Tal, Petrosian,

Spassky and Korchnoi

 ALSO BY ANDREW SOLTIS
AND FROM MCFARLAND

Mikhail Botvinnik: The Life and Games

of a World Chess Champion (2014)
The United States Chess Championship,
1845-2011, 3d ed. (2012)
Los Voraces 2019: A Chess Novel (2004)
Chess Lists, 2d ed. (2002)
Soviet Chess 1917-1991 (2000; paperback 2015)
The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century,
Ranked (2000; paperback 2006)
Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion:
A Biography with 220 Games (1993; paperback 2013)
 Tal, Petrosian,
Spassky and Korchnoi
A Chess Multibiography
with 206 Games

ANDREW SOLTIS

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina
 FIRST EDITION, first printing

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Soltis, Andy, 1947- author.

Title: Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi : a chess
multibiography with 207 games / Andrew Soltis.
Description: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers, 2019 I Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018039096 I ISBN 9781476671468
(library binding : alk. paper) @)
Subjects: LCSH: Chess players-Soviet Union-Biography. I
Tals, Mihails [sic; Tal, Mikhail Nekhemyevich], 1936-1992. I
Petrosian, Tigran Vartanovich, 1929-1984. I Spassky, Boris Vasilyevich, 1937- I
Korchnoi, Viktor [Lvovich], 1931-2016. I Chess-History-20th century.
Classification: LCC GV1438 .S64 2019 I DDC 794.1092/2 [BJ -dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018039096
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7146-8

ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3478-4
© 2019 Andrew Soltis. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Edited by Robert Franklin

Designed by Susan Ham and Robert Franklin
Typeset by Susan Ham

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
 Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction: The Soviet Team of Rivals 5
1. Four Boys 15
2. Growing Pains 43
3. Overkill 62
4. Culture War 79
5. Spassky, Spassky, Spassky! 93
6. Volshebnik 109
7. Three Directions 133
8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash 151
9. Why Not Me? 180
10. Private Lives, Public Games 197
11. Candidacy 222
12. Humors 247
13. Whose Risk Is Riskier? 276
14. The Fischer Factor 301
15. Countdown to Calamity 318
Epilogue: Four Aging Men 335
Appendix A: Chronology, 1929-2016 339
Appendix B: Ratings Comparison 353
Chapter Notes 355
Bibliography 373
Index of Opponents 377
Index of Openings-Traditional Names 379
Index of Openings-ECO Codes 381
General Index 382

V
This page intentionally left blank
 Preface
Everyone who takes chess seriously knows
the games of Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky,
Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. But
they know very little about their private lives.
This is remarkable because their life stories
are much more dramatic, heart-rending, even
terrifying than those of today's elite players.
It is hard to imagine a top 21st century
grandmaster who, at age 11, had to use his
sled to drag the body of his grandmother
more than a mile over icy streets so he could
bury her. But Korchnoi did that. And it is
hard to imagine one of today's elite players
conspiring to have his wife divorce him so
that he could play in a major tournament,
then drop the divorce proceedings after the
tournament. Yet that was one of many strange
turns in Tal's private life.
This is a book I wanted to write 20 years
ago, when I was researching Soviet Chess
1917-1991. I could not because most of the
proper source material did not exist at the
time. Much of what has been written about
these four extraordinary men is still in dis­
pute. Improbable tales have circulated for
decades about Tal's parentage, how Petro­
sian's marriage came about, ofSpassky's tor­
tured personal life, how telepaths and hyp ­
nosis influenced Candidates matches, and so
on. Yet some of them are true. And in some
cases, the subjects of this book have been just
plain sloppy with the facts of their lives. Even
1
after Korchnoi defected and was free to tell
his story, his first books got his own birthday
wrong. Twice. 1
Spassky trained to be a professional jour­
nalist but wrote little about his life. We have
to rely largely on his interviews and com­
ments by friends and rivals. On the other
hand is Tal, who wrote extensively about his
roller-coaster career. But his words have to
be weighed carefully. As he told his first wife,
'Tm a speaker, not a writer:' He seemed to
have dictated much of his magnificent mem­
oir, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tai, at the
cost of misremembered events and fudged
details. Tal also had "one small but forgivable
weakness" as his friend Yuri Averbakh put
it: He liked "to embellish'' the truth. 2 Tal also
glossed over insults and snubs. He wrote that
he was not invited to play on the Soviet
Olympic team in 1968 because "a place had
not been found for me:' The truth was that
he was humiliated at the last moment be­
cause of an infamous bar incident at the pre­
vious Olympiad.
Some of the most important events in the
lives of these four men have been ignored
completely by respected sources. Shortly
after the 1962 Candidates tournament, every
avid chess fan knew that Bobby Fischer al­
leged that Petrosian, Paul Keres and Yefim
Geller conspired to draw their mutual games.
But there is not a word about the Petrosian-
2 Preface
Geller-Keres alliance in, for example, Garry
Kasparov's treatment of Petrosian, in My
Great Predecessors, Part III, or in Viktor
Vasiliev's biography of Petrosian, which has
been the standard source of information
about him.
We have a clearer picture of some events
in Tal and Korchnoi's life because they wrote
memoirs. But autobiography is a well­
practiced art of omission. Tal made almost
no mention of his first wife in The Life and
Games ofMikhail Tai, despite their astonish­
ing relationship and its affect on his career.
He glossed over many bizarre events in his
life, such as playing a tournament game in a
hotel bath when he was too ill to appear at a
playing site, or his emotional collapse for
weeks after the death of his father.
Korchnoi added and subtracted details in
the two versions of Chess Is My Life. Readers
of the 1977 version might have been sur­
prised to discover, from the 2004 version,
that he was Jewish. But in the 2004 edition
they would not find the account in the earlier
work of how he was often "conceited" and
"drunk'' in his 20s. 3 The historical record is
further flawed because hundreds of the
early-and some later-games of these play­
ers have vanished. For example, one author­
itative database says that Tigran Petrosian
and Viktor Korchnoi played 70 games and
the score was five wins for Petrosian and
eight for Korchnoi. An equally respected data­
base gives 59 games including 11 victories for
each. And the two-volume "The Games of
Tigran Petrosian'' has perhaps the most ac­
curate collection, 68 games, including eight
victories for Petrosian and 12 for Korchnoi.
Petrosian died two years before Mikhail
Gorbachev announced a government­
endorsed policy of candor called glasnost. As
a result, Petrosian's words often sound like
agitprop ("I grew up in Tbilisi in a workers'
family"). What was written about him was a
1960s form of political correctness (his father
was "not yet literate"). That leaves us with
just a caricature of the ninth world cham­
pion. No wonder that Nigel Short said he had
eight biographies of Petrosian yet "I have
never succeeded in thinking of Petrosian as
being anything other than an exceptionally
rude, ignorant Caucasian peasanf' 4
Inevitably there are conflicting accounts
of events. After Sally Landau, Tal's first wife,
wrote a memoir about him, it was ridiculed
by his third wife. "People sometime have a
rich sense of fantasy;' she said. 5 In the main,
I've provided both sides of issues in dispute
and let the reader decide. In some cases,
there are more than two sides. Tal and his
two seconds met in a hotel room to decide
what opening he should play in the last round
of the 1959 Candidates tournament. Yet each
of the three men gave a strikingly different
account of what went on.
It is often said that journalism is a very
rough first draft of history. This is true. But
journalists generally avoid writing a "single­
source story:' Every new fact must be sub­
jected to review by other sources, to confirm,
deny or refuse comment. Historians, how­
ever, regularly write about events based on a
single source because there is no other. For
example, Tal's first wife said he threatened
suicide during one of his violent episodes
with her. There are Tal confidants who recall
their many break-ups and reconciliations.
But they do not confirm the suicide threat
or many other of Sally Landau's recollections.
Similarly, we have no source to confirm the
grim accounts of Korchnoi's life during the
blockade of Leningrad or the dialogue he
claimed Petrosian and his other "enemies"
engaged in during the last round of the 1960
Soviet championship. Where possible, I've
relied on the great chroniclers of Soviet
chess, including Gennady Sosonko, Yuri
Averbakh, Viktor Vasiliev and Isaac and
Vladimir Linder. But there are inevitably
many holes in the historic tapestry, even a
history this recent.
In selecting illustrative games I favored
 Preface 3

the lesser-known over the often-published. Korchnoi as well as a comparative chart of

For comparisons of players and tournaments
I relied on the retroactive historical ratings
of www.chessmetrics.com. Where the En­
glish translation of Russian literature seemed
faulty, I've substituted my own. To help the
reader, I've included a timeline of events in
the lives of Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and
their ratings. Finally I would like to thank
Robert Franklin, without whose prodding I
would never have started this project, and
Marcy Soltis, without whose support, I would
never have finished it. And thank you Misha,
Tigran, Boris and Viktor.
This page intentionally left blank
 Introduction:
The Soviet Team of Rivals
Riga, 2 a.m. February 14, 1958.
Yuri Averbakh was returning to his hotel
room after dinner at a seaside restaurant.
"The place was as silent as the grave, except
for the next room, where Spassky was stay­
ing:' he wrote. "The tap-tap of chess pieces
could be heard:' 1 Hours earlier Boris Spassky,
the 21-year-old widely seen as a future world
champion, adjourned his last-round game of
the 25th USSR Championship against Mik­
hail Tal. That game was the focus of attention
of the more than 1,000 fans who squeezed
into the playing site, the newly-built Palace
of the Academy of Sciences, the tallest build­
ing in Latvia.
When the final round began, the leaders
were: Tigran Petrosian and Tal-11½ points.
David Bronstein-11 points. Spassky and
Averbakh-10½ points.
It was not just the modest first prize money
that was at stake. This Soviet championship
was a "Zonal:' the first step towards the
world championship match of 1960 against
the aging and vulnerable Mikhail Botvinnik.
Only the first four finishers in the tourna -
ment would advance to the next stage, an In­
terzonal tournament. That meant that one
of the five leaders in this championship would
miss out and have to wait until at least 1963
for a shot at the world title.
5
When the round began Averbakh was
paired with his good friend Petrosian, the
least ambitious of the world's elite players.
Petrosian found a quick way to create draw­
ish bishops of opposite color and assure him­
self of a ticket to the Interzonal. Temporarily,
he alone led the scoretable with 12 points.
But two other games could change that. One
was:
Spassky-Tal
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1957
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E26)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+
5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 e5 8. Ne2 e4
9. Bbl b610. Ng3 Ba6 ll. f3!? Bxc412. Nf5?!
0-0
Tal signals that he was willing to play an
equal middlegame, rather than a risky one
after 12. . . . dS! 13. Nxg7+ Kf8 14. NfS Rg8.
13. Nd6 Bd3 14. Bxd3 exd3 15. Qxd3 cxd4
16. cxd4 NeS 17. Nf5 d518. a4 Nd619. Nxd6
Qxd6 20. Ba3 Nb4 21. Qb3 a5 22. 0-0 Rfc8
Tal offered a draw here. He had shocked
the chess world by winning the previous So­
viet Championship. But that success was
written off as a mysterious mixture of bluff,
6 Introduction
trickery and pure luck. A draw in this game
would vindicate him by giving him a tie for
first place.
Spassky, looking fastidious in his bow tie
and glasses, considered Tal's offer. While he
thought, spectators turned to another huge
demonstration board. It showed Viktor
Korchnoi pressing David Bronstein. The out­
come meant little to Korchnoi: He would fin­
ish somewhere between 7th and 14th place
regardless. At 26 he was still relatively young
but had seen two younger men, first Spassky,
then Tal, surge ahead of him in the previous
two years. His chances of joining them in the
world elite would have to be postponed once
more. Korchnoi offered a draw after 25
moves and Bronstein shook his hand. The
standings were updated to show Bronstein
and Tal temporarily tied for second place, a
half point behind Petrosian.
Meanwhile, Spassky refused Tal's offer and
their game continued:
23. Rael Qe6 24. Bxb4 axb4 25. Kf2! Qd6!
26. h3 Kf8 27. Rc2 Rxc2+ 28. Qxc2 g6
29. Rel Qd7 30. Qc6 Qxc6 31. Rxc6 Ra6
32. a5! b3! 33. axb6 b2 34. b7 bl(Q) 35. Rc8+
Kg7 36. b8(Q) Ra2+ 37. Kg3 Qel+ 38. Kh2
Qxe3 39. Rg8+ Kf6 40. Qd6+ Qe6 41. Qf4+
Qf5 42. Qd6+ Qe6 43. Qg3 Qe3 44. h4 Re2
45. Qd6+ Qe6 (see diagram)
After 45. ... Qe6
Spassky sealed his next move: The game
would be played off the next morning. As
Yuri Averbakh left the playing hall he felt
glum. It was clear to him that Tal was losing.
He did the arithmetic: If Tal lost, Petrosian
would finally become Soviet champion. Spas­
sky would finish in a tie for second place.
Averbakh would finish fifth and be the odd
man out.
This was his thinking when he arrived
back at his hotel at 2 a.m. The "tap-tap" he
heard in the next room was Spassky moving
pieces of the adjourned position with his
longtime second Alexander Tolush, veteran
grandmaster Alexander Kotov, and the Len­
ingrad master Dmitry Rovner. Kotov had
many friends in the vlasti, the Communist
Party authorities. A win would please the
vlasti. Spassky seemed the ideal successor to
Botvinnik. He was young, handsome, athletic
and very Russian.
Averbakh was trying to sleep when the
telephone rang. "Morning, grandmaster! "
said a voice. "Excuse the disturbance. This
is Robert, Misha's uncle. Could you come
over and help us? We will send a car:' 2 Aver­
bakh had to agree: A draw would mean he
would tie with Spassky for fourth place and
play a match to see who would go to the In­
terzonal.
Twenty minutes later Averbakh arrived at
Gorky Street, number 34, the Tal family res­
idence. Tal and his second, Alexander Kob­
lents, had been deluged with phone calls from
fans all night. "Misha, are you ready if Spas­
sky plays so?" one supporter asked. "Misha
what will you do if Spassky does this?"
another wanted to know. The situation was
grim. "The more we looked at the position,
the more complex the problems facing us
looked;' wrote Koblents.3 He was the father­
figure who Tal reverently called "Maestro:'
Even with the addition of another pair of eyes,
Averbakh's, they could not find a forced win
for Spassky. But the position simply felt like
it should be won. This was the feeling Tal so
often sensed when he was the attacker. There
was simply too much pressure, both tactical
and psychological, for a defender to endure.
 The Soviet Team of Rivals 7

Spassky (left) prepares to seal his 46th move in his dramatic last-round game with Tai (right) at
the 25th USSR Championship finals in Riga. Chess Review, September 1959 (used by permission
of the United States Chess Federation).

Back at his hotel, Spassky and his team
came to the same conclusion. There was no
clear forced win. But White could test Black's
defenses here and probe them there. Spassky
could maintain the initiative for at least an­
other 10 moves, maybe 20. And if he could
not find a win, he could always force perpet­
ual check and then try to beat Averbakh in
a playoff match.
The two analysis sessions continued with­
out reaching a definite conclusion. At 4:30
a.m. Tal's doting mother Ida came into the
room with a glass of kefir for her son and a
bit of motherly advice. "I think Misha should
lie down and get to sleep;' she said.4 "The
most important thing is that he plays with a
fresh head:' Tal and his helpers were about
to fall asleep at the board. "I just got sick of
being mated" in the analysis, Tal said, ex­
plaining why he gave up at 5 a.m. 5 Across
town, Spassky also concluded he needed sleep.
"Tomorrow I will mate him!" he announced.
"But now I'm going to bed:'
Averbakh left the Tal home and went back
to his hotel. Koblents also left but wondered
how Tal could possibly get to sleep "when
Spassky's heavy pieces are pursuing his king
across the whole board:' 6 Salo Flohr, the vet­
eran grandmaster who had learned from his
games with Alexander Alekhine what a lost
adjournment looked like, wrote: "Tal and all
Riga slept badly that night:'
The Draw Not Taken
Spassky liked to attend important games
after a bath and a shave and wearing a suit.
But he had analyzed so late that he left for
the tournament site "very disheveled and fa­
tigued:'7 He encountered Petrosian along the
way. They had met five years before at an
8 Introduction
international tournament in Bucharest, Ru­
mania, when the Armenian was the world's
youngest grandmaster and Spassky was only
a 16-year-old national master. They drew in
15 moves, thanks to an angry telegram from
Moscow ordering the Soviet players in the
tournament to stop beating one another.
Since then they had become good friends.
Spassky knew how easily excited Petrosian
could be. This morning he found him
strangely subdued. "Today you will be cham­
pion;' Spassky told him. Petrosian did not
even smile. But he was wearing a new suit,
white shirt and tie, "apparently all ready for
his interview as champion:•s Spassky pro­
ceeded to the playing site and sat down at
the board with his own glass of kefir when
the game resumed at 9 a.m.
Meanwhile, Averbakh finally got to sleep.
When he got up and went for a walk, he
heard Latvian youths, obviously fans of their
hometown hero, shouting "Tal is champion!
Tal is champion! " 9
Averbakh could not believe it. Still groggy,
he managed to run back to the site and pushed
through the departing crowd. He discovered
what had happened:
46. Qf4+! Qf5 47. Qh6! Ke7 48. Qf8+ Kf6
49. Qg7+ Ke7 50. Ra8
This was among several times when Spas­
sky could have repeated the position and
drawn. "Why did you refuse draws?" Boris
Veinstein, the wartime boss of Soviet chess
and mentor of David Bronstein, asked him
at the final banquet. "You wouldn't have be­
come champion even if you had won the ad­
journment:' 10
"I very much wanted to win;' Spassky
replied. Years later he admitted, "I was like a
stubborn mule:' 11
50. . . . Qd7 51. Qf8+ Kf6 52. Ra6+ Re6
53. Qh8+ Ke7 54. Ra8 Rel 55. Kg3 h5?
56. Kf2 Re6 (see diagram)
57. Rc8?
After 56. ... Re6
Tal gave this move an exclamation point
when he first annotated the game, as did
Garry Kasparov in 2004. But it spoils the at­
tack. Forced wins, with variations many moves
deep, were found at various points after the
game. The most convincing was 57. Qb8!!,
with a threat of 58. Ra7. The idea is to force
57. . . . Kf6 so that 58. g4! will be followed by
a killing g4-g5+. But the position is stagger­
ingly difficult. When Tal reanalyzed the game
more than 25 years he failed to find this and
other wins.
57. . . . Rd6? 58. Qf8+ Kf6 59. Re8?
White misses another win beginning with
59. g4! , which was also good a move ago.
White cannot catch the king with just a queen
and rook, as the players realized only after
the game.
59. . . . Re6 60. Qh8+ Kf5 61. Qh6! Kf6
62. Qh8+ Kf5 63. Rd8 Qc6 64. Rc8
The Black king is safe and this indicates
that Spassky had run out of ideas. He must
have understood by now that all three out­
comes of the game were possible-win, draw
or loss.
In a voice that did not sound like his, he
offered a draw. Tal took his time deciding.
Ever the psychologist, he realized Spassky
had mentally played the role of attacker since
the game was adjourned. Now Spassky was
in no condition to defend.
He felt pity for his friend. They had bonded
 The Soviet Team of Rivals
together as teens and would become lifetime
soul mates. But the fate of so many others
depended on the outcome of this endgame.
"Let's play further;' Tal said. 12
64. . . . Qa6 65. Kg3
White can no longer draw by perpetual
check. But he can force Black to do it with
65. Qd8! and the threat of Qg5 mate.
Black would have nothing better than
65. . . . Qe2+ 66. Kg3 Qel+ 67. Kh3 f6 68. Qc7
Qhl+ 69. Kg3 Qel+, for example.
White might also have drawn after 65. Rc2
but that move admits that Tai would have the
only winning chances. "In the heat of battle
how difficult it can be to soberly assess a
change in the chess climate! " Tai wrote. 13
65. . . . Qd6+ 66. Kh3 Rel 67. g3?
Tal's understanding of chess psychology
was working. Spassky was not able to calcu­
late the most aggressive move, 67. g4+!. Even
well after the game Tai thought that lost to
67. . . . hxg4+ 68. fxg4+ Kf4 69. Qh6+ Ke4
70. Re8+ Kf3 "and the White king is mated:'
But 69. Rc3 is not clear.
Instead, Black should try the immediate
67. . . . Kf4, when again 68. Rc3! defends in
mind-numbing variations. The move Spas­
sky played should have lost immediately, to
67. . . . Qa6! and . . . Qfl+.
67. . . . Rgl 68. f4 Rel 69. Rc2?
The final error. White still had excellent
drawing chances after 69. Re8!.
69. . . . Qe6! 70. Rf2 Rhl+ 71. Kg2 Qe4+
72. Rf3 Kg4! 73. Qc8+ f5 (see diagram)
Petrosian, reduced to spectator, could not
stand tense situations like this. Journalists
had dubbed him "Iron Tigran:' But he knew
this was a myth. Petrosian's nerves would not
allow him to follow the game in the audito­
rium, where every move drew oohs and aahs
from the audience. Instead, he awaited word
of the outcome in the press room.
9
After 73. ... f5
"Suddenly they announced 'Spassky is los­
ing! "' he recalled. "I couldn't take it and went
to the stage:'14 Over the years Petrosian had
grown to envy the "theatrical calm" that his
friend Spassky managed to maintain even in
desperate positions. But he could not do it
this time. "When I approached the table,
Spassky raised his eyes to me. They were the
eyes of a cornered animal:' 15
Spassky resigned. On his way out of the
building he began to cry, as he used to do
more than ten years ago when he first be­
came the darling of the vlasti. "I went out
into the street. I was absolutely depressed,
tears running down my cheeks;' he recalled.16
Outside he met David Ginzburg, a friend of
his trainer Tolush. Ginzburg was a checker
master, chess journalist and a survivor of
eight years in the Gulag. "Don't be upset;'
Ginzburg told him. "I know what happens
next. Tai wins the Interzonal, then the Can­
didates, then he defeats Botvinnik, then he
loses the return match . . . . Then your time
will come! "
Only years later, after it all came true,
Spassky was able to smile: "Such an accurate
forecast, better than any fortune teller! " he
said.
Fren emies
These four players-Spassky, Tai, Petro­
sian and Korchnoi-were intense rivals. But
10 Introduction
their competition helped create a golden age
in chess, perhaps never to be repeated. They
fought each other as individuals. But they
played alongside one another as teammates
in winning Olympiads, European Team
Championships and other events. In con­
trast, Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky,
by far the strongest American players of the
era, only played together once on the same
United States team.
In 1970, a Soviet team took on the "Rest
of the World:' There were angry disagree­
ments among the players and with the vlasti,
the Soviet authorities, over who should play
on the top boards. "The atmosphere was ter­
rible;' Spassky said. The other side, which
consisted of ten players from seven coun­
tries, capitalist and communist, got along
with one another much better. During the
rounds, some of the Soviet players were de­
lighted to see their teammates having trouble.
But when it mattered, they put aside their
emotions and won the historic match.
These four rivals inevitably studied each
other's games and, just as inevitably, influ­
enced one another. Tal fell in love with po­
sitional Exchange sacrifices after he saw
Petrosian's celebrated 25. . . . Re6! ! against Re­
shevsky in the 1953 Candidates tournament.
Spassky emulated Tal's piece sacrifices and
his use of the clock in the late 1950s and then
learned from Petrosian in the 1960s. "To de­
feat Petrosian he had to play like Petrosian;'
Korchnoi said. 17 Korchnoi, meanwhile, tried
to perfect his endgame technique by studying
Petrosian's games. Petrosian adopted and im­
proved on some of Korchnoi's openings and
middlegame strategies.
Their rivalry was exceptionally long­
running. Between the first and last Spassky ­
Korchnoi games, 61 years passed. By com­
parison, the Reshevsky-vs.-Vasily Smyslov
rivalry lasted 52 years, Emanuel Lasker-vs. ­
Frank Marshall lasted 40 and Anatoly Kar­
pov-vs. -Garry Kasparov a mere 34, as of
2018.
The personal relations of these rivals were
highly complex. Petrosian and Tal were de­
voted friends. When Tal reached the final
Candidates match in 1965, Petrosian was
asked what would happen if Tal became his
1966 world championship challenger. "I
would remain champion;' he said, "because
all of our games would end in draws:' 18
Spassky said his "tragic" last-round loss to
Tal in the 25th USSR Championship should
have made them bitter, lifelong foes. But it
only drew them closer together. "It was the
appearance of Christ on earth, a player of di­
vine kindness;' Spassky said of Tal. 19 Never­
theless, they made only one short draw in
their first 22 games.
The hostility between Korchnoi and
Petrosian became legendary. They even dis­
agreed about when it began. Korchnoi said
it was 1960 when he claimed Petrosian started
plotting against him. Petrosian believed it
began with an accidental snub in 1971. Yet
they admired personal qualities in each other.
"If only I had Korchnoi's character;' Petro­
sian said, 20 regretting a missed opportunity
that might have saved his world champion­
ship title in 1969.
Korchnoi often shared meals and hotel
rooms with Tal. But he was deeply jealous of
him. "How many times do I have to win
[ from him] for them to stop calling him a
genius?" Korchnoi asked the powerful editor
Alexander Roshal. "There's no such number,
Viktor;' Roshal replied. 21 Korchnoi had mixed
feelings about Spassky, whom he treated with
contempt when they were schoolboys. Spas­
sky shrugged off Korchnoi's often venomous
attitude. Six decades after he first met Korch­
noi, Spassky was asked if this offended him.
''I'm not offended by anyone;' Spassky said.22
"Chessplayers are not social people, and each
of them can have some kind of human weak­
ness or insufficiency:'
Petrosian and Spassky managed to remain
good friends even after two world champi­
onship matches. When Petrosian won the
 The Soviet Team of Rivals
1966 match, Spassky joined him at a celebra­
tory meal at an Armenian restaurant and
toasted him. Yet Petrosian rooted for Bobby
Fischer in the 1972 world championship
match because he feared Spassky would be­
come too powerful if he remained with the
title.
Some of their strained relations can be
blamed on what the Russians call "sporting
malice;' a way of artificially heightening a
player's intensity. During their 1968 Candi­
dates final match in Kiev, Spassky entered a
popular restaurant and noticed Korchnoi at
a table, eating borscht. Being Spassky, he
greeted Korchnoi and sat down at his table.
Korchnoi, being Korchnoi, took his bowl and
moved to another table, without a word. He
knew that if he was friendly with Spassky he
could not play well with him. Petrosian, in
contrast, could not play well against some­
one he truly disliked. Tal seemed to like
everyone. But his last wife said, "He was a
great actor:' 23
Why Th em?
Why did these four men reach the Everest
of chess but not others? Why Petrosian in­
stead of Yefim Geller, for example? Why Tal
instead of Leonid Stein? Why Spassky instead
of Mark Taimanov? Or Korchnoi instead of
Lev Polugaevsky? These other elite grand­
masters could beat one of the four rivals on
a good day. Stein's record against them was
nine wins and five losses out of nearly 60
games. Yet he never reached the Candidates
stage of the world championship cycle. Tal
did it six times, Spassky seven, Petrosian
eight and Korchnoi nine times.
Mikhail Botvinnik said there were four
critical factors in chess success: Talent, the
capacity for hard work, willpower and good
health. He later refined this by replacing ca­
pacity for hard work with "complete theoret­
ical preparation:' 24 He said Bent Larsen and
11
Isaac Boleslavsky never became world cham­
pion because they "lacked character:' Samuel
Reshevsky "was deficient in preparation:'
And so on.
But this fails to explain the four rivals. Tal's
health since childhood was clinically dread­
ful. Spassky admitted he was lazy and often
could not remember the opening prepara­
tion that he did prepare. Petrosian's nerves
often undermined his willpower. And Korch­
noi "has no chess talent! " as Spassky liked to
say.zs
They were unlikely candidates for chess
fame. Their most impressionable years were
ravaged by World War II. Three of them
grew up in poverty that was appalling even
by Soviet standards. Three came from broken
homes, with parents who divorced, separated
or died. A generation or two after them, the
stars of the chess world came mainly from
comfortable, middle-class, educated families
that encouraged them. But chess was not a
favored pastime in the Petrosian or Spassky
family.
The four rivals did have good teachers­
and what is equally important, appropriate
teachers. The tutorial style and playing style
of their mentors was just right for them. But
Petrosian's first trainer lost interest in him
and paid more attention to another young
player. Spassky was trained by a grandmaster,
Alexander Tolush, in part because Korchnoi
refused Tolush's services. Moreover, the rivals
did not have the kind of hands-on teaching
you might expect. They mainly taught them­
selves. "We developed independently:' Korch­
noi wrote of his Leningrad Pioneer Palace
beginnings.26
Timing, G eography, Luck
They were favored by other factors. First,
they were lucky to be born when they were:
Before 1950, chess was not a profession in the
USSR-and, officially, it was not one for many
12 Introduction
years. But thanks to a change in vlasti atti­
tude, strong players could receive stipends
and gain other benefits after they joined
powerful organizations called "voluntary
sports societies:' Petrosian and Spassky owed
their homes to their sports society. They also
benefited by a change in Kremlin policy. Be­
fore 1952, Soviet players rarely played abroad
and before 1955 they could not keep foreign
prize money and honoraria. But by the late
1950s, chess provided a very good standard
of living at a time when there were few Soviet
alternatives. "Nowadays:• Tal said in a 1969
interview, "young people are busy with things
like physics, electronics, cybernetics, the cos­
mos. There are probably fewer who are keen
on chess:'27 Later, Spassky said, "chess is ex­
periencing difficulties because of the high
competition'' with the "great choice of occu­
pations" for young people. 28
Some of the other talented players of the
postwar era found a career elsewhere and
never realized their chess potential. Taima­
nov was the 18th highest rated player in the
world at age 24 and peaked at number five.
But he had an alternative career, a spectac­
ular one as a concert pianist. Alexander Niki­
tin, two years older than Spassky and Tal,
was one of the world's top-rated players at
age 17. But as a "very devoted Komsomolets:'
or member of the Communist Party 's youth
wing, he felt obligated to serve Marxist­
Leninism by entering a technical institute.
"My studies took a huge amount of time and
much energy and this predetermined a break
in my chess career. I swiftly began to lag be­
hind my former colleagues:' he said. 29
There is another way that timing favored
the four rivals: If they had been born some­
what earlier they would likely have faced
combat in World War II. The war's toll was
evident on opponents they faced regularly in
the 1950s and 1960s. For example, Abram
Khasin, six years older than Petrosian, was
19 when he lost both legs in the Battle of Stal­
ingrad. Georgy Borisenko was 19 when he
was sent to the front in 1941 and was wounded
three times. Oleg Moiseev was 18 when he
was badly wounded in the brutal fighting
near Vitebsk in 1943. They survived and
fared well when they faced the four rivals in
the 1950s and 1960s. How great they might
have been, we will never know.
Yefim Geller managed to avoid the front
lines. He was drafted at a time when one out
of three recruits from Odessa was destined to
die before the war's end. Instead of being sent
to the front Geller became a senior sergeant
at a military aircraft repair aerodrome. But
because of the war "he only became a [chess]
master at 23:• as Averbakh put it. 30 Geller's
youth was an advantage when he challenged
the pre-war generation in the early 1950s. But
his age was clearly hurting him when he got
into bad time pressure regularly against Spas­
sky and Korchnoi in the Candidates matches
of the 1960s when he was past 40.
Another advantage the rivals enjoyed was
geographic. They grew up in big cities where
it was easy to find chess clubs, teachers and
stiff competition. The Leningrad of Spassky
and Korchnoi competed with Moscow as the
capital of Russian chess. Tal's Riga was not
far behind. Petrosian was fortunate that the
Tbilisi Pioneer Palace was opened on Rus­
taveli Avenue in the heart of his capital
shortly after he learned the moves. Lev Polu­
gaevsky grew up in a city of one million res­
idents, Kuibyshev. But there was no "chess
tradition'' in the city "nor any strong oppo­
nents" or a second. "I studied at home and
we didn't have many chess books:' 31 Lajos
Portisch, one of the strongest non-Soviet
players in the 1960s and 1970s, said, "My bad
luck was I was born in a small village far
from Budapest. There was no chess life:'32
Political Skeletons
There is one other factor in the success of
the rivals. They were ideologically safe. This
 The Soviet Team of Rivals
was important in the final days of Stalin and
the early Khrushchev era. Soviet publicity
often mentioned that Petrosian came "from
a workers' familY:' as did Spassky. And unlike
some other promising players, there were no
political skeletons in the rivals' biographies.
"I was lucky that there were no people around
me who were repressed by the vlasti:' Korch­
noi said. "Even that my father perished in
the war was better than if he had been ar­
rested after the war:'33
Some of their opponents were considered
politically suspect. Ratmir Kholmov was the
world's eighth highest rated in 1960 and in
the top 20 as late as 1970. But he was never
allowed out of the Communist bloc until its
final days. Before Vladimir Bagirov was one
year old his father was "repressed" -the So­
viet euphemism for being arrested and
quickly executed. Anatoly Bannik, many­
time champion of Ukraine, was branded a
"son of an enemy of the people" because his
father was an Orthodox priest and spent ten
years in the Gulag. Each of these players
could play on equal terms with the four rivals
but did not get their opportunities for great­
ness.
And consider the case of Yuri Sakharov.
He remains virtually unknown in the West.
But in 1951 candidate master Sakharov won
a Soviet Championship semifinals in Lvov, a
very strong tournament. By the time of the
Championship finals he was an "unperson''
whose name disappeared from Soviet chess
publications.
Sakharov's father, an official in the Don-
13
bass mining industry, had been arrested dur­
ing the height of the Stalinist purges in 1937.
That made Sakharov a "son of an enemy of
the people:• When the Ukraine was overrun
early in World War II, the Nazis sent him to
work in a Belgian coal mine. After the U.S.
army arrived, Sakharov joined them, fought
on their side and earned a Purple Heart.
When his unit reached the Elbe, he was repa­
triated. Back home in Ukraine, he began his
adult life, married, studied and got a job.34
But in the fall of 1951, after his Lvov tri­
umph, he was arrested and accused of coop­
erating with the Gestapo during the war. In
a closed-door trial, his role in the U.S. army
also worked against him, and he was given a
long sentence in the Gulag. He was freed on
amnesty after Stalin died and eventually won
full rehabilitation. Slowly, he rebuilt his chess
career and eventually became the 17th high­
est rated player in the world. But he was al­
ready 46.35
Finally, good fortune shapes every great
success. Slight changes could have easily al­
tered chess history: ifTal's family had not
raced out of Riga in the opening days of the
Nazi invasion. if Spassky's train had not es­
caped aerial attack when he was evacuated
from Leningrad. ifKorchnoi's inconveniently
located home had been bombed during the
blockade. if Spassky and Korchnoi had not
been rescued from starvation. if the destitute
Petrosian had lost his home when his parents
died. if. . .
But these ifs did not happen. What did is
the subject of this book.
This page intentionally left blank
 1. Four Boys
Tigranchik
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian described his
childhood tersely. "I survived very bad days:'
he said. "Chess was my only safety valve:'1
Petrosian (accent on the "sian'') was born
June 17, 1929, in Tbilisi, then the capital of
the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia. He
had just turned 12 when the Nazis invaded
the Soviet Union. His older brother Hmayak,
the bedrock of the Petrosian family, was
drafted. Before Tigran was 13, his mother
died. According to one account, she perished
from grief after hearing that Hmayak was
killed at the front. 2 About half of the esti­
mated 700,000 Georgians in the Red Army
were killed but Hmayak in fact survived.
With Hmayak away, Petrosian and his sister
were left in the care of their father Vartan and
an aunt. Vartan, a refugee from Turkey, was
nearly 60 when Tigran was born. He worked
as a groundskeeper/janitor at the Tbilisi Home
of Officers, where he was granted a small living
quarters for his family. The aunt, whom Tigran
called "Babo:' moved in to help out. "She gave
me bread when I was sick and hungry:' he re­
called. "She really saved me:' 3 Petrosian had to
take odd jobs, including street sweeper and
movie theater projectionist, to help put dinner
on the table. He came down with a severe ill-
Early biographical details about Petrosian are from Vasiliev, Tigran Petrosian, pages 15-19.
15
ness that kept him out of school for a year and
apparently was the cause of partial deafness
that plagued him for the rest of his life.
Survival became more of a challenge for
the Petrosians when Vartan died, at age 70.
His survivors might have lost their home in
the officers club but Tigran managed to in­
herit his father's job, which included clearing
snowdrifts. "I was a weak boY:' he said. 4 'J\nd
I was ashamed of being a street sweeper­
that's natural, I suppose. It wasn't so bad in
the early morning when the streets were
empty, but when it got light and the crowds
came out I really hated if'
But he did have his outlet. He was attracted
to games early in life and was playing a
backgammon-like game called nardy by age
five. "I recommend it to anyone who wants to
develop quick thinking habits and fast reac­
tions:' he later said5 Petrosian discovered chess
shortly after he turned 11, at a camp for mem­
bers of the Young Pioneers. 6 This was a
Scouting-like organization designed to imbue
Soviet youths 10 to 15 with Communist values.
Pioneer camps and urban "houses" and
larger "palaces" had substantial state support
despite chronic Soviet shortages in other ways.
Without them, it is doubtful that Petrosian,
Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky or Mikhail Tal
would have blossomed as quickly as they did-
16 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
or perhaps not at all. "In the 1930s-50s despite
all the tragic and negative events in our
country the government devoted huge atten­
tion to the upbringing of children;' recalled
grandmaster Mark Taimanov. 7 At the houses
and palaces, children "had the opportunity to
work on sports or study music with the best
trainers and eminent teachers. Money was not
an issue;' he said. Taimanov had discovered
chess in 1937 in the majestic, white marble
Leningrad Pioneer Palace, a real palace bec­
ause it had belonged to the Romanov dynasty
before the 1917 revolution.
When a Tbilisi Pioneer Palace was opened,
Petrosian and his friends rushed to sign up
for a "circle;' or pastime group. He joined one
devoted to appreciating railroads but quickly
lost interest. "I was there all of one time;' he
said. 8 But at the palace one day he noticed a
room where a man was walking from chess
board to chess board as he played several
games with youngsters. Petrosian had never
seen a simultaneous exhibition. He became
fascinated by the game, but got little encour­
agement at home. Before they died, his par­
ents, especially Vartan, were strongly op­
posed to his wasting time on chess. "Study!
You won't earn your bread from chess;' his
father warned. 9
When he was not working or studying,
Petrosian learned chess. In June 1942 he
managed to play in a simultaneous exhibi­
tion against a real grandmaster, the visiting
Salo Flohr. This appears to be Petrosian's old­
est surviving game.
Petrosian-Salo Flohr
Simultaneous exhibition, Tbilisi, 1942
Budapest Defense (A52)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. e4 hS
This trappy opening (5. f4? Bc5!) seemed
ideal to play against a provincial adolescent.
It boomerangs.
5. h3 Nxe5 6. Be3 Nbc6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Qd2
d6 9. f4 Ng6 10. Nf3 Qe7 11. Bd3 f5!?
Now 12. Ng5! would have given White a
powerful pull.
12. exfS Nxf4
And here 13. 0-0 is strong because 13. . . .
Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nxd3 is not check, as in the
game. White gets a strong attack from 15. Bg5!
(15. . . . Qf7 16. Qxd3 Bx5 17. Qd5!). But even
as a grandmaster, Petrosian rarely played like
that.
13. 0-0-0 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nxd3+ 15. Qxd3
(see diagram)
l�A
� t i� ���-�- �� �i�
m- i1
,. . . ,� �tff' -�� -· · ·'�
W/4 �&' '• '� 1
�� �� �� ��
� ��i���4J-
-\ �W i�� ft
�
.ft
�
�
■M•M D■�.ft �H
-. . . . . ,� , , , �
�'Gi b �� !::::.
0�
After 15. Qxd3
Flohr must have planned on 15. . . . Bxf5
16. Qxf5 Qxe3+. But now he realized there
would be no good move after 17. Kc2 threat-
ened 18. Rhel (17. . . . Qe2+ 18. Kb3 or 17. . . .
Ne7 18. Qb5+ c6 19. Qxb7). Instead, 15. . . .
Qf7 16. g4 Bd7 offers Black drawing chances,
perhaps in a bishops-of-opposite-color end­
game (17. Qd5 Qxd5 18. cxd5 Ne5).
15. . . . Bd7? 16. Rhel 0-0-0? 17. BgS Qf7
18. Bxd8 Rxd8 19. g4 Na5 20. QdS Qxd5
21. cxdS and wins.
Teach er Numb er Two
"My teacher number one was life itself;'
Petrosian liked to say. "And number two was
Archil Ebralidze:' 10 Ebralidze was 33 when
he took over as chief of the Tbilisi palace
chess circle, around the time Petrosian first
 1. Four Boys
visited the building. He had won three Geor­
gia republic championships with a solid po­
sitional style and quickly cultivated Petro­
sian's interest in Aron Nimzowitsch. One of
Tigran's few personal possessions was a copy
of Chess Praxis that he acquired by "saving
my kopecks. Instead of buying food I held
onto them until I had enough for a book:' 11
"I was so carried away by that book that I
tried to take it to bed with me at night and
put it under the pillow so I could read it some
more in the morning when I woke up:' he
added. 12 Petrosian discovered that by reading
the book without a board and pieces, he
could visualize the course of a game from
one diagram to the next. This helped develop
his ability to foresee future positions and cal­
culate. He committed chunks of the book to
memory. "It is no wonder that in the end I
knew it by heart:' he wrote of the book. 13
Ebralidze's own hero was Jose Capablanca,
and he convinced Petrosian to study the
Cuban's games and adopt the Caro-Kann
Defense. Petrosian was impressed by the idea
of playing "according to position:' that is, let­
ting logic and positional rules dictate your
moves. But after a year and a half, Ebralidze
began to lose interest in Petrosian. He shifted
his attention to Alexander Buslaev, who was
a few months younger. Buslaev was a good
player. He defeated Mikhail Tal in a 1956
tournament game. But he was no Petrosian.
A decade later Ebralidze tried to explain
why he underestimated Petrosian. "You must
understand that you were rather modest,
rather quiet:' Ebralidze told him. "But in
chess, character is necessary. You have to
have confidence in yourself'14 That is, Petro­
sian had an inferiority complex.
There was no reason for it. By 13 Petrosian
had moved up the Soviet ranking system from
the lowest chess grade, fifth category, to sec­
ond category. He reached first category status
at 14 and candidate master a year later.
There is no exact Elo rating equivalent for
these rankings. In Petrosian's era, a first-
17
category player might be playing at a 2000-
plus level. A second-category player would
be roughly 1800-plus, and so on. The same
category system existed for physical sports.
Boris Spassky, who could high jump an inch
and a half above his own height, achieved
second-category status in light athletics. Paul
Keres was a first-category tennis player.
When teenaged Petrosian began a chess
diary he admitted to himself that Ebralidze
was right, according to his biographer, Yiktor
Vasiliev. He did overestimate other players.
In one early game he resigned because he
saw a winning plan for his opponent. It did
not occur to him that his opponent had not
seen the plan. Petrosian also had a propen­
sity to blunder and-ironically-a failure to
appreciate sacrifices of a rook for a bishop or
knight.
Malashkhia-Petrosian
Georgian Championship, Tbilisi, 1944
Sicilian D efense (B74)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4
5. Nxd4 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Be2 0-0 8. 0-0 Nc6
9. Nb3 Be6 10. f4 Na5 11. f5 Bc4 12. Nxa5
Bxe213. Qxe2 Qxa5 14. g4
The practical defense is 14 . . . . Rfc8! and
then 15. gS Rxc3! . Computers may favor
White after 16. gxf6! Rxe3! 17. Qxe3 Bxf6
but humans find it much easier to play Black.
14. . . . Qb4 15. Radl?
The consistent 15. gS works after 15. . . .
Nxe4? 16. NdS Qxb2 17. Nxe7+ Kh8 18. f6! .
More testing is 15. . . . Nd7 (16. NdS Qxe4).
15. . . . Qxb2! 16. Bd4 Nxg4??
The correct 16. . . . Nd7! would favor Black,
e.g., 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. NdS QeS.
17. f6! Bxf6
Or 17. . . . exf6 18. Qxg4 and 17. . . . Nxf6
18. NdS Qxa2 19. Nxe7+ Kh8 20. Rxf6! .
18. Rxf6! Nxf619. Nd5 Black resigns
18 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

