Lajos Portisch. Some Games and Pictures
Good afternoon everyone. Last time round the comments centred on Lajos Portisch, rather than the original subject matter! I said that I would post something to show what a fine player he was. Doing this straight out of my head, so apologies for the mess!
I grew up with Portisch as one of the world elite in a kind of 'always the bridesmaid - never the bride kind of way. He never played for the world title, but anyone who did had to fight their way past him. A renowned opening theoretician, fine endgame player and capable of competing with the best in any kind of middle game. Seriously good player.
At the great Moscow 1967 tournament he crushed the world champion, his challenger ( and soon to be champion) and the champion of a few years earlier. Not so shabby!
Before I forget - that game was Spassky's attempt to improve on an earlier Portisch game.
Digging that game out I came across something which might interest many in view of recent events! Portisch talking about the world champions comparative failure at the Piatigorsky Cup the previous year ( Portisch smashed him there as well!!)
So, the Portisch - Petrosian game. Not many games on record where the reigning world champion gets a mauling like this!
While I am there, the Santa Monica game for those who haven't seen it!
Korchnoi once pointed out a strange triangle. 'I beat Tal - Tal beats Portisch - Portisch beats me!!' I think it was in connection with this game, but my memory is not the greatest.
Well, Tal beat Portisch quite often, but he didn't have it all his own way - this important game caused quite a stir at the time. Playing the Poisoned Pawn against Tal in a vital game seemed like madness. Especially for a player known to struggle against him.
well, Tal was not like Portisch - he couldn't just turn up and play anything with Black. His record in the French - the famous Fischer game notwithstanding - was a horror story. This was a battering of a great player who had not long since stormed to the world championship - back then the youngest ever.
Seeing Gligoric in that Bled picture brings to mind this game. Gligoric was one of the great masters of the King's Indian Defence. Portisch - like Petrosian and Korchnoi - was a great exponent of the White side of it. The finish is rather beautiful - I will let you work it all out for yourself!
Another 1961 picture from the tournament which got us into all this.
Sitting front right is another Hungarian great. The wonderful Gideon Barcza - mentioned in the notes to a game above.
My long time readers - both of them!! - will know that I love his chess. Not to everyone's taste I am sure, but for me he was something of a magician - in the totally opposite way to 'The Magician of Riga'. He could make something out of nothing at all. Almost by magic! The book the above picture is from is one of the joys of my library.
Well, for many years from the end of the war, the contest for the championship of Hungary - the 2nd strongest chess nation on earth ( strong enough - with Barcza's win over Smyslov to do the unthinkable and beat the might of the USSR in an Olympiad match) was a straight out fight between Barcza and Szabo. Then in 1958 a young ( in the chess terms of the time) man called Lajos Portisch broke the dominance to become Hungarian champion. His win with Black against Barcza has never received any attention ( Varnusz doesn't even include it in his book on Portisch) - why would it? - but it has stuck in my head since I first saw it. It reminds me of something Tartakower once wrote 'I came to win the title, not to buy it'. with this game Portisch arrived.
Well, that was supposed to be the end game-wise, but time in hand to throw in this one, just because it popped into my head! It reminds me of a famous Geller - Smyslov game ( I have still never gotten to write the 'Smyslov's Greatest Losses' book!
). No notes - analyse it for yourself!!
A quick picture gallery.
Yeah - that was rather longer than I expected, so best go sort dinner! Anyway, I hope you battled through it and now understand why I really like Lajos Portisch. A wonderful and underrated player. Cheers.
