and a half after the first game of this article, during the World Chess Student Championship in Bulgaria, 1958, Tal was playing blitz, and the Queen sacrifice from Nezh's game came up, with Tal playing Black.

Here is where there are two versions of what happened next.

Version 1:

"I also saw how Tal defeated Milko Bobotsov. The day before, after Tal finished his main-event game, he played speed chess, one game after another with Nikola Padevsky, all of those games were with Black pieces, so that he could play over and over the same variation, which made everybody -- and Tal most of all -- giggle, because it was a variation where Black -- that is Tal -- always at the same place sacrificed his queen for two light pieces, just so, as if for not apparent reason at all, just so that there was some good entertainment. Of those speed games, Tal won some, lost some -- of course, he was a good chunk of queen behind -- and everyone around was taking it as such a clever jest, a form of handicapping self. Tal clearly wanted to amuse himself, and thus he 'sacrificed' his queen game after game. There was much mirth about it all around, even a swim guard was watching the circus, and a Bulgarian woman player, a beauty in tiny bikinis, with which Tal played speed chess the day before under the unusual rule that gave him a win only when the game was a draw.

Among the many spectators that laughed merrily about those funny games between Tal and Padevsky was also Bobotsov. He too had a great time watching it all. The next day came the time for their 'serious game' Bobotsov-Tal which was a part of the match USSR-Bulgaria. The opening was a King Indian and it was played in a lightning speed; it was clear how eager was Bobocov to find out what had Tal prepared instead of that funny queen sac. And, right away, the position on the board was the one from yesterday speed games; and, right away, Bobotsov played that Nd5 and spectators gasped: Tal, without a flinch, grabbed the knight and sacrificed his queen, just the same as in all those crazy speed games of the day before. Even Bobotsov did not quite believe his eyes. He gave a bit embarrassed side-way smile and took the queen. The rest of the game lasted only a few moves -- and Bobotsov did not get to play much."

Jiri Vesely, <White-and-Black Memories>

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Version 2- Tal tells the story as an introduction to the game (Translation by Spektrowski from the Russian edition of "Attack with Mikhail Tal")

"At the Varna 1958 student olympiad, a group of participants was playing blitz (unlike the "adults", we youngsters allowed ourself such "recklessness"). In a well-known position, I sacrificed my Queen a couple of times, following the game Zamikhovsky - Nezhmetdinov from the USSR championship semi-final in Kharkov that took place 1.5 years ago. I won both games quite easily, but Milko Bobotsov, the future Bulgarian grandmaster who also was in our company, openly mocked the correctness of this sacrifice. Of course, I rashly told him, "Milko, we can check it in our tournament game, if you'd like!"
And on the very next day, practically the same position appeared on the board in the Bulgaria - USSR match..."

Again, thanks to Spektrowski for translating Tal's comments to his game against Bobotsov!

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed the games. Nezhmetdinov and Tal never fail to inspire me and make me love chess more!