In view of 19. . . . Qxa2 20. Nxe7+ Kg7

21. Nd5 and a capture on f6.
During the war, Petrosian would walk,
"emaciated and pale" as Vasiliev put it,
through Tbilisi. A pocket chess set inside his
cotton jacket was his only companion. He
did not need it. Thanks to his visualizing his
way through Chess Praxis, he discovered he
could play entire games without sight of a
board. "Between the years of 13 and 15 I
played a lot of blindfold chess;' he wrote. 15
Tbilisi was one of very few major Soviet
cities where chess life proceeded almost nor­ Not 18 . . . . cxd4 19. Rxd4!. Petrosian's move
mally during the war, and Petrosian man­
creates Luft for his king (compared with
aged to squeeze chess into his daily routine.
18 . . . . Rfc8 19. dxc5 dxc5 20. Rd8+). It also
He remembered how during the republic
seeks a kingside target, e.g., 18 . . . . g5 19. dxc5
championship in November 1944 he would dxc5 20. Rd8 g4!.
rise in the early morning to perform his offi­
cers club duties, then walk to school, return 19. Qb5 Qf5 20. Kh2?
home for a quick supper, go outside to clear
Both players failed to appreciate a strong
new-fallen snow with a spade and then turn
Exchange sacrifice, 20. dxc5 dxc5 21. Rd5!
to the day's school homework. When all this
Nxd5 22. Rxd5 followed by Bxc5 and Bxa7.
was done, he could rush off to play the next For example, 22. . . . Qg6 23. Bxc5 Rfc8
round of the championship. At the end of the 24. Bxa7 h6 25. Bd4 in view of 25. . . . Rxc4?
day, he would catch some sleep at home be­ 26. Qxc4 Rxc4 27. Rd8+ and mates.
fore he had to start over again. 16
His games often took on a distinctly Nim­ 20. . . . g4 21. Rhl KhS! 22. hxg4
zowitschean flavor:
The threat was 22. . . . gxh3 23. gxh3 Rg8
Bakhtadze-Petrosian and . . . Ng4+! with a mating attack.
Georgian Championship, Tbilisi, 1944 22. . . . Qxg4 23. dxc5? RgS 24. g3 Qf3!
English Opening (A28) 25. cxd6 Ng4+ 26. Kgl Nxe3! 27. Qe5+ f6
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 e4 White resigns
5. Nd2 Bb4 6. e3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 0-0 8. Be2
Qe7 9. 0-0 d6 10. a4 Na5 11. Ba3 c5!
Vitya
Black tries to compromise White's center
by forcing dxc5 or d4-d5. He can attack c4 At 15 Petrosian was one of the strongest
with . . . b6, . . . Ba6 and . . . Rac8. players in Soviet Georgia. At the same age,
12. Nb3?! Nxb3 13. Qxb3 Bg4 Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi had just graduated
from fifth-category-just above beginner; his
A Nimzowitsch recipe: Trade off the op­
youth was far more trying than that of Petro­
ponent's better bishop when he has the "two
sian, who ultimately became his bitterest
bishops:'
rival.
14. Ra2 Raes 15. h3 Bxe2 16. Rxe2 Rc7 Korchnoi (accent on "noi") was 21 months
17. Rdl Qe618. Red2 g5! (see diagram) younger than Petrosian and grew up think-
 1. Four Boys
ing he came from quite a different social sta­
tion. His paternal grandfather, on "the Polish­
Ukrainian aristocratic" side of the family as
he put it, went to serve in the Tsar's army in
World War I and never returned. His mater­
nal grandmother died in 1919, from "the bay­
onet of a Denikin soldier:' during a Jewish
pogrom carried out by White Russian forces
in the Russian Civil War. The two surviving
wings of his family fled "the horror of the
collectivization carried out by the Bolshe­
viks" in the Ukraine during the 1920s and
ended up in Leningrad, where his parents
met and married, Korchnoi wrote. "The fam­
ily was very poor" but his parents were mem­
bers of the intelligentsia and his father was
accepted into the Communist Party. Korch­
noi would feel a class superiority over Petro­
sian and Boris Spassky even late in his life.
His parents were very different people. His
half-Jewish father, Lev Merkurevich Korch­
noi, born in 1910, had "a soft character;'
Korchnoi recalled. His mother, born Zelda
Gershevna Azbel in 1909, was a conservatory­
trained pianist who was "eccentric" and had
"a sharp and pugnacious personality:' He
said, "They became enemies" and quickly
separated. His mother took possession of the
baby, known as Vitya. But she "was unable
to feed and raise me:' She could not afford
normal furniture. "Her room held nothing
but an old bed, a stool, a chair, a cupboard
and a fragment of mirror. Even her piano
was borrowed her whole life:' She reluctantly
handed the baby back to Lev Korchnoi but
changed her mind and sued him for custody
of Vitya. "In five years Mother turned to the
courts six times to return the child;' Korch­
noi wrote. "But the court invariably judged
that I remain with Father:' When that failed,
she played the political card: "Mother went
to the [Communist] Party committee at the
factory where he worked and said he goes to
church and prays:' That, too, failed.
Until Lev Korchnoi remarried, Korchnoi
lived with his father and paternal grand-
19
mother Elena Alekseeva. "I spent the first ten
years of my life with her:' he wrote. Though
his father taught the Russian language and
literature, Korchnoi grew up speaking his
grandmother's Polish. "She dressed and un­
dressed me;' he wrote. "She taught me to
pray before sleep. She put me to bed speaking
Polish. She took me to the Catholic church
where we prayed together:' Korchnoi was
baptized and christened in a Polish church
in Leningrad when he was three. He later
said religion played little role in his life. How­
ever-and "howevers" are common in Korch­
noi's life story-he also said, "my whole life
was so strange that if l had not been religious
I surely would have become religious:' 17 He
believed all people whose fates could be
quickly changed were to some degree reli­
gious. (At the end of his life he said "God"
punished Petrosian for his treatment of him.)
The Korchnois shared a single four-by­
four-meter room in a 13-room kommunalka,
or communal apartment, that they shared
with ten other families. This was more
crowded than officially allowed by the USSR's
"sanitary norm:' Each Soviet citizen was sup­
posed have 12 square meters of living space.
Instead, the Korchnois lived in a tight em­
brace. "Grandmother slept on a bed, father
on a divan and me on stools;' he said. When
Korchnoi was returning home from a foreign
tournament in 1960 he bought a $300 bed­
room set in Rome and had it shipped to his
grandmother because he could not forget
how terrible it was growing up without fur­
niture.
"Father also taught me to play chess when
I was six;' he wrote. He began to play against
his father, Uncle Konstantin and other family
members. When grandmaster games ap­
peared in a children's magazine, he and his
father tried to understand the moves "but we
didn't succeed:' His uncle told him, "If you
don't speak Polish then I won't play chess
with you:' But chess was not a major interest.
Reading was. Korchnoi discovered a nearby
20 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
library and at age nine began devouring works
of Jules Verne, Mark Twain, James Fenimore
Cooper, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Jack
London and O'Henry.
War
Life for ten-year-old Vitya turned much
worse when the Germans invaded in June
1941. His father was too old for the regular
army. But every able-bodied Leningrad male
16 to 50 years old was forced into duty. Lev
Korchnoi ended up in the poorly-trained,
poorly-fed, poorly-armed "people's militia:'
As a member of the Party with higher edu­
cation, he was made a commander in charge
of a platoon in the 56th Reserve Rifle Regi­
ment. 1 8
In November 1941, his father "came home
from the barracks already swollen by hunger.
I never saw him again:' Korchnoi said. 1 9 Lev
Korchnoi was killed while trying to build the
"Ice Road:' which eventually brought sup­
plies to the beleaguered city from the east
across frozen Lake Ladoga. His barge was
bombed and sank. But he was listed as
missing-in-action and that was a blot on his
surviving relatives: It could also mean he sur­
rendered, was captured or had gone over to
the other side-all strictly forbidden.
Korchnoi might also have been a bombing
victim. He lived near the Liteiny Bridge that
crosses the Neva River. This was dangerously
close to the city headquarters of the NKVD,
the secret police forerunner of the KGB. (The
KGB's successor, the FSB, occupies the build­
ing today.) The headquarters was a top target
for the Luftwaffe and, it was widely believed,
they were getting targeting tips from anti ­
Soviet Leningraders. A bomb of more than
400 pounds fell on the sidewalk in front of
Korchnoi's apartment building but did not
explode, he wrote.
Shortly after the invasion began, Soviet
authorities began ordering the evacuation of
Leningraders, beginning with children. The
first 15,192 children left by train by June 29.
A massive dislocation was being carried out
all over the Soviet Union and influenced the
lives of millions of people, including future
grandmasters. In the Ukraine, Leonid Stein's
family was transferred to Uzbekistan where
his father died of typhus. 20 Mark Taimanov
saw his family torn in half. He, his father and
a brother were also evacuated from Lenin­
grad to Uzbekistan, apparently over the Ice
Road. His mother remained with his younger
brother and two-month-old sister. They sur­
vived the blockade "on bouillon from leather
belts:' he recalled. 21
Along with hundreds of other children,
Korchnoi was packed on a train headed for
the Urals. But his mother panicked when she
learned that the Nazis had penetrated the al­
legedly impregnable Luga Line of defense
and had begun bombing trains. Her son's
train was stopped about 180 miles south of
Leningrad, near Lake Ilmen, where she man­
aged to reach it. She took him off and re­
turned to Leningrad. The last road out of the
city was cut on September 8, sentencing them
and the rest of the city to a 900-day block­
ade.
Each Leningrader had to scramble for ne­
cessities. Korchnoi remembered walking a
kilometer from home with two buckets to
get water from an ice-hole in the Neva River.
For food, there were four categories of ration
cards, and Korchnoi, classified as a depend­
ent, was eligible for the lowest. In the awful
winter of 1941-42 the monthly allowance for
a dependent fell to about three thin slices of
bread and a few other foodstuffs. This typi­
cally amounted to fewer than 500 calories a
day. No wonder that a dependent's ration
card became known as a smertnik, from the
word for "death:'
Korchnoi alluded to the desperation of
others when he said his grandmother's cat,
Machek, disappeared in September 1941
without a trace. 22 People as well as pets were
 1. Four Boys
vulnerable as the starvation panic spread. As
of December 1942 there had been 2,015 ar­
rests in the city for cannibalism. Taimanov
said he never got over learning that his 25-
year-old aunt Lida had been killed by canni­
bals. 23
Soy Chocolate
Korchnoi's family grew smaller: His uncle's
wife died of hunger and his uncle vanished
after stealing a piece of bread from a bakery.
"Probably a tribunal shot him;' Korchnoi
said of the drumhead justice in effect. Korch­
noi survived because his father left him his
ration card. The ration cards of the dead re­
mained temporarily valid. He also had one
of the most valuable tools a blockaded Lenin­
grader could have, a children's sled. Korchnoi
recalled how he had to bury his grandmother
and her brother. "Our neighbor and I would
wrap the corpse in a sheet, lie it on a sled and
drag it right across town to the cemetery;'
some two miles away. 24 "We kept the food ra­
tion cards, of course. The living have to go
on living:' 25
If you were not a Party official, a Lenin­
grader's best chance for long-term survival
was a job in food production. Luckily, Korch­
noi's stepmother, Rosa Ambrovna Fridman,
was a supervisor at the Mikoyan confec­
tionary firm. "Several times my stepmother
. . . managed to take me to the firm so I would
have something to eat:' 26 She gave him
"chocolate" bars. They were "not genuine"
but made from soy beans, he recalled. "But
it was excellent:' 27 He said two factors saved
his life, his stepmother's job and being ad­
mitted to a hospital in the summer of 1942
with "dystrophy:' This was the Soviet euphe­
mism for clinical starvation.
Somehow Leningrad schools reopened in
autumn 1942 and Korchnoi was promoted
from third grade to fifth. But the aptitude for
study that would make him a chess student
21
extraordinaire was absent in academic sub­
jects. "I wasn't industrious, and did poorly
in the subjects in which one had to work:' he
recalled. "But I was full of ambition and if
they gave me some kind of goal then I usually
achieved it. I loved literature and memorized
poetry, and recited it with pleasure. The
teacher was struck by how many poems of
[Nikolai] Nekrasov I memorized:' Indeed
memorization would be one of his strongest
suits. 28
"But I lived in my own isolated world. I
remember in the fifth grade, in 1942, they as­
signed us to write a b ylina:' a Russian epic
poem, he recalled in 64, in September 2005.
"I called my bylina Hitler Alfredovich. What
was this? A war was going on, millions are
killed defending me but I didn't know who
was the enemy of our nation?"
Th at L eft Ch ess
Korchnoi had three hobbies and hoped to
turn one of them into a profession. First, he
wanted to be a pianist and began taking les­
sons in the sixth grade. But his family had
neither the money to buy a piano nor room
for one in their apartment. At 13 "I gave up
music study without special regret:' 29
His second priority, and "secret wish:' was
to be an actor or a reciter of poetry. "I learned
a lot of Lermontov by heart, and also Push­
kin, and also some modern poets like Maya­
kovsky and Konstantin Simonov. These days
I still like to do this:' he recalled in 2011. But
again there was a problem. His pronuncia­
tion, particularly of words with an "r:' was
not stage-worthy. "For some time I visited a
speech therapist but then, with tears in my
eyes, gave up this study as well. That left
chess:'
When the blockade was eased, he entered
a chess section at the Pioneer House in
Leningrad's Dzerzhinsky region, where he
had also tried his hand at stage recitation.
22 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

He scoured Leningrad for tournaments to Dmitry Rovner-Korchnoi

play in and for reopened bookstores that had Third-category tournament,
chess literature. His first chess books in­ Leningrad, 1945
cluded an Emanuel Lasker primer and Scotch Gam e (C47)
Savielly Tartakower's tournament book on
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
Kecskemet 1927. When Alexander Alekhine's
5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bg5 0-0 7. Be2?
collection of best games appeared "I, of
course, tried to memorize it by heart. Gen­ White should seek equality with 7. Nxc6
erally, I believe this is useful, to memorize bxc6 8. Qd4.
by heart:'
7. . . . h6! 8. Bh4 Re8?
Fortunately, he found the ideal place to
indulge his new interest, the Leningrad Pio­ Black can safely win a pawn with 8 . . . . gS!.
neer Palace. Located in the former Anich­
9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Qd4? Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 g5
kov Palace about a mile from his home, this
12. e5 Nd5
was where Mikhail Botvinnik gave lessons
before the war to youngsters such as Tai­ Simplest was 12. . . . cS! with a sizable ad­
manov. There was no Botvinnik to mentor vantage (13. QxcS gxh4 14. exf6 Ba6!).
Korchnoi but two other men proved critical
13. Bg3 d6 14. 0-0-0 dxe5 15. Bxe5? Qe7!
in his early playing years. "My first chess
teachers were Andrei Batuev and Abram This wins a piece (16. Bh8 f6!). White sets
Model;' he said. 30 Model, a math teacher, a desperate trap.
became the city 's champion in 1944 and
16. Bc4 QxeS 17. Rhel (see diagram)
ran the palace's chess club. Batuev, a profes­
sional musician and vocalist, tied for second
place in the 1945 city championship. It was
not technical knowledge they imparted
that mattered most to Korchnoi. It was the
stories they told and the love of the game
that they conveyed to Leningrad's young
players.
During the Leningrad school champion­
ship of 1943-4, held in the Pioneer Palace,
Korchnoi unexpectedly finished third. One
of the other contestants, Oleg Skuratov, re­
After 17. Rhel
called being paired with "a thin, black-haired
boy in a quilted jacket" and being surprised Now 17. . . . Qxel! 18. Rxel Rxel+ would
at how he carefully wrote down his moves in win eventually.
a school notebook. When Skuratov resigned
17. . . . Qf4+?? 18. Qxf4 Nxf4? 19. Rxe8+
a lost pawn endgame he was depressed. He
Kg7 20. Rdd8 Black resigns
walked up to Model and said "I lost! " "To
whom? " Model asked. "To some Korchnoi;' The palace chess teachers had so many
Skuratov said "with annoyance:'31 would-be students that they evaluated them
Petrosian preserved many of his early quickly. One junior, Oleg Yatsekevich, re­
games. "I look at my old games as friends;' called how Abram Model dismissed his abil­
he said in 1969. 32 But few of Korchnoi's early ity in a matter of minutes. "Model sat me
games survive. Here is one. down in front of him and proposed to start
 1. Four Boys
a game;' Yatsekevich remembered. "After
several moves the teacher indifferently an­
nounced: fourth categorY:' 33
But early on Andrei Batuev spotted prom­
ise in Korchnoi. "Somehow he saw that I was
playing blindfold with one of my colleagues;'
Korchnoi recalled. "'O-o-o' he exclaimed. 'Sit
down, we'll play: He took White, sat at a board
but sat me in the corner without a board. I
remember it was a Hungarian Defense and
I lasted about 18 moves. Batuev was satisfied.
'You will be a master; he said:' 34
Zak
Korchnoi got his first view of top-flight
competition when he served as a demonstra­
tion board operator during a Leningrad
semifinals of the 14th USSR Championship
in April 1945. His life changed further in Au­
gust when Vladimir Grigorievich Zak was
demobilized from the Soviet army with bat­
tlefield decorations and returned to his chess
work at the Pioneer Palace. Zak, then 32,
could relate to the brutal times Korchnoi en­
dured. His own father perished during the
blockade and he developed a fatherly fond­
ness for 14-year-old Korchnoi. "As I was one
of the strongest in the club, Zak was in con­
stant contact with me;' Korchnoi said. Zak
loved poetry and he charmed Korchnoi by
reciting lines by Alexander Vertinsky, a
Ukrainian singer/composer, when they played
blitz.
Unlike Ebralidze in Tbilisi, Zak did not
try to mold his students' repertoire, but en­
couraged Korchnoi to try various openings.
This was fortunate. A more didactic teacher
might not have helped Korchnoi because he
was a born skeptic. In school he liked to chal­
lenge authority. "I remember when I was in
the seventh grade a film came out called 'Six
o'Clock in the Evening After the War' and
we had to write a review of the contents;' he
recalled. This was a 1946 movie with a strong
23
patriotic theme. It was a Stalin Prize-winning
hit with general audiences and with the Com-
munist vlasti, the authorities. But Korchnoi
hated it. "I slammed it to smithereens! " he
recalled, and indicated he may have been
held back a grade in school because of that.
Zak said Korchnoi and Boris Spassky, his
other star student, stood out with their ex­
ceptional love of chess. But the similarity
ended there. Korchnoi developed more slowly.
He did, however, demonstrate a high degree
of self-criticism, a quality Zak valued, when
making notes to this losses. By 1946 he had
begun to show tactical talent.
Korchnoi-Razov
Leningrad Junior Championship, 1946
Hungarian Defense (CSO)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 exd4
5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be3 0-0 8. f3
Korchnoi's bold plan calls for 0-0-0. But
Black can equalize at least with 9. . . . NeS! in
view of 10. Bb3? cS 11. knight-move c4.
8. . . . Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Be6 10. 0-0-0 Nd7
ll. Nd5
More punishing is 11. Bxe6! fxe6 12. Qc4
(12. . . . Rf6 13. f4).
11. . . . Bxd512. Qxd5 Ne5 13. Be2 Bf6 14. g4!
Qc8 15. g5 Be7 16. Rdgl Qe6? 17. Qxe6 fxe6
18. f4 Ng6 19. Rg4 Rti 20. Bc4! Nf8 21. f5
d5! 22. exd5 exf5 (see diagram)
After 22. •.• exf5
24 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
23. d6! fxg4?
Black can still fight on an Exchange down
after 23. . . . Bxd6.
24. dxe7 Ng6 25. Rdl Nxe7 26. Rfl! Rf8
27. Bc5! Black resigns
Zak never earned the master title himself.
He brought much stronger players to address
his students. Korchnoi was particularly im­
pressed by Grigory Levenfish and Igor Bon­
darevsky. The two were diametrically differ­
ent. Levenfish was one of the greatest Soviet/
Russian players before World War II but al­
most a political pariah. Bondarevsky, on the
other hand, was well connected to the vlasti,
the government and Party authorities.
Zak did not lecture as Levenfish or Bon­
darevsky did but gave lessons to small groups
of talented students. One of his subjects was
his love of a variation in the Open Defense
of the Ruy Lopez, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3
d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 10. Nbd2 0-0
11. Bc2 Bf5 12. Nb3 and now 12. . . . Bg4.
This was rarely played by anyone other
thanZak. Korchnoi remembered it and, with
the help of his seconds, used it effectively in
his 1978 world championship match against
Anatoly Karpov.
Emulating Emanu el
Perhaps Zak's greatest influence was deep­
ening Korchnoi's respect for Emanuel Lasker.
Zak was a young fan when the former world
champion lived in the USSR, during 1935-7.
Zak eventually won permission from Soviet
authorities to publish his book of Lasker
games. Lasker became a model for Korchnoi,
as Nimzowitsch and Capablanca had for
Petrosian, and Alekhine and Mikhail Chig­
orin would be for Spassky. As a result, Korch­
noi learned to defend difficult positions even
though it did not come naturally to him. "I
was taught early to play defensively, to give
the opponent the initiative-the opponent
loses vigilance and then I beat him;' he said.
"But in life I was completely the other way!" 35
In another interview, Korchnoi attributed his
youthful materialism to growing up in pov­
erty. "I . . . began my chess career like a poor
man: defending, grabbing material, making
only moves. And, well, I often won that
waY:'36
"I was no child prodigy. Chess knowledge
did not come easily to me:' he recalled. His
climb up the category system was slow. "Step
by step, usually on the second attempt, I
breached the next barrier:' 37 At the end of his
life he acknowledged that Petrosian, Spassky
and others had more natural talent than he
did. But he worked harder. A teenage col­
league, Gennady Dymov, said, "I was struck
by his tireless energy. You know after playing
50 five-minute games (giving huge odds!) he
switched to playing poker or [ the card game]
preferance with frequent success." 38 Korchnoi
sometimes played until dawn and had to pay
a ruble to a dezhurnaya, a Soviet-era floor
monitor, to be let into his apartment build­
ing, Dymov recalled.
By age 14 Korchnoi was impressing mas­
ters with his energy and forceful character.
Mark Taimanov gave a simul at the Lenin­
grad Pioneer Palace in 1945 when he noticed
"an animated fellow running from board to
board and breaking etiquette by suggesting
moves to many of the participants in the
simul:' 39 Zak told Taimanov that the boy was
Vitya Korchnoi, who was known for his "ob­
stinate'' opinions and his refusal to compro­
mise.
But he had not yet formed the rock-hard
character that carried him to greatness. In
the 1946 Leningrad Junior Championship
Korchnoi was leading after five rounds. After
a loss he got upset, began to "lose without
putting up a fight" and finished near the bot­
tom. In a later junior tournament he was so
distraught he "wrote a tearful letter" to Zak,
 I. Four Boys
confessing that he didn't believe in himself.
Zak shot back an angry note that forced
Korchnoi to take control of himself. And
somehow, "I decided to become a chess pro­
fessional;' Korchnoi said. 40 "That was mod­
ern thinking at that time because the only
chess professional was Botvinnik. Nobody
else:'
With Trembling Hands
Tigran Petrosian left Georgia for the first
time in August 1945 to play in the USSR Jun­
ior Championship in Leningrad. Korchnoi
almost certainly saw him for the first time
then. What Petrosian's biographer Viktor
Vasiliev tells us is that Petrosian had heard
so much about the other juniors, such as local
star Aron Reshko, that he felt he did not have
a chance for a prize. He was paired with
Reshko in the first round and "made his first
moves with trembling hands:' 41 As his posi­
tion improved he got angry at himself for his
lack of confidence.
Petrosian-Aron Reshko
USSR Junior Championship,
Leningrad, 1945
French Defense (C07)
1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5
5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. Ngf3 a6? 7. Bxc6+ bxc6
8. 0-0 cxd4 9. Rel+ Be7 10. Nxd4 Qc7
11. Qf3 Nf6 12. Qe3
This stops 12. . . . 0-0 (13. Qxe7) but would
offer little after 12. . . . Ng4.
12. . . . cS 13. Nc6! Be6 14. Nxe7 Qxe7 15. Nb3
RcS 16. Qe5 h617. f4 Ng4? (see diagram)
Black sets a trap: 18. Qxg7? Qh4! and wins
(19. Qxh8+ Kd7 or 19. Rxe6+ fxe6 20. Qxh8+
Kf7!).
18. Qe2 Rc719. Bd2 g6 20. Ba5 Rb7 21. h3
Nf6 22. Qxa6 0-0 23. Qe2
25
After 17. ... Ng4
And he would have compensation after
23. . . . Qd6!. Better was 23. Bb6! .
23. . . . Ne4 24. c4! dxc4? 25. Qxe4 cxb3
26. Bc3! Qc7 27. a4!
The passed a-pawn and long diagonal
(27. . . . Qd7? 28. QeS) doom Black.
27. . . . Ra8 28. a5 Rba7 29. Qe3 Kh7 30. Radl
Rxa5 31. Bxa5 Rxa5 32. Qc3 c4 33. Re4
Qa7+ 34. Kh2 Ral 35. Rd8! Qgl+ 36. Kg3
g5 37. fxg5 Kg6 38. Qf6+ Kh5 39. Qxh6
mate
Petrosian tied for first place with Reshko
and Yuri Vasilchuk. Vasilchuk, who became
a professor at the Russian Academy of Nat­
ural Sciences, said he detected qualities that
held the 16-year-old Petrosian back. "Most
of all, his surprising modesty, his certainty
that his opponent saw as much as he did;'
Vasilchuk said. 42
At the end of the year, Petrosian started well
in another Georgian Championship. Prizes in
Soviet tournaments were typically minuscule.
But a winter coat was the first prize in this
one. Desperately poor, Petrosian counted on
winning it. A friend broke his heart:
Tengiz Giorgadze-Petrosian
Georgian Championship, Tbilisi, 1945-6
Caro-Kann Defense (Bll)
1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3
5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Qxd4 8. Bd3
26 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Nf6 9. 0-0 Nxe410. Bxe4 Nd7 ll. Be3 Qf6 13. Nxe4 Nd5 14. Bg3 Qb3 15. Qd2 Nc4
12. Bxc6? bxc6 13. Qxc6 QdS 14. Radl RcS 16. Qg5
15. Qa4 Bc5 16. Rd3 Bxe3 17. fxe3 Rc7
Petrosian said a "general assessment of the
18. Rfdl QcS 19. c4 Ke7! 20. Qb5 Nc5 21. Rd4
position is undoubtedly favorable for White:'
Qb7 22. Qa5 Qb6 23. Qel Qxb2?? 24. Qg3?
An older Petrosian might have considered
Qb6? 25. Qg5+ Black resigns
16. Rael! ? in view of 16. . . . Nxd2 17. Rxc8+
Petrosian had met Tengiz Giorgadze on a Kd7 18. Nfxd2 queen-move 19. Rb8 when it
snowy day in December 1944 when he wore is hard for Black to complete development.
a threadbare coat and Giorgradze had a 16. . . . h6! 17. Qg4 h518. Qg5 Rh619. Rael!?
warmer padded jacket. They became good (see diagram)
friends. The day after this game he went as
usual, to visit Giorgadze at his home. "Be­
cause of Tengiz I lost my coat;' he blurted
out to Giorgadze's aunt. "She calmed down
Tigran;' Giorgadze recalled. "Maybe you will
still win;' she said. 43 The boys set up the
pieces to prepare for Petrosian's next oppo­
nent, Nikolai Sorokin. A transplanted Ukrain­
ian, Sorokin had once been the strongest
player in Georgia and had preceded Ebra­
lidze as chess circle leader at the Pioneer
Palace. After 19. Rael
Petrosian-Nikolai Sorokin He was proud of his threat: 20. QxdS! exdS
Georgia Championship, Tbilisi, 1945-6 21. Nf6+ and mates. But more exact was
Slav Defense (D14) 19. Rfel! so that 19. . . . Qxb2 20. Rahl and
Rxb7 is strong.
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c6 3. d4 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5
5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 Qb6 8. a3 19. . . . Nxb2 20. Nfd2? Qb5 21. f4 Rg6

