Red Army vs. Mikhail Tal results

A short, sharp draw in which neither side made a serious mistake. On move 22, White could have tried for more with 22. Bf4!? Well-played by both sides.

Michaels247's (Red Army) speculative play in the King's Gambit is rewarded. There were better ways of taking advantage of Black's opening play.

First of all, instead of 7. c3?!, which is passive, better was 7. Qb3. In some King's Gambit lines, Qb3 is hit by ...Na5; however, the Knight is still at home, the queen's Bishop has already been traded, and the Black Queen is on f6. It is normally good to meet a premature Bishop development with Qb3 or Qa4. White could have then taken advantage of the absence of the Black Queen from its initial square and followed it up with Nc3-b5 or d5.

Then, on move 9 and 10, White missed a discovery of the Rook on a8 -- he could have played Bxb5. Black cannot recapture because of the discovery of the Rook on a8 by e5.

Objectively better for White would have been 13. a4, to undermine the b-pawn and open the a-file for his Rook, or 14. g3, which is a typical way in the King's Gambit for White to regain his sacrificed pawn in the opening. But White's speculative piece sacrifice is rewarded when Black castles into the lion's mouth on move 18 -- he would have been fine with 18...Nd7 and ...O-O-O. And then, instead of dropping the exchange with 19...Ng6, Black drops the Knight and enters into a fork at the same time, losing the game.

A lucky escape for Dennis Webb. He was completely winning until he blundered and allowed a bank rank tactic with 28. Nf3??. Instead, 28. Rd6 or 28. Nd6 would have kept White's advantage. Black was winning in the final position -- the White Bishop was hanging.

Black does not know the basic moves of the Ruy Lopez Exchange (5...d6??), and White punishes him in impressive fashion. The outcome of this game was never in doubt.

First, White played 8. f4?!, which locks in the Knight and opens lines for Black -- it is always bad to open lines for the other player. Secondly, White had to find some way to protect his c-pawn -- in the Stonewall Dutch, the capture of the pawn will become feasible at some point (including Black's 9th move). Then, White took a poisoned pawn and his Queen paid the price. Score one point for the Red Army thanks to Turn's hard work in putting together his tactical exercises and getting our people ready for these matches.

White drops a pawn in the middlegame as his one-piece attack was rebuffed by michaels247.

First of all, on move 11, Black had to play 11...h5, to prevent White from chasing the Knight on f5 away with g4. This is standard for French positions.

But instead of getting out a piece, White tried for a fork that was not there with 14. Ng5?!, forgetting that Black could simply move the Rook away and forgetting that his d-pawn was left hanging in the process.

Black did not capture the pawn in the best way -- 15...Nxd4 should have been answered by 16. Be3, pinning the Knight. Black should have captured with the Queen in an effort to force an ending in which he is a pawn up. And 18...d4? was a mistake as well because there was no need for Black to give up a free square to the White Knights. And there was no need for his contortions with the King starting with 23...Kd8?!; simply 23...Kb8, intending to develop the h-Rook, would have been fine for Black.

But this was answered with 26. b3??, allowing the Queen to come into the game with decisive effect. This was followed by an even worse blunder with 28. Ra2??, allowing the back rank mate.

Black plays a fishy opening but lives to tell about it.

White's best way of taking advantage of this opening is by something like 8. f5 -- White is ready to break into Black's King position once he arranges his pieces. He is ready to go Qe1-h4, exchange the fianchettoed Bishop, and break through on the f-file or h-file. The actual move, 8. Ne2?!, is too slow, as is 10. h3?!. There is no point in these pawn moves especially when ...Ng4 is not a threat and there is no Bishop to chase away. Later, White does play 15. fxg6?!, but it comes at the wrong time -- it opens up lines for Black and allows him to get an advantage.

Black missed 26...Nc5, which would have won material. Had White played 26. Qe3, that would not have happened because he would have been able to protect both his hanging pawns with his Queen and brought his stranded Knight on h2 into the game. Later, White missed a win as he should have played 34. exd5 -- the Pawn cannot be recaptured because of the discovery on the Bishop.

Later, White is in hot water again after he drops a pawn with 35. e5?, but Black returns the compliment with 39...Kxg5?, allowing a fork. After that, the sides liquidate into an ending in which there are two Knights against a Bishop, an ending which is completely drawn.

A lucky save from bsankar. White's speculative attack (8. e5?!) goes nowhere and he is left with two pawns down. But then he scares up counterplay and gets drawing chances as all the pawns are on one side of the board. But Black passes up his best winning chance -- his best chance was 30...Rbd5, which forces a pair of Rooks off. White then doubles Rooks on the seventh rank and then proceeds to completely turn the tables, picking off Black's pawns and mating him.

I guess that when your team is losing, you find all sorts of creative ways to lose games.

Black allows the breakup of his King position and White takes full advantage. The Black King is driven from the King side clear over to a4 when White forces resignation.

Luckily for us, Black's fishy opening (1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6? and 4...g5?) goes unpunished. White allows too much counterplay and barely escapes with the draw.

White's speculative in-between move 11. fxe6?! pays off when Black fails to find 11...Bxb2!, which would have put White in a world of hurt.