White gets too much compensation for a
pawn after 8 . . . . Qxb2? 9. Na4 Qc2 10. Qxc2
Bxc2 ll. Nc5. For example, 11. . . . b6? 12. Bb5!.
8. . . . e6 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Res n. 0-0
White's basic plan is b2-b4 and Na4/Rfcl,
when he would have the usual tiny edge of a
symmetrical pawn structure.
11. . . . Na5 12. e4!? dxe4
"I well remember how happy I was when
in reply to 12. . . . Qxb2 I found 13. Bd2, with
dangerous threats;' Petrosian wrote. 44 Did he
find it over the board or at Giorgadze's home?
And did he consider the dangerous 13. . . .
Qb3! 14. exd5 Qc4? He did not say.
White bet heavily on f4-f5, rather than
20. Nd6+! Bxd6 21. Bxd6. He was wrong
since 21. . . . Nd3! would have favored Black,
e.g., 22. f5 Nxel 23. fxe6 Rxe6 or 22. Rbl Qa6
23. f5 f6.
22. Qxh5 Rh6 23. Qf3 Qd3 24. Qf2 g6?
White had one threat and this only looks
like it stops it. Better was 24 . . . . f5! 25. Ng5
Rc6 or 25. . . . Rc2.
25. f5! gxf5 26. Qxf5! Qxd4+
Or 26. . . . exf5 27. Nf6+ and mates. The
rest is a massacre.
27. Khl Be7 28. Qxf7+ Kd7 29. Nf3 QhS
30. Be5 Qh7 31. Qxh7 Rxh7 32. Bxb2 Rc2
 I. Four Boys
33. Bd4 Bxa3 34. Ne5+ Kd8 35. Ng5 Rh5
36. Nxe6+ Ke7 37. Ng6+ Kd6 38. Ngf4
Nxf4 39. Nxf4 Black resigns
Petrosian won the tournament and got his
coat after all. Oddly, the next Georgian cham­
pionship began two months later and Petro­
sian only finished fifth in a field of 20. But
he got his first chance to play a world-class
opponent on equal terms.
Petrosian-Paul Keres
Georgian Championship, Tbilisi, 1946
Grunfeld Defense (DBO)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2?
dxc4!
Keres, playing hors concours, had won 13
of his 14 previous games in the tournament
and was already at least equal in this one.
6. Nf3 0-0 7. 0-0 c6 8. Ne5 Be6 9. e4 Na6
10. Be3 Ne8! 11. Qe2 Nd6 12. Radl Qc813. a3
f6 14. Nf3 Nc7 15. d5! cxd5 16. exd5 Bf5
17. Bf4!
Since he would have little compensation
for a pawn after 17. Rfel Bd3 18. Qd2 Rd8,
Petrosian makes one of his earliest Exchange
sacrifices. Black should decline it with 17. . . .
Re8!.
17. . . . Bd3 18. Qxe7 Rf7!
So that 19. Qxd6? Bf8!. White might have
done better with 18. Rxd3 cxd3 19. Qxe7 and
later Qe3xd3.
19. Qe3 Bxfl 20. Bxfl Qd7? (see diagram)
With 20. . . . Nce8, chances would be even.
21. Bxd6! Qxd6 22. Ne4 Qb6!
Keres recognized that 22. . . . Qa6 23. d6
Ne6 24. d7! is bad because of the threat of
Rd6. For example, 24 . . . . Qa4 25. Rd6 Nd8
26. Nc3! Qb3 27. Nd4! Qxb2 28. Bxc4 and
White wins.
23. d6 Rd7 24. Bxc4+ Kh8 25. Qxb6?
27
After 20. ... Qd7
Petrosian was already a fine tactician but
he misses a deadly idea: 25. Qf4! followed by
Nh4 and Nxg6+! . For example, 25. . . . Ne8
26. Nh4! gs 27. Ng6+ hxg6 28. Qg4 followed
by Qh3+ or Qxd7.
25. . . . axb6 26. Rel?
Better winning chances are offered by
26. Rd3. Now Keres can return the Exchange
to kill the frightening d6-pawn.
26. . . . Ne8! 27. Bb5 Rxd6!
Petrosian apparently counted on 28. Bxe8,
overlooking 28 . . . . Re6! when he must fight
for a draw. The game was drawn soon after
28. Nxd6 Nxd6 29. Bd3 fS.
As he and Keres signed scoresheets, Petro­
sian heard spectators applauding him. That
had never happened before. He was so deeply
moved he kept his scoresheet for years, until
he lost it. In 1964 Keres, who had become a
good friend, gave Petrosian a present-his
own 18-year-old scoresheet of the game. 45
Armenia
The second time Petrosian was applauded
was two months later, in the Armenian Cham­
pionship. He felt at home. There were more
ethnic Armenians than Georgians in Petro­
sian's hometown of Tbilisi when he was born
and attended the 73rd Armenian school. By
visiting Yerevan, there was more to learn than
28 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
in Georgia. The best-known Armenian player,
Genrikh Kasparian, was an eminent end­
game composer but also the 64th best player
in the world shortly before the war curtailed
his career. In the Soviet Union's 47th Army
he fought in several major engagements in­
cluding 1942's Battle of the Kerch Peninsula
and was demobilized with honors in Novem­
ber 1945. He met Petrosian over the board in
March 1946.
Genrikh Kasparian-Petrosian
Armenian Championship, Erevan, 1946
Caro-Kann Defense (Bll)
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 e6 5. d4
Nf6 6. e5 Nfd7 7. 0-0 Be7 8. Nel Bxe2
9. Nxe2 cS 10. f4 g6 ll. dxcS NxcS 12. Be3
Nc6 13. Bxc5?! Bxc5+ 14. Khl Qb6 15. Rf3
Rd8 16. a3 0-0
Petrosian was a bit better but offered a
draw around this point and was rejected.
17. Nd3 Be7 18. Qd2 fS 19. h3 Rc8 20. c3
Na5 21. Nd4 Nb3 22. Nxb3 Qxb3 23. Ncl
Qb6 24. Ne2 Rc4 25. Nd4 Bes 26. b3? Rxc3!
What did White overlook? Certainly not
27. Qxc3 Bxd4 or 27. Rxc3 Bxd4 when Black
will simply be a pawn ahead.
27. Nxe6 Rxf3 (see diagram)
After 27. ... Rx/3
Perhaps Kasparian intended 28. QxdS but
now saw that 28 . . . . Rd3! wins (29. Qxd3
Qxe6 or 29. Qc4 Qxb3).
He should try to resist with 28. NxcS Rxh3+
29. gxh3 QxcS 30. Rel.
28. Nxf8? Rf2 29. QxdS+ Kxf8 30. Rel Be7
Perfectly safe was 30. . . . Bxa3!. But "un­
necessary caution" and "Tigran Petrosian"
were already synonymous. "He was the only
world champion whose style and creativity
was not a secret;' Taimanov said. "From the
beginning his motto was 'Safety before any­
thing."' 46 In 2017 Anatoly Karpov said Petro­
sian was "the first to sacrifice his mobility to
limit his opponent's:' 47
31. Kh2 Qe3 32. Rc8+ Kg7 33. Rc4 Rd2
34. Qxb7 Kfl 35. Qa8 Rdl 36. e6+ Qxe6
37. Qxa7 Qel 38. Rd4? Qgl+ White resigns
Petrosian was already known for being
emotional. When Kasparian resigned, "Tig­
ran blushed from embarrassment and joY:' 48
He went on to take first prize. Emotions also
played a role when one of Armenia's chess
activists, Andrannik Akopian, convinced
Petrosian to temporarily leave his hometown
and family during the summer of 1946. He
moved to Yerevan where he was paid a small
salary. Officially it was to teach at a chess
club, but as usual in the Soviet system it was
really to allow him to study. For a while
Petrosian lived as a guest in the home of
Karen Kalantar, a talented player whose
older brother Alexander had been Armenian
champion.
A month after winning the Armenian
Championship, Petrosian revisited Lenin­
grad and repeated as Soviet junior champion,
a full point ahead of Yuri Vasilchuk. Alexan­
der Buslaev, the same player Ebralidze had
jilted Petrosian for a few years before, tied
for last place. Next to last was Nikolai Kro­
gius, who would prove a key figure in the ca­
reers of a generation of Soviet grandmasters.
And tied for 11th out of 16 was a thin, dark­
haired, first-category player whom Petrosian
would meet over the board more than 60
times.
 I. Four Boys
Petrosian-Korchnoi
USSR Junior Championship,
Leningrad, 1946
Dutch Defense (A90)
l. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. 0-0
Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. b3 0-0 8. Ba3 Bxa3 9. Nxa3
Qe8 10. Nc2 Qh5 11. Qcl Ne4 12. Neel
White wants to occupy the best outpost,
eS, with a knight but also be able to reinforce
it with a second knight (not 12. NeS Nd7 and
. . . NxeS).
12. . . . g5 13. Nd3 Nd7 14. Nfe5!
Petrosian was already adept at looking for
the best positional move and, if there seems
to be a flaw (14 . . . . Qxe2), then looking for
a little tactic to make his move work. Here it
would be 15. f3! NxeS 16. Nxe5 Nd2 17. Rel
or 16. . . . Qd2 17. Qxd2 Nxd2 18. Rfdl).
14. . . . Kh8 15. f3 Nd6 16. e4! (see diagram)
After 16. e4
White would enjoy a sizable positional
advantage after 16. . . . fxe4 17. fxe4 Nxe4
18. Bxe4 (18 . . . . dxe4 19. Rxf8+ Nxf8 20. NcS
or 18 . . . . Rxfl+ 19. Qxfl dxe4 20. NcS). A
strong alternative was 16. Qa3! Nf7 17. Qe7.
16. . . . Nf7 17. cxd5 Ndxe5 18. dxe5 cxd5
19. exd5 exd5 20. f4
This is a strategic rout in view of the threats
of QcS, BxdS and fxg5/Nf4.
20. .. . Rd8? 21. Qc7 b6 22. fxg5 Ba6? 23. Nf4
Black resigns
29
When a group photo was taken, Petrosian
sat in the center of the first row of tourna­
ment participants, with Korchnoi and Kro­
gius assigned to the upper right, third row.
The snapshot shows Petrosian's distinctive
features. A longtime friend, pianist Andrei
Gavrilov recalled, "He had a swarthy face
with a big Caucasian nose and protruding
ears, dark brown, slightly sad, wise eyes glit­
tering in deep eye sockets. During the game
of chess, he wrinkled his forehead:' 49
Back in Yerevan, Petrosian found doors
opened to him. Genrikh Kasparian treated
him warmly, often inviting Petrosian to his
home, even though by moving to Armenia
the teenager had become Kasparian's chief
rival. That autumn the 36-year-old Kas­
parian and 17-year-old Petrosian agreed to
play a match for the title of republic cham­
pion. According to Chessmetrics.com, Petro­
sian was already quite a bit stronger than his
opponent. After a rocky start, he won the
match 8-6. That was worthy of making
Petrosian a "master of sport:' But master
titles had to be approved by a national qual­
ification commission. When the Armenian
chess federation asked it to certify Petrosian
as a master, it refused.
Breakout
Back in Leningrad, Korchnoi broke out
of the pack of talented youngsters. He won
the city's 1947 and 1948 junior champi­
onships. Wins came more easily. But it
was a draw with future grandmaster livo
Nei in the 1947 tournament that gave him
a strange new sensation. "For the first time
I experienced pleasure in a difficult de­
fense" when he held on "on the verge of
defeat for a long time;' he wrote. It was
another game, against the pre-tournament
favorite, that gained attention when it was
annotated in the October issue of Shakhmaty
v SSSR.
30 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Yuri Vasilchuk-Korchnoi
Leningrad Junior Championship, 1947
Sicilian Defense (B74)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. Be3 0-0 8. 0-0 Nc6
9. Nb3 a5 10. a4 Be6 11. f4 Bxb3 12. cxb3
Nb4
A better plan is 12. . . . e6 and 13. . . . dS.
Now White can launch a kingside attack
based on Bc4 and f4-f5.
13. Rel Nd7 14. Bc4 Rc8 15. Qg4 Nc5
With 16. Rfdl he would be comfortably
ahead in space.
16. f5? Ncd3!
Now 17. Rbl NeS 18. Qe2 Nxc4 19. bxc4
Qc7 is fine for Black.
17. fxg6 hxg6 18. Qxg6? Rxc4?
As strong as this appears, Black would
have won faster with 18 . . . . dS!, threatening
to take the queen. Then on 19. Qg3 dxc4
20. Bh6 Black has 20. . . . Qb6+. Or 20. RfS
Nxcl 21. Rg5 Ne2+! 22. Nxe2 Qdl+.
19. Qg3! Nxcl 20. bxc4
Black is skating on thin ice because of Bh6
or a rook shift to g4 or gs. But he would win
after the unlikely 20. . . . Nca2! . The point is
that 21. Bh6 Qb6+ 22. Khl Qd4 23. RfS, as in
the game, allows 23. . . . Nxc3 with a threat
of . . . Qdl+.
20. . . . Ncd3? 21. Bh6 Qb6+ 22. Khl Qd4
23. Rf5! Rc8 24. Bxg7 Nf2+! 25. Rxf2 Qxg7
26. Qxg7+?
An extra pawn in an endgame is worth far
less than the middlegame attack of 26. Qh4
(26. . . . Kf8 27. NdS) or 26. Qh3 (26. . . . Rxc4
27. Rf3).
26. . . . Kxg7 27. b3 Nd3 28. Rf3 Nc5 29. Nd5
e6 30. Rg3+ Kf8 31. Nf6 Ke7 32. Ng8+ Ke8
White should seek a draw (33. Nf6+ Ke7
34. Ng8+ Ke8).
33. Re3? Kf8! 34. Nf6 Ke7 35. Ng4 Rc6! (see
diagram)
After 35. ... Rc6
The rook ending would be drawish (35. . . .
Nxe4 36. Rxe4 f5 37. Rf4 fxg4 38. Rxg4).
36. h4! Rb6 37. h5 Rxb3 38. Rxb3?
But the knight endgame is bad. After 38. eS!
the key line is 38 . . . . Rxe3 39. exd6+ Kxd6
40. h6! Rg3 41. h7 Rxg4 42. h8(Q) Rxc4 with
a likely draw. Or 38 . . . . dxeS 39. RxeS Rg3
(39. . . . b6? 40. h6) 40. RxcS Rxg4 41. RxaS.
38. . . . Nxb3 39. h6 Kf8 40. Nf6 Nc5!
41. Ne8! Kg8 42. Nxd6 b6! 43. Kgl Nxa4
44. Kf2 Nc5 45. Ke3 f6 46. e5!?
This should lose quickly (46 . . . . fS!). A
better try was 46. Ne8 Kh7 47. Nxf6+ Kxh6
48. Kd4.
46. . . . fxe5? 47. g4 Kh7 48. g5 a4 49. Nb5
Nb7 50. Na3?
The outcome remains in doubt after
50. Nc3 a3 51. Ke4.
50. . . . Nd6! 51. Kf3 Kg6 52. Kg4 Nfi 53. h7
Kxh7 54. Kh5 Nd6 55. g6+ Kg7 56. Kg5 e4
57. Nc2 Nxc4 58. Kf4 e3 59. Ke4 a3 60. Kd3
a2! White resigns
Korchnoi's later memoirs added an inci­
dent he did not mention in his first, 1977 ver­
sion. He won two crucial games with Black
against fellow Leningraders in the tourna­
ment. He postmortemed after one of those
games and spoke in what he said was a light-
 I. Four Boys
hearted manner. (He was already known for
insulting his opponents.) His losing oppo­
nent took offense. "What's with you? " he
asked. "You know they forced me to lose to
you! "so
"This was a shock for me;' Korchnoi wrote.
Since teachers and sports organizations were
evaluated "by the success of their foster­
children" someone had conspired to help him
win. His victory was tainted and he learned
that "everything is sold and bought:'
Nevertheless Korchnoi enjoyed the fruits
of winning. "They took me to a tailor's work­
shop and [got] a suit. A good, excellent suit!
. . . bright blue;' he said. 5 1 Among those
unimpressed by his first prize was a master,
Vitaly Tarasov. "The next one you' ll receive
in about 20 years;' Tarasov told him. "But
within 13 years I became champion of the
USSR among adults;' Korchnoi wrote. 52
Obvious Discord
Petrosian could have moved up the Soviet
totem pole faster if he had the aspirations of
a Korchnoi. Svetozar Gligoric, a friendly rival
of both, later described how he was struck
by the "obvious discord between [Petrosian's]
enormous chess talent and his lack of ambi­
tion:' 53 This was demonstrated in a crucial
final round of a national championship semi­
finals:
Petrosian-Vladimir Simagin
16th USSR Championship semifinals,
Moscow, 1947
Dutch Defense (A96)
I. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. 0-0
0-0 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 a5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 e5
IO. d5! Nb8 II. Nel
With 11. NgS and Ne6! White would secure
a powerful pull.
11. . . . Na6 12. e4 fxe4 13. Nxe4 Bf5 14. Be3
b615. Nxf6+ Rxf616. Be4 Bxe417. Qxe4 a4
31
Petrosian needed a draw to finally secure
the master title. But a win might advance
him to the USSR Championship finals, the
best tournament that almost any Soviet player
could dream of entering.
Viktor Korchnoi would later face a similar
situation and make a different decision.
Petrosian offered a draw. When, is un­
known but his biographer said it was after
he obtained "an almost won position:' 54
Vladimir Simagin, one of the world's two
dozen highest rated players at the time, re­
fused.
18. Nd3 Nc5 19. Bxc5!
A favorable bishop-takes-knight exchange
would become one of the hallmarks of a
Petrosian win. Black cannot keep the White
knight from reaching e6 now.
19. . . . bxc5 20. Rael Bf8?
Black would have had just enough coun­
terplay after 20. . . . Rt7 21. f4 exf4 22. Nxf4
Qd7 and . . . BgS or 22. . . . Bf6 23. Ne6 Qe7.
Now his bishop becomes paralyzed on f8.
21. f4! exf4 22. Nxf4 (see diagram)
After 22. Nxf4
White's advantage was obvious and he
could play for a win without risk. But he of­
fered a draw a second time at some point.
Simagin again refused.
22. . . . Qd7 23. Ne6 Rxfl+ 24. Rxfl Be7
draw
32 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
According to Gennady Sosonko, when
Petrosian offered a draw again he said it
would be the last time. Seeing how strong
25. Qg4! was, Simagin accepted.
White would win after 25. . . . g6? 26. Qf3!
or 25. . . . Bf6? 26. Rxf6. He would have a
bind after 25. . . . Bf8 26. h4 or 26. Qf3 Qe7
27. b3 axb3 28. Qxb3. It is the kind of posi­
tion Petrosian could play with virtually no
chance of losing. But he was content to make
slow career progress.
Borya
Boris Vasilyevich Spassky grew up even
poorer than Petrosian and in a family as
troubled as Korchnoi's. Instead of starving
in Leningrad, he nearly died in the evacua­
tion that Korchnoi was denied.
Born January 30, 1937, Spassky remem­
bered his first home as a kommunal k a at
Nevsky Prospect, number 104, flat 2, now in
a fashionable area of St. Petersburg. Soon
after the Nazi invasion, he and his brother
Georgy, nearly three years older than he,
were evacuated by train. They were headed
for Perm, 1,500 miles away. On the way to
the Urals the train was heavily shelled several
times. "We were incredibly lucky as we slipped
out in the second group: the first and third
were bombed;' he recalled. 55
"Finally we arrived at Perm where I was
placed in an orphanage:' It was "an extremely
beautiful building on the site of an old con-
vent." His fellow evacuees "played all games,
including chess," he said. But he just watched.
He did not know the rules until he began
having games with his brother.
Meanwhile his father, Vasily Spassky, a
construction foreman, was pressed into mil­
itary duty in Leningrad. Spassky was never
particularly religious but his father was de­
scended from Vladimir Spassky, a prominent
Russian Orthodox priest. He said his mother,
the former Ekaterina Petrov of a Pskov peas-
ant family, was deeply religious but also a
leader in the Komsomol junior wing of the
Communist Party. She survived the war be­
cause she inherited her mother's ration card
after she died. 56
Spassky's father "was on the verge of death
from starvation and even ended up on the
death ward" for servicemen. "You' ll never
guess how she saved my dad: she sold all her
things and bought a bottle of alcohol;' Spas­
sky said. "She arrived in the ward and started
to look for him among dozens of people, but
he'd lost so much weight that she didn't even
recognize him. My father was stern despite
his weakness and shouted at her: Don't you
recognize your own husband? After that, he
drank the whole bottle and got up. A miracle?
No, they say vodka has calories. The moment
my father recovered they immediately trav­
elled to our orphanage, when I was dying
from hunger." 57
This was in the summer of l943. "The ar­
rival of my parents saved me:' he recalled.
"When they collected us from the chil­
dren's shelter I was like a sack of bones and
couldn't get out of bed:' 58 He said his parents
"took my brother and me to the outskirts of
Moscow:' But when Spassky's mother was
three months pregnant with a daughter,
Vasily Spassky abandoned them and remar­
ried.
During the winter of 1943-44, Spassky and
his mother, an elementary school teacher
looking desperately for work, lived in an
izba, or hut, according to Alexander Nikitin,
a longtime friend and grandmaster. 'J\t night
the temperature was below zero and to sleep
you needed to wear outer clothing;' Spassky
recalled. "When living became unbearable,
Mom would quote [Nikolai] Nekrasov:' Spas­
sky told an interviewer. "She knew his poems
by heart. I still remember those lines about
hardships of Russian life." 59 Spassky and his
mother soon had to move again. He never
forgot the new location and returned to find
it in the final days of the USSR. "I was horri-
 1. Four Boys
fied: the same entrance, the same smell, the
same rats:• he said. 60
Fairy Tale World
In 1946 Spassky's mother moved once
more, taking her children back to ravaged
Leningrad. One day Spassky's older brother
took him to Kirov Park, which had housed
military hardware up until 1944. They found
the chess pavilion, a common feature in large
Soviet-era parks. Spassky remembered it had
"a glass veranda surrounded by trees" with
"a large black knight in front": "It was mar­
velous weather. The wind from the bay of
Finland played with the birch leaves, the sad
northern sun shone on the glass of the ve­
randa:' There was no one inside but he was
mesmerized by the tables, boards and pieces.
"I was seeing a fairy tale world . . . . I lost my
sense of reality. . . . A wild passion took pos­
session of me:' 61
He returned to the pavilion the next day,
and the day after that. He was there from the
hour that the pavilion opened to when it
closed at 9 p.m. But he was too shy to try to
play. "I observed the clocks, watched others
play, not sitting at a board. This went on for
about two weeks. I was delighted by the
movement of the pieces. The pieces were
covered by fresh lacquer and from them came
a special, unique smell:' He recalled the ex-
perience in interview after interview. "Look­
ing back, I had a sort of predestination in my
life," he said. "I understood that through
chess I could express myself and chess be­
came my natural language. . . . Then came the
day when brother signed me up for a chil­
dren's blitz tournament. I fell into a children's
mate on f7 and cried bitterly. The fairy tale
world revealed a stern face:• he said. But that
helped cure his shyness. ''.And I had to play
every day. I couldn't do anything else:' When
he came home, exhausted, "I didn't undress,
I tumbled into bed and fell asleep. Some-
33
times I was late for school. I asked Mama to
write an explanatory note and all my sins
were forgiven:'
The first crisis of his new obsession came
when the Kirov Park pavilion closed at the
end of the summer season. "I had no place
to play chess:• he recalled. So in October 1946
he found his way to the Leningrad Pioneer
Palace. Mark Taimanov, then 20 and a Palace
veteran, remembered "with satisfaction the
first chess steps of Boris:' He said the light­
haired nine-year-old showed up one day and
asked shyly, "I want to sign up for the chess
circle, can I?" ''.And do you know how to play
chess?" an administrator asked. 'Tm the
champion in my third grade class;' he re­
plied, perhaps fibbing. 62
He was accepted. His family was so poor
that he barely had anything to wear to the
palace. "How did you come to chess?" he was
asked in a 2003 interview. "Barefoot:' was the
answer. 63 "I remember that my mother gave
me her soldier's boots. She used them when
she was harvesting potatoes to feed the fam­
ily. So in these boots, which reached up to
my stomach, I went to the Pioneer Palace." 64
He said his strongest childhood memory was
arriving at the palace before it opened and
watching the nearby Fontanka River flow.
"By a strange coincidence, a couple of con­
doms would always float bY:' he said. 65
At the palace he discovered how seriously
people took chess. He saw a photo of a slim,
dark-haired teenager who had just won a
tournament in the palace, the national junior
championship. It was Petrosian. "I, as a nine­
year-old boy, saw him as a folk hero:• Spas­
sky recalled. 66 At the palace he also met
Vladimir Zak, "a remarkable trainer and a
wonderful man:' Zak quickly became de­
voted to Spassky and began teaching him
in his home, as he had with Korchnoi and a
few others. "He always did this if he saw
someone with talent;' Spassky recalled. "He
lived for this:' 67 According to one account,
Spassky was playing in a second-category
34 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
tournament two months after he arrived at
the palace. 68
Other palace regulars were not as welcom­
ing as Zak. One of Zak's favorite teaching de­
vices was to have an older student give a si­
multaneous exhibition for younger, weaker
players. Zak chose Korchnoi, then a cocky
first-category player, to conduct a simul and
to play one of the games blindfolded. As luck
would have it, he played blind against Spas­
sky. Their game began 1. e4 e6 2. d4 dS 3. eS.
Korchnoi quickly built up an attacking for­
mation and won with a routine Bxh7+, NgS+
combination. Spassky burst into tears.
Spassky also cried after he drew games he
should have won. When he sobbed after
missing the first-category norm by a half
point in a tournament, Zak told him "Don't
cry, Borya. A half point is a formality. You
will play in a first-category tournament:' 69
He was right. In a year and a half Spassky
went from beginner to first category, an as­
tonishing leap.
In 1947 the first published photo of Spas­
sky appeared: He was playing a board in a
simul given by Mikhail Botvinnik. He won
Spassky (right) was the youngest Soviet first category player when this wife. It was a divine
photo appeared in the February 1949 issue of Shakhmaty v SSSR, and dish, with American
soon the youngest candidate master and youngest master.
but the score has not survived. Spassky also
got his opportunity to operate a demonstra­
tion board during major tournaments. He
loved it, because he earned 10 rubles a day
and because he was performing an impor­
tant duty on a stage full of famous players. 70
Larisa Volpert, who later became a lead­
ing Soviet women's player, was another stu­
dent of Zak's. She came from a politically
correct family: her doctor father served the
Bolshevik army during the Civil War and
married the nurse who helped cure him of
typhus. Volpert remembered the "rich and
very informative" lessons Zak gave at his
home when she was 19. "There I often met
nine-year-old Borya Spassky and 14-year­
old Vitya Korchnoi. Both were without
fathers and both found a second home in
this family;' she said. 71 Zak introduced Spas­
sky to culture, she said. He played a record
of C armen that made Spassky a lifelong
opera fan, and he recommended authors to
him, such as Mark Twain. Spassky was par­
ticularly fond of Th e Prince and the Paup er
because of the sea change in fortunes of the
two main characters. Spassky, who nearly
starved during the
war, became well­
fed thanks to his vis­
its to Zak's home.
"Zak not only
showed me various
opening variations
but on his poor sal­
ary (and he had a big
family) fattened me
up. And I have a fe­
rocious appetite;' he
said. "I still remem­
ber the chicken
broth, which was
prepared by Vladis­
lavovna Tatiana, his
stewed pork:' 72
 I. Four Boys
Friends in High Places
In the fall of 1947 a team match was held
between Leningrad and the far eastern city
of Vladivostok, some 4,000 miles away. Moves
were transmitted by radio. One of the boys
who relayed the moves from the boards to
the radio operator was Spassky. He watched
Alexander Tolush on first board. Tolush was
known for his bravery on the board and on
the battlefield, during the wartime fighting
outside Leningrad. Still only 10, Spassky was
considered responsible enough to get the
radio moves right. "Borya looked unusual: a
thin, light-haired boy;' recalled Mikhail
Beilin. Only his large gray eyes revealed his
maturity, he said.73
In later years Spassky portrayed himself
as a life-long rebel. "I was always a lone wolf;'
he said. "I never had any patrons:' This was
not true. From virtually the beginning of his
career, Spassky had friends in high places like
Beilin, later a very influential figure in Soviet
chess politics. His supporters may have seen
Spassky as an ideal Soviet youth: a non-Jew­
ish ethnic Russian from peasant/worker stock
and with some family connection to the
Communist Party.
The Vladivostok match was organized by
the veteran Leningrad chess official Yakov
Rokhlin, who had mentored Mikhail Botvin­
nik twenty years before. "I remember Rokhlin
always brought a pillow for Borya so that he
could comfortably sit in a chair during a
game;' said another trainer, Boris Arkhangel­
sky.74 His oldest surviving games show little
of his potential:
Spassky-Shman
Trud sports society tournament,
Leningrad, 1948
Queen's Gambit Declined (D37)
l. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. e3
Nbd7 6. Bd3 0-0 7. 0-0 a6 8. b3 b6 9. Bb2
Bb7 10. Qc2 c5 ll. Ne5 Bd6 12. f4 h6 13. Qe2
Ne414. Radl cxd4 15. exd4 f516. Bxe4 fxe4?
35
After 16. . . . dxe4 Black is close to equality
(17. Na4 Bc7).
17. Qg4! ReS 18. Nxd7 Qxd719. cxd5 Qe7
20. dxe6 Qxe6 21. f5 Qf6 22. Na4?
White overrates his tactical chances along
the b2-f6 diagonal. Better is 22. d5 (22. . . .
e3 23. Ne2! Be5 24. Bxe5 with a small edge,
but not 23. . . . Qxb2?? 24. f6 and White
wins).
22. . . . e3! 23. d5 Bes 24. Qe2? b5?
Black would be better after 24 . . . . a5! and
. . . Ba6.
25. Bxe5 Qxe5 26. Nc5 Bxd5 27. Nd7! Qd6
28. f6 Qxd7 29. f7+ (see diagram)
After 29. p+
The outcome remains in doubt after 29. . . .
Qxf7! 30. Rxf7 Bxf7 because of the e-pawn
(31. Rd3? Bh5! 32. Qxh5 e2).
29. . . . Kh8? 30. fxeS(Q)+ Rxe8 31. Rd3 Qb7
32. Rxe3 Rxe3 33. Qxe3 Bxg2? 34. Rf8+
Kh7 35. Qe8! Black resigns
In 1948 Spassky was considered strong
enough to give his own simultaneous exhi­
bition at the Officers' House in Minsk, the
same kind of place where Petrosian had
served as a janitor in Tbilisi. Spassky check­
mated one officer, who asked if he could take
his move back. Spassky agreed-and two
moves later he was checkmated. "I began to
cry bitterly and the game was stopped for 15
minutes. When I calmed down I finished the
36 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
game;' he remembered. He resolved never to
allow opponents to take back moves, even in
simuls. His fee allowed him to buy a winter
coat. "So that was money, tears and a coaf' 75
That year Zak, with the help of Grigory
Levenfish, accomplished something unprece­
dented: They secured a government stipend
for his best student. Spassky recalled it as 35
rubles a month. 76 Other sources give a much
higher figure, 1,200. Figuring the value of a
ruble at that time is difficult because of a
sharp currency devaluation at the end of
1947. In any case, Spassky's stipend appears
to be higher than the monthly wage of many
Soviet workers.
Stipends were new and rare for even the
best Soviet players. For a boy it was stunning.
This "allowed me and my family to stand on
our own feet. It was a huge, simply fantastic
help to the family;' Spassky said. "I was a pro­
fessional at age 10:' 77
Spassky claimed he played chess for "per­
haps five hours a day between 1946 and 1950:'
It was during this period that the longest
running rivalry in grandmaster history began.
Korchnoi included the following in Korch­
noi's 400 Best Games although it clearly was
not one of his best.
Korchnoi-Spassky
Leningrad, 1948
Sicilian Defense (B71)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6 6. f4 Bg4 7. Bb5+ Nbd7 8. Bxd7+
Qxd7 9. Qd3 e5 10. Nf3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3
Qg4?? 12. Nd5 Black resigns? (see diagram)
Once again Spassky burst into tears. He
cried harder when Korchnoi said, "What's
with you?" and pointed out that 12. . . . Kd8!
would have saved a piece. White should still
win after 13. Qxg4 Nxg4 14. h3! and then
14 . . . . Nh6 15. fxe5 dxe5 16. Bg5+.
Spassky said he was in awe of Korchnoi at
the time. "For me he was like a chess god;'
he recalled. Did he resent Korchnoi's hostil-
After 12. Nd5
ity? "No, I was more bewildered than any­
thing;' he told an interviewer many years
later. 78 He said he vividly recalled how Korch­
noi would overreact to losses at the Lenin­
grad Pioneer Palace. "He would throw pieces,
scream, insult the opponent. If someone was
better than him at anything, Korchnoi was
ready to tear him apart:' 79
Spassky was discovering that being preco­
cious came with an emotional price. He
never forgot how, after he would outplay his
elders at blitz, they called him names, like
"little swine;' and told him, "You don't know
how to play." 8 0 And it pained him that he
failed miserably when he was given a chance
to play a grandmaster.
Vasily Smyslov-Spassky
Simultaneous Exhibition, Leningrad,
1948
Sicilian Defense (B76)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. N xd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 0-0 8. Qd2 Nc6
9. 0-0-0 Nxd4
From virtually the start of his career, Spas­
sky was stronger in the middlegame than in
the opening. He was more familiar with
9. Bc4 and then 9. . . . Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6,
e.g., 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. 0-0-0 Qa5 13. h4 b5
with counterplay.
10. Bxd4 Qa5 11. Bc4! Rd8?
Confused by 9. 0-0-0, Black misses an op-
 1. Four Boys
portunity to head into the previous note with
11. . . . Be6!.
12. Kbl Be613. Bxe6 fxe614. h4 RacS 15. h5
b5?
Spassky recognized that 15. . . . NxhS was
bad in view of 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. g4 Nf6
18. Qh6+ (18 . . . . Kg8 19. gs NhS 20. RxhS!
gxhS 21. g6 and mates).
Zak recommended 15. . . . eS 16. Be3 Rxc3
but 17. Qxc3 Qxc3 18. bxc3 NxhS 19. Bxa7
is a bad endgame. There were defensive
chances in 16. . . . NxhS (17. g4 Nf4! 18. Qh2
h6).
16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Qg5!
An easy move to overlook before 15. . . . bS
was played. Black is lost.
17. . . . e518. Qxg6! exd419. Nd5
So that 19. . . . NxdS 20. Rh7 and mates.
19. . . . Rd7 20. Rh3 Qd8 21. Rdhl Black re­
signs
Once again Spassky burst into tears and
promised never to cry again after a loss. 81 He
kept his word-until that final round game
with Tal in the 25th Soviet Championship.
Misha
Mikhail Tal's life story seems so improba­
ble-and has been told in so many contra­
dictory ways-that it is difficult to separate
history from story and from myth. The con­
ventional version tells us that he was born
on November 9, 1936, the second son of the
best neurologist in Riga, Nekhemya Boriso­
vich Tal. His father had married a cousin, Ida
Grigorievna Tal. Tal's paternal grandfather
was also a doctor as was his older brother,
Yakov, known as Yasha.
But people who knew Tal well, including
his first wife, Sally Landau, and his friend
Mark Taimanov, said that while Nekhemya
37
Tal was his "official father:' his biological fa­
ther was "Uncle Robert:' Robert Papirmeister
was a fellow physician and close friend of
Nekhemya's, but not a blood relative. 82 Nev­
ertheless, he was identified as Tal's uncle by
almost everyone the family let into their
inner circle. Landau said shortly after Ida's
first son was born, Dr. Tal came down with
a severe viral infection "and became impo­
tent:' This was a tragedy for other families,
Sally said. But "the Tal family came to a so­
lution and it didn't occur to others:' 83
"He resembled his uncle very much. But
his patronymic, Nekhemyevich, all the same
is taken from his official father, who died
early;' Mark Taimanov, a Tal confidant, re­
called in a 2009 interview. 84 It was a conven­
ient family fable. "Robert knew that he was
Misha's father and Misha knew that he was
the son of Robert. Nevertheless, for Misha
the father was Dr. Tal and for Robert, Misha
was the son of Doctor Tal;' Sally Landau
wrote. 85 She said the family never discussed
this in her presence. But Gennady Sosonko,
who became a frequent visitor to their home,
recalled how when Tal was acting out of line,
his mother would say, "Misha, don't be rude.
Please don't forget that he [Robert] is, after
all, your father:' 86
But Tal's third wife Angelina, known as
Gelya, sharply disputed this. "It's hard to re­
main silent when my husband's biography
gets perverted so often," she said. 87 Robert
did live in the Tal family home "but he was
just a close relative, not Mikhail Tal's father:'
she said.
The two Tal wives also gave sharply dif­
fering accounts of how his deformed hand
came about. Landau said that Tal's mother
told her that one night when she was seven
months pregnant she was sleeping in the
family's dacha, or summer home, on the Riga
seashore. Ida fainted when a huge rat ap­
proached her face. Doctors feared that this
would affect her pregnancy. But the only
complication in Tal's birth was that he was
38 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
born with electrodactyly, a congenital birth
defect. It left him with three oversized fingers
on his right hand. Two were fused together. 88
Gelya Tal dismissed the rat story as "another
legend." The truth, she said, is that "in Dr.
Tal's absence, Ida Grigorievna injected her­
self with potassium chloride intramuscularly
rather than intravenously, and this caused
complications during the pregnancy. But
Misha didn't mind his disability at all;' she
said. 89
Tal learned to play the piano and, accord­
ing to Taimanov, a world-class pianist, "he
played well:' When Tal played chess, he usu­
ally moved the pieces in his left hand-the
right one often held a cigarette. He played
table tennis with his right hand.
That Tal was a sickly child, there is no dis­
pute. Sally Landau thought he inherited all
of the ailments that plagued him until he
died. When he was six months old, he came
down with a high fever and suffered convul­
sions that appeared due to viral meningitis.
One of the doctors who treated him said that
children who survive such an illness often
grow up to greatness. Asked if meningitis
could be the source of Tal's brilliance, Tai­
manov said, "That's fully possible. They say
that after people have such an illness they ei­
ther become madmen or geniuses. That is,
if they survive:' 9 0
Yurla and Chess
Tal survived and soon showed signs of re­
markable intellect. He learned to read at three
and could multiply three-digit numbers at
five. When he entered school at seven he was
immediately promoted from first grade to
third. This "deprived me of my childhood;'
he recalled. 91 He was soon promoted to the
fourth grade and remained years younger
than his classmates for the rest of his aca­
demic career. He also inherited a love of
music-ranging from light music to Rakh-
maninoff, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Chopin­
from his father, who played the violin, and
his mother, who played the piano. His mother
also bestowed on him a thirst for literature
and an appreciation of the arts. When Ida
Tal was young she spent some months in
Paris and had met Pablo Picasso, Ilya Ehren­
burg and the surrealist poet Louis Aragon.
When the Nazi invasion began on June 22,
1941, the Germans established a bridgehead
across Latvia's vital Dvina River in just three
days. The Red Army abandoned Riga on July
5. Tal's mother felt the family was safe. Like
many Rigans, the Tals were fluent in Ger­
man. "Why should we go anywhere? We are
actually Germans," she told Robert. "They
will not touch the Germans:' he replied. "But
they will slaughter Jews," like the Tals. 92 He
insisted the whole family leave for Siberia.
Quickly the family headed for the Ural
mountains. En route their train was bombed.
The family fled into a field where Ida threw
herself over Misha to shield him as Dr. Tal
attended to victims. 93 After several days they
reached Yurla, a remote town near the west­
ern slope of the Urals, not far from where
Spassky would be living. The Tals returned
to Riga in November 1944, almost immedi­
ately after the Nazi retreat.
Tal recalled how during the evacuation,
he saw patients playing chess as they waited
for treatment in his father's medical office.
He asked his father, a first-category player,
to teach him the moves. But Tal was not
aware of chess literature until the fall of l945,
when he was in a fifth-grade singing lesson
at the 77th Riga school. He noticed a class­
mate leafing through a bulletin of the 14th
USSR Championship finals. Tal's interest re­
mained minimal. He played only with doting
relatives, who let him win most of the time
and seemed to shelter him from the world.
He said his first "serious game" was in 1946
against a visiting cousin, who was not so gen­
erous. Tal fell into a four-move Scholar's mate,
much like Spassky's traumatic early game.
 I. Four Boys
"My vanity was deeply hurt;' he said. "How­
ever, it was that humiliating child's check­
mate that launched me on my chess career:' 94
Tal's introduction to organized chess was
as accidental as Petrosian's. He went to the
Riga Pioneer Palace to sign up for a drama
circle. He was a natural performer and later
appeared in student plays. But he noticed a
sign that said "Chess Section:' Remembering
his cousin, he went in to find out how to get
revenge, and soon became a student of the
section teacher, Yanis Kruskops, whose day
job was teaching English. Kruskops, "my first
teacher (now they say 'trainer' but I like
'teacher' more), was not a famous player. But
he was a true mentor;' Tal said. "He loved
chess and he loved children:' 95 Kruskops was
not a master but created the environment
where youngsters could find their potential.
The pioneer palace became "a place where
you could play a good game, tackle a mind­
boggling chess puzzle, study a new variation
and find out why you suffered defeat yester­
day" or just do your homework, Tal said. 96
Tal began to devour chess literature, the
way he speed-read his way through thick
novels. He studied "according to the prin­
ciple the more the incomprehensible, the
more interesting:' 97 He was a mere fourth­
category player at 11 yet his teachers managed
to get him into the 1948 youth championship
of Riga. Spassky's mentor Zak said this was
the right thing to do: Trainers should have
faith in their talented students.
Tal did not reach second-category until he
was 13, well behind Spassky's pace. But he
demonstrated a hint of his potential dur­
ing a simultaneous exhibition when he beat
Paul Keres, shortly after Keres finished third
in the 1948 world championship match­
tournament. Tal thought he used psychology
by defending the Queen's Gambit with the
Botvinnik Variation. The game made a big
impression on him. But not on Keres. When
Tal told Keres of their game in 1958, Keres
only remembered, "Oh yes, I lost to some
39
boY:' 9 8 Instead, it was another simul game
that won attention for Tal.
Ratmir Kholmov-Tai
Simultaneous Exhibition, Riga, 1949
Semi-Slav Defense (D44)
l. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 c6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5
dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bxf6
Botvinnik's pet line, begun by 6. . . . b5, had
withstood tests of 8. Bh4 g5 9. exf6 and
9. Nxg5! hxgS 10. Bxg5.
8. . . . gxf6 9. exf6 Bb4 10. Be2 Qxf6 ll. 0-0
Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nd7 13. a4! Bb7
White would have compensation for a
pawn after 14. Rbl!, e.g., 14 . . . . Ba6 15. Nd2
or 14 . . . . a6 15. Bxc4.
14. Ne5? Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. Bf3 Rd8
17. Qc2? Rd3! (see diagram)
After 17. ... Rd3
But now he faces 18. Rfel Qxc3 19. Qxc3
Rxc3 20. axb5 Rxf3!.
Then 21. gxf3? Rg8+ should win. Play
might go 21. Rxa7 Rd3 22. Rxb7 cxb5
23. Rxb5 Ke7 24. Res, with drawing chances
in the rook endgame.
18. axb5? Rxf3! 19. Rxa7
Not 19. gxf3 Rg8+ 20. Khl cxb5 21. Qdl
Qf4. After 19. Rxa7 there was more than one
way to win, 19. . . . Rxc3 or even 19. . . . Rh3
20. gxh3 Rg8+ (21. Khl cxb5+ 22. Rxb7
Qd5+).
40 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

19. . . . Qxb5 20. gxf3? Tal. A decade later, fans would joke: If Tal's
trainer had been Ebralidze and Petrosian's
The win would be a bit harder than in the was Koblents, they would have turned out to
previous note after 20. Rxb7 Qxb7 21. gxf3. be merely average masters.
20. . . . Qg5+ 21. Khl Rg8 White resigns Tal also tasted fame for the first time when
a game of his was published.
Fortune smiled further on Tal in 1949
when Alexander Koblents, who ran the chess Tal-Leonov
program at the 22nd Riga Middle School, Riga Junior Championship, 1949
went to the assembly hall to give a lecture. Caro-Kann Defense (Bl3)
He was Latvia's most famous player and won
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nf6
the Latvian championship for the fourth time
5. h3 h6 6. Bf4 e6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6
that year. Koblents recalled how stunned he
9. c3 Nc6 10. 0-0 0-0 11. Qe2 Re8 12. Ne5
was at the school when "a thin boy with sur­
Qc7
prisingly tender, large dark eyes approached
the demonstration board" and quickly solved If Black tries to oust the knight, 12. . . . Nd7
the problem Koblents had posed. 99 He learned 13. f4 f6, White has the uncomfortable
that this was Misha Tal, who was also the 14. Qh5! .
goalie of his grade's soccer team and the
13. f4 Nxe5? 14. fxe5 Nh715. Qh5
checker champion of his school. He was
renowned among classmates for his light­ A more mature Tal would surely see that
ning reflexes at whatever game he played. White gets a nice edge in the center or queen­
Koblents had much in common with the side with 15. Na3 and Nb5-d6, or 15. . . . a6
Tal family. He was Jewish and more Euro­ 16. c4!.
pean than Russian. He had also managed to
15. . . . Re716. Na3 a6 17. Nc2 Qd718. Ne3
escape the Nazis, being evacuated to Samar­
Qe8 19. Rf6! (see diagram)
kand during the war. His mother and sisters
remained in Latvia and died during the oc­
cupation. Gradually Koblents came to learn
more about Tal and become his mentor. Tal
called him "Maestro" and Koblents called Tal
"Mishenka." Koblents met Tal's parents,
"often comforting them that it wasn't so ter­
rible that a boy spends so much time on
chess:' 100
It is significant that Koblents was 20 years
older than him. Archil Ebralidze was 21 years
older than Petrosian. Zak was 18 years older
After 19. Rf6
than Korchnoi and 24 years older than Spas­
sky, making them the right age to serve as a This is usually annotated with a note that
father figure. But more important is that shows how 19. . . . gxf6 20. exf6 Nxf6 21. Qxh6
Koblents' playing style melded perfectly with Ne4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Ng4 would end the
Tal's instincts. Like Kruskops, Koblents was game. But after 22. . . . fS! (instead of 22. . . .
a Romantic-style attacker. His 1937 book of dxe4??) there is no quick win. The right way
the 100 best combinations by Latvians was was 20. Bxh7+! Kxh7 21. Ng4 and then 21. . . .
known to all Latvian players and it inspired Qf8 22. Rfl! f5 23. Nf6+ and Rf3.
 I. Four Boys 41

19. . . . QfS 20. Rf4 Nikitin, "Spassky is no opponent for you.

And here 20. Ng4 or 20. Bxh7+ Kxh7
21. Ng4 was more accurate because . . .
20. . . . Bd7 21. Ng4 BeS?
Black could still fight after 21. . . . Bb5
22. Bc2 Kh8.
22. Nf6+! Nxf6 23. exf6 Rc7 24. fxg7 Kxg7
25. Qe5+ Black resigns
Tal remained virtually unknown outside
Latvia for another five years. Not so, Korch­
noi and Spassky, whose photographs ap­
peared in the October 1949 issue of
Shakhmaty v SSSR, the leading Soviet chess
magazine. This was in a report on the All­
Union Youth Team Championship held that
summer in Moscow. They played first and
second boards respectively for the winning
Leningraders. The magazine report was writ­
ten by Pyotr Romanovsky, whose playing ca­
reer began when he and Alexander Alekhine
were teenage opponents.
But Romanovsky did not think much of
Spassky. Others shared his opinion. In the
key Leningrad-Moscow match, Spassky
played 14-year-old Alexander Nikitin, who
was described as one of the strongest first
category players in Moscow. Before the
match, Moscow captain Lev Aronin told
You' ll crush him easilY:' 101
One reason is that for all his talent,
Spassky was often timid. "I began my chess
career not like a military commander, striv­
ing for battle. . . . I wanted nobody to threaten
me in any way;' Spassky wrote in what
Nikitin called an unpublished autobiography.
"Once I heard one of the spectators say, 'He
plays like an old man: These remarks didn't
embarrass me at all. I never played for the
public:' 102
Spassky-Alexander Nikitin
All-Union Youth Team Championship,
Moscow, 1949
English Opening (A18)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5
5. e5 d4 6. exf6 dxc3 7. dxc3? Qxf6 8. Be3
Bd6 9. Nf3 0-0 10. Be2 Nc6 11. 0-0 Be6
12. Qa4 h6 13. Rfdl a6
Romanovsky said Black "apparently isn't
even dreaming of the initiative" but then nei­
ther was White.
14. Rd2 Ne5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Bf3 Rahs
17. Radl Qe7 18. Ba7 Ras 19. Be3 Rahs
20. h3 c6
White is better but Black is ready to con­
test the d-file with . . . Rfd8. Romanovsky

The leading Soviet chess magazine featured photos of 12-year-old Spassky (left) in his game with
Alexander Nikitin and his Leningrad teammate 18-year-old Korchnoi (left in second photo) in a
match with Moscow in the 1949 All-Union youth team championship. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October
1949.
42 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
pointed out that 21. Bb6 allows 21. . . . Qg5
and then 22. Khl Qf4. Correct, he added, was
21. Qa5 and, if 21. . . . Bc7, then 22. Bb6.
"But how did Spassky play? Alas, he of­
fered a draw!" Romanovsky, the chief arbiter,
wrote with little-disguised contempt. "He
was taught, apparently, by some of our lead­
ing chessplayers, authors of so-called 'grand­
master draws:" 1 03 His play was uninspired
and cautious. He was boring Boris.
But Romanovsky had nothing but praise
for Korchnoi, who was awarded the candi­
date master title thanks to a score of five wins
and a draw. Spassky saved his enterprising
play for other events.
Spassky-Avtonomov
Soviet Junior Championship Qualifier,
Leningrad, 1949
Queen's Gambit Accepted (D28)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 c5
5. Bxc4 e6 6. 0-0 a6 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Nc3 b5
9. Bb3 cxd4?! IO. Rdl Bb7?11. exd4 (see di­
agram)
After 11. exd4
White looks for an opportunity to push
his d-pawn, even as a sacrifice. For example,
11. . . . Na5 12. d5! Nxb3 13. dxe6 has led to
quick wins. That is why 11. . . . Nb4 looks
right. Then 12. Ne5 and 12. a4 are both prom­
ising and it is a tribute to Spassky that he did
not settle for either.
11. . . . Nb4 12. d5! Nbxd5 13. Bg5!
Spassky could not have been certain that,
for example, 13. . . . Qe7 14. Ne5! was good.
Lines such as 14 . . . . h6 15. Rxd5 (15. . . . hxg5
16. Rxb5!) or 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Rxd5! were
hard to foresee. Instead, he must have been
relying on his feeling for the White possibil­
ities.
13. . . . Be714. Bxf6! gxf6 15. Nxd5
Now 15. . . . exd5 poses slightly more diffi­
cult problems, e.g., 16. Nd4 Qd7 17. Rel Kd8
or 16. Nh4 Qd7 17. Rel Kd8.
15. . . . Bxd516. Bxd5 exd517. Nd4
Spassky could feel confident that he had
enough compensation for the pawn because
of continuations such as Nc6 or Nf5, Qh5
and Rel. For example, 17. . . . Qd7 18. Qf3 0-0
19. Nf5 wins. He would regain the pawn and
keeps the initiative after 18 . . . . Kf8 19. Nf5
Rd8 20. Rd3 and 21. Radl.
17. . . . Kf8? 18. Nf5 h5 19. Rxd5! Qxd5
20. Qxe7+ Kg8 21. Qxf6 Black resigns
As the 1940s were drawing to a close,
Spassky and Tal were still boys with much
more promise than accomplishment. Korch­
noi was a struggling teen and Petrosian a
self-doubting 20-year-old. They would grad­
ually learn more about each other and form
the relationships that would shepherd Soviet
chess for more than two decades.
 2. Growing Pains
In the Soviet Union, no tournament was
more important than the annual finals
section of the national championship. They
were "the strongest tournaments in the
world;' David Bronstein recalled. "But;' he
added, "this could also be said about the
semifinals:' 1
He was boasting but also telling the truth.
The championship semifinals at Tbilisi that
Tigran Petrosian entered in April 1949 had
an average rating of more than 2565. That
was above the average for the year's strongest
international tournaments, at Mar del Plata,
Venice and Hastings.
The heavy favorite in the Tbilisi semifi­
nals was Ratmir Kholmov, the barrel-chested
ex-sailor who gave Mikhail Tal a taste of
fame in their simul game that year. The tour­
nament had the usual mix of pre-war veter­
ans but also two fresh faces. One was Petro­
sian.
The other was Yefim Geller, a stocky 24-
year-old master from Odessa. Despite his
five-foot-seven height, he excelled at basket­
ball and managed to intimidate taller oppo­
nents on the hardwood. Friends called him
"Petrovich'' (his patronymic) and "Fima:'
Petrosian preferred to call him "Fimka:' At
the Tbilisi tournament they quickly bonded
and ripped through a field of better-known
players from Moscow, Leningrad and else­
where.
43
Petrosian-Iosif Pogrebissky
17th Soviet Championship semifinals,
Tbilisi, 1949
Neo-Grunfeld Defense (D74)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 0-0
5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. 0-0 c5 8. e4 Nf6
9. e5
The more Petrosian-like 9. Nc3 cxd4
10. Nxd4 is refuted by 10. . . . Nxe4! . White's
center is collapsing in any case.
9. . . . Nfd7 10. Ng5? cxd4
On the previous move, 10. e6 would have
given White a slight edge (10. . . . fxe6 ll. Ng5).
Now 11. e6 favors Black after 11. . . . Ne5
12. exf7+ Nxf7 13. Qb3 Qb6.
11. f4 Nc5 12. b4 f6
Petrosian was beginning to notice Ex­
change sacrifices more often. He wrote that
12. . . . Ne6 13. Nxe6 Bxe6 was correct be­
cause 14. Bxb7 Bd5 15. Bxa8 Bxa8 "could
have cast doubts on White's strategY:' 2 Com­
puters prefer White after 16. Nd2 and 17. NO.
Annotators concluded Black was lost after
12. . . . f6. Not true, but 12. . . . Nca6 was bet­
ter.
13. exf6 exf614. Nxh7! Kxh715. bxc5 Nc6
Petrosian might have made his own Ex­
change sacrifice after 15. . . . d3! . A key line is
44 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
16. Bb2 Na6 17. f5 BxfS 18. RxfS gxfS 19. Qh5+
Kg8 20. Qxf5. But Black can defend with
20. . . . Re8 and there was no reason to take
risks in such a balanced position.
16. Bb2 Qc7?
It is no longer balanced. Reasonable alter­
natives include 16. . . . Qe7 and 16. . . . fS.
17. Nd2 Be6 18. Ne4 Rad8 19. h4 Qd7?
20. h5! Bg4? 21. hxg6+ Kxg6 (see diagram)
After 21. ... Kxg6
White had planned to meet 22. fS+ QxfS
with the killing 23. Qbl! (23. . . . Qe5
24. Nxf6+).
22. f5+! Bxf5 23. Nd6 Bg4
Or 23. . . . Be6 24. Be4+ f5 25. Nxf5! BxfS
26. Qg4+ and wins.
24. Be4+ Kh5 25. Rf4! f5
Also 25. . . . Bxdl 26. Rg4+ Kg5 27. Bel
mate. Petrosian could also have won rou­
tinely with 25. Qc2.
26. Rxg4 fxg4 27. Qd2 Rh8 28. Kg2 Black
resigns
Petrosian seemed certain to qualify for the
championship finals until he lost to Alexan­
der Chistiakov in the 12th of 17 rounds and
adjourned in a difficult position with Vladi­
mir Makogonov in the next. Makogonov was
a many-time champion of Azerbaijan, a fu­
ture teacher of Garry Kasparov-and a much
more experienced endgame player than Petro-
sian. But Genrikh Kasparian came to the res­
cue. Kasparian was headed for the bottom
half of the scoretable and he agreed to help
Petrosian analyze the Makogonov adjourn­
ment. He found what was described as "a
study-like maneuver" that enabled Petrosian
to draw.
On the last day, Petrosian had White against
Geller. They quickly traded pieces and drew
in the minimum of 30 moves. That gave
Geller first place, with Petrosian a half point
behind. It was the first of 20 "grandmaster
draws" they played with one another over
the next 13 years. It soon became clear to
their colleagues that Petrosian and Geller
were bonded in a tacit alliance, one of the
first forged by elite grandmasters.
Tigran, Don't Think-Move
Petrosian grew up dreaming of becoming
a soldier, a diplomat or a graduate of the elite
Nakhimov Naval School in his native Tbilisi.
But as he approached his 20th birthday he
began to think solely of life as a chess player.
To realize that goal he had to admit he had
outgrown Armenia. "As time went by it be­
came obvious that to continue mastering the
chess art it was necessary to live in a major
chess center;' he wrote. There were two pos­
sibilities: Moscow and Leningrad.
Opportunity knocked when Nikolai Kolo­
bov, an official of the powerful Spartak sports
society, learned of Petrosian's talent and
wishes. 3 Soviet sports societies attracted mil­
lions of amateur athletes, who took part in a
wide range of sports and "physical culture"
activities, including chess. Every Soviet chess
fan knew which stars played for which sports
society: Viktor Korchnoi for Trud, Vasily
Smyslov for the college-oriented Burevestnik
society and so on.
Sp artak, named after Spartacus, was the
oldest and perhaps most prestigious society.
The Olympics-quality members of its teams
 2. Growing Pains
were national heroes. Kolobov proposed to
Sp artak's directors that they take Petrosian
under their wing at their Moscow headquar­
ters. How much would he cost, he was asked.
"He needs very little:' Kolobov replied. "Tick­
ets for football matches, and money-for ice
cream:' 4
But Petrosian had second thoughts. He
had rediscovered his Armenian roots in
Yerevan. Did he really want to move for the
second time in three years? He was swayed
by Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov and
his brother Mikhail had also been talented
juniors. When the war began Mikhail was
drafted and died in the fighting at the Kursk
Bulge. Vladimir Makogonov was evacuated
to safety and became one of the world's top
dozen players. 5 Yet few fans outside of the
Caucasus knew his name.
When Petrosian confidentially told Mako­
gonov that he was torn, he immediately re­
plied, "Tigran, don't think. Move. If I had
moved to Moscow in my better years, some
ten years ago, my fate would have turned out
differentlY:' 6
Within weeks Petrosian had a new home,
the Spartak football team's training camp at
Malakhovka, outside the capital. The only
luggage he brought with him was "a few chess
books;' according to Gennady Sosonko. The
veteran grandmaster Andre Lilienthal, who
had previously met Petrosian in Tbilisi,
found him one night at the Spartak quarters.
They spent the evening chatting. "When it
was midnight, I said, 'Time to go home?'"
Lilienthal recalled. Petrosian told him he was
going to stay there. ''And it turned out that
Tigran lived there and slept on the floor;'
Lilienthal said. 7
Inventing the Bicycle
Petrosian and Yefim Geller were very dif­
ferent people. Moscow's avid chess fans quickly
realized this when the 17th Soviet Champi-
45
onship finals began on October 16, 1949. The
bull-necked Geller was a confident, "genuine
Odessian'' who strode about the tournament
stage like someone who knew he belonged
there. In contrast, Petrosian was shy and al­
most in awe of the famous players like David
Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov who were sit­
ting at nearby boards. He lost his first-round
game to Alexander Kotov in a matter of min­
utes, by making the kind of blunder he had
warned young players at the Yerevan Pioneer
Palace about (I. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6
4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Qc2 Ne4??
8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Nxd5! cxd5 10. Qxc8+
Qd8 11. Bb5+ Nc612. Bxc6+ bxc613. Qxc6+
Black resigns). In the next four rounds
Petrosian also lost to Smyslov, Salo Flohr,
Paul Keres and even Geller, who had also
started badly and needed to recover. When
it seemed appropriate, Geller and Petrosian
played real games with one another.
What had happened to the Petrosian who
dominated Armenia and Georgia? The sim­
ple answer is that he was the victim of rapid
success. Up to then he had beaten his typical
opponents, weak masters or candidate mas­
ters, by applying the positional rules of Ca­
pablanca and Nimzowitsch that they did not
understand. He played "according to posi­
tion:' Openings did not matter because his
opponents didn't know any of them better
than he did. But when he faced strong mas­
ters it was not nearly enough. His rating was
roughly the same after this tournament as it
had been two years before.
Some Moscow fans shook their heads at
his games, such as when he thought for 40
minutes after Kholmov offered a draw in a
complex position. Petrosian accepted and ex­
plained that he had rejected a dangerous
looking Exchange sacrifice. Today's computer
analysis says he made the right decision:
Kholmov stood much better whether or not
Petrosian sacrificed. But the long think and
apparently timid acceptance of a draw made
Petrosian look like just another over-rated
46 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
championship newcomer who had had a
lucky semifinals. While Geller contended for
first place until the tournament's last day,
Petrosian finished 16th in a field of 20 play­
ers.
Petrosian's best game came on the final
day, and he annotated it twice-once after
the tournament, and then, with more insight,
26 years later in the magazine he edited, 64.
Here are some of the later comments:
''At the end of the 1940s when I began to
regularly play masters, a certain question was
before me: How to construct an opening
repertoire? In struggles with more experi­
enced masters, who knew chess theory not
only from publications but constantly tested
recommendations in their own games, I was
in a disadvantageous position;' he wrote.
"Salvation came somewhat without notice
from old books:' 8
He discovered the Torre Attack, 1. d4 Nf6
2. Nf3 e6 3. BgS!?, a trendy idea of the 1920s
that had fallen out of master favor.
Petrosian-Viktor Lyublinsky
17th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1949
Torre Attack (A46)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. e3 Be7
A year later in the Moscow Champion­
ship, Yuri Averbakh played 4 . . . . b6. Petro­
sian responded routinely, 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Bd3
Be7 7. c3 0-0. Black equalized and a draw
soon followed.
When Petrosian looked at the game at
home he was struck by an unusual idea,
5. dS! and 5. . . . exdS 6. Nc3. He tried it in
the Leipzig Olympiad in 1960 and quickly
established positional superiority (6. . . . Bb7
7. NxdS BxdS 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. QxdS) and
won in 41 moves.
5. Nbd2 d5 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 0-0 8. Ne5!
Petrosian felt that White's opening suc­
ceeds if he can play NeS safely. Black could
have stopped that with 7. . . . Qc7. But Petro­
sian's opponents often failed to look for fi­
nesses because they did not take 3. BgS seri­
ously. They considered it "a provincial way
of 'inventing the bicycle;" Petrosian wrote. 9
8. . . . Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nd710. Bf4!?
Classically-trained players would prefer
10. Bxe7 Qxe7 ll. f4, to get rid of White's bad
bishop. But trades help Black (11. . . . f6 or
11. . . . c4 12. Bc2 bS).
After 10. Bf4! Black avoided 10. . . . f6 be­
cause of 11. QhS and then 11. . . . g6 12. Bxg6
hxg6 13. Qxg6+ Kh8 14. h4 with threats that
can not be met, Petrosian said. He was right
about 14 . . . . fxe5 15. QhS+ Kg8 16. Bh6 Rf6?
17. Rh3 and Rg3+. But 16. . . . Bf6! would have
complicated.
10. . . . f5 11. h4! c4 12. Bc2 b5
Petrosian recalled a 1951 game in which
Anatoly Bannik played 12. . . . NcS against
him. Play continued 13. Nf3 Bd7 14. Nd4 Qb6
15. BgS and Petrosian wrote: ''Apparently the
experienced Bannik did not want to agree to
a draw with the young Petrosian:' 10
He explained by analyzing 15. . . . BxgS
16. hxg5 Qxb2 and then 17. Rxh7 Kxh7
18. QhS+ Kg8 19. g6 Qxal+ 20. Ke2 Rfc8.
"White has nothing better than perpetual
check;' he wrote. But it is not hard to find a
forced mate beginning with 21. Qh7+ Kf8
22. Qh8+ Ke7 23. Qxg7+ (23. . . . Kd8 24. Qf8+
Kc7 25. Qd6+ Kd8 26. g7). Moreover, 20. . . .
Rf7! is among the wins for Black.
13. Nf3 Nc5 14. g4 b4
No comment on this move in either the
1949 or 1975 annotation. But 14 . . . . fxg4!
would have tested White (15. NgS hS).
15. gxf5
"Clearly 15. cxb4 Nd3+ 16. Bxd3 Bxb4+
17. Kfl cxd3 18. Qxd3 fxg4 or 18 . . . . aS is
not to be liked;' he wrote. But 15. Nd4 bxc3
was also poor.
 2. Growing Pains
15. . . . exf516. Ng5? g6? (see diagram)
Both players must have imagined a mating
attack after 16. . . . h6 17. QhS. But Black can
ignore that with 16. . . . bxc3! 17. bxc3 QaS,
when White is worse.
After 16. ... g6
17. h5! Nd3+
Suddenly Black is in serious trouble (17. . . .
BxgS 18. BxgS QxgS 19. QxdS+)
18. Bxd3 cxd319. hxg6
Faster is 19. Nxh7! (19. . . . Kxh7 20. hxg6+
and wins).
19. . . . hxg6 20. Qxd3 bxc3 21. bxc3
White has an extra pawn, a strategic edge
and a winning attack (21. . . . QaS 22. Rh6!).
21. . . . Bxg5 22. Bxg5 Qa5 23. Bf6 Res
24. Qd4 Kti 25. e6+! Rxe6 26. Bd8 Black
resigns
Growing Pains
As 1949 ended, Petrosian was not the only
young player thinking of the next national
championship. Viktor Korchnoi was seeded
into a championship quarterfinals in Minsk
because he was a candidate master. But he
fmished in a disappointing tie for eighth place.
One of his problems was stamina.
He was still the scrawny youth who nearly
starved to death during the war blockade. "I
47
was a frail young man" and needed to get
into physical shape, he recalled. "You have
to be strong to play well;' a fellow Lenin -
grader, Mikhail Noakh, told him. "I advise
you to eat oatmeal porridge each morning:' 11
Korchnoi took the advice and got his step­
mother to cook it for him, as she did all his
home meals. He also began distance run­
ning. When young Leningrad players went
to a sports camp at Vyritsa, south of Lenin­
grad, in 1949, the other athletes laughed at
their training attempts. Korchnoi said he
challenged them to an 800-meter race, with
a chocolate bar as the prize. He won by ten
meters, he said. 12
Meanwhile, Mikhail Tal and Boris Spassky
were still enduring the growing pains of jun­
ior chess. But Tal, only a first-category player,
was playing games that people remembered,
despite the flaws.
Leonov-Tal
Latvian Junior Championship, Riga,
1950
Queen's Indian Defense (£17)
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2
Be7 6. 0-0 0-0 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nxe4 Bxe4
9. b3 f5 10. Bb2 Bf6 11. Nel Bxg2 12. Kxg2
d6 13. Nf3 Nd7 14. Qc2 Qe8 15. e4 Qh5!
16. Rael g5?
Tal counted on 17. exfS! g4. But he mis­
calculated 18. Nh4! Bxh4 19. fxe6 or 18 . . . .
eS 19. f3, when White's advantage is clear.
17. Ngl? f4 18. f3 e5! 19. dxe5 Bxe5
20. Bxe5? Nxe5 21. g4 Qh4 22. Rdl h5
Now 23. h3? hxg4 24. hxg4? Qg3+ 25. Khl
Kg7! and . . . Rh8+ wins.
23. gxh5 Qxh5 24. h3 Kg7 25. Rd5 Kf6
26. Qc3 Ke6? 27. Rfdl (see diagram)
27. . . . Rh8?? 28. Qd4??
White could have turned the tables with
28. cS! or 28. RxeS+! dxeS 29. RdS.
48 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 27. Rfdl
28 . . . . Rad8 29. b4 Qh4 30. Qc3 Qg3+?
31. Kfl g4?
A move before this would have won-
30. . . . g4! 31. hxg4 Qg3+ 32. Kfl Rhl or
31. fxg4 Nxg4 (32. hxg4? Qxg4+). But after
31. . . . g4? Tal's queen can not defend es. That
allows 32. Rxe5+! dxe5 33. Rd5! with a likely
draw.
32. hxg4?? Rhl 33. Rxe5+ dxe5 34. Rxd8
Qxgl+ White resigns
While his elders advised Tai to play more
carefully, Petrosian was getting the opposite
advice. In August 1950 he placed third in the
Moscow Championship, drawing ten of his
15 games. That prompted the veteran master
Vasily Panov to write: "I would advise the
young master to display more southern tem­
perament and less northern rationality:' Trans­
lation: Play more like an adventurous Ar­
menian. But Petrosian had a different sense
of adventure.
Vladimir Simagin-Petrosian
Moscow Championship, 1950
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E24)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+
5. bxc3 Nc6!? 6. f3 b6 7. e4 Ba6
The 5. . . . Nc6 variation was very new. In
a 1983 lecture on Soviet TV Petrosian said
he had prepared this position before the game
with the "funny idea" of 8. e5 Ng8, e.g., 9. Nh3
Na5 10. Qa4 Qh4+ 11. g3 QhS.
8. Bg5 Na5 9. es h6 10. Bh4 gs
"Now it becomes completely clear that the
bishop must retreat since 11. exf6 gxh4 is fol­
lowed by the queen taking on f6 and receiv­
ing a practically won game;' he told view­
ers. 13
11. Bf2 Nh5 12. h4 f5 13. exf6?
"During the game I feared 13. g4 (perhaps,
unjustifiably). Then let's say 13. . . . Nf4 14. hxg5
Qxg5 15. Bh4 and a double-edged position
arises. And today I would defend Black's po­
sition;' he added-but conceded it might be
a difficult defense. Computers say 15. . . . Qg8!
16. Nh3 Nxh3 is unclear.
13. . . . Qxf6 14. c5?
"Positional capitulation;' Petrosian said.
But defending the c4-pawn with 14. Qa4
leaves White way behind in development
after 14 . . . . 0-0-0.
14. . . . Bxfl 15. Kxfl g4! 16. Qd3
Of course, 16. fxg4? Ng3+ loses. After
16. Qd3 Petrosian said he considered 16. . . .
0-0-0 but felt White could improve his
chances with 17. Qe4 Kb8 18. Qxg4 com­
pared with the game.
16. . . . 0-0!? 17. Rel Nf418. Qc2 Nc419. g3
Qf5!
The killer: 20. QxfS Nd2 is mate.
20. Rel Qd3+ 21. Qxd3 Nxd3 22. Rdl Ndb2
23. Ral gxf3 24. Nh3 bxc5 25. Kgl Nd3
26. Kh2 Rab8 27. Ra2 Rb3 28. dxc5 e5
29. g4 e4
"You know, chessplayers have their pro­
fessional language:' he wrote:' And here you
can say that Black pawns are like locusts­
you can't stop them:'
30. g5 e3 31. gxh6 exf2 32. Nxf2 Nxf2
33. Rxf2 Kh7 34. Rdl Rti 35. c6 d6!? 36. Rd3
Rb2 37. Kg3 Rxf2 38. Kxf2 Ne5 39. Rd4
Nxc6 40. Ra4 Kxh6 White resigns
 2. Growing Pains
Eleven years later the same opening arose
after 11. . . . Nh5 in Bannik-Petrosian, Spartak
Team Championship, Moscow 1961. Petro­
sian criticized12. Qa4 because he saw 12. . . .
f5 13. h4 g4!. Play went14. fxg4 fxg4 15. Qc2
Qe7! 16. Qe4 Bb7 17. Qxg4 Qf7 and White
was fatally behind in development.
What makes this game of particular inter­
est is the way he rejected Exchange sacrifices
that likely would have won faster. The first
came after 18. Nh3 Rg819. Qe2 0-0-0 (Not
19. . . . Bxg2?? 20. Bxg2 Rxg2 21. Qe4!) 20. Qe3.
(see diagram)
After 20. Qe3
He passed up 20. . . . Rxg2! 21. Bxg2 Bxg2.
Black would be winning after 22. Rgl Qf5!
23. Rxg2 Nxc4, for example. And 22. Rh2
Qf5 23. 0-0-0 Bf3 is bleak.
Instead, 20. . . . Rg4 21. Be2 Re4 22. Qd3
was played. Again he rejected a strong Ex­
change sacrifice, 22. . . . Rxe2+! (23. Qxe2
Bxg2 24. Rh2 Qf5 25. Ngl? Nf4 and wins).
Petrosian would become celebrated for
Exchange sacrifices that were not just good
moves but often the only moves that could
lead to a win. In this game he was still win­
ning after 20. . . . Rg4 and now with 22. . • .
Rg8.
The rest was mutually sloppy: 23. Rgl
Qf5? (23. . . . Nf4!) 24. Be3? (24. Kdl!) Ng3
(24 . . . . Rg3!) 25. Bf3? Rxe5! 26. 0-0-0 Bxf3
27. dxe5 Qxd3 28. Rxd3 Ne2+ 29. Kd2
Nxgl 30. Nxgl Be4 31. Rd4 Nb3+ White re­
signs.
49
S econd Try
Petrosian took more chances in his 1950
USSR Championship semifinals in Gorky, a
so-called "closed city" because its munitions
industry meant it was off limits to many out­
siders. Petrosian lost three games but tied for
second place and advanced to the finals.
There his lack of opening finesse again be­
trayed him but he managed to swindle Paul
Keres.
Paul Keres-Petrosian
18th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1950
French D efens e (C03)
I. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. c3 f5?
The book move was 4 . . . . e5! but Petrosian
apparently lacked the confidence to allow
5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Ngf3 exd4 7. Bc4, in which
Keres was an authority.
5. exf5 exf5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Ne2 Nge7 8. Nf3
0-0 9. Qc2 Qe8 10. Bd2 Bd7 11. 0-0-0!?
Na5 12. Bf4! b5
Black has to play for attack because 12. . . .
Bxf4+ 13. Nxf4 and Rhel is positionally aw­
ful.
13. Rdel b4!?14. Bxd6 cxd6 15. cxb4 Nac6
16. a3 a517. b5 Nb4!? 18. axb4 Rc819. Nc3
axb4
Petrosian thought this was the game's
turning point because 20. Qe2! would have
won (20. . . . Ng6 21. Qxe8 Bxe8 22. Kd2 or
22. Rxe8!? Rfxe8 23. Bxf5).
He made no mention of 20. Nxd5!? Rxc2+
21. Bxc2 Rf7 22. Ng5.
20. Kd2 Qf7 21. Qb3 bxc3+ 22. bxc3 Rb8
23. Re3
Doubling rooks looks so natural that it
was easy to underestimate 23. Ng5! Qf6 24. f4!
and then 24 . . . . h6 25. Nf3 and Re3. The point
is that Black is denied . . . f4 and his bishop
remains bad.
so Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
23. . . . h6 24. Rhel Nc8 25. c4 Nb6 26. cxdS
Rfc8
Petrosian felt he had outplayed Keres since
20. Kd2 and that even after the best line,
27. Rel Rxcl 28. Kxcl QxdS, "chances would
have been roughly equal:' 14 That is overly gen­
erous because White would be a pawn ahead
and could get his rook behind the b-pawn
after 29. Be2 followed by QxdS and Rb3.
27. Re7! Qf6 28. h4? (see diagram)
After 28. h4
Keres could have clinched first prize with
a win. His edge has been reduced and here
he throws it away. With 28. Rxd7! Nxd7
29. Re6 he would dominate the light squares
and secure his b-pawn.
28. . . . Ra8 29. R7e2 f4!
Counterplay from 30. . . . BfS or 30. . . . Bg4
and time pressure prompts an unsound piece
sacrifice and a quick White collapse.
30. NeS? dxeS 31. dxeS Qe7 32. Re4? Ra3!
33. Qb2 BfS 34. Qd4 Ra2+ 35. Kdl Qa3!
White resigns
This and a last-round win over Igor Bon­
darevsky enabled Petrosian to move up to a
tie for 12-13th place out of 18. At the closing
ceremony his life changed when he met a
spectator, Rona Yakovlena Avinezer. She was
a second-category player, "a big Botvinnik
fan:' and a student at the Institute of Foreign
Languages in Moscow, studying to become
an English translator. 15
She was divorced and four years older
than Petrosian and was looking for a hus­
band to share her life and help bring up her
young son Mikhail. Rona was short-Petro­
sian was less than five-foot-eight but towered
over her. But she completed him. She had
personality traits that Petrosian lacked. He
later joked about his superstitious streak. Re­
calling the final round of the 18th USSR
Championship, he said, "The day I ended up
in the hard-luck 13th place I discovered my
wife:' 16
Shakhmaty
By 1950 Vladimir Zak's focus had shifted
from Victor Korchnoi to Boris Spassky for
three years. Nevertheless, after Korchnoi fin­
ished second in the 1950 Leningrad Cham­
pionship, Zak annotated Korchnoi's victory
over the tournament winner in Shakhmaty
v SSSR (Chess in the USSR). This was a big
break. The magazine was by far the most sig­
nificant Soviet chess publication. No one was
considered a legitimate Soviet master until
one of his games was annotated in Shakh­
maty v SSSR, recalled Alexander Nikitin, then
a promising Moscow junior.
Mark Taimanov-Korchnoi
Leningrad Championship, 1950
Dutch Defense (A97)
1. d4 e6 2. g3 fS 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. 0-0
0-0 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Qe8 8. Qc2 QhS 9. b3
Zak said 9. e4 would give Black a good po­
sition after 9. . . . fxe4 10. Nxe4 e5 (11. dxe5
dxe5 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Nd2 Nc6).
9. . . . Nc6 10. Bb2 Bd7 11. a3 Rae8 12. dS!
Nd813. Nd4
Zak preferred 13. dxe6 Nxe6 14. Nd5 Bd8,
which he regarded as equal. At some point
Black should shoot for . . . f4/ . . . Bh3.
13. . . . eS 14. NdbS Nf7?! 15. Nxc7 Rc8
 2. Growing Pains
Zak claimed Black would have a danger-
ous attack after "15. . . . Ng5!! 16. Nxe8 Ng4
17. h4 Bxe8! " and . . . f4.
However, White can defend with, for ex­
ample, 18. Bel.
16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. dxe6 Ng5 18. Nd5
White's superiority would be evident after
18. h4 Nxe6 19. Nd5.
18. . . . Nxd519. Bxd5 f4 20. f3?
Black's attack is evident after 20. h4 fxg3
21. fxg3 Qg4! with at least a perpetual check.
But he was not threatening anything and
20. Bxb7! was quite safe (20 . . . . f3 21. Rael).
20. . . . fxg3 21. hxg3 Qh3 22. Kf2?
White keeps equality with 22. Rf2, e.g.,
22. . . . Qxg3+ 23. Rg2. But he was probably
counting on a counterattack, 22. Kf2 Qh2+
23. Ke3 Qxg3 24. Rhl and Ragl.
22. . . . Nxf3! 23. Ke3?
White rejected 23. exf3 Qh2+ and 24 . . . .
Qxc2. But his king could walk a different
tightrope, 23. Bxf3 Rxf3+! 24. Kxf3 Rf8+
25. Ke4, with some drawing chances.
23. . . . Nd4 24. Qdl Qxg3+
Faster is 24 . . . . Rxfl! 25. Qxfl Qxg3+
26. Bf3 Bg5+.
25. Rf3 Nxf3 26. exf3 b5! (see diagram)
After 26. ... b5
Opening a second front is decisive. Now
27. Qhl bxc4 28. Bxc4 allows 28 . . . . d5!
51
29. Bxd5 Qg5+ 30. Kd3 e4+! 31. Bxe4 Rfd8+
and 31. fxe4 Qg3+.
27. Qhl bxc4 28. bxc4 Rb8 29. Bc3 Rb3
30. Kd3 Qf2 31. Qel e4+ 32. Bxe4 Rxf3+
33. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 34. Kc2 Rxc3+ 35. Kb2
Rb3+ White resigns
Korchnoi, who sharply criticized the ethics
of other players, failed to mention that he
finished second in the tournament because
Anatoly Lutikov lost on purpose to him. Ac­
cording to Gennady Sosonko, Korchnoi re­
turned the favor by losing to Lutikov in the
1951 Chigorin Memorial. 17
Petrosian's Surge
Youngsters are often plagued by wildly er­
ratic results. They do well in some tourna­
ments but get crushed in stronger events.
Mikhail Tai was becoming known for erratic
results within a tournament. When he grad­
uated to the adult championship of Riga at
the end of 1950, he managed a win and a
draw against the tournament's only masters.
That was good, and so was scoring 3½-1½
against the tournament's five candidate mas­
ters. But facing fellow first-category players,
he was outclassed, 4-8.
"The first successes of Tai were signifi­
cantly more modest than the successes of
Boris Spassky, not to mention Robert Fis­
cher;' his trainer Alexander Koblents wrote. 18
Actually, Spassky was almost invisible during
this period. Some databases have not a single
Spassky game played in 1950 and only a few
from 1951.
Petrosian was not erratic. His results were
consistent-and that was a problem. "Several
years had passed in which I did not notice a
particular advance in my play;' he said. That
changed in 1951 and no small help came from
his collaboration with "Fimka:•
Colleagues thought Geller was a great chess
thinker. But he was not a true p lay er. He
52 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
lacked pragmatism and lost his objectivity
when there were sudden shifts in a position.
"Geller had one, but important, flaw: He
often overestimated himself and underesti­
mated his opponent;' Yuri Averbakh said. 19
But Geller had great attributes. Without a
clock ticking, he was superb at evaluating a
position. This proved an immense help to
Petrosian. "They analyzed together a lot,
finding new, interesting ideas in already well­
known opening variations and middlegame
positions;' Averbakh recalled. There were no
secrets they did not share, according to Petro­
sian's biographer.20
One result of their collaboration is that
Petrosian began to beat masters quickly, as
Geller often did. Petrosian rolled through the
next Moscow city championship, scoring
9½-2½ with games like:
Grigory Fridshtein-Petrosian
Moscow Championship, 1951
French Defense (COS)
I. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5
5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. Qe2+ Be7 7. dxc5 Nf6 8. Ngf3
0-0 9. 0-0
White should try to justify his previous
moves with 9. Nb3.
9. . . . Bxc510. Nb3 Bb611. c3 Bg4! 12. Qd3
Qd6 13. Nbd4 Ne4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Be3 f5!
16. b4 f4 17. Bxc6? fxe3 White resigns
After 17. Bd2 Black has a choice of strong
continuations, including 17. . . . Bxf3 18. Nxf3
NeS 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 and 17. . . . Nxd4 18. cxd4
Bg6.
The new Petrosian style was evident in
Sverdlovsk 1951, a semifinals for the 19th
USSR Championship. He started badly, hang­
ing his queen in the first round, and did not
share the lead until the ninth round. But then
it was a race between him and Geller for first
place.
Veteran grandmaster Isaac Boleslavsky
had formed his own close alliance in the 1940s
with a player who had a very similar style,
David Bronstein. Geller and Petrosian had
very different styles. Boleslavsky was struck
by how the two young masters seemed to
have traded their chess personalities: Geller
was suddenly a drawish, positional player
while "Petrosian won eight games, six of
them by an attack on the king:' 21
Alexander Cherepkov-Petrosian
19th Soviet Championship semifinals,
Sverdlovsk, 1951
King's Indian Defense (E94)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3
0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 Nbd7 8. Be3 Re8 9. d5
Ng4 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bd2 Nh6 12. b4 a6 13. Qcl
Nti 14. Nel f5 15. f3 f416. Nd3 h517. c5 Nf6
18. b5 g519. bxa6 bxa6
This is the type of position in which Petro­
sian was usually more comfortable as White
while Geller would love to be Black. White
has the better prospects after 20. Rbl or
20. Bel g4 21. Bh4.
20. Nb4? dxc5! 21. Nc6 Qd6 22. Na4 Nd7
Black's last move was given an exclamation
point by annotators but 22. . . . NxdS! is
stronger. It regains a knight favorably after
23. exd5? QxdS 24. Na5 Qd4+.
23. Bel Bf8 24. Bf2 Qg6! (see diagram)
After 24. ... Qg6
The kingside attack was praised by Pyotr
Romanovsky, who had been so critical of
 2. Growing Pains
Spassky's caution two years before. But Ro­
manovsky misunderstood Petrosian. "He
loves sharp positions and is not averse to
taking risks;' he wrote. "Of less interest to
him is the technical aspect and also the
endgame, where he most frequently makes
mistakes:' 22
White would be better after the consistent
25. Nxc5 or, next move, 26. Bxc5.
25. Qdl? Nf6 26. Nxc5 g4 27. Qcl? gxf3!
28. Bxf3 Ng5 29. Qc3 Bd6 30. Rfel Ng4!
The powerful threat of 31. . . . Ne3 (32. Bxe3?
Nxf3+) mesmerizes White. He would have
a hard defense after 31. Rael.
31. Kfl?? Nxh2+ 32. Ke2 Bg4! 33. Rgl Bxc5
34. Bxc5 Nxe4 White resigns
The top four finishers in the tournament
were guaranteed a place in the finals. An -
other of the contenders was Yuri Averbakh,
then 29. Averbakh had met Petrosian by
accident in 1946 when he was walking down
Moscow's fashionable Arbat promenade,
near his apartment, and encountered the vet­
eran Tbilisi master Alexander Blagidze. Next
to Blagidze was a "thin, dark-haired youth''
who he had brought to the capital to compete
in the national junior championship. Now
five years later, Averbakh, Geller and Petro­
sian were tied for the lead in Sverdlovsk with
four games to go. Before the next round,
Geller asked Averbakh, "Do you want to win
this tournament?"
"No. I am just concerned with qualifying
for the final four;' Averbakh replied. "Then
let's allow Petrosian to go ahead. He has
only just moved to Moscow and he needs
to establish his authority;' Geller said. 23
Averbakh agreed. Petrosian took the lead
and was due to play Geller in the final round.
Viktor Vasiliev told his Shakhmaty v SSSR
readers that "a sharp struggle was expected:'
But they drew quickly. It was Petrosian's
first tournament victory since leaving Arme­
nia.
53
Grandmaster Educations
Nearly a generation later, Soviet publica­
tions would deplore Bobby Fischer's stunted
education. It showed a lack of culture, they
said. But Petrosian, like Fischer, had no
schooling beyond the secondary level when
he became world champion. And while
Korchnoi and Spassky got college degrees
they admitted privately that their education
was a sham.
Diplomas were a way of gaming the Soviet
system: No one could officially be a profes­
sional chess player. Top players needed a col­
lege degree so they could claim a paper pro­
fession. "One had to complete a course at an
institute:' Korchnoi said. 24 As a result, Geller
was officially an economist, Averbakh was
listed as a chemist and Vasily Smyslov "was
a student at the Institute of Aviation;' he said.
Korchnoi initially thought of studying sci­
ence but realized it would be too demanding.
He settled on history because he had been
fascinated by ancient Greece and Rome. If
he had not played chess, "I would be a his­
tory teacher;' he said 50 years later.25
Unfortunately, "instead of studying his­
tory, I was given an extended course in Marx­
ism:' He graduated from Leningrad State
University after submitting the required
"diploma'' paper, but later said he barely re­
called the subject. "I think it was called
something like 'The Popular Front and the
Communist Party in France on the Eve of
the Second World War:" He recalled his col­
lege days "with disgusf' 26 The reality of his
six college years was: "I studied chess inten-
sivelY:' When he was told that his choice of
subject was "wonderful" because "You will
write a history of chess! " Korchnoi snorted.
"I won't write history, they' ll write about
me!" he replied, according to Gennady Soso­
noko. 27
In contrast, Mikhail Tal, a born multi­
tasker, was a serious student as well as a chess
player. He progressed so quickly that it
54 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

created a problem when he finished second­

ary school at 15½. He applied to enter the
University of Latvia law faculty. A five-year
program would have given him a degree at
20. But under Soviet law he could not work
as a "public accessor" or do some other legal
work until he was 21. This would mean a year
of "enforced idleness;' something discour­
aged in a Soviet Union suffering manpower
shortages because of World War II casualties.
Instead, he won special permission from the
Latvian ministry of education to enter the
After 7. Nf3
university 's history-philology department.28 In some cases the moves found today in
That would allow him, upon graduation, to databases are suspect. Did Korchnoi really
fulfill his obligation to the state in another miss 7. Nd6+ exd6 8. Bxd8? Or did he think
way, such as by teaching school, while still 7 . . . . Kd7 8. Qg4+ was not crushing? But
playing chess. 7. Nf3 is the move you will find in databases.
Tai was also learning about his chess weak­
nesses. At the USSR junior team champion­ 7. . . . f6 8. Nfxd4!
ship of 1951 he was criticized by the Latvian
Black is doomed after 8 . . . . fxg5 9. Ne6
team captain for sacrificing a pawn and losing.
Qxdl+ 10. Rxdl. He had to play 8 . . . . a6.
Tai tried to play positionally for the rest of the
tournament, "for the team:' But that stifled his 8. . . . Nxd4? 9. Nxd4 Bxe4
instincts. He kept getting into time pressure
and ended up with a score of 3½-5½. Or 9. . . . fxg5 10. Bb5+ Kf7 11. Qf3+ Nf6
12. Qb3+.
10. Ne6! Qc8 11. Bc4! fxg5 12. Nxg5 Qf5
Mastery Delayed 13. Be6 Rd8 14. Qh5+ g6 15. Bxf5?! gxh5
After he defected, Korchnoi portrayed his 16. Bxe4 Black resigns
Soviet career as repeatedly hampered by bu­
Black could have played on but would not
reaucrats and the political whims of the vlasti.
have gotten that chance after 15. Qh4! .
But he also received many benefits denied to
Korchnoi scored 7½ -5½, which was
others. One example arose in a Chigorin me­
enough for the master norm. But this hap­
morial tournament in early 1951, after he eas­
pened "not entirely honestly:' He explained
ily dispatched his former teacher.
that he adjourned a "dead drawn position"
Korchnoi-Vladimir Zak against "an experienced master" in the final
Chigorin Memorial, Leningrad, 1951 round. "Being a young player, I had a num­
Veresov Opening (DOO) ber of supporters, including the organizers
of the tournament. They put strong pressure
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Bf5 3. Bg5 c5?! 4. dxc5 d4 on my opponent, threatening not to hand
5. e4! Bg6 6. Nb5 Nc6 7. Nf3 (see diagram) over the cash prize due him, if he did not
"I have always been an untidy person;' agree to their demands:' 30 His opponent
Korchnoi admitted later. "And for this reason found a way to lose. Korchnoi played along,
some 600 games from the first years of my and even "laughed at my opponent:' He said
chess career have been lost:'29 he regretted behaving "quite improperly:'
 2. Growing Pains 55

A surviving game that might fit the bill
was versus Mikhail Kamyshov. However, he
finished next to last and was not in con­
tention for any cash prize. And besides,
Korchnoi was proud of his play in the end­
ing:
binations:' Nevertheless, he was seeded into
a semifinals tournament. He was in con­
tention for one of the four qualifying spots
for the championship finals. But he needed
to beat a world-class player, Vasily Smyslov,
in the final round.

Korchnoi-Mikhail Kamyshov Korchnoi-Vasily Smyslov

Leningrad, 1951 19th USSR Championship semifinals,
Leningrad, 1951
Hungarian Defense (CSO)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6
Smyslov had bought theater tickets for
that night and needed a quick draw, perhaps
after 5. dxeS dxeS 6. Qxd8+, to use them.
But Korchnoi was in the same situation that
Petrosian faced in his 1947 game with Sima­
gin: A draw would mean another master
norm and that would be enough to earn his
After 45. e4 delayed title. However, a win would advance
This was the first game he chose for his him to the championship finals. Petrosian
collection of best games with the white pieces.
He pointed out that 45. . . . f4? loses because
it releases pawn tension. Black might hold
with 47. . . . hS and . . . Kd6, for example.
Play went 46. Ke2 Kd6 47. Kd3 Kc7?
48. Kc4 Kb8 49. Kd5 Rd7+ 50. Kxe5 Rd2
51. a7+ Ka8 52. Kxf4 Rxg2 53. e5 and Black
soon resigned.
As in the case of Petrosian, the national
title qualification commission had to ap­
prove his title. Instead of rejecting the appli­
cation, the commission dragged its feet. 'J\nd,
no doubt, [his opponent's dubious play] in­
fluenced the decision of the committee mem­
bers:' Korchnoi said. 31
But his supporters had another way of
helping him. Korchnoi was one of lll players
competing in the seven quarterfinal tourna­
ments of the 19th USSR Championship. He
had a mediocre result and fell well short of
qualifying for the semifinals. The veteran One of the greatest honors a young Soviet
player could achieve was to be featured on the
master Ilya Kan wrote in Shakhmaty v SSSR cover of Shakhmaty v SSSR (September 1951),
that Korchnoi sometimes was "overly keen as Korchnoi (left) was when he drew with Vasily
on calculation of fantastic options and com- Smyslov (right) and achieved the master title.
56 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
had made a Petrosian decision. Korchnoi makes
a Korchnoi decision. He avoids a draw.
5. d5 NbS 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. h3 c6 8. c4 b5
9. Nc3 b410. Ne2 0-011. Be3 cxdS 12. cxd5
Nfd7 13. g4!?
Korchnoi was fearless when it came to
stamping out counterplay, compared with
13. 0-0 Na6 14. a3 Ndc5 15. Bc2 Rb8 and
. . . f5! .
13. . . . Na6 14. Ng3 NacS 15. Be2 ReS 16. 0-0
Qa5 17. Nd2 QdS
Perhaps hinting he still has theater tickets
in his pocket (18. Nf3 Qa5 19. Nd2 Qd8).
18. a3! RbS 19. axb4 Rxb4 20. Rxa7 Rxb2
21. Nc4 Rb7 22. Ra3 Qc7 23. Qc2 NfS?
24. Rc3!
White will win a pawn with Nxd6 (24 . . . .
Nfd7 25. NfS Bf8 26. Ncxd6 Bxd6 27. Nxd6
Qxd6 28. Bxc5, for example).
24. . . . Bd7 25. Nxd6! Bxd6 26. Bxc5 Bxc5
27. Rxc5 Qb6 28. Rel RaS 29. Rc7? Rxc7
30. Qxc7 Qh6! 31. Rbl (31. Kg2 RcS) Qxh3
32. gs h6 33. gxh6 Qxh6 34. Qxe5 Res
35. Qh5 Qf4 36. Qf3 Qg5 37. Qh5 Qf4
38. Qf3 Qg5
The draw is still there. Computers like Qe3
on either of the next two moves and claim a
major advantage.
39. Rb7 Ng6 40. Qh5? Qcl+ 41. Kh2 Ne5
Korchnoi said the position was adjourned
"in an unclear position:' During the night he
analyzed it with Alexander Tolush. Tolush,
41, had tried to become Korchnoi's teacher
the previous year. Korchnoi rebuffed him
and later disparaged him. But that night in
1951 Korchnoi welcomed his help. It is not
known when the game was adjourned but
42. Qh4 Ng6 was no way to try to win. Better
was 42. Kg2 Ng6 43. Qhl.
42. Bdl? g6! 43. Qe2 Kg7! 44. f3? (see dia­
gram)
·l=l•.tt•.,
/1
W✓
"g
•-�,�•�
�� �a ,.
-■■·ft ■·­
�� lj ft � ]
��,� ��'· ·
·····•'}'1After 44. f3
Now 44 . . . . Rh8+ wins (45. Kgl Ba4!).
It was hard to see that 45. Kg2 Bh3+ 46. Kgl
Nd3! followed by 47. . . . Qc5+ or 47. . . . Qg5
is lost. Or 46. Kf2 Bc8! and . . . Rh2+.
44. . . . Qf4? 45. Kg2 RhS 46. Qf2 Rh2+?
Spectators-and annotators-loved this
move. But computers tell us 46. . . . Bh3+!
47. Kgl Nd3 would have won.
For example, 48. Qd4+ Kg8 49. Ne2 Qg5+.
Now Korchnoi builds a fortress.
47. Kxh2 Ng4+ 48. Kg2 Nxf2 49. Kxf2
Qd2+ 50. Be2 Bh3 51. Rb3 Qd4+ 52. Kell
Qgl+ 53. Nfl g5 54. Rd3 Bxfl? 55. Bxfl
Qg3+ 56. Ke2 Qd6 57. Ke3 Kf6 58. Kf2 Ke5
59. Kg3 Kf6+ 60. Kf2 Draw
This gave Korchnoi a tie for fifth place, not
good enough to reach the Soviet Champi­
onship finals but enough to finally satisfy the
title qualification commission. And, in a rare
perk, he got the biggest publicity boost a So­
viet player could get: He appeared on the
cover of the September 1951 Shakhmaty v
SSSR, playing the Smyslov game.
In his memoirs he claimed he did not like
to exploit his new-found fame. Yes, he ad­
mitted, he managed to skirt the requirements
to get into college by making it known he
was a two-time national junior champion.
But in 1951 when he was headed to a tourna­
ment in Odessa, he arrived at Leningrad's
Vitebsk Station and found it swarming with
hundreds of other people in lines for tickets.
 2. Growing Pains 57

He had to hang out at the station for three b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bd3 c5 7. 0-0 0-0 8. a3
days before he got a ticket "but without a re­ cxd4 9. Na4 Be7 10. exd4 Qc711. b4 Ng4
served seat! I slept on the floor for two days;' The reason these odd-looking moves were
he wrote. 32 played quickly is that they appeared in a
Botvinnik-Bronstein world championship
match game eight months earlier.
Hall of Columns
12. g3 f5 13. Rel f4!?
The tipoff that the 19th USSR Champi­
Black's last move was suggested by the
onship would be special was when the loca­
world championship annotators. Nikolai
tion was announced: the Hall of Columns of
Kopilov was an enterprising player and this
the House of Unions in Moscow. This was
was the tournament of his life. He also won
the most prestigious venue of any kind in the
a stunning game from Botvinnik and beat
Soviet Union. Adorned by 44 chandeliers
Paul Keres.
and with seating for 2,000, it was where
Communist Party Congresses and infamous 14. Bxf4 Rxf4 15. gxf4 Qxf4 16. d5! exd5!
show trials were staged. 33 This was the best practical chance, despite
There was always a political footprint computer preference for the defeatist 16. . . .
when the hall was used. When the 19th Nf6 17. Nc3.
Championship finalists sat at their
boards on a large stage in the hall,
above them was a huge portrait of
Stalin, next to smaller portraits of
his cronies Lavrenti Beria and Vy­
acheslav Molotov.
It turned out to be the strongest
Soviet championship held up to
that time. World Champion Mik­
hail Botvinnik agreed to play after
a six-year absence from the tour­
nament. Also entering were his
past and future match challengers,
David Bronstein and Smyslov.
Moreover, the tournament was a
Zonal: It qualified players for the
1952 Interzonal. Petrosian, once
again the youngest player in the
championship, began it as he had
his two previous ones, with a stun­
ning loss.

Petrosian-Nikolai Kopilov
19th USSR Championship
finals, Moscow, 1951
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E54)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3
Yefim Geller (left), his close ally Petrosian (center) and Petro­
sian's trainer Andrei Lilienthal analyze a position after
Geller and Petrosian tied for second place in the 19th USSR
Championship in Moscow. Chess Review, February 1952
(used by permission of the United States Chess Federation).
58 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
The tournament book correctly said the
answer to 16. . . . exd5 was 17. cxd5. A critical
variation is 17. . . . Nxf2 18. Kxf2 Bh4+
19. Kg2 Qg4+ 20. Khl Bxel and now 21. Qe2!
would have left White a safe piece ahead.
17. Rxe7? Nc6!
Petrosian likely expected 17. . . . dxc4 and
saw 18. Be4! Bxe4 19. Re8+ Kf7 20. Rxe4! and
wins (20. . . . Qxe4 21. Ng5+).
Computers point out 17. . . . Nc6 18. Rxd7
Nee 5. Then 19. Be4! seems to win (19 . . . .
Nxf3+? 20. Qxf3 Qxh2+ 21. Kfl). But 19. . . .
dxe4 20. Rd8+ is a draw.
18. Rel Rf8 19. Be4!
Now 19. Be2 Nees is lost. If White tries to
defend f2 with 19. Ra2 he might win the
19. . . . Qxf3 20. Qxf3 Rxf3 ending. But not
if Black finds 19. . . . Nxb4! 20. axb4 dxc4 fol­
lowed by . . . Bxf3 or . . . cxd3.
19. . . . dxe4 20. Qd5+ Kh8 21. Qxe4 Qf6!
Note that 21. . . . Qxe4 22. Rxe4 Nxb4! is
fairly equal. As time pressure hits, Black raises
the ante.
22. Qxg4 Nd8 23. Qg3 Bxf3 24. Rael Ne6
25. Nc3 Nd4 26. Re3 Bc6?! 27. Nd5 Qf7
Now 28. b5! would stop Black's next move
and maintain a small White advantage.
28. Reel b5! 29. Re7?! Qg8 (see diagram)
After 29. ... Qg8
Petrosian avoided the potentially drawish
29. Ne7 Nf3+ 30. Rxf3. Now he needed to
defend with 30. R7e3 but undergoes a rare
meltdown.
30. Kfl? bxc4 31. Ne3? c3 32. Rel? c2
Black missed the immediate win of 32. . . .
Bb5+.
33. Nxc2? Qc4+ 34. Kel Nf3+ White for­
feited
Petrosian also lost in the second round but
then steadied himself with a 23-move draw
with Geller that was probably not pre­
arranged. After that he looked like a different
player. He finessed an endgame win from
Igor Bondarevsky, outplayed Alexander Kotov
and battled Botvinnik in a 100-move, 11-hour
draw. In the Botvinnik game he sacrificed an
Exchange to create an impregnable fortress.
But to modern eyes, what was striking in
the following game was the Exchange sacri­
fice he did not make.
Nikolai Novotelnov-Petrosian
19th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1951
Sicilian Defense (B92)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6!
Petrosian began playing the Najdorf Vari­
ation the previous year, almost certainly due
to the influence of Geller.
6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. f4 Nbd7
10. Qel? b5!
Defending the e4-pawn is already a White
problem.
11. a3 Bb7 12. Bf3 Rc8 13. Khl Re8! 14. Qf2
Bf8
Petrosian was praised for preparing 15. . . .
d5!. Not mentioned by annotators was 14 . . . .
Rxc3! 15. bxc3 Nxe4. Today this might be
the first continuation to occur to a grand­
master.
 2. Growing Pains
Then 16. Qel? Bh4! is bad (17. g3 exf4!)
and 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. a4 Bh4 is poor. And
16. Qa7 Qa8 or 16. . . . Qb6 gets White an un­
favorable endgame.
15. Bd2
White made 15. . . . Rxc3 less attractive. He
also prepared 15. . . . exf4 16. eS! with some
tactical chances on the kingside after 16. . . .
Bxf3 17. exf6 bishop-move 18. fxg7.
15. . . . d5! 16. Nxd5
Black is much better after 16. fxeS dxe4!.
Pyotr Romanovsky thought there was a lot
of fight left after 16. exds e4 17. Bdl Nxds
18. Nxds Bxds 19. Nd4. Black does better
with 17. . . . Nb6! and 18 . . . . Nc4 or 18 . . . .
Nbxds.
16. . . . Rxc2! 17. fxe5 Nxd5
Black should have played 17. . . . NxeS be­
cause now White would get chances from
18. Bdl! and Bxc2 or Qxf7+.
For example, 18 . . . . Rxd2! 19. Qxf7+ Kh8
20. Nxd2 Ne3! 21. Rel NxeS 22. Qxb7 Qxd2
and 21. Bb3 Be7.
But 19. Nxd2! would have been less clear,
e.g., 19. . . . N5b6 20. Qxf7+ Kh8 21. e6 Re7
22. QfS Nf6.
18. exd5? Nxe5 (see diagram)
After 18. ... Nxe5
Black's knight defends the key f7-square
and enables him to pillage the queenside with
. . . Rxb2.
59
For example, 19. Be4 Rxb2 20. Rfbl Rxbl+
21. Rxbl Ng4 22. Qf3? Rxe4. Or 22. Bxh7+
Kxh7 23. QfS+ Kg8 24. Qxg4 QxdS and wins.
19. Nd4? Nd3! 20. Nxc2 Nxf2+ 21. Rxf2
Bxd5 22. Bxd5 Qxd5 23. Bc3 Qc4 24. Rafi
f6 25. Rdl Re2 26. b3 Qe4 White resigns
Petrosian won in the next three rounds
and drew with Keres, the tournament front­
runner. His collaboration with Geller was ev­
ident when they each played a risky varia­
tion, soon to be christened the Geller Gam­
bit, in the same round:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4
b5 6. es Nd5 7. a4 e6 8. axbs Nxc3 9. bxc3
cxbs 10. Ng5 Bb7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qg4 Be7
13. Be2 Nd714. h4? h5 15. Qg3 Nb616. 0-0
a5! (see diagram)
,. ��­
-,��i,
ru
�����f �fm
tff:-■�f•r · �
· , • . . . · �
��r�-r:;y�-- -�■ �?:1- -
0•-- - -�•iir�,,i�
.. -)��.?'
����------�
� § �,,,_
§
z,
After 16. ... a5
Both Geller and Petrosian sank into thought
here. They knew, by looking at the giant
demonstration boards, that they were play­
ing the same position. Garry Kasparov's My
Great Predecessors, Part III credits Petrosian
with daring. "Geller was always regarded as
a sharper player. . . . However, it was Petro­
sian, not Geller who made the . . . incredible
move! "
Kasparov awarded17. d5 two exclamation
points, although he acknowledged it would
not even earn White equality. 34
Instead, Geller chose 17. Rbl? and was
quickly lost, 17. . . . b4 18. f4 Qd7 19. Ral b3
20. fS gxfS 21. Nh3 a4 .
60 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Why did Geller play such a poor move if Rb8 15. Rg3 Kh816. Bf5 Qd817. Qg4 Rg8
he saw how 17. dS turned out on Petrosian's 18. Qh5
board? The answer is that he did not see it­
Evgeny Terpugov had just become a mas­
because he moved before Petrosian. "The
ter, in the same Leningrad semifinals in
Odessian was the first to make a decision;'
which Korchnoi played. In the previous 16
Geller's friend Eduard Gufeld recalled. 35
rounds Terpugov had only one win and three
Instead, Petrosian saw Geller's 17. Rbl? and
draws. But here he was close to his biggest
decided it was time to go desperate. After
upset (18 . . . . Rf8? 19. Rg6! mates).
17. d5!? and the faulty 17. . . . Nxd5? he de­
veloped a strong initiative with 18. Rdl Qc7 18. . . . Qe819. b3 Bf8
19. Ne4 and went on to win. One of Petrosian's greatest assets was his
In the penultimate round Petrosian was ability to make it difficult for his opponents
trailing Keres by a half point when he won a to make progress. He avoided 19. . . . Ne5?
pawn from the Estonian after 16 moves. 20. f4! and then 20 . . . . Nd7 21. Nc4 Bf8
"Petrosian is winning!" was heard whispered 22. Be6!. Or 20. . . . Bxf:5 21. exf:5! Nd7 22. Re3
in the audience. A 20-year-old was poised to and Qe2/Rfel.
become national champion. 36 But Keres liq­
uidated material, leaving a textbook example 20. Qe2 g6 21. Bh3 f5! 22. f4 Nf6 23. Rel?
of how to draw a rook endgame. (see diagram)
The final round helped spin the myth of
"Iron Tigran." He fought his way out of a
nearly-lost position and won. That landed
him in a tie for second place with Geller, be­
hind Keres. Since the top five finishers would
qualify for the 1952 Interzonal, Petrosian's
courage rewarded him with an international
master title, fans said.
But Petrosian had already qualified for the
Interzonal when he drew with Keres the
round before. What was at stake in the last
round was the meager prize money. He won After 23. Rel
because he tried to avoid losing by sharpen­ In time trouble, White unravels. He would
ing the position. still be favored after 23. Nc3 fxe4 24. Bxc8.
23. . . . fxe4 24. Bxc8 Qxc8 25. Nxe4 Nxe4
Evgeny Terpugov-Petrosian
26. Qxe4 Bg7 27. Rd3? Rb4
19th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1951 Now 28. c4 Qb7 29. Ree3 Kh7 and . . . Bd4/
Irregular Benoni Defense (A46) . . . Rgb8.

I. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Bg5 Qb6
5. Nc3 h6? 6. Bxf6 exf6 7. e4
This is a simpler way to secure an edge
than 7. Qd3 b4 8. Qe4+ (8 . . . . Be7? 9. d6!).
7. . . . a6 8. a4 bxa4 9. Nxa4 Qc710. Be2 d6
11. 0-0 Be712. Nd2 Nd713. Bg4! 0-014. Ra3!
28. Qf3? c4! 29. Rd2 cxb3 30. cxb3 Qf5
31. g3 gs 32. Qd3? Qxd3 33. Rxd3 gxf4
34. Re7? fxg3 35. hxg3 Rgb8 36. Rxf7 Rxb3
37. Rxb3 Rxb3 38. Kg2 Rb4! 39. Rf4 Bd4
White resigns
By qualifying for the Interzonal, Petrosian
inspired another myth: Both Petrosian and
 2. Growing Pains
Geller had sought Rona Avinezer's hand in
marriage. She wanted to marry the one with
the best chance to become world champion.
She decided to let a chess tournament decide
her fate. "The Interzonal will tell! " she de­
clared. (In some versions, "The Interzonal
will show:')
A more credible account comes from jour­
nalist Valery Asrian: Petrosian's rival was not
Geller, but rather Semyon Furman, a Lenin­
grad master who had had better results than
Petrosian. Rona asked a good friend, the
Moscow master Yakov Neishtadt, "who was
the more talented:' Asrian wrote. "Neishtadt
named Petrosian and for this (and perhaps
for other reasons) the fate of the admirers
was decided:'
But her son Vartan said, ''All these stories
. . . are fantasY:' 37 Only his father pursued
Rona, no one else, he said. Gennady Sosonko
said the Interzonal story is probably apoc­
ryphal but added that there was a saying in
chess circles: "Where Rona is, there's the
61
crown!" In Russian, crown ("Korona'') rhymes
with and contains Rona. 38
In any case, she married Petrosian. There
is no reason to doubt they loved one another.
Theirs turned out to be the only lasting first
marriage of the four great rivals. Yuri Aver­
bakh attended the Petrosian wedding along
with Andre Lilienthal as the groom's best
men. Averbakh said later that there were two
early turning points in Petrosian's life. One
was moving to Moscow. "If he had remained
in Georgia, he would hardly have become
world champion:' he said. 39 The other was
marrying Rona.
There were equally talented men who
never became world champion, said Borislav
Ivkov, another elite grandmaster of the 1960s.
And there were those who had a champion's
capacity to work. But they were not aggres­
sive enough. Petrosian was not aggressive,
Ivkov said. "But he had Rona. Without her
Petrosian would never have become world
champion:'40
 3. Overkill

"I began my chess career as a positional The 7. QhS+ Qf7 8. Qxf7+ endgame is
player:' Boris Spassky recalled. "But when I even, and that is the best White can expect.
was 14 I understood there was something
7. . . . Be6 8. Bb5 Bd6 9. 0-0 Nh610. f3? (see
wrong with my style. I came to understand
diagram)
that chess has something extra besides strat­
egy-attacks, sacrifices, creative ideas. There
was a revolution in my style:' 1 He had begun
eliminating habits and weaknesses that held
him back. It was a slow process and it took
more than a decade for him to win recogni­
tion as the ideal "universal" player.
First he had to abandon his "boring Boris"
traits. At a 1951 tournament in Riga, he looked
over some of his games with a local player
named Mikhail Tal. Tal was two months older
than he but at least two years behind in de­
After 10. /3
velopment. Nevertheless, they shared ideas
about the proper way to conduct a chess 10 . . . . Qh4! 11. g3 Bxg3!
game. Tal could understand Spassky's think­ Before the 1950s, a move like 11. . . . Bxg3
ing when Spassky postmortemed this game was typically labeled "speculative:' That was
from the tournament. annotator code for "risky" because it could
Yakov Estrin-Spassky not be calculated to a conclusion. Today it is
20th USSR Championship the kind of move a grandmaster plays on in­
quarterfinals, Riga, 1951 stinct, knowing that it is not essential to cal­
Ponziani Opening (C44) culate it to the end.
12. hxg3 Qxg3+ 13. Ng2 Bh3 14. Qe2 0-0
l. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 f5!? 4. d4 fxe4
15. Qf2? Qg6!16. Be2 Rf617. f4 NfS 18. Kh2
5. Nxe5 Qf6 6. Nc4?!
Qh6 19. Rhl Bxg2+ White resigns
If this knight was headed for e3, the forc­
After Yakov Estrin, an experienced 28-year­
ing 6. Ng4 made more sense.
old master, resigned he asked Spassky what
6. . . . d5! 7. Ne3 had happened. "Where do you think, Borya,
62
 3. O verkill
that I erred? You know, the sacrifice was
hardly correct:'
"There you are, Yakov Borisovich;' Spas­
sky replied. He said Estrin's position "was
completely hopeless" after the sacrifice. 2
After making so little an impression in
1950-1, Spassky was improving again. It hap­
pened so quickly that he appeared to leap­
frog Viktor Korchnoi. He finished a strong
second in the 1952 Leningrad Championship,
two points ahead of his former Pioneer
Palace tormenter.
Korchnoi-Spassky
Leningrad Championship, 1952
Slav Defense (DlO)
I. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. f4 c5
6. Nf3 Nc6 7. a3 Be7 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. b4 Be7
10. Bb2 0-0 11. c5 Qc712. Bd3 Rd8? 13. Qc2
b6?14. b5
Creating a connected passed pawn is good.
But 14. Nb5! is better, e.g., 14 . . . . Qd7 15. Ne5
or 14 . . . . Qb7 15. Nd6! Bxd6 16. Bxf6 with
advantage.
14. . . . Na515. c6 Nc416. Bxc4 dxc417. Ne5?
Nd5! 18. Nxc4 Bc5 19. Ndl a6! 20. a4 f6
Chances would be balanced by 20. . . . Nb4
and . . . Nd3+.
21. Qb3 Ra7 22. Nf2 Qf7? 23. 0-0-0!?
Young Korchnoi was an aggressive castler.
A better way to exploit the d-file pin and pre­
pare 24. e4 was 23. Rdl!.
23. . . . axb5 24. axb5 Qg6 25. Rhel Qxg2!
26. Nd3 Bf8 27. e4! Nc7
White has been preparing e4-e5 and should
continue with 28. Rd2 Qg4 29. Re3 Qg6
30. e5! with advantage.
28. f5?! Re8?
Black would again be equal after 28 . . . .
Qxh2 because then 29. e5 runs into 29. . . .
Rd5! .
63
29. Kbl Kh8 (see diagram)
After 29. ... Kh8
Now was the time for 30. e5!. For example,
30. . . . Nd5 31. Nd6 with advantage, or 30. . . .
fxe5 31. Rxe5 Qxh2 32. Nxb6. (But not
30. Nxb6 Ra5.)
30. Bd4? Nxb5! 31. Bxb6?
Korchnoi overlooked 31. Qxb5 Qa2+
32. Kcl Ra4 and then 33. Ndb2? Rb4!. He
could have cut his losses with the humble
31. Bb2! .
31. . . . Na3+ 32. Kcl Ra6 33. Rd2 Qf3 34. Rf2
Qh3 35. Ncb2 Qh5 36. Nc5 Bxc5
Spassky plans a sound piece sacrifice. But
simpler was 36. . . . Qg5+! . For example,
37. Rd2 Bxc5 38. Bxc5 Nbl! .
37. Bxc5 Rxc6! 38. Qxa3 exf5 39. Kbl fxe4
40. Bd4 Qd5! 41. Qe3 Be6 42. Rc2 Ra6
43. Kcl
The threat was 43. . . . Ral+!. Young Korch­
noi often played until just before mate.
43. . . . Rd8 44. Rc4 Qb5 45. Rc5 Qb4
46. Bxf6 Ral+ 47. Kc2 Rd2+! White resigns
Spassky had been the youngest candidate
master in the country and would soon be the
youngest master, a title considered more pres­
tigious than international master by many
Russians. 3 He was benefiting from the influ­
ence of powerful friends, such as Dmitry
Postnikov, an avid player who was a longtime
64 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

official of the Sports Committee, which su­ Bc5 6. Nge2 0-0 7. d4 exd3 8. Qxd3 Res
pervised the Soviet Chess Federation. 9. h3 a6!
And he had a new trainer, Alexander Kaz­
Spassky improves on a Mikhail Chigorin­
imirovich Tolush-or "Kazimirich" as Spas­
Frank Marshall game (!) that went 9. . . . Nh5
sky fondly called him. Tolush, 27 years older
10. Qf3! Qh4+ 11. Kdl and White won after
than Spassky, had survived some of the blood­
11. . . . g6 12. Bd2 Nd7 13. g4! Ng7 14. Ne4.
iest fighting in the Nazi onslaught towards
Spassky's idea is to win back a pawn after
Leningrad. "Such was this fighter who never
10. . . . b5 11. Bb3 Bb7.
knew fear, who came through the battle at
Pulkovo and the deathly lottery of Nevsky 10. a4 Qe7 11. Bd2 c6! 12. dxc6 Nxc6
Pyatachok;' Mikhail Tai wrote. 4 13. 0-0-0 Nb4 14. Qf3 (see diagram)
"Losses don't cost me sleep" Tolush liked
to joke about his chess games. 5 Mark Taima­
nov recalled how another Leningrad master,
Vitaly Chekhover, once offered Tolush a
draw in a sharp position. They were friends
but Tolush was outraged. "Why a draw? You
have a decisive attack;' he replied.
"But I don't see a forcing continuation.
I'm afraid of miscalculating;' Chekhover
replied.
"Afraid? Then you shouldn't play chess;'
Tolush said furiously. "Stay home! " 6 After 14. Q/3
Tolush was Paul Keres' trainer off and on Now 14 . . . . Bf5 15. Bb3 would allow White
for about eight years. "But when the boy a breather.
Borya Spassky came to our home, the Keres­
Tolush creative collaboration came apart;' 14. . . . b5! 15. QxaS bxc4!
recalled Tolush's wife Valentina "Then the Spassky passes up a good but not winning
love for chess, knowledge, experience, heart­ endgame (15. . . . Bb7 16. Qxe8+ Qxe8).
Alexander Kazimirovich gave all of it to this
boy. We didn't have children and Borya was 16. Qf3 Bf5 17. Rhel Qd7 18. Ng3 Bxc2
a son to us:' 7 19. RxeS+ NxeS
Korchnoi was jealous, again. He had seen Better was 19. . . . Qxe8!, e.g., 20. Rel Qb8
how Vladimir Zak shifted his attention from (threat of 21. . . . Nd3+) with swarming pieces
him to Spassky a few years before. Now he (21. Ndl Bd3 or 21. . . . Nfd5).
saw Tolush transforming Spassky. "It wasn't
20. Nce4 Qxa4
just that Boris played more strongly. He
began to play differently;' Korchnoi said. "He Here 20. . . . Bd4! was strong (21. Bxb4
fought for the initiative, since Tolush himself Bxdl 22. Qxdl Bxb2+). Spassky is beginning
fought for the initiative:' to "swim:'
21. Bxb4 Bxb4
Genrikh Chepukaitis-Spassky
Leningrad, 1952 The endgame, 21. . . . Bxdl 22. Qxdl Qxb4
Falkbeer Countergambit (C31) 23. Nxc5 Qxc5, was good but not a certain
win.
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Korchnoi felt Spassky's more daring style
 3. O verkill
was surprising, considering how poor his
family was. "It would seem that from such
families come bankers, people of restraint,
cautious, practical. From such a family came
Rothschild:' Korchnoi said. ''And yet here is
Tolush teaching Spassky: you must fight for
the initiative, you must sacrifice in every
game. I remember he said to him: Do not go
home until you've sacrificed something! " 8
22. Rd8 Bd3 23. Rxd3 cxd3 24. Qxd3 Qc6+
25. Kbl g6 26. Qd8! Kf8 27. Qd4!
White, a legendary speed-chess player,
grabs his chance in mutual time pressure.
27. . . . Bd6 28. QhS+ Ke7 29. Qxh7 Bxf4
30. Qh4+ g5 31. Nxg5??
A draw was likely after 31. NfS+ (31. . . .
Ke6 32. Qh6+ or 31. . . . Kd8 32. Qel).
31. . . . QcI+ 32. Ka2 Bxg5 33. Qb4+ Kd7
34. Qa4+ Qc6 35. Qg4+ Qe6+ White re­
signs
Nearly half a century later Korchnoi said,
"I became jealous and hurt that I didn't get
to Tolush in time:' 9 But Tolush had offered
to be Korchnoi's trainer in early 1950: "Give
me Korchnoi and I 'll make him a master in
two years:' Korchnoi replied, ''I 'll manage
without him:'10
In his later years Korchnoi claimed he
would never have had anything to do with
Tolush because of his oily reputation. Tolush
informed on Keres to the KGB while serving
as his trainer, Korchnoi claimed. "He was a
person who was doing his dirty jobs in white
gloves:'11
Doctors Plot
Spassky's new mentor, like his former one,
taught him more than chess. Zak had begun
his physical conditioning by teaching him to
ice skate and swim, and Spassky became a
lifelong athlete. Tolush also introduced social
65
graces to him. He "taught me how to cor­
rectly tie a necktie, how to eat with a knife
and fork, that you have to brush teeth and
wash the neck, to change shirts every daY:'
Spassky said. 1 2 For important games, you
should be "clean, well-dressed:' Spassky said
he had never used a table napkin before he
met Tolush. In short, Zak had made him a
chess player. Tolush made him an adult.
Spassky never parted well with the trainers
he accumulated over the years. He claimed
Zak wanted to be replaced because Spassky
had outgrown him. "The experienced trainer
felt that his disciple needed a stronger
chessplayer-practician:' as Spassky's friend
Alexander Nikitin put it. 13 But Larisa Volpert,
another student of Zak's, said Zak told her
many times that he intended to be Spassky's
teacher until he attained the master title.
According to Volpert, Spassky changed
trainers because of the Kremlin-orchestrated
campaign of anti-Semitism known as the
"Doctors Plot:'14 Jewish doctors were allegedly
implicated in the death of Soviet officials. As
a result, Jews were ousted from their jobs in
various Soviet cities. Many were arrested and
sent to the Gulag. Sally Landau, who became
Mikhail Tal's first wife, was the daughter of
two Jewish actors. ''All the Jewish theater
[companies] were disbanded, many leading
actors were imprisoned:' she said. "It was a
terrible time:' 1 5 The "Plot" investigation,
which touched the lives of many players, was
led by Sergo Goglidze, the older brother of
International Master Viktor Goglidze.
Spassky had lived with Zak and his family
and by 1948 Zak wanted to make their rela­
tionship official. "Zak was even going to adopt
Boris, so that he had a place to live and to be
fed and to play chess day and night:' accord­
ing to a 2006 article based on an interview
with Spassky. "The documents were already
prepared, but not followed through:' 16 Zak
felt that in view of the repression, an adop­
tion would harm Spassky and so his "move
was taken back:'
66 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Korchnoi and Volpert said there was a later
effort to fire Zak from the Pioneers Palace
because he was Jewish and had many Jewish
students. Both Tolush and Igor Bondarevsky
were involved in this, according to Volpert.
While Zak was away from Leningrad at a
tournament with Volpert, Tolush "lured"
Spassky to him and convinced him to accept
him as his new trainer, she said. Zak regarded
this as treason and was deeply hurt, she
added. 17
Spassky later claimed ignorance, saying he
did not even know of the Doctors Plot. "No,
I was not yet 16, and I was living in another
dimension;' he said in 1998. 18 Korchnoi said
he went to local Communist Party district
committee to defend Zak. "Spassky should
also have gone but he did not;' he said. 19
Overkill
Soviet players had competed in events re­
lated to the world championship since 1948
but they virtually ignored other foreign com­
petitions. This changed in 1952 when the
Kremlin decided to demonstrate the unmis­
takable superiority of USSR masters. The
first target was the first "world student cham­
pionship:'
Failure was not an option. The tourna­
ment, held in Liverpool, England, was in­
tended for university-enrolled amateurs. It
drew a weak field. But the Soviets sent David
Bronstein, who had no higher education but
was the world's second ranked player. He was
joined by Mark Taimanov, who was among
the world's top 25 players. They were sum­
moned to the office of Nikolai Mihailov, the
powerful secretary of the Central Committee
of the Komsomol, the Communist Party jun­
ior wing.
"The conversation was short. 'You must
finish first. Do you know who signed your
travel paper? Iosif Vissarionovich! '" That
meant Stalin himself authorized their mis-
sion. "I nearly fell off my chair;' Taimanov
recalled in 2001. "There was no alternative
to victory;' he said. "And we shared first and
second place:'20
It was just a first step. From 1952 on, the
vlasti sought to make lopsided victory cer­
tain in every foreign event their players en­
tered. Next up was a Geza Mar6czy memo­
rial tournament in Budapest, the strongest
international round-robin of the year. The
Soviets sent an all-star contingent: World
Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres,
Vasily Smyslov and their two new stars, Tig­
ran Petrosian and Yefim Geller.
There is no indication that they were or­
dered to draw with one another. Of the ten
games played among the Soviets, four were
decisive, including this in the second round:
Petrosian-Paul Keres
Budapest, 1952
Nimzo-Indian Defense (£53)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0
5. Nf3 d5 6. Bd3 c5 7. 0-0 b6 8. dxc5
If Keres wanted a quick draw, the symmet­
rical endgame of 8 . . . . dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qxdl
10. Rxdl Bxc5 was the way to go.
8. . . . bxc5 9. Ne2 Nbd7 IO. b3?! e5!
The threat of 11. . . . e4 at least equalizes.
11. Bbl e412. Nd2 Ba613. Bb2! (see diagram)
After 13. Bb2
Like Spassky, Petrosian had been learning
 3. O verkill
from a more aggressive trainer, Andre Lilien­
thal. A world-class player before World War
II, Lilienthal encouraged Petrosian to sacri­
fice pawns to avoid passive positions such as
13. Qc2 Ne5 14. Bb2 Nd3 15. Bc3 Qe7.
After 13. Bb2! he would have compensa­
tion for a pawn, 13. . . . Bxd2 14. Qxd2 dxc4
15. Rdl. A safe road to equality begins with
13. . . . Nb6.
13. . . . Qa5? 14. Nxe4! dxe4
Black would have a weak e-pawn after
14 . . . . Nxe4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Qxd7 as well
as a weak king (Qg4).
15. a3 Bd2 16. b4 cxb4 17. Qxd2 Bxc4
18. axb4 Qg5? 19. Ra5! Qh4 20. h3 Rfb8
21. Ng3!
The threat is to win the queen with 22. NfS
Qh5 23. Ne7+. That is why 18 . . . . Qb6 or
18 . . . . Qb5 were better and would leave White
with a modest edge.
21. . . . Rb5 22. Rxb5 Bxb5 23. Rel Bd3
White threatened to win with 24. NfS Qg5
25. Rc5! . Petrosian is tactically outplaying
one of the greatest tacticians of all time.
24. Bxd3 exd3 25. Bd4 Ne4 26. Qxd3!
Nxg3 27. fxg3 Qxg3 28. Qe4! Rd8? 29. Qe7
Qb8 30. Bxa7
The a-pawn was lost in any case. Now
Black can resign in view of 30. . . . Qa8 31. Rc7.
30. . . . Qxa7 31. Qxd8+ Nf8 32. Qe8 Qa3
33. Rc7 Qb3 34. Qe7 Qd5 35. Kh2 h6 36. Rc8
Black resigns
The next day Petrosian lost to Herman
Pilnik when he allowed a strong-but by
today's standards, somewhat obvious-Ex­
change sacrifice. That seemed to deflate his
ambition. It was followed by draws with
weaker players and losses to worthy oppo­
nents, such as Pal Benko, Laszlo Szabo and
Gideon Stahlberg. With four rounds to go,
Petrosian had a minus-one score. Since he
67
still had to play Botvinnik, he was in danger
of finishing in the bottom third of the field
of 18. This could have set his career back
years.
But Petrosian drew with Botvinnik, won
his other games and avoided humiliation by
tying for seventh place. The tournament
book said Petrosian was "unable to exceed
his domestic achievements in his first inter­
national competition:' But at 22, he had "un­
rivaled possibilities" to improve.21
The tournament winner was Keres who
was regarded by many as the true world
champion. Viktor Korchnoi never got over
his crushing loss to Keres in their first game,
in the 20th USSR Championship. "He be­
came forever my most difficult opponent;'
he said. 22 After the Budapest tournament,
Keres gave a 25-board simultaneous exhibi­
tion in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary. The only
player to earn a draw, 17-year-old Lajos Por­
tisch, said Keres became his hero as a result.
Lucky Breaks
Korchnoi never considered himself lucky.
But fortune favored him in late 1951 when he
had a poor fourth place finish in the 20th
USSR Championship quarterfinals. His tie
break points allowed him to advance to a
semifinals the next summer.
Korchnoi-Georgy Bastrikov
20th USSR Championship semifinals,
Minsk, 1952
Pirc Defense (B07)
I. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. f4! e5
5. Nf3 exd4 6. Qxd4! c6 7. Bd2 Qb6 8. 0-0-0
Be7 9. h3
Korchnoi had great faith in the value of a
spatial advantage, even in an endgame.
9. . . . Qxd4 10. Nxd4 NcS 11. Rel Nh5 (see
diagram)
68 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 11. ... Nh5
12. g4!? Ng313. Rh2 Nxfl14. Rxfl h5!15. g5
g616. f5 0-0
Black would have been relatively secure
after 16. . . . Bd7 and 17. . . . 0-0-0.
17. Bf4 Rd8? 18. b4! Na6
Korchnoi had noticed that 18 . . . . Nd7 loses
to 19. fxg6 (19. . . . fxg6 20. Ne6 Re8 21. Nc7).
His next move is based on 19 . . . . cxbS
20. NdS with a steadily growing initiative.
19. b5 Nb8 20. Rd2 Bd7 21. h4 d5? 22. exd5
Ba3+ 23. Kdl cs
Black mistakenly counts on continuations
such as 24. Nde2 BxfS.
24. Ne6! fxe6 25. dxe6 Bb4 26. Rf3 Nc6!
Now 27. dxc6? Bxc6 and Black has chances
of survival.
27. exd7 Nd4 28. Rxd4! cxd4 29. Nd5 Ba5
30. fxg6 Rf8 31. Ne7+ Black resigns
Alexey Suetin was a Moscow master five
years older than Korchnoi who would be­
come one of his many minor enemies. Suetin
delivered a backhanded compliment in his
Shakhmaty v SSSR report on the tournament:
Korchnoi demonstrated "good sporting qual­
ities" since he had won bad positions-in­
cluding one against Suetin. 23
Korchnoi tied for second to fourth place
and this time his tie breaks failed him. But
his luck held: Soviet chess officials agreed to
increase the number of qualifiers and that is
how Korchnoi advanced to his first national
championship.
G agra
But he was not considered worthy of being
sent to a secret training camp in July 1952 at
a VIP sanatorium in the Black Sea town of
Gagra. The invitees were to prepare for the
Olympiad in Helsinki the next month or for
the Interzonal in Sweden the month after
that. Missing from the camp was David Bron­
stein, who was out of favor with the vlasti be­
cause he had broken up with his wife. 24 This
should have been a warning to Boris Spassky
and Mikhail Tai: Your private life influences
your public career.
The Gagra players took part in a match­
tournament of teams. "The Veterans"-Bot­
vinnik, Keres, Alexander Kotov and Smy­
slov-played two games each with "Youth" -
Petrosian, Geller, Bronstein and 32-year-old
Isaac Boleslavsky. Opening secrets were be­
ing tested, so the game scores remained con­
fidential for decades. When they surfaced in
the 1980s and 1990s, it became known that
Petrosian split one win apiece with Botvinnik
and Kotov and scored ½-1½ against Smyslov.
Alexander Kotov-Petrosian
Training match-tournament, Gagra,
1952
King's Indian Defense (A48)
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 0-0
5. Nbd2 cs 6. c3 cxd4 7. exd4 Nc6 8. h3 d6
Black prepares 9. . . . Re8 and . . . es. White's
attempt to stop him boomerangs.
9. Nc4?! b5! 10. Ne3 b4
Now on 11. Bd3 or 11. Be2 Black can seek
an advantage from 11. . . . bxc3 12. bxc3 Re8
and . . . es. Or 12. . . . NaS and . . . Bb7.
11. d5? bxc3! 12. dxc6
 3. O verkill
White is also clearly inferior after 12. bxc3
Ne4.
12. . . . cxb2 13. Rbl Ne4 14. Bd3 QaS+
15. Kfl Ba6! (see diagram)
After 15. ... Ba6
Much better than 15. . . . Nc3? 16. Qd2.
Now 16. Bxa6 Nc3! is bad. So is 16. Qc2 Nc3
17. Rxb2 es.
16. Nc4 Bxc4 17. Bxc4 Nc3 18. Qd2 Qa4
19. Bd3 Nxbl 20. Bxbl Rfc8 21. g3 Rxc6
22. Kg2 Rac8
With 23. . . . Rel coming, White can safely
resign. Kotov, a worthy rival for Botvinnik
before World War II, seemed over the hill at
age 39.
23. Bh6? Rel 24. Bxg7 Rxhl 25. Kxhl Rel+
26. Kg2 Rxbl 27. Qh6 Qdl
The threat of mate on hl stops 28. NgS and
ends the game.
28. g4 Qhl+ 29. Kg3 Rgl+ White resigns
Botvinnik's poor showing alarmed Mos­
cow. Overwhelming victory in the Olympiad
was the only acceptable result. As a result of
Gagra, Botvinnik was kicked off the national
team over his outraged protests. The Soviets
placed first in Helsinki by 1½ points. But it
was the narrowest winning margin for the
USSR for 18 more years.
The next test of the Soviets came at the In­
terzonal in the resort of Saltsjobaden, near
Stockholm. Westerners thought they would
69
do well. But not very well. Former world
champion Max Euwe predicted in Chess Re­
view that the inexperienced Petrosian and
Geller might finish behind at least six of the
foreigners.
Petrosian thought his good start was partly
due to luck. ''.At the drawing of lots I very
much wanted to pick number seven;' he re­
called. 25 He did, and it meant he would have
White in the first round against the oppo­
nent he considered the tournament's weak­
est. This was Povilas (Paul) Vaitonis, repre­
senting Canada. Born in Vilnius, Vaitonis
fled Lithuania just before the Red Army re­
turned in 1944 by getting onto an overloaded
fishing boat headed for Sweden. Petrosian
beat him in a nice game and coasted until
round 15. He clung to a share of second place
when:
Laszlo Szabo-Petrosian
Interzonal, Saltsjobaden, 1952
Sicilian Defense (B93)
1. e4 cs 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 Qc7 7. Be2 es 8. Nf3 Be6 9. f5
Bc410. BgS Nbd711. Nd2 Bxe212. Qxe2 Rc8
13. a3 Qb6 14. 0-0-0?! Rxc3!
After the Central Chess Club opened in
Moscow in 1956, an anonymous wit inscribed
a message on the wall of a men's room com­
mode: "Here Tigran Petrosian thought up
the Exchange sacrifice:' 26
But it was not until April 1959, when
Vladimir Simagin spelled out the case for
. . . Rxc3 in a Shakhmaty v SSSR article, that
the sacrifice was widely appreciated.
Nevertheless, in his tournament book
notes, Petrosian called 14 . . . . Rxc3 "the stan­
dard sacrifice:' 27 He said White could have
safely castled queenside after 13. Bxf6, and
later aim for Nft-e3-d5.
15. bxc3 dS 16. Nbl Nxe4 (see diagram)
While Szabo was thinking about his 16th
move, Petrosian looked ahead at 17. RxdS
70 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 16. ... Nxe4
Nxg5 and realized 18. h4! would trap his
knight.
Looking further, he saw a possible escape,
17. . . . Qxbl+! 18. Kxbl Nxc3+ 19. Kb2 Nxe2.
But that, too, had a flaw, 20. Rel f6 21. Be3
Nf4 22. Bxf4.
He was ready to play 16. . . . dxe4 instead
but took one last look at 16. . . . Nxe4-and
forgot why he had abandoned it.
17. Rxd5 Nxg5
He should have reexamined 17. . . . Qxbl+
18. Kxbl Nxc3+ 19. Kb2 Nxe2 20. Rel be­
cause he might have seen 20. . . . Be7! (instead
of 20. . . . f6). Black would be fine after 21. Bxe7
Nf4!.
18. h4 Bc5?
Petrosian's sense of danger was founded
on intuition, not deep calculation: He smelled
danger. Here he rejected 18 . . . . Be7 19. Rhdl
in view of 19. . . . Nc5 20. Qxe5.
He also gave up on 19. . . . Nf6 after seeing
20. Rxe5 Nge4 21. Rxe4 Nxe4 22. Qxe4. But
he overlooked 22. . . . Qh6+ and 23. . . . Qxh4!,
when Black is equal.
19. hxg5 Be3+ 20. Nd2 Bxg5 21. Qd3
Petrosian considered this best, although
21. Qc4! favors White solidly.
21. . . . Qc7 22. Kdl Bxd2 23. Kxd2 f6 24. Kcl
Nb6 25. Rd6
Petrosian felt that since he was very short
of time, Szabo should not have allowed him
to make easy moves such as 25. . . . 0-0. In­
stead, "one must admit that the right move
was 25. Rhdt:' 28
Again, this is intuition talking. Black would
have all the winning chances after 25. Rhdl?!
Nxd5 26. Qxd5 Qc8 and . . . Rf8-f7. Szabo
was moving quickly to exploit Petrosian's
time pressure.
25. . . . 0-0 26. Rdl Qc5! 27. Rd8! Qxa3+
28. Kbl h5!?
Petrosian was proud of this move, which
threatens 29. . . . Na4 30. Qd5+ Kh7. By stop­
ping g2-g4, it makes the g2- and fS-pawns
vulnerable.
Yes, but if White had found 29. Rhl! , he
would have a sizable edge-and Petrosian
would have regretted rejecting the modest
28 . . . . h6! .
29. Rxf8+? Qxf8 30. Qe4 Qe7 31. Qb4 Qc7
32. Qd6?
The final error. Now 28 . . . . h5 looks like a
genius move because the h-pawn is fast.
32. . . . Qxd6 33. Rxd6 Nc4 34. Rd7 b5
35. Ra7?
White had to stop Black's knight with Rd3
on this or the previous move.
35. . . . Ne3 36. Rxa6 Nxg2 37. Kcl h4
38. Kd2 h3 39. Ral Nh4 40. c4!? bxc4
41. Rhl Nxf5 42. Kc3 Nd6 43. Rxh3 Kf7
44. Rh7 f5 45. Kb4 f4 46. Kc5 f3! 47. Rhl
e4 White resigns
After this round, Soviet players held the
four top places and looked like they might
capture all five qualifying spots for the 1953
Candidates tournament. Petrosian assured
his spot with draws of 15, 19, 12 and 24 moves
in his next four games. A win in the penul­
timate round gave him a tie for second place,
behind the surprising Kotov, who had looked
so bad at Gagra.
Petrosian's result satisfied the conditions
 3. O verkill
fo r the grandmaster title. Today, when 15-
year-old GMs are somewhat routine, 22
sounds old for a brand-new GM, like Petro­
sian. However, in 1952 it was remarkable. The
youngest new GM up to then had been Sve­
tozar Gligoric, who earned the title at 28.
Debutant
A first-time player in a major Soviet tour­
nament was a debutant. For Viktor Korch­
noi's debut in the 20-player finals of the 20th
USSR Championship, he drastically over­
hauled his openings. He had been a king­
pawn player since the Leningrad Pioneer
Palace. But in the championship he went
back and forth between 1. e4 and 1. c4. As
Black he began to abandon his favorite Dutch,
Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian Defenses
and adopt the Griinfeld Defense.
Learning an opening was a challenge in
an era with no databases and few textbooks.
The better Soviet chess clubs had huge files
filled with index cards on which theoretical
games were recorded. But you had to be a
strong player to be worthy of access to them.
Even when he was a world-class player, Mik­
hail Tal was not trusted with the Riga chess
clubs files "because he was known to mis­
place things from time to time:' 29
In his research Korchnoi hand-copied
"about a hundred Griinfelds" to study. He
admitted, "My opening play was still rather
weak:' However, his real problem was being
"helpless in the middlegame:' 3 0 He wished
he could go straight from opening to end­
game. He did exactly that in the first round
when he swapped queens after 15 moves with
Smyslov, the world's premier ending player.
The result was Korchnoi's first win from a
grandmaster.
But when he tried to mix it up in a middle
game against Alexander Konstantinopolsky
in the next round, he was crushed in 29 moves.
He regularly tried to swap queens after that.
71
But his instincts were still that of a pawn­
grabbing defender:
Korchnoi-Yefim Geller
20th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1952
Two Knights Defense (CSB)
1. e4 eS 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. NgS dS
5. exdS NaS 6. d3!?
This alternative to 6. Bb5+! had been con­
sidered almost unplayable since before World
War I.
6. . . . h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. Qe2 Nxc4 9. dxc4 BcS!
Korchnoi was becoming an authority on
this variation. He had beaten Alexander
Cherepkov in 1950 after 9. . . . Be7 10. Nd4
Bg4?! 11. f3 exf3 12. gxf3 Bh3 13. Nc3 followed
by Be3 and 0-0-0.
Earlier in 1952 he overcame Alexey Suetin
after 9. . . . Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 Bg6 12. Nd4
c6 13. Nc3! Bb4 14. Bd2 dxc4 15. 0-0-0.
10. h3 0-0 11. Nh2
This looks ugly but it is difficult to get at
White's weaknesses. For example, 11. . . . e3
12. Bxe3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Ne4 14. Nfl Qh4+
15. g3 Qf6 16. c3 BfS is thematic.
But it is also the kind of position that al­
lows Korchnoi to defend and defend, until
he could countersacrifice. His game with
Sliwa from Bucharest 1954 went 17. Qf3 Ng5
18. Qf4 Qg6 19. Nbd2 Nxh3 20. Qxc7 Bg4?
21. Rxh3! Bxh3 22. 0-0-0 and he eventually
won after 22. . . . Bxfl? 23. Rxfl Qd3 24. e4.
11. . . . Re812. Be3 Bxe313. fxe3 Qd614. Nc3
a615. 0-0-0! Bd716. Rd4! (see diagram)
White's king is relatively secure, he is a
pawn up and he can choose between target­
ing the kingside and the e4-pawn. That puts
the onus on Black, just the kind of psycho­
logical situation Korchnoi liked.
16. . . . bS! 17. Nfl b4 18. Ndl c6! 19. dxc6
Qxc6 20. Nd2 ReS! 21. Rfl
72 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 16. Rd4
Black's idea was . . . Qa4, since Kbl would
allow . . . Ras. Korchnoi opts for counter­
attack, based on Rxf6.
For example, 21. . . . Qa4 22. Rxf6! gxf6
23. Nxe4 Kg7 24. Ng3 is strong. Geller finds
a way to defend his kingside with his rook.
21. . . . Be6 22. g4 Qa4 23. Qh2! Rg5!
24. Rxf6! gxf6 25. Nxe4 Rg6 26. Qf4 Kg7
27. Ng3
Better was 27. Kbl! , since . . . Ras is no
longer possible. Then a trade of queens, such
as after 27. . . . QaS 28. Ng3 QeS, would favor
White considerably (29. NhS+ Kh8 30. b3
Qxf4 31. exf4 with two pawns for the Ex­
change).
27. . . . Qxa2! 28. Nh5+ Kh8 29. Qc7
Korchnoi evidently feared 29. Nxf6 b3 and
tricks such as 30. QeS bxc2 31. NdS+?? f6!
and wins.
29. . . . Kh7 30. Nf4 Rg7 31. Qb7 Res
32. Qxb4 f5! 33. Nh5 Rg6 34. c5? fxg4
35. hxg4
Time pressure takes over. Black would be
OK after 35. . . . Qal+ 36. Kd2 Rc8.
35. . . . as? 36. Qb7 Res 37. c6?
White has had repeated chances to harass
the g6-rook and now was the time for 37. Nf4!.
For example, 37. . . . Rf6? 38. Qe4+ and 39. Ra4!.
37. . . . a4 38. Qa6? a3!
Black would hold the high cards after
39. Qxa3 Qxa3 40. bxa3 RgS.
39. bxa3 Bb3?
This threatens 40. . . . Qxc2 mate and 40. . . .
Rgxc6. But 39. . . . BfS! does it better in view
of 40. Qc4 Qxa3+ 41. Kd2 Be6 or 40 . . . .
Qxc4 41. Rxc4 Be6 with advantage.
40. Qd3! Rxc6 41. Nc3 Qxa3+ 42. Kd2 draw
White could have played on at little risk
after 42. . . . Be6 43. Nf4. This was the first of
the great battles between Korchnoi and Geller.
Tigran Petrosian passed up the tourna­
ment and instead pursued his sideline career
as a journalist. He and Vitaly Tarasov wrote
daily reports for the widely-circulated Sovi­
etsk y Sport. "The points collected by Korch­
noi speak for themselves;' they said. 31 This
was the same Tarasov who told Korchnoi in
1947 that he would not win another tourna­
ment for 20 years.
The veteran master Pyotr Romanovsky
praised Korchnoi's technique and courage
but also said he complicated unnecessarily.
"Often, when clear and simple solutions are
required, he tends without reason to unnec­
essary complexity;' he said. 32
Korchnoi contended for a top place until
running into Bronstein and Keres in rounds
17 and 18. Neither grandmaster was having
a great tournament but they disposed of
Korchnoi fairly easily. Bronstein, who even­
tually became a close friend, turned Korch­
noi's strategy against him by trading queens
at move 16 and winning a splendid endgame.
In the final round Korchnoi did not allow his
opponent, an opening expert, out of the open­
ing.
Korchnoi-Isaak Lipnitsky
20th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1952
English Op ening (Al3)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 c5 5. cxd5
Nxd5 6. 0-0 Be7 7. Nc3 Nxc3
 3. O verkill
More popular was 7. . . . 0-0 and 8. Nxd5
exd5 as Keres played.
8. bxc3 0-0 9. d4 Nc6 10. Rbl QaS 11. Qc2
cxd412. Nxd4! Nxd413. cxd4
The threat of 14. Bxb7 is why 12. Nxd4!
was stronger than 12. cxd4. Now . . . Rd8-d7
is an ugly way to defend his queenside.
13. . . . Bf6?! 14. Rdl Rd8
Now 15. e3 Rb8 would mean a minimal
White edge.
15. Be3! Qa6
The pressure would mount after 15. . . . Rb8?
16. Bf4. Or 15. . . . Rd7 16. Rd3 Rc7 17. Qb3.
16. Rb4 Be717. Ra4 Qd6
Or 17. . . . Qb5 18. Rbl Qd7 19. Rc4 and
White penetrates with Rc7.
18. Bf4 Qd719. dS! Bes (see diagram)
Or 19. . . . exd5 20. Bc7! rook-move 21. Bxd5
with a bind.
After the text there are a variety of wins,
including 20. d6.
After 19. ... Bc5
20. Rd2 Qb5?
Also lost is 20. . . . Bb6 21. dxe6 Qxe6
22. Rxd8+ Bxd8 23. Re4 Qd7 24. Bh3! .
21. Bc7! Rd7 22. Ras Black resigns
The win allowed Korchnoi to move past
Bronstein and Smyslov into sole sixth place­
exceptional for a debutant.
73
Fateful Buch arest
European chess revived agonizingly slowly
after World War II. Rumanian officials or­
ganized minor international tournaments in
1949 and 1951 in Bucharest and only became
more ambitious with a 20-player round robin
in January 1953. They sought the strongest
Soviet players. Moscow agreed to send Smy­
slov, Isaac Boleslavsky and Petrosian. The
fourth spot would go to a teenager, either
Spassky, 16, or Alexander Nikitin, 18. Nikitin
had become a master in the previous year
while Spassky was still a candidate master.
But Dmitry Postnikov, "our sports boss"
as Nikitin called him, liked Spassky and was
also on good terms with Alexander Tolush.33
Postnikov decided to send two players, not
Spassky and Nikitin but Spassky and Tolush.
In that way Spassky, who was too young for
a passport, could travel on his trainer's pass­
port. Petrosian later said it was probably the
first time a Soviet citizen traveled abroad
without his own passport.
The tournament "was fateful for Boris;'
Nikitin recalled. It also influenced how hard
Soviet players would play against one another
in some future foreign events. In the early
rounds Spassky crushed Smyslov and Smy­
slov defeated Tolush. After seven rounds,
Laszlo Szabo of Hungary was in first place
in a tournament that Soviet officials had ex­
pected to win.
The Soviet delegation in Bucharest re­
ceived an angry telegram from Moscow: "Stop
the disgrace. Begin making draws among
yourselves:' 34 As a result, the remaining games
between Soviet players were drawn, often
quickly. The first-ever Spassky-Petrosian
game was a bloodless 15-mover.
Spassky sensed resentment from some of
his elders. The normally polite Smyslov would
not speak to him until the tournament was
over. He was also experiencing the extreme
stress of international chess. Nearly 40 years
later he said, "It's necessary to be a little crazy
74 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

about chess. In 1953 I showed up at a tour­ Bd4+ 24. Khl Nxd5! 25. cxd5 Bxd5
nament" -apparently this one-"wearing (26. Qxd5?? Nxg3 mate).
two neckties. My concentration was that
20. . . . exd5 21. exd5 Ra2 22. g4? (see dia­
strong:' 35
gram)
In the next-to-last round, he knocked
Szabo out of contention with the King's In­
dian Defense, an opening Tolush loved but
Spassky had rarely played. Spassky also won
a best-played-game prize with a related open­
ing:

Olaf Barda-Spassky
Bucharest, 1953
Benoni Defense (A43)
I. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 cs 3. d5 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2
0-0 6. 0-0 d6 7. h3 b5!
White's delay in playing c2-c4 or e2-e4
means the d5-pawn will be a target and Black
will have more queenside space.
8. a4 Bb7 9. Nh2 a6 10. axb5 axb511. Rxa8
Bxa8
Black can make progress by controlling
the a-file, e.g., 12. e4 Bb7 13. Be3 Nbd7 and
. . . Qa5/ . . . Ra8.
12. Na3 Qd713. b3 Na6 14. Bb2 Nc7 15. e4
Bb716. Qe2 Ra817. Bel
The more natural 17. Ral would allow
17 . . . . Nxe4! (18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Bxe4 b4
with advantage).
But he can neutralize the a-file with 17. c4!
b4 18. Nc2 and 18 . . . . Ra2 19. Bel.
17 • • • • Ra718. f4?
Now 18 . . . . Nh5! would have been annoy­
ing (19. Qel Bd4+ 20. Khl b4).
18. . . . e619. c4
Black would be better after 19. dxe6 Qxe6
20. Rel Nh5 or 20 . . . . b4 21. Nc4 Nxe4!
22. Bxe4 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 Qxe4 24. Rxe4 d5.
19. . . . b4 20. Nc2
Among the pretty results of 20. Nbl exd5
21. exd5 is 21. . . . Ral 22. Nd2 Nh5! 23. Qf3
After 22. g4
White would have been only slightly worse
after 22. Rf2.
22. . . . Nfxd5! 23. cxd5 Ba6 24. Qdl Bxfl
25. Bxfl?
White's best chance was 25. Nxfl Nb5
26. Qd3, although his minor pieces do not
play well after 26. . . . Nc3 and . . . Qe7.
25. . . . Nxd5 26. Qxd5 Rxc2 27. Be3 Qe6
28. Qa8+
The pawns can not be stopped after
28. Qxe6 fxe6 29. Bb5 d5.
28. . . . Bf8 29. Bf2 Qxb3 30. gs Rel 31. Kg2
Qa3 32. Qd5 Ral 33. Ng4 Qa8 34. Bc4 Bg7
35. Qxa8+ Rxa8 36. Nf6+ Bxf6 37. gxf6
Ra3 38. Bel b3 39. Bc3 Ra2+ 40. Kf3 Rc2
White resigns
Once again Petrosian was the only player
to go undefeated. And once again he did not
try very hard to win. Aside from his four
quick draws with fellow Soviets he had other
draws of 14, 18, 21, 23, 24 and 28 moves. The
surprise of the tournament was Tolush, who
finished first by a point. It was his greatest
achievement. Spassky tied for fourth place.
Under the FIDE rules of the day, this was
enough for a promotion. "Thanks to a Krem-
 3. O verkill
lin order, I became an international master;'
he said many years later, alluding to the
telegram from Moscow. 36
L earning Curbs
If there had been any doubt before, Spas­
sky was committed after Bucharest to chess
as a profession, Nikitin said. Spassky even­
tually entered Leningrad State University, the
same school as Korchnoi. He also began with
tough courses-mechanics and mathemat­
ics-then switched to the humanities. "I was
a very lazy schoolboy;' Spassky remembered.
He transferred to the philological school "be­
cause I took a lot of extended leaves for chess
tournaments. You can't do that with mathe­
matics;' he said. The university rector, Alex­
ander Danilovich Alexandrov, a Stalin-prize­
winning scientist, allowed him to play
frequently in tournaments. Spassky admitted
he "lost five years" by pretending to be a stu­
dent. "I got no real education! " he said. "It
was easier to study something yourself-an­
tique literature, philosophy. Soviet universi­
ties did not give much education. They were
mostly beating around the bush:' 37
As a graduate, Spassky could claim he was
fulfilling his obligation to the state by becom­
ing a journalist. But unlike Korchnoi, he never
got into the habit even of reading newspa­
pers. Many years later, when Spassky was
asked what he would be doing if chess were
not his profession he took a long pause and
then said, "I don't know. I would be a beg­
gar:'Js
As Spassky's chess learning curve arced
sharply upward, Korchnoi searched for con­
sistency. While the Bucharest tournament
was going on, Korchnoi had a minus-one
score in ten games as first board in a USSR
team championship. He followed that with
second place in the Leningrad Champion­
ship. He caught the eye of Mikhail Botvinnik
when he defeated Grigory Goldberg, who
75
served as the world champion's second in
three of his title matches.
Korchnoi-Grigory Goldberg
Leningrad Championship, 1953
After 58. ... Kg7
The natural move is 59. Ke4 but Korchnoi
went for 59. a7!?. This is somewhat daring
because in similar positions White's rook is
immobilized on a8 and he can only draw.
Korchnoi's idea was to attack the c-pawn
with his king and prepare g3-g4. For exam­
ple, 59. . . . Kh7 60. Ke4 Kg7 61. Kd4. Black
loses immediately after 61. . . . Rxf3? 62. Rg8+!.
On 61. . . . c3, White would reply 62. Kd3
Kh7 63. g4!. Then the passive defense, 63. . . .
Kg7 64. gxhs gxhs, loses to 65. f4 (65. . . .
Kh7 66. fS Kg7 67. f6+ Kg6 68. Rg8+ or
67. . . . Kh7 68. e6!).
The game went 59. . . . c3 60. Ke3 c2+
61. Kd2 Ra2 62. g4! hxg4 63. fxg4 Kh7
64. h5! gxh5 65. gxh5 Kg7. Korchnoi had
foreseen that 66. h6+! Kh7 67. Kell creates
Zugzwang. Black must surrender the c-pawn.
He found another Zugzwang: 67. . . . Ral+
68. Kxc2 Ra6 69. Kd3 Ral 70. Ke4 Ra5
71. Kf5 Ra6 72. Ke4 Ra5 73. Kd4 Ral 74. Kc5
Ra6 75. Kd5!.
Black's rook had to move: 75. . . . Ral
76. Kd6 Ra5 77. Kd7! Black resigns. A third
Zugzwang loomed (77. . . . Ral 78. Ke7 or
77. . . . RdS+ 78. Kc6! RaS 79. Kb6 Ral 80. Rf8).
In the summer of 1953 Korchnoi met Mik­
hail Tal, then a IS-year-old-candidate master,
76 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
in a Leningrad-Latvia team match. A pawn
down, "my young self-confident opponent
offered a draw!" Korchnoi recalled. 39 He won
on the 94th move but the score is apparently
lost.
Tigran, Stop Clowning!
That spring Petrosian was sent to another
secret training tournament at Gagra. Eleven
top players, led by Smyslov, Keres and Bole­
slavsky, met in a round-robin. Petrosian beat
Taimanov with an Exchange sacrifice and
won his oldest surviving victory from "Fimka''
by accepting all of Geller's sacrifices. He lost
one game, to Boleslavsky, but had the satis­
faction of being the only one to defeat tour­
nament winner Smyslov.
The Gagra training session was designed
to prepare the nine Soviet players who would
compete in the 1953 Candidates tournament.
That began August 30 in the Kirchgemein­
dehaus, or Parish Hall, in the Swiss town of
Neuhausen am Rheinfall, and later moved
on to Zurich. There were cash prizes but one
award mattered most, the right to challenge
Botvinnik in the 1954 world championship
match.
Petrosian traveled to Switzerland in a play­
ful mood. In the Soviet delegation's railway
compartment he played game after game of
blitz chess with Tolush, who was still serving
as Keres' occasional second. When Petrosian
played speed chess, he became a 12-year old
again. He reacted "theatrically" to each To­
lush move: He opened his eyes wide, shook
his head, leaned forward, made his reply and
then shot a glance at Tolush, according to the
delegation translator, Lev Zaitsev. "Tigran,
stop clowning in the face of elders!" Tolush
exclaimed, as onlookers laughed. 40
Zaitsev had met Petrosian in Tbilisi in 1943.
After graduating from the Moscow State In­
stitute of International Relations, an elite
diplomat-training school, he was assigned to
the Sports Committee. Thanks to his lan­
guage skills, Zaitsev was sent to major for­
eign chess events as a member of the Soviet
delegation. He and Petrosian were often the
youngest delegation members. Zaitsev re­
membered the Petrosian of those days as
"charming and excitable:' During their free
time at the Candidates tournament, Petro­
sian, Zaitsev, Geller and Averbakh would
hang out together "at the nearest bar" to play
table football. Zaitsev and Petrosian were al­
ways on the same side and Petrosian was in­
tensely competitive. Zaitsev said, "In the heat
of battle he furiously lectured me" if he let
Geller score a goal. Afterward he would al­
ways apologize if he got out of hand. 4 1
Petrosian began the Interzonal with four
draws, then suffered two losses, to Taimanov
and Miguel Najdorf. He battled back to a
plus score by round ten when he defeated
Max Euwe in a nice endgame. In later years
Petrosian joked, apparently about this game,
that he turned the adjourned queen ending
over to his second, Andre Lilienthal, for
analysis and went to bed. When he awoke,
he found a note slipped under his hotel door.
It read in its entirety: "Dear Boy. There are a
lot of bagatelles in the queen endgame. Te­
geranchik, don't miss them! " 42
After 19 of the 28 rounds, Petrosian only
had an even score. Smyslov was plus five by
then. Since only first place really mattered,
Petrosian drew seven of his remaining games
in 28 moves or less. This was good enough
to finish in clear fifth place.
And that was good enough. Petrosian was
still influenced by his destitute youth, his
boyhood chum Tengis Giorgadze said. When
Petrosian was a teen, he was so afraid of
going home empty-handed from a tourna­
ment that he would figure out how many
points he would need to be sure of some prize.
It did not have to be first prize. In his mid-
20s he even began to see benefits in not win-
ning a tournament.
"It's better to be fifth;' he told a friend,
 3. O verkill 77

Mikhail Beilin, after the Candidates tourna­ 9. 0-0 0-0 10. Qe2 Ne6 11. h3 NaS 12. g4
ment. "And he explained that it's more peace­ Be6 13. fS! Be4 14. Bd2 Rae8
fut:' He had married Rona in 1952 and was
43
The quiet 15. b3 Bxd3 16. cxd3 and 17. Rael
beginning to build his private life. These
would secure a simple positional pull. In­
were the happiest days of Petrosian's life, his
stead, Tai aims for Qh4/Bh6 and Ng5. Dur­
biographer learned. 44
ing this period he was plagued by "an old ill­
ness"-a dislike of winning by technique and
"eternal searches for the 'blue bird"' of a com­
Petrosian, Tal and Risk bination, he said. 46
Nevertheless, Petrosian, like Spassky, was 15. Qel? Bxd316. exd3 Qb6+17. Khl Qxb2
refining his thinking about how to play chess. 18. Rbl Qe219. gs NhS 20. NdS Ne6 21. Rb3
In his best-known game from the Swiss tour­ Rb8
nament, against Samuel Reshevsky in the
White might draw an endgame after 22. Qbl
second round, he sacrificed the Exchange to
Qxbl 23. Rfxbl but Tai had an unrealistic
create an impregnable blockade. This made
view of his chances in a middlegame two
a deep impression on Tai. So did Petrosian's
pawns down.
observation about the nature of risk.
The conventional view-the Botvinnik 22. Bc3? Bxc3 23. Rxc3 Qxa2 24. Rf2 QaS
view-held that an attacker who gives up 25. Qcl Qd8 26. f6! es
material is the one who takes chances. But Simpler is 26. . . . e6 and 27. Nf4 Nxf4.
that changed in the 1950s as the stock value Black intends to oust the dS-knight with
of the initiative soared. Petrosian was criti­ . . . a5/ . . . Nb4.
cized by fans for preferring defense. "But
who has demonstrated that defense is a less 27. Kh2 as 28. Rg2 Re8 29. Qel Nb4!
risky and dangerous occupation that attack?" 30. Ne3 Re8 31. Rb3 Qd7 32. NfS
Petrosian wrote. 45 Tai plays for 32. . . . gxfs 33. Qh4 Nf4?
This was striking to Tai, who also rebelled 34. Qh6.
against the Botvinnik view. Tai's approach to
chess was influenced by Petrosian's thinking. 32. . . . Qe6 33. Nd2 Re2! 34. Ra3 (see dia­
Defense is just as risky as attack. But Tai gram)
would reach the opposite conclusion: There­
fore, you might as well attack. The two men
would become the dialectical antipodes of
1950s-60s chess.
Tai did not spell this out clearly until his
1969 articles-in Petrosian's publication, 64-
under the headline "Knowledge? Intuition?
Risk?" In the early 1950s his moves revealed
his thinking.

Tal-Josif Zilber
Latvia Championship, 1953
Sicilian Defense (B93)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 a6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 exd4
5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. f4 Qe7 7. Nf3 g6 8. Bd3 Bg7
After 34. Ra3
Now 34 . . . . Nf4 35. Nh6+ Kh8 should
have ended matters soon. But Black was in
severe time pressure.
78 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
34• . . • KfS? 35. Qh4 Recs? 36. Ng7! Nxg7?
Black would be barely holding on after
36. . . . Qd7 37. Nxhs gxhs 38. Qxhs Ke8.
37. Qxh7 Rel? 38. Qh8 mate
Tal was already at master strength and
should have earned the title in the fall of l953
when his team placed fourth in the USSR
youth team championship. But he ran into
the same obstacle as Petrosian and Korch­
noi-the Soviet Federation's qualification
commission. The commission felt it could
not give the master title to two Latvians
at the same time, and his teammate Janis
Klavii;is was more deserving, Tal said. His
consolation was being allowed to play a
match to prove he was worthy of the title in
1954.
He was, by all measures, at least two years
behind Spassky and Korchnoi, and five be­
hind Petrosian, in chess development. Who
would have guessed that he would reach the
pinnacle of the chess world long before them?
 4. Culture War
"Overkill" was the tactical goal for Soviet
chess in the 1950s. But for what strategic pur­
pose? The answer was revealed in a remark­
able international propaganda campaign
waged with culture. It was designed to use
chess and other arts to prove the superiority
of the USSR way of life. Soviet teams made
foreign tours that had not been attempted
before-and were never repeated-and the
first Soviets appeared in events such as the
World Student Team Championship and the
World Junior Championship.
Who went abroad in this campaign-and
who played abroad in general-was based
chiefly on who excelled at home. Competi­
tion in the USSR Championship intensified
in the 1950s because a high place in the score­
table usually meant an opportunity to bring
home foreign prize money or exhibition fees
or to buy abroad the kind of consumer goods
few Soviet citizens had.
It became harder just to get into a tourna­
ment like the 21st USSR Championship finals,
which began in January 1954 in Kiev's House
of Culture of Light Industrial and Food Work­
ers. Among those who failed to make the cut
from semifinals tournaments were Tigran
Petrosian's trainer, Andre Lilienthal, and
Mikhail Tal's trainer, Alexander Koblents.
Petrosian was among only four players who
were "personally" invited, that is, without
having to qualify.
79
Viktor Korchnoi overcame a first-day loss
by defeating Yefim Geller in a game that began
1. e4 with 1. . . . cS 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. BgS e6 7. Qd2 Be7
8. 0-0-0 0-0 9. f4. Geller had played Black's
9. . . . eS, now a standard variation, against
Vyacheslav Ragozin during the Gagra train­
ing tournament the previous summer. But
the Gagra games were a virtual state secret.
Korchnoi was not yet worthy of seeing them
and he punctuated Geller's move as "9 . . . .
eS?! " in the tournament book.
The first Korchnoi-Petrosian game since
the 1946 Soviet Junior Championship was a
spirited sixth-round draw. Viktor Korchnoi
said this is when his "rivalry" with Petrosian
began but said it soon became a personal
"war:' 1
Korchnoi-Petrosian
21st USSR Championship finals, Kiev,
1954
King's Indian Defense (E60)
I. c4 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 0-0 5. Nf3
d6 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. d5 NaS
Genrikh Kasparian had tried the . . . Nc6-
a5 idea in the late 1940s, and that is how
Petrosian likely became acquainted with it.
8. Nbd2 c5 9. e4 a6 10. Rbl b5 11. b3
White should not isolate the Black b-pawn
80 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
immediately with 11. cxbS axbS 12. b4 Nb7!
13. bxcS NxcS because he gets a weak a­
pawn.
11. . . . Rb8 12. cxbS axbS 13. b4 cxb4?!
14. Rxb4 eS 15. Rel Bd716. Bfl Ne817. Nb3
Korchnoi is adopting a low-risk strategy
of liquidating the queenside pawns in hopes
of penetrating with his heavy pieces. It nearly
succeeds.
17. . . . Nxb3 18. Rxb3 Qe7 19. a4 Nc7
20. axbS NxbS 21. BgS f6 22. Be3 Nc7
23. Qbl Rxb3 24. Qxb3 fS 25. Ral (see dia­
gram)
After 25. Ral
White occupies e4 favorably after 25. . . .
fxe4 26. Nd2 BfS 27. Bg2 and Nxe4.
25. . . . f4 26. Bb6 Rb8! 27. Ra7 Na8! 28. Bh3!
Nxb6 29. Bxd7 Kh8
Black avoids Be6 with check. Computers
point out 29. . . . Kf8! has the added benefit
that 30. QbS could be answered by 30 . . . .
Nxd7 31. Qxd7 Bf6.
30. QbS fxg3 31. hxg3 Qf6! 32. Kg2 Rf8?
A strange lapse, since 32. . . . Nxd7 33. Qxd7
Rf8 is harmless.
33. Bg4! Nc8 34. Ra8?
Korchnoi did not defeat Petrosian until
1961. Here he misses a fine opportunity with
34. Rc7 Ne7 35. Qb6! or 34 . . . . hS 35. Rxc8
hxg4 36. Rxf8+ and Nh2.
34. . . . Ne7 35. Rxf8+ Bxf8 36. Be6 Ng8
37. Qb8 Kg7 38. Nd2 Qe7 39. Nc4 Nf6
40. Kf3 hS draw
Counterpunch er
Petrosian again went through a tourna­
ment undefeated. But he finished behind
Korchnoi, who lost three times. Unlike Petro­
sian, who often lost enthusiasm in the final
days of a tournament, Korchnoi kept piling
up points, often with his opponent's help.
Alexey Sokolsky-Korchnoi
21st USSR Championship finals, Kiev,
1954
French Defense (C03)
I. e4 e6 2. d4 dS 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 g6?
5. c3 Bg7 6. Bd3 Nh6 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Rel f6
9. b4! a610. a4 Re8 11. Qb3 Ne712. Bb2 b6
13. c4 Nti 14. Re2! Qd7 15. Rael
The tournament book recommends wait­
ing with 15. . . . Bb7. But then 16. cxds exds
17. eS! enlarges White's edge. Korchnoi goes
for counterplay.
15. . . . dxc416. Nxc4 gS?! 17. dS! es
Black can lose quickly after 17. . . . exdS
18. exdS and 19. d6 cxd6 20. Nxd6 Qxd6
21. Bc4. Or 18 . . . . Nd6 19. Nxd6 cxd6 20. NxgS.
18. Ne3 bS 19. axbS axbS 20. Rc2 Bb7 21. Reel
Recs 22. Res Nd6
The tournament book ticked off maneu­
vers that would improve White's already
powerful position: He could shift his d3-
bishop to g4. Or a knight to cS and e6. Or a
knight to b3 and aS. Almost anything seemed
to bring victory closer.
There are also tactics lurking below the
surface, such as 23. Be2 with the idea of Bg4.
The game could see 23. . . . hS 24. NxeS! fxeS
25. BxhS and Bg4. Lines like that suggested
to White that he could win quickly, without
maneuvers.
 4. Culture War
23. BxbS! NxbS 24. d6+ Kh8 25. dxe7 Bxe4
(see diagram)
After 25. ... Bxe4
The best move is hard to find when there
are too many very good ones. One is 26. Nxe5!
fxe5 27. Bxe5 with advantage (27. . . . Rg8
28. Qf7).
Another strong idea is 26. Qc4!, in view
of 26. . . . Nd6 27. Rxc7! Nxc4? 28. Rxd7 Bc6
29. Rd8+!.
26. Rdl Nd6 27. NxeS fxeS 28. RxeS Bg6!
Of course not 28 . . . . Bxe5?? 29. Bxe5
mate. After the text, White would still have
compensation with 29. Rel. But he had spent
almost all his remaining minutes seeking the
knockout since move 23.
29. Re6? Rg8 30. Ng4 Bf7! 31. Rdel Bxe6
32. Rxe6 Nc4 33. Bxg7+ Rxg7 White for­
feits
This game helped burnish Korchnoi's rep­
utation for skilled defense. He explained his
philosophy in terms that Emanuel Lasker
would have approved: When players of
roughly equal strength meet, natural moves
will lead to balanced but often lifeless posi­
tions. (This was a drawback to playing "ac­
cording to position;' a la Capablanca-or
Petrosian.)
"The chess player who does not like draws
(and I belong to this number) must some­
how destroy the basic 'equilibrium' of a chess
position;' Korchnoi wrote. "Either he sacri­
fices, and thanks to this, seizes the initiative,
81
or he allows his opponent to attack, creating
a few weaknesses, which he hopes to exploit
later:' 2 Korchnoi had become the second type
of player, the counter-puncher. But when his
opponent handed him the initiative, he did
not let go:
Korchnoi-Salo Flohr
21st USSR Championship finals, Kiev,
1954
English Opening (A34)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 cS 3. Nc3 dS 4. cxdS NxdS
5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Nc7 7. Qa4 Bd7 8. Qe4!?
e6
How did Black, once a world-class player,
lose so badly? Annotators said 7. . . . Bd7
(rather than 7. . . . Qd7) and 8 . . . . e6 was to
blame, and later theory recommended 8 . . . .
g6!.
9. 0-0 Be7 IO. d4 cxd4 Il. Nxd4 0-012. Rdl
Qc8 13. Be3 Ne8 14. Rael Nf6 15. Qf4 Bd8?
16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. NbS Bb6 18. Nd6 Qb8
19. Bxb6 axb6 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rxc6
Rxa2 22. Qd4 h6 23. Rdcl Ra8? (see dia­
gram)
After 23. •.• Ras
Black puts up more resistance with 23. . . .
Qa8 24. Rxb6 Nd5.
24. Nc8! Kh7 25. Qd3+ g6 26. Nxb6 Ra7
27. Qd4 Kg7 28. Rd6! Re8 29. f4! Kh7
30. Rdl Black resigns
82 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
With three rounds to go, Yuri Averbakh
led with 12½ points. Korchnoi had 12, fol­
lowed by Mark Taimanov and Petrosian at
10½. Korchnoi was the favorite of young
fans. When he got a substantial, early edge
in his game with Averbakh, "a group of spec­
tators began to chant 'Resign, Averbakh. Re­
sign! "'3
But Averbakh managed to draw in 55
moves and went on to clinch first prize.
Korchnoi and Taimanov shared second
place. Petrosian tied for fourth. But the
youngest player in the tournament "won
the general respect with his bold and
multi-faceted play;' Alexander Konstan­
tinopolsky wrote in the tournament book.
"The hero of the tournament was master
Korchnoi:' 4
The result earned him his first foreign trip
and-because he would be representing the
USSR-the opportunity to buy presentable
clothing at exclusive government stores. His
invitation was to a tournament in Bucharest
in February. Accompanying him were Rat­
mir Kholmov, Rashid Nezhmetdinov and
Semyon Furman, who had shown they were
worthy by finishing well in the 21st USSR
Championship finals.
Korchnoi was seriously into physical train­
ing by then. He said he normally worked out
every morning with weights and even brought
three-kilogram dumbbells to Bucharest. 5
Within a few years he had put on weight,
more than 20 pounds, he said.
He fought from move one in Bucharest
and finished with a 13-4 score, securing first
prize and the international master title. The
tournament broadened Korchnoi's world
view. "For the first time in my life I met peo­
ple from a different world, definitely non ­
Soviets;' he wrote. "It gave me something to
think about:' 6 Despite his first prize, Korch­
noi was not yet in the league of Averbakh,
Taimanov and Petrosian, who were selected
for the more prestigious international team
tour.
Showcas e
Soviet chess had become world famous
during 1945-6 thanks to crushing victories
over American teams. When tensions hard­
ened into the Cold War, contact with for­
eigners all but disappeared. But after Stalin
died in March 1953, the new Kremlin lead­
ership authorized an ambitious and expen­
sive propaganda campaign to demonstrate
the superiority of socialism. "The USSR
stood on three things, ballet, the circus and
chess;' Mark Taimanov said. 7 These were the
cultural weapons that would prove Marx and
Lenin were right. Ballerinas, jugglers, clowns
and grandmasters, as well as concert musi­
cians, movie actors and directors and others
were enlisted in the 1954 culture war.
The Soviet chess team members were sent
to a training camp to be physically ready for
combat. But for Petrosian this meant mara­
thon rounds of table tennis. Yefim Geller re­
called how he and Petrosian tried skiing at
the camp. But "we aren't very good on skis:'
When they were tricked onto a steep slope,
Geller repeatedly fell down. Petrosian did
not even try. Instead, he joked about his rep­
utation. "He threw away the sticks, sat down
in the snow and, shouting 'Safety first: slid
down the slope;' Geller said. 8
Petrosian had first gotten a taste of foreign
team chess in November 1953 when he vis­
ited Vienna for a double-round match against
the best Austrians. It was another case of
overkill: The Soviets outrated their oppo­
nents by about 200 points on every board
and won 17½-2½.
The propaganda campaign truly began
four months later. An eight-man team left
Moscow's Vnukovo Airport on a typically
circuitous Soviet trip, because of the lack of
direct flights on Aeroflot, the state airline.
They made brief stops in Prague, Paris,
Madrid, Dakar, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and
Montevideo before reaching their destina­
tion, Buenos Aires. According Averbakh and
 4. Culture War
Taimanov, there was a large crowd of chess
fans at the airport to cheer them-including
members of Argentina's surprisingly large
Armenian community. Chanting "Petrosian!
Petrosian! " they picked him up and carried
him aloft in their hands. 9
The Argentinians won silver medals in the
1950, 1952 and 1954 Olympiads. But Olym­
piad matches were conducted on four boards.
An underlying premise of the 1954 Soviet
team trip was that they must play on at least
eight boards because that would assure vic­
tories. The USSR-Argentina matches were
conducted on eight boards and they crushed
the home team 20½-11½. Along with the
chess matches, Soviet authorities arranged
for showings of Russian-made movies and
visits by other USSR cultural stars. They in­
cluded violinist David Oistrakh, pianist Ta­
tiana Nikolaevna and movie actors such as
Sergei Bondarchuk and Sergei Stolyarov.
Oistrakh and Bondarchuk later became good
friends of Petrosian.
The Soviet team visit had a diplomatic
goal. Argentine president Juan Peron had
been reviled in the Soviet press for years as
a fascist. But his country had just signed a
trade agreement with the USSR. The chess
players were going to help solidify the ties,
at least in a public relations way. Peron in­
vited the Soviet team to his office on March
18 and chatted with them for half an hour.
Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, who settled
in Argentina during World War II, was a
good friend of Peron. (He dedicated his book
about the 1953 Candidates tournament to "El
Presidente:') Najdorf got Peron to make the
ceremonial first move of his first game with
David Bronstein in the first round of the
match. 10
Petrosian also performed propaganda duty.
More than 1,500 Armenian-Argentinians
turned out to hear him speak one night in
Buenos Aires. He told his audience they had
been duped into believing Soviet minorities,
like the Armenians, could not speak their
83
own language. Speaking in Armenian, he
said books in Armenian were published in
the USSR. 11
Soviet-published chess books were rare in
the 1950s. But the 1954 tour was regarded as
so important that the vlasti authorized two
books about it. One, written by Mark Taima­
nov, was a kind of chess travelogue, with
games, photos and descriptions of their des­
tinations. It described Petrosian as "impetu­
ous, excitable" and Geller as "more re­
strained:'
Neither Taimanov, nor Igor Bondarevsky
in a second book, mentioned the next stop
on the tour: a brief visit to Montevideo for a
two-round match with a vastly outgunned
Uruguay national team. The players' tables
were arranged on the hardwood of a basket­
ball court at a sports club, while spectators
sat in stands. This was of little interest to the
wider chess public but was diplomatically
useful to the Kremlin. Uruguay had been the
first South American country to recognize
the Soviet Union, in 1926, seven years before
the United States. The Soviets allowed one
draw in 20 games, and this was a typical mis­
match:
Petrosian-Hector Korali
USSR-Uruguay match, Montevideo,
1954
Queen's Gambit Declined (D35)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 dS 4. cxdS exdS
5. BgS Nbd7 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 0-0 8. Nge2
Re8 9. Qc2 c6 10. h3 Ne4 11. Bf4 Ndf6
12. f3? Nxc313. bxc3
Thanks to White's slip Black has two good
ways to seek an edge. The safe way is 13. . . .
c5!. More adventurous is 13. . . . Nh5!?, so that
14. Bxh7+ KhS 15. Bd3 Nxf4 or 15. Be5 Bd6.
13. . . . Bd6? 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. e4
Black is a bit worse and soon much worse.
15. . . . NhS? 16. es Qh6 17. Qd2! (see dia­
gram)
84 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

silver medals, Korchnoi might have been

blamed because of the following game.

Nikolai Minev-Korchnoi
World Student Olympiad, Oslo, 1954
Sicilian Defense (B22)
I. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4
5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 e6 7. Nc3 Nxc3 8. bxc3
d6 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. Bd3 Be7
The most popular move is 10. . . . h6, al­
After 17. Qd2 though 10. . . . 0-0 is playable. Then 11. Bxh7+
Kxh7 12. NgS+ Kg6 13. h4 Kf6 runs out of
The endgame favors White big time be­
steam.
cause of the impending g2-g4. There was no
reason to take risks with 17. g4 Nf4 18. Bxh7+ 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Qe2 Bf613. Rel Qd5?14. Bf4
Kf8 19. Bf5 Ng2+. Rd8 15. Radl Bd7
17. . . . Qxd2+18. Kxd2 g619. g4! Ng7 20. h4 More usual is . . . g6 at some point to rule
out threats to h7. For example, White could
Also good is the immediate push of the f­
have embarrassed the queen with 16. Be5!
pawn to fS. Now 20. . . . h5 would not slow
Bxe5 17. dxe5 and the threat of 18. Bxh7+
White in view of 21. Ragl and 22. Nf4.
and 19. Rxds.
20. . . . h6 21. Rafi Bd7 22. Rhgl b5? 23. f4 His attack would be strong after 17. . . . Qa5
a5 24. f5 gxf5 25. gxf5 Kh8 26. e6! fxe6 18. Qe4 g6 19. Qh4 and 20. NgS or 20. Qh6/
27. f6 Nf5 28. Bxf5 exf5 29. Rg7 Black re­ 21. Ng5.
signs
16. Ne5 Be8 17. Qh5
Resignation is j ustified by 29. . . . Be6
Now 17. . . . h6 is safe. The right way to at­
30. Nf4.
tack was 17. Ng4! Be7 18. Bbl and Qc2.
After Uruguay, the Soviet delegation flew
to Paris for another double-round match. 17. . . . g6? 18. Ng4!
The French national team had a pre-war fla­
Surprise: 18 . . . . gxh5 or 18 . . . . Qxh5 are
vor-pre-World War I, that is. On the top
bad after 19. Nxf6+.
two boards, 71-year-old Ossip Bernstein and
67-year-old Savielly Tartakower lost twice to 18. . . . Be719. Qh6 Qh5 (see diagram)
Bronstein and Paul Keres. Petrosian easily
scored 2-0 against Ridha Belkadi as the So­
viets rolled to a 15-1 romp.
That match ended April 19, the same day
as the World Student Team Championship
in Oslo. This was the first time the Soviets
took part in the "little Olympiad" and they
finished a disappointing second, a point be­
hind Czechoslovakia. Korchnoi's 64 percent
score was the worst on his team, whose mem­
bers he described as "very weak:' 12
Had Bulgaria nosed the USSR out of the After 19. •.• Qh5
 4. Culture War
The hS-pawn will be chronically weak but
Korchnoi could see problems with 19. . . .
Qxa2? 20. Re3! and Rh3. Or with 19. . . . f5
20. NeS Bf8 21. Qh4 Be7 22. Qg3! Qxa2
23. BxfS!.
20. Qxh5 gxh5 21. Ne5 Rac8 22. Nxc6?
Bxc6 23. Re5 Ba4? 24. Rel Ba3 25. Rbl
Rxc3 26. Re3 Rdc8??
After the game, Black's 23rd was called the
losing move (23. . . . RdS!). But he still would
have good chances of survival after 26. . . .
Kf8! (27. Rxb7 Rd7).
27. Rg3+ Kf8 28. Rxb7 Rel+ 29. Bfl! Black
resigns
There was no answer to 30. Bh6+. The
Oslo setback was a message to the Sports
Committee. They needed to send a much
stronger team to the next student Olym piad.
Manhattan
The biggest prize the Soviets sought in
1954 was victory over the Americans in New
York. Chess was so poorly funded in the
United States that it did not enter a team in
the 1954 Olympiad in Amsterdam. The So­
viets scored propaganda points by noting
that Colombia, Ireland and even "the Saar­
land" managed to send teams to Amsterdam
but the Americans could not. "This fact elo­
quently testifies to the difficult position of
chess organization in the USA:' wrote Mik­
hail Udovich. 13
A Scandinavian Airlines flight arrived in
New York with a large Soviet delegation that
included nonplaying captain Igor Bondarev­
sky, translator Lev Zaitsev, and Dmitry Pos­
tinikov, "a sort of chaperoning political com-
missar:' the New York Times said. The Times
added that they were accompanied by Vladi­
mir Ridin and Pavel Smyrnov whose posi­
tion "was not clear:' This was a hint that they
might be agents of the newly formed Com-
85
mittee for State Security, known by its Rus­
sian initials, KGB.
Taimanov's travelogue book gave Soviet
readers a taste of the citadel of capitalism.
The team was escorted on tours of the Em­
pire State Building, Wall Street, fashionable
Fifth Avenue shops, the Broadway theater
district, an Automat fast-food restaurant and
even former heavyweight boxing champion
Jack Dempsey's restaurant. Officially, they
were unimpressed. "Your Broadway is like a
theater mask, made for show:' one of the del­
egation members told their host, George
Koltanowski. 14
The youngest members of the delega­
tion-Geller, Petrosian, Averbakh and Lev
Zaitsev-explored Manhattan on their own.
They tried fresh orange juice from a Broad­
way street vendor and marveled at the brightly
lit neon signs. "Tigran, with envy, watched
as we tested American ice cream:' Zaitsev re­
called. "He was afraid of tasting this product
because of problems with his throat and
ear:' 15
When they passed a toy shop, Petrosian
grabbed Zaitsev at the elbow and pulled him
inside. "There we bought four water pistols
and, having returned to [the Soviet diplo­
matic compound at Glen Cove] , began a
mad running about, sort of like cowboys,
shooting water streams at one another:' Za­
itsev recalled. Petrosian stumbled into the
delegation head, the stern Postnikov, "and by
inertia, spilled water on him:' That evening
they all expected a dressing down but Aver­
bakh, as the eldest, bore the brunt. 16
Overkill meant the team members were
expected not only to win the overall match
but to win each of the four rounds. When
play began June 16, Geller and Taimanov
quickly registered wins over Al Horowitz and
Larry Evans. Since a rout was on, that allowed
seventh board Petrosian to draw with Arthur
Bisguier, the new U.S. champion, in 35 moves.
The next day a large group of friends and
well-wishers celebrated Petrosian's 25th birth-
86 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Left to right: Yefim Geller, Petrosian, translator Lev Zaitsev and Yuri Averbakh explore midtown
Manhattan on their own during the 1954 USSR-U.S. match in New York. This photo was featured
in a book, Zarubezhnyie Vstrechi, about the Soviet chess efforts abroad in 1954-5.

day at the Roosevelt Hotel, where the Soviets But even Philidor liked to castle. Black's
were staying. Petrosian loved watermelons king is not well placed on f8-and some
and he was delighted when he was presented computers recommend 19. . . . Ke8 on the
with one the size of "a torpedo:' 17 next move.
In the second round, he again drew after
19. Rdl Qd7 20. b5 Bb7 21. e5! Ne8
it became apparent that the Soviets would
win that match as well. Before the third round Not 21. . . . dxeS? 22. fxeS because the e2-
on June 23, he and Vasily Smyslov were the knight would head strongly to f4.
only Soviets held winless. That changed with:
22. d4! Bxg2 23. Nxg2! Rc8 24. Nh4 Rh6
Petrosian-Arthur Bisguier 25. Nf3 d5? (see diagram)
USSR-U.S. match, New York, 1954
English Opening (A36)
1. c4 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. d3
d6 6. Rbl h5 7. h3 Bd7 8. e3 Qc8 9. Nge2
Nh6 10. a3 Ne5 11. f4 Bc6?! 12. e4! Nd7
13. Nd5 e6 14. Ne3 f5
This game was described as "very Phili­
dorian" because the players attacked on the
wings, kept their pieces behind their pawns
and made no pawn trades until move 26.
After 25. ... d5
15. Qc2 b616. b4 Nf717. Rgl!? Nf618. Bb2
Kf8 Most of White's tactics are based on the
 4. Culture War
location of Black's queen (23. . . . cxd4
24. Nxd4 dxe5? 25. Ndxf5) so 25. . . . Qe7
made sense, rather than opening the center.
26. dxc5 Rxc5 27. a4! Kg8 28. Ba3 Rc8
29. Qa2! Nc7 30. Nc3 g5 31. h4!? g4 32. Nd4
Bxe5
Desperation. After 32. . . . Ne8, for exam­
ple, White could win with 33. NxfS! exf5
34. Nxd5 and Ne7+. But Petrosian would
most likely prefer 33. Nde2! .
33. fxe5 Nxe5 34. cxd5 Nxd5 35. Nxd5
exd5 36. Rg2! Rc4 37. Re2 Rxd4 38. Rxe5
Re6 39. Rxd4 Rxe5+ 40. Kf2 Kh7 41. Qd2
Qe6 42. Bb2 Qh6 43. Qxh6+ Kxh6 44. Rf4
Re4 45. Rxe4 dxe4 46. Be5 Black resigns
Within three years, fans would hail Mik­
hail Tal for his disregard of traditional chess
thinking. But games like this convinced col­
leagues that Petrosian, too, was original. Sve­
tozar Gligoric said he was "staggered" by how
Petrosian, "contrary to all the 'rules: through­
out the game . . . left his king in the center
(which would never even have occurred to
me) and unhurriedly seized space, until his
opponent resigned:' 18
The Soviets won the overall match 20-12,
about the same as their 12½-7½ margin in
the last match with the Americans, in 1946.
Before leaving New York, the teams were
feted at a banquet at the Soviet UN consulate,
where singer Paul Robeson, a hero to Petro­
sian, was the celebrity guest. "Everyone
begged him to sing. But he apologized and
said he had come without his accompanist:'
Taimanov wrote.
Well, Robeson was told, we do have a
piano player here-meaning Taimanov. "So
we played three or four American songs to­
gether:' Taimanov wrote, "and he presented
me with a fine picture of him and a dedica­
tion in two languages. First in English, many
thanks, and then unexpectedly in Russian,
vsyevo khoroshovo, all the best:' 19 The U.S.
organizers held their own reception for the
87
teams at the Roosevelt Hotel, and this time
Smyslov, a one-time Bolshoi hopeful, sang
as Taimanov played. The two teams agreed
to hold a rematch in 1955.
B ack to Europ e
The tour continued to London, where a
USSR-Great Britain match in 1946 had ended
15-5. The Soviet team took time to play tour­
ist. On a VIP sightseeing trip to Parliament,
Taimanov had "a short conversation with
Winston Churchill. In particular I was inter­
ested in which brand of cigar the eminent
politician smoked. 'Of course, a Havana
Romeo and Juliet: he replied:' 20
The first round was a 0-10 British disaster.
The second, two days later, was barely better,
with three draws. Petrosian scored 2-0 against
Philip Milner-Barry on sixth board. The tour
wound up in Stockholm with another pair
of eight-board matches. The Swedish na­
tional team was led by pre-war veterans
Gideon Stahlberg and Gosta Stoltz. The So­
viets won 6-2 and 7-1.
Royal Goode-Petrosian
USSR-Sweden match, Stockholm, 1954
King's Indian Defense (E70)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 0-0 5. g3
c5 6. d5 d6 7. Bg2 e6 8. Nge2 exd5 9. exd5
The combination of 4. e4 and 5. g3 was
briefly popular in the 1950s. It lost favor be­
cause White does not have any obvious play,
while Black prepares . . . b5.
9. . . . Na6 10. 0-0 Nc7 11. h3 Rb8 12. a4 b6
13. Be3 a6 14. Ra2
This protects the b2-pawn and anticipate
14 . . . . b5 15. axb5 axb5 16. cxb5 Nxb5
17. Nxb5 Rxb5 although Black stands well
after 18. Nc3 Rb4.
14. . . . Re8 15. Qd2 h5 16. Bg5 Qe7 17. Raal
QfS!?
88 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Most King's Indian players would have
thought of posting the queen on d7, such as
16. . . . Bf5 and 17. . . . Qd7. Petrosian's move
quickly pays off.
18. Nf4? Nh7! 19. Nfe2 Nxg5 20. Qxg5 Bf5
21. Qd2 Bh6 22. f4 Re7!
The e-file and e3-square in particular are
White's weaknesses. Black could have played
. . . b5 at almost any point since move 14. But
Petrosian apparently wanted to extract as
much as possible out of the kingside and
center first.
23. Rfel Rbe8 24. Kh2 Qg7
Not only eyeing . . . gs but also, for exam­
ple, 25. b3 Qh8 !? 26. Rael Bg7 and a decisive
. . . Re3.
25. h4 Re3 26. Radl Qf6 27. Rfl Bg4! (see
diagram)
After 27• ... Bg4
Petrosian could have won a pawn with
27. . . . Bd3 but preferred to make the pin on
the e-file unbearable.
28. Rdel Qe7 29. Rf2 Bg7 30. Bfl Bxc3!
31. bxc3 b5!
One piece, the knight, was missing in ac­
tion. Now 32. axb5 axb5 33. cxb5 Nxb5
threatens 34 . . . . Nxc3 and would win after
34. c4 Nd4.
32. cxb5 axb5 33. a5 Na6 34. Qa2 c4! 35. Qb2
Nc5 36. Qxb5 Nd3 37. Ral Bxe2 38. a6 Nxf2
39. a7 Ng4+
Black could have announced mate in nine.
40. Khl Rxg3! 41. Qxe8+ Qxe8 42. a8(Q)
Bf3+ White resigns
An obvious conclusion from the tour was
that foreign countries were relying on an
older generation and had not nurtured a
younger one. That meant Soviet supremacy
in chess was virtually guaranteed for the next
decade. Petrosian was one reason to be cer­
tain of that. In six matches abroad since
going to Vienna the previous October, he
scored ten wins, six draws and no losses.
But when a Soviet team was sent to the
Olympiad, beginning September 4 in Am­
sterdam, he was not included. The Soviet
lineup was Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smy­
slov, Bronstein, Keres, Geller and Alexander
Kotov.
Petrosian did play that month for Spartak
in a championship of Soviet sports societies,
in Riga. This was the first time that he, Mik­
hail Tai and Viktor Korchnoi played in the
same event. Petrosian had the best score, 7-
3, a point and a half point better than Korch­
noi. Tai finished 4-6 but impressed many of
the participants by defending difficult mid­
dlegames and losable endings. Petrosian drew
with him in 27 moves. When he returned
home he told his wife, "You know, Rona, in
Riga I played a lad who, if l'm not going mad,
will one day be world champion:' 2 1
Tal's only win, in the first round, had far­
reaching effect. Or so he claimed.
Tai-Yuri Averbakh
Soviet Team Championship, Riga,
1954
Belgrade Gambit (C47)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4
5. Nd5 Nb4!?
Tai had tried this gambit earlier in the
summer in a match with Byelorussian cham­
pion Vladimir Saigin to see which of them
would get the master title. He got the better
of 5. . . . Be7 6. Nxd4 Nxd5 7. exd5 Nxd4
 4. Culture War
8. Qxd4 0-0 9. Be2 Bf6 10. Qd3 when Black
allowed 10. . . . Re8 11. d6!.
6. Nxd4? Nxe4! 7. Nf5
Gambiteers tried to revive this line with
7. Nb5 Nxd5 8. Qxd5 and 8 . . . . Nc5 9. Be3.
But 8 . . . . Qe7 is a sterner test (9. Be3? c6!).
7. . . . c6! 8. Nxb4
Not 8. Nxg7+? Bxg7 9. Nxb4 Qe7 and
Black wins.
8. . . . Bxb4+ 9. c3 Qf6!
This is a better way to stifle a young at­
tacker's imagination than 9 . . . . Bes and
10. Qg4 dS 11. Qxg7 Bxf2+ 12. Ke2 (12. Kdl
Qf6).
After 9 . . . . Qf6 the objectively best but
unpleasant play is 10. cxb4 QxfS.
10. Qf3!? Nxc3 11. a3 Ba5?
Averbakh had taken two hours for his first
ten moves to reject attractive options like
9. . . . Bes and 10. . . . dS. Time pressure ex­
plains why he missed 11. . . . Qe5+!.
He would have two safe extra pawns after
12. Be3 Bas. Or 12. Kd2 Ne4+ 13. Kc2 Bf8!
and . . . ds.
12. Bd2! d5
Now 12. . . . Qe5+ 13. Qe3 costs a piece
(13. . . . Ne4 14. Nd6+!).
13. Ng3 Qe6+ 14. Qe3 d4! 15. Qxe6+ Bxe6
16. f3!? (see diagram)
89
Boldly playing to win the pinned knight
under better circumstances than 16. bxc3
dxc3.
16. . . . 0-0-0 17. Kf2 Bb6 18. bxc3 dxc3+
Black would get more compensation for
the knight with 18 . . . . Rhe8!, which was bet­
ter a move before. Now the extra bishop
counts more than the Black pawns.
19. Be3 Bxe3+ 20. Kxe3 Rhe8 21. Ne4! Bd5
22. g4! Bxe4? 23. fxe4 Rd5 24. Rel! g6
25. Bg2 f5 26. gxf5 gxf5 27. Rhfl fxe4
28. Rxc3 Rh5 29. Rhl Rh4 30. Rc4 Kc7
31. Rxe4 Rexe4+ 32. Bxe4 Rh3+ 33. Bf3 c5
34. Rgl b5
If neither player had been short of time,
35. Rg2 c4 36. Rf2 as or 35. Rg5 Rxh2
36. RxcS+ Kb6 might have quickly led to a
draw.
35. Rg7+ Kb6 36. Rb7+ Ka6 37. Rb8? Rxh2
38. Be2 Rh3+ 39. Ke4 c4 40. a4
As Black played 40 . . . . Rh4+ his flag fell.
At first it appeared 41. KdS! bxa4 42. Bxc4+
KaS 43. RbS+ Ka6 was winning for White.
But there is no significant discovered check.
Instead, perpetual check would have ended
the game.
This was Tal's first win against a grand­
master. He said he "received notification"
after it that he had been awarded the master
title and this "had a bad effect on me:' 22 He
lost three of his four remaining games. He
added that Averbakh, chairman of the Soviet
title qualification commission, approved Tal's
new title only after he lost to him.
"This is pure fiction;' Averbakh said many
years later. 23 It is true that there were doubters
who believed Tal was more swindler than
player. Alexey Suetin, for example, said he
had been "skeptical" about Tal's ability. 24 But
when Suetin asked Saigin about the match,
he said: "They are saying I was negligent, but
I am sure Tal will be beating grandmasters
in two or three years:' 25
90 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Averbakh studied the Tal-Saigin games to 12. . . . Kti

see if he was worthy of the title. Most of the
White has at least a draw after this and the
games have vanished. But Averbakh saw tal­
question is whether 12. . . . Be7 and 13. Qe2
ent, not swindles. "The first person I made
Nf8 14. Rxf6 0-0-0 or 13. Qel Nf8 (14. Rxf6
a master was the young Tal:' 26 To refute Tal's
Bxf3) is better.
account he posted a photo from a bulletin of
the Riga tournament. It shows the two play­ 13. Ng5+! fxg5 14. Qxh5+ Kxe6 15. Bxg5
ers. Their name cards read "Grandmaster
Tal's young Latvian fans, who called him
Averbakh'' and "Master Tai:'
"Mikh;' expected a quick mate after this. So,
apparently did Tai. "Unable to contain his
emotion, Mikh winked at us, sprang out of
L et's Khuliganit! his chair, and whizzed around between the
boards;' wrote Valentin Kirillov, who later
What is remarkable is that Tal's most
became a Tai second. 28
memorable game from the tournament went
almost unmentioned at the time: 15. . . . Ne5!
On 15. . . . Bg7 16. Rel+ Bes 17. dxe5 the
Tai-Lev Aronin
threat of Qg4+ is strong.
Soviet Team Championship, Riga,
White's sacrifices are also justified after
1954
16. . . . Ne5 17. dxeS, e.g., 17. . . . Qf7 18. Qg4+
Caro-Kann Defense (BIO)
QfS 19. Qb4! .
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6
16. Rel Qg7! (see diagram)
5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. 0-0 Bg4 8. d4
e6 9. Rel Nd7 10. h3 Bh5 11. Bxe6!! fxe6
12. Rxe6+
Now 12. . . . Kd8 13. NgS! works in view of
13. . . . Bxdl? 14. Nf7+ Kc8 15. Re8+ and wins.
Also 13. . . . fxg5? 14. BxgS+ or 14. Qxh5.
More testing is 13. . . . Bg6! 14. Rxf6! (threat:
Ne6+) Kc8 15. Bf4 Qb6. When Tai analyzed
this kind of position with a friend he would
use a favorite Russian verb, khu liganit. It can
be translated as "to horse around" and comes
from the English word "hooligan:' After 16. ... Qg7
Tal's son Georgy remembered how his fa­
17. Qg4+?
ther would analyze with Alexander Koblents.
He often launched into some fantasy varia­ White had a perpetual after 17. RxeS+ Kd7
tion with wild sacrifices, saying "Let's khu li­ 18. Qg4+ Kc7 19. Qg3! Kd7 20. Qg4+.
ganit!" 27 But there is better in 20. Qb3! in view of
Here 16. Rf7! fills the bill by threatening Qxb7+ or Qe6+. For example, 20. . . . bS
17. Rxd7!. It leads to variations such as 16. . . . 21. Qe6+ Kc7 22. Bf4! Kb6 23. c4 dxc4 24. a4!
Bxf7 17. Nxf7 Rg8? 18. Qe2! Bb4 19. c3, when and wins.
White's attack is murderous. But let's khu liganit further and look at
Or to the less clear 16. . . . Qd8 17. dS Bxf7 17. dxe5. There is a wonderful continuation
18. dxc6 bxc6 19. Nxf7 Qf6 20. Qf3. in 17. . . . Rg8 18. Qg4+ Kf7 19. Qd7+ Kg6.
 4. Culture War
Then comes 20. Qe6+ ! Kxg5 21. Re4 Qg6
22. Rg4+ Kh6 23. Qxg8! Qxg8 24. Rxg8 and
the Black bishop will be no match for the
passed kingside pawns.
Or consider 21. . . . Kh5, instead of 21. . . .
Qg6. Then 22. Qf5+ Qg5 23. Qxh7+ Bh6
24. Qf7+ ! and 25. Qf3+ with mate to follow.
Had one of these finishes occurred it would
have made Tal famous. And it would have
happened three years before the rest of the
world knew his name.
17. . . . Kd6! 18. dxe5+?
For decades afterwards, White's 17th move
was the losing move. However, 18. Rxe5!
would have held a draw in lines such as 18 . . . .
Qg6 19. Re3. Or it could transpose into the
17. Rxe5+ Kc7 18. Qg3 note after 18 . . . . Kc7
19. Qg3!.
Of course, Tal did not see this when he
started sacrificing. The orthodox approach
to calculation was to mentally map out a
"tree of variations" and examine each branch.
But in a complex position this is not only dif­
ficult, it is impossible, Tal said. If he had at­
tempted to do it, he would have given up on
11. Bxe6! ! very quickly.
18. . . . Kc7 19. e6 Rg8!
White is a rook down and only a few re­
maining tricks.
20. Bf4+ Bd6 21. Bxd6+ Kxd6 22. Rdl+
Kc7 23. Qf4+ Kc8 24. g4 Rd8 25. Rel Qc7
26. Qf5 Qe7 27. c4 b6 28. f4 Kb7 29. Qe5
Rd3 30. Qh5 Rd2 31. Re3 Rad8 32. Qf7 Qxf7
33. exf7 Rxb2! 34. Re7+ Ka6 35. Kfl Rf8
36. g5 Rxa2 37. h4 Rh2 38. f5 Rxh4 39. g6
hxg6 40. fxg6 Rg4 41. Re8 Rxf7+ White re­
signs ( 42. gxf7 Rf4+)
Six years later, British chess columnist
Leonard Barden interviewed Tal. He won­
dered about reports of his phenomenal mem­
ory and tested it by asking about this game.
"Tal responded by repeating the pre-game
banter between the players, the course of the
91
game itself, and a further conversation with
Aronin at the postmortem:' Barden said. 29
Bridge Building
During the 1950s and 1960s the standard
procedure for holding an international tour­
nament began with a letter from the tourna­
ment organizer to foreign chess federations.
The organizer might request a specific player
but it was up to the federations to choose
who to send. When Yugoslav organizers
planned an international in Belgrade, they
asked for the strongest available Soviet play­
ers. The Soviets agreed to provide David
Bronstein and Petrosian.
Officially, the tournament was held to cel­
ebrate the tenth anniversary of the liberation
of the city from the Nazis. Unofficially, it was
another diplomatic bridge-building mission.
It would help the Yugoslavs forget the bitter
Stalin-Tito feud. (According to Averbakh,
the Soviets would have entered their first
FIDE Olympiad in 1950 but declined because
it was held in a Yugoslav city, Dubrovnik.)3°
Belgrade 1954 broke the ice. It "was like
the American ping pong team that went to
China' ' in 1971, Bronstein said. The Soviet
ambassador to Yugoslavia kept in regular
touch with him to make sure he won the
tournament, he said. Politically it was a suc­
cess, Bronstein said: ''.After this tournament
[Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev went to
see Tito:' 31 Petrosian started impressively,
scoring 4½-½. He stood 6½-1½ after this
methodical win.
Petrosian-Borislav Milic
Belgrade, 1954
King's Indian Defense (E87)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
0-0 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 8. Qd2 f5 9. 0-0-0
f4 10. Bf2 Bf6 11. Nge2 Bh4 12. Bgl!
Petrosian begins a lesson in Capablanca-
92 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
like positional play. Step one: Do not allow
your opponent to trade his bad bishop.
12. . . . b613. Kbl a514. Ncl Na615. Bd3 Bd7
16. Rfl!? Qe7 17. Bc2 Nc5 18. Bxc5! bxc5
19. Ba4!
Step two: Trade off your own bad bishop.
Note how 16. Rfl prevents Black from later
activating his bishop with . . . Bf2-d4.
19 . . . . Bxa4 20. Nxa4 RfbS 21. a3 Nf6
22. Ne2 Nd7 23. Qc2 Nb6 24. Nxb6 Rxb6
25. Nc3 Qd7 26. Nb5 (see diagram)
After 26. Nb5
Step three: Use your knight to render enemy
rooks useless.
Black's next move allows White to create
a passed pawn. But suppose he had passed
with, for example, 26. . . . Rbb8?
Then White could begin kingside opera­
tions with 27. g3. For instance, 27. . . . fxg3
28. Qg2 gxh2 29. Rxh2 Bf6 30. Rfhl and the
queen and knight will outpower the rooks
and bishop after 31. Rxh7! Qxh7 32. Rxh7.
26. . . . a4 27. Ka2 RbbS 28. Rbl Ra6 29. Rhdl
RbaS 30. Rd3 Kg7 31. b4
Step four: Create a passed pawn. White
would win the a4-pawn after 31. . . . cxb4
32. Rxb4 followed by Rdl-bl, Nc3 and R4b7.
31. . . . axb3+ 32. Rdxb3 Ra4 33. Qe2 h5
34. Nc3 R4a5 35. Kb2 QcS 36. Ral Qa6
37. Kc2 BdS 38. Kd3
Step five: Secure your king in an area of
the board that can not be opened.
38 . . . . QcS 39. Qb2 R5a6 40. Rbl Rb6
41. Rb5 Qd7 42. a4 Qe7 43. Ral RabS 44. a5
And sixth, push the passed pawn. Some
computers regard White's advantage as min­
imal until now.
44 . . . . Rxb5 45. Nxb5 Kh6 46. a6 Qh4
47. a7 RaS 48. Nc3 c6 49. QbS cxd5 50. QxaS
d4 and White resigns
In the next round Borislav lvkov, who had
won the World Junior Championship in 1951,
outplayed Petrosian in an endgame. Petro­
sian scored 5-6 in the last part of the tour­
nament and limped into a tie with lvkov for
fourth place. Nevertheless, Petrosian was im­
proving. He had begun to surpass his friend
Geller.
What he could not change was his nature.
His son Vartan later recalled how his father
was asked why he didn't play the King's Gam­
bit. "Then I would have to feed my children
through another profession;' he replied.32
 5. Spassky, Spassky, Spassky!
Mikhail Botvinnik believed a player's form­
ative years ended by age 17. After that one
could improve his skills but not significantly
change his basic instincts and strengths. Bot­
vinnik was such a dominating authority in
1950s Soviet chess, that his word was gospel.
''A chess player is formed in the years 10 to
17 :• Boris Spassky said. 1 Turning 18 as 1955
began, he was about to test this theory.
By then he had quietly become one of the
15 highest-rated players in the world. Yet
among Soviet players under age 30, he lagged
behind Tigran Petrosian, Mark Taimanov,
Vik.tor Korchnoi and Yefim Geller. The first
hint that this pecking order would be shuffled
came in the national championship in Feb­
ruary when Spassky knocked off the tourna­
ment's early leader:
Yefim Geller-Spassky
22nd USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1955
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E26)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+
5. bxc3 cs 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 d6 8. Ne2 b6
9. 0-0 Qd7
Spassky was not a natural fit for the Nimzo­
Indian Defense and often seem confused
when figuring out what to do with the Black
pawns. But 4. a3 forced him into a late open­
ing with well-defined plans. Here he intended
93
. . . Na5 and . . . Ba6 to win the c4-pawn, while
castling queenside.
10. e4 Ba6 11. BgS 0-0-0 12. Ng3!
Later in the tournament Geller was praised
for finding another use for this knight-
12. Ncl and 13. Nb3, to discourage . . . Na5.
But 12. Ng3 prepares to fight on either
wing. He was willing to sacrifice a pawn to
open lines, 12. . . . cxd4 13. cxd4 Nxd4 14. a4
Nc6 15. Nh5.
12. . . . h6! 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. NhS?!
"Consistent but mistaken:' said the tour­
nament book. 2 It recommended 14. a4 and
computers agree, pointing out that 14 . . . .
cxd4 15. a5! Nxa5 16. cxd4 favors White.
14. . . . cxd415. cxd4 Nxd416. Nxf6 Qe7
If Geller had realized how quickly his
kingside can collapse he would have played
17. Nd5! exd5 18. cxd5.
For example, 18 . . . . Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Qf6
20. Rfdl. Or 18 . . . . b5 19. a4 (19. . . . Rdg8
20. axb5 Bxb5 21. Bxb5 Nxb5 22. Qa4).
Black's best answer to 17. Nd5! may even
be 17. . . . Qd7! and a draw by repetition after
18. Nf6 Qe7 19. Nd5! .
17. Qa4? Bb7
Now 18. Ng4 fS! 19. exfS Rhg8 20. f3 exfS
or 20. h3 exfS would reveal that White's king
is the vulnerable one.
94 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
18. Nh5 Rhg8 19. Qdl (see diagram)
After 19. Qdl
Geller admits 17. Qa4 was a failure
(19. Qxa7? Rxg2+ 20. Kxg2 Bxe4+ and
. . . Qxa7).
19. . . . f5! 20. Rel Qh4
Now 21. Ng3 f4 22. Nfl. Rdf8! makes 23. . . .
Qg5 24. g3 Nf3+! a winning threat (25. Qxf3
fxg3).
21. f4 e5!
How many youngsters playing in the
strongest tournament of their life would
resist the temptation to cash in with 21. . . .
Qxel 22. Qxel Nf3+?
Spassky's point is that 22. . . . exf4 will win
faster. If 22. fxe5 dxe5, White is lost in view
of 23. . . . fxe4 or even 23. . . . Rxg2+ 24. Kxg2
fxe4.
22. Rel exf4 23. Bfl Qxel 24. Qxel Nf3+
25. Kf2 Nxel 26. Rxel f3 27. gxf3 fxe4
28. fxe4 Rdf8+ 29. Ke3 Bxe4! 30. Bh3+ Bf5
31. Bxf5+ Rxf5 White resigns
Petrosian played his usual safety-chess and
remained out of the tournament spotlight
until he won an anthologized game against
Taimanov in the 12th round. Korchnoi, in
miserable form, did not win a game until the
13th round and finished in next-to-last place.
What had happened to the surging Korch­
noi of 1952-54? David Bronstein had watched
his play since noticing him in a visit to the
Leningrad Pioneer Palace in 1948. Bronstein
remembered the "unbelievable burning of
his chess fire" and his outspoken nature­
that is, Korchnoi's "willingness to share his
chess and nonchess thoughts:' But now in
1955, Bronstein said, Korchnoi was troubled
by "symptoms of underrating his opponents
and of a desire to win any position" without
an objective evaluation of his chances. 3
Korchnoi offered a more candid explana­
tion in the first version of Chess Is My Life.
He was "accused of being conceited, of not
keeping to a regular routine, and of being
drunk:' And, he conceded, "These latter ac­
cusations were not altogether unjustified. . . :' 4
His ingenuity was wasted in this tourna­
ment in game likes:
Spassky-Korchnoi
22nd USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1955
Grunfeld Defense (D87)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5
5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 0-0 8. Ne2
c5 9. 0-0 Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 ll. f3 Na5!
This idea was apparently born in the open­
ing laboratory that was Isaac Boleslavsky's
mind. Black tries to drive the c4-bishop away
so he can retreat . . . Be6. White has several
options, including 12. Bd3, 12. Bb5 and
12. Bd5, but none have assured a real advan­
tage.
12. Bxf7+!? Rxf713. fxg4 Rxfl+ 14. Kxfl!
The move 12. Bxf7+ was forgotten for 32
years until Anatoly Karpov used it in his 1987
world championship challenge to Garry Kas­
parov.
White's 14th move is even older. Spassky
was improving on a 1947 game in which an
exchange of pawns on d4 had been inserted.
In that game Black won back his pawn after
15. Qxfl. Nc4 16. Qf3 Qb6 17. Bf2 Qb2.
But after 14. Kxfl.! cxd4 15. cxd4 Nc4 White
is favored by 16. Qb3!.
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
14. . . . cxd415. cxd4 Qd716. h3 Qe617. Qd3
Qc418. Qd2 Qa6! 19. Qc2 Nc4 20. Qb3 Kh8
Spassky is forcing Korchnoi out of his
adopted style. A pawn down, he can not wait
to deliver a counterpunch. Instead, he sets
traps such as 21. Bf4? Rf8 22. Kgl Rxf4. Per­
haps better was 20. . . . e6 21. Kgl Nxe3
22. Qxe3 Rf8 and . . . Qb6.
21. Kgl! Nd2? 22. Bxd2 Qxe2 23. Be3
To see how difficult the position is for both
sides, consider 23. Qe3 Qc4. There are more
traps (24. Bc3 Rc8 25. Bb2 Qb4 26. Qf2? Rf8
and wins).
But 24. eS! is a move that has been in the
air for some time. The tournament book gave
24 . . . . Bh6 25. Qc3 Qxc3 26. Bxc3 Be3+
27. Khl Rc8 or 25. gs BxgS as good for Black.
However, in the last line, 26. QxgS! Qxd4+
27. Kh2 Qxal 28. Qxe7 wins for White be­
cause of 29. Bh6 (28 . . . . Qfl 29. Bh6 Rg8
30. Qf6+!).
23. . . . Rf8 24. e5 b5 25. Rel a5 26. Bg5? h6?
Both players missed 26. . . . Qf2+ 27. Khl
Qxd4 28. Bxe7? BxeS (29. Bxf8 Qf4! with
advantage).The final stage of the game,
marred by time pressure, is redeemed by the
final move.
27. Bxe7 a4 28. Qdl Qe3+ 29. Khl Rf2
30. Qgl! Qf4
Not 30. . . . Qxd4 31. Bes. White is prepar­
ing to push his center pawns.
31. a3 Kh7 32. Bc5 h5!? 33. gxh5 Bh6!
34. hxg6+ Kg7 35. Rel Qg3 36. Bb4 Be3
37. Qh2 Qg5 38. e6 Bf4 39. Qgl Qh4 (see
diagram)
40. e7 Rf3! 41. Qh2! Black resigns
Yes, 41. e8 (N)+! also wins (41. . . . Kh6
42. Bf8+).
This was another FIDE Zonal tournament.
Four players would qualify from it for the In­
terzonal later in the year in Goteborg, Swe-
95
After 39. ... Qh4
den. On the eve of the final round, the only
one assured of advancing was Geller. Spassky
was a half point ahead of Petrosian, Taima­
nov and Georgy Ilivitsky. Spassky was paired
with a veteran master, Georgy Lisitsyn, and
soon landed in trouble. But Lisitsyn missed
a winning 28th move and could not convert
his extra pawn. A handshake on the 52d move
guaranteed Spassky a spot in the Interzonal.
Going West
Spassky seemed an ideal weapon in the
propaganda campaign of the mid-1950s. He
was young, handsome and, despite his near­
starvation in childhood, in splendid physical
shape. Besides the high jump he was skilled
in swimming and boxing. In the arts, he had
some traditional Russian tastes. He read
Pushkin, Bunin, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky as
well as modern authors such as Pasternak.
Privately, he loved American jazz. But pub­
licly, he insisted his favorite music was com-
posed by Scriabin and Chopin. 5
The Sports Committee handed Spassky a
busy 1955 calendar. Two months after the
22nd Championship finals, he was en route
to Lyon, France, for the World Student Team
Championship. This was a tournament that
Soviet authorities very much wanted to win,
after failure in 1954. But Yugoslavia was the
favorite team, followed by Bulgaria. 6
The Soviets were paired with their main
96 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
rivals in the first two rounds. Spassky used a
forgotten weapon as Black, the Breyer Vari­
ation of the Ruy Lopez, to win a strategic
masterpiece against Borislav Milic, and the
match with the Yugoslavs ended in a 2-2 tie.
Spassky finished the tournament 7½-½, eas­
ily winning a gold medal for best second­
board score. His seventh-round game put the
Soviet team ahead for good.
Spassky-Julius Kozma
World Student Team Championship,
Lyon, 1955
Sicilian Defense (B63)
1. e4 cS 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. BgS e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. 0-0-0 0-0
9. Nb3 Qb6 10. f3 Rd8 11. Be3 Qc712. Qf2
Spassky's only hiccup in the World Junior
Championship two months later came when
a West German, Jurgen Klages, played 12. . . .
Nd7 and equalized after 13. g4 a6 14. gS bS
15. f4 NcS 16. NxcS dxcS 17. Rxd8+ Nxd8.
Spassky tried for a knockout with 18. eS
Bb7 19. Bg2 Bxg2 20. Qxg2 Qc6 21. Ne4. But
after 21. . . . Rc8 22. h4 QdS 23. Rdl? Qxa2
24. Nf6+ Kh8 there was no mate and little to
be gained from 25. Rd7 Bf8. The game ended
with 25. Qe4? gxf6 26. gxf6 Bf8 27. Qg2 Nc6
28. Rd6 NaS! 29. BxcS Nb3+ White resigns.
12. . . . dS 13. exdS NxdS 14. NxdS
Theory regarded all the moves since 9. Nb3
as best. Here Black should trade rooks, 14 . . . .
RxdS 15. RxdS exdS, to accelerate his coun­
terplay, e.g., 16. g4 Bd7 and . . . Re8. Or 16. . . .
Be6 17. Nd4 Rc8.
14. . . . exdS?15. g4!
Also good was 15. Kbl (15. . . . BfS 16. Nd4
Bg6 17. h4). But Spassky's intuition was being
reshaped, thanks to "Kazimirich:' "For suc­
cess in attack it's absolutely necessary to cre­
ate a weakness in the enemy camp;' Alexan­
der Tolush said. ''And it is necessary to take
risks:' 7 This challenged the traditional view
since Steinitz that there is no risk if an attack
is based on positional advantages. And the
possibility of Spassky changing his basic in­
stincts at his age challenged Botvinnik's the­
ory.
15. . . . Be616. Nd4 Nxd4
A 1962 Tal game went 16. . . . Rac8 17. Kbl
QaS 18. gS and White had the faster attack
after 18 . . . . Nxd4 19. Bxd4! BfS (19. . . . BxgS
20. Rgl Bh6 21. Bxg7!) 20. Bd3 Bxd3 21. Rxd3
Rc6 22. h4.
17. Bxd4 Rac8 18. c3 Qc6
Note that if rooks had been traded (14 . . . .
RxdS 15. RxdS exdS), Black would have 19. . . .
Qf4+ 20. Kbl? Bxg4! 21. fxg4? Qe4+ and
. . . Qxhl.
19. Bd3 bS 20. Kbl Bd7?
Black was in a quandary. After 20. . . . Bes,
both the endgame (21. f4 Bxd4 22. Qxd4 QcS
23. QxcS RxcS 24. fS) and middlegame
(21. Qh4 h6 22. gS) are poor.
But on 20. . . . aS and 21. . . . b4, White can
make faster threats with 21. Rhel, e.g., 21. . . .
b4 22. f4! . For example, 22. . . . bxc3 23. f5
and wins. Or 22. . . . Bf8 23. Qh4 h6 24. cxb4
and 25. gS!.
21. Bxa7!
Black incorrectly felt that his attack would
be aided by a half-open a-file.
21. . . . Ra8 22. Rdel
Inexact because 22. . . . Bf6 would threat­
en 23. . . . Qa6 and give Black some defensive
resources after 23. Bd4 Bxd4 24. Qxd4 Ra4
or 24. cxd4 b4.
22. . . . Be6? 23. Bd4! Ra6 (see diagram)
The Black attack evaporates after 23. . . .
Qa6 24. a3 in view of 24 . . . . Bxa3 25. bxa3
Qxa3 26. Qb2. But 23. . . . b4 24. cxb4 Bxb4
was better. Now White's kingside play de­
cides.
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
After 23 . ... Ra6
24. f4! Rda8 25. fS Rxa2 26. fxe6 f6
After 26. . . . fxe6 27. Rhfl Ral+ 28. Kc2
Rf8 White has a flashy win, 29. BfS, and the
simple 29. Rxal Rxf2+ 30. Rxf2.
27. gs Qa6 28. gxf6 gxf6 29. Rhgl+ Kf8
30. Qxf6+! Black resigns
Because of 30. . . . Bxf6 31. Bes+ Ke8 32. Rg8
mate and 31. . . . Be7 32. Refl+. Tolush said
the previous year that Spassky suffered from
"weak" winning technique. But as Spassky's
tactical and calculating ability improved, he
did not need it. He could finish opponents
off in the middlegame, as he did in virtually
every game at Lyon.
Spassky was struck by the zest for life he
encountered in the West. When he and Petro­
sian were interviewed before their 1966 world
championship match, they were asked about
their "most enjoyable incident" abroad. Petro­
sian said it came during the 1953 Candidates
tournament when a Swiss newspaper said he
looked like "a Persian shah:' But Spassky re­
called the 1955 student Olympiad when he
attended a joyous party in Beaujolais to cel­
ebrate the tenth anniversary of the end of
World War II in Europe. 8
Tal's Protective Gu ard
Also on the Soviet team in Lyon was Alexey
Suetin, who was becoming known as a wise
97
j udge of chess talent. That autumn he re­
ceived a surprise telephone call from Riga.
He was invited to train two Latvian young­
sters, Mikhail Tal and Aivars Gipslis, for an
upcoming USSR championship semifinal.
When Suetin arrived in Riga, Tal showed
him a draw he had just played and said he
regretted how he handled a kingside attack.
"To prove this he fired a fantastic volley of
variations which he had analyzed at the
chessboard. They were some 20 moves deep
with a bewildering variety of themes;' Suetin
remembered. 9
Bukhuti Gurgenidze-Tal
USSR Teams Championship, Lugansk,
1955
King's Indian Defense (E98)
I. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4
0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Nel
Ne8 10. Nd3 fS 11. Bd2 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. cs
gs
A later main line was 14. Rel Ng6 15. cxd6
cxd6 16. NbS.
14. NbS a615. Na3 g416. cxd6 cxd617. Nc4
g3
This is a thematic sacrifice based on 18. h3
Bxh3! 19. gxh3 Qd7. For example, 20. Kg2?!
Ng6 and . . . Nh4+. White is safe after 20. Nf2
gxf2+ 21. Rxf2 but White had more faith in:
18. Bas Qe8 19. Qel (see diagram)
After 19. Qel
98 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Here Tal played 19. . . . Nh5?, was worse
after 20. Nxd6 Qg6 21. Nxc8 gxh2+ 22. Kxh2
but escaped with a draw.
We do not know what Tal showed Suetin.
It may have been 19. . . . gxh2+ 20. Kxh2
Qh5+ 21. Kgl Nfxd5! 22. exd5 Rf6! followed
by . . . Rh6. But if he demonstrated a really
long analysis it was more likely something
like 19. . . . Qg6 20. hxg3 fxg3 21. Nxd6
Nfxd5!.
There are dazzling variations running past
move 30, such as 22. exd5 e4! 23. Nxe4! Bd4+
24. Rf2 ! Nxd5! 25. Nxg3 Qxg3 and then
26. Bdl Kg7 27. Bb3 Bh3!.
After one of Suetin's training sessions,
"Tal's father asked me, 'Is there any hope that
Misha will ever play in an international tour­
nament?"' He reassured Dr. Tal, "Yes, he will
and very soon:' Suetin had drawn with Tal
at the Lugansk tournament. "Obviously his
chess career would be brilliant;' he said a
generation later. 10
Alexander Koblents, who was the trainer
of Tal's Latvian team, remembered that tour­
nament for another reason. When he ar­
rived at their designated hotel, he could not
find Tal. At 3 a.m. he tracked him down, in
the room of the Ukrainian team, where he
was taking part in a marathon blitz tourna­
ment. 1 1
Tal's family formed a protective guard for
him, even when he was playing away from
Riga. Earlier in 1955 he went, with his
mother, to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital,
for a quarterfinals of the next Soviet Cham­
pionship.
When he adjourned a rook endgame
against his friend Gipslis he analyzed it in
depth, found an apparent win, called home
to describe it and then went to sleep. His fa­
ther and uncle called back at 3 a.m. to say
they found a flaw in his analysis. Ida Tal did
not want to wake her son up until they in­
sisted. Tal picked up the phone, listened and
smiled. They were right. 12
Gipslis-Tai
23rd USSR Championship
quarterfinals, Vilnius, 1955
After 43. ... h4
It is not clear what the flaw was but here
White would likely draw with 44. a6! because
of 44 . . . . bxa6 45. Rc3 and 46. c6.
However, play went 44. Rc3? h3 45. Kgl
e4 46. a6 e3! 47. axb7 Rbl+ 48. Kh2 e2!.
Black would mate after 49. b8 (Q) Rhl+ !
50. Kxhl el(Q)+. Gipslis set a trap with
49. Re3!? fxe3 50. b8(Q) , based on 50. . . .
el(Q)? 51. Qf8+. Tal finished off with 50. . . .
Rhl+ 51. Kxhl el=Q+ 52. Kh2 Qf2+ 53. Kxh3
Qxf3+ 54. Kh2 e2 55. Qf8+ Ke4 56. Qe8+
Kd3 57. Qb5+ Kc3 White resigns.
Birth of a Hex
Korchnoi recovered from his USSR Cham­
pionship debacle by getting healthier. He
gave up smoking "for the first time in my life"
and "went for medical treatment to a sana­
torium in Sochi;' the Black Sea resort city
that was a favorite of the Soviet elite. 13 He
benefited from his improved physical con-
ditioning in June, in one of the strongest­
ever Leningrad city championships. He won
it with a 17-2 score and finished three points
ahead of second-place Alexander Tolush.
Margins like that were becoming a Korch­
noi trademark: He sought the maximum score
in a tournament even when he was assured
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
of first prize. In contrast, Spassky would be
content with clinching first place. Petrosian
would be satisfied with one of the top prizes.
And Tal would be happy if he won some nice
games.
Korchnoi was the best student of the four
and he had come to detect their flaws. He
beat Tal two more times in 1955. The score
of the second game seems to be lost. Here is
the first, from a match-tournament pitting
teams of Latvian and Russian republic play­
ers.
Tal-Korchnoi
Team Match-Tournament, Riga, 1955
Ruy Lopez (C83)
l. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6
9. c3 Be7 l0. Nbd2 0-0 ll. Qe2
This is an old Paul Keres move in place of
the popular 11. Bc2.
ll. . . . Nxd212. Bxd2 Na513. Bc2 c514. Qd3
g6 15. Bh6 Re8 16. Qd2 Nc4
The game follows a Hastings 1946 game
that went 17. Qcl fS 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. Bg5 Ne5,
with equality. Tal tries a natural gambit.
17. Qf4!? Nxb2! 18. Bg5 d4!? (see diagram)
After 18. ... d4
White's main idea was 19. Qh4 followed
by Bxe7 and Ng5. But it is a bit of a bluff be­
cause Black can defend with, for example,
18 . . . . Rab8 19. Qh4 b4.
99
Then 20. Bxe7 Qxe7 21. Ng5 h5 22. f4 bxc3
23. f5 is foiled by 23. . . . Rb4! 26. Qf2 Bxf5
27. Bxf5 Qxg5.
19. cxd4 cxd4 20. Be4
Korchnoi was content to play 20. Bxe7
Qxe7 21. Nxd4 Bd5.
After 20. Be4, he should have tried 20. . . .
Rc8. He would be better after 21. Bb7?! Nd3
22. Qd2 Rc3 or 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Qh6 f6.
20. . . . Bd5? 21. Bxd5?
If 21. Bxe7 Rxe7 22. Nxd4? Rc8 Black re­
mains better. But Tal should have found
22. Qh6! with a slight edge after 22. . . . Bxe4
23. Ng5 f5 24. exf6 Rd7 25. Nxe4.
21. . . . Qxd5 22. Bxe7 Rxe7 23. Qh4?
After 23. Qh6 Rae8 24. Ng5 Rxe5
25. Qxh7+ Kf8 White can try 26. Rael so that
26. . . . Rxel?? 27. Qh8+. But 26. . . . Nd3 is
sufficient.
23. . . . Rae8 24. Ng5 h5 25. Ne4 Qxe5
26. Nf6+ Kg7 27. Nxe8+ Rxe8
Black is better because he can advance the
d-pawn with the support of his knight, e.g.,
28. Rael d3 29. Qb4 Rd8 30. Qd2 Nc4.
28. f4 Qf6 29. Qf2 d3 30. Rfel Rd8! 31. Qd2
Qd4+ 32. Kfl Nc4 33. Qdl d2 White resigns
No two players of their age and strength
seemed to take greater chances in the mid-
1950s than Korchnoi and Tal. Tal did it by
sacrificing and Korchnoi by accepting sacri­
fices. Psychology played a double-edged role
in the games of both men.
Psychology worked in Tal's favor when he
gambled against other players. Lajos Portisch,
for example, often seemed paralyzed when
Tal sacrificed. But Portisch had no psycho­
logical hang-ups against Korchnoi and they
played on even terms.
On the other hand, psychology worked
against Tal when he faced Korchnoi : "Tal
played with me as if doomed;' Korchnoi
100 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
recalled. 14 In one of their 1955 games Tal met
1. e4 e6 2. d4 dS with 3. exdS and eventually
got the draw he wanted. He later reflected on
his Korchnoi hex: "In 1953 I lost my first
game against him. I tried to get revenge im­
mediately but you could not do that against
Korchnoi. I think that such strange scores
are normal for chess. I have my favorite vic­
tims, too:' 15
In May Petrosian took part in a five-board
match in Budapest. It was another quasi­
diplomatic mission, to celebrate "the ten­
year anniversary of the founding of the
Hungarian-Soviet Friendship SocietY:' The
Hungarian team was actually stronger than
the one that would finish sixth in the Am­
sterdam Olympiad in 1954 because it in­
cluded Pal Benko. Petrosian avenged his loss
to Benko at Budapest 1952.
Petrosian-Pal Benko
USSR-Hungary match, Budapest, 1955
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E26)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. a3
Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. Bd3 b6 8. e4
White threatens 9. es, e.g., 9. . . . cxd4
10. cxd4 Nxd4? 11. es Ng8 12. Qg4 or 11. . . .
Bb7 12. Bfl! .
8. . . . e5 9. d5 Na5 IO. Nf3
More vigorous is 10. f4 d6 11. Nf3. Control
of eS becomes important in middlegames
such as 11. . . . exf4 12. Bxf4 0-0 13. 0-0 Ba6?
14. eS! dxeS 15. NxeS with advantage.
10. . . . Qe7 11. 0-0 Ba6 12. Nh4
The queen is misplaced after 12. Qa4 0-0-0.
The main problem with Black's setup is that
he must weaken his dark squares to prevent
13. NfS.
12. . . . g6 13. f4!
Now 13. . . . d6? loses to 14. fxeS QxeS
15. Qf3 or 14 . . . . dxeS 15. BgS.
The dark squares are also exposed by
13. . . . NhS 14. NfS! Qf6 15. fxeS QxeS and
then 16. Bh6 (16. . . . Bxc4 17. Ne3 Bxd3
18. Qxd3 and Ng4).
Petrosian is playing a positional gambit.
The critical continuations 13. . . . Bxc4 14. fxeS
QxeS 15. Bf4 QhS 16. Nf3 and 14. Bxc4 Nxc4
15. Nf3, with ample compensation in either
case.
13. . . . 0-0-0? 14. Nf3
Also good was 14. fxeS, e.g., 14 . . . . QxeS
15. Nf3 Qxc3 (or 16. . . . QhS) 16. BgS!, win-
ning material. Or 16. . . . Qe7 17. eS.
Petrosian's move could lead to 14 . . . . exf4
15. Bxf4 Nxe4 (else 16. eS) and now 16. Bxe4
Qxe4 17. Nd2 Qe7 18. Rel with a powerful
attack.
14. . . . d6?15. fxe5 dxe516. Bg5! h617. Bh4
(see diagram)
After 17. Bh4
The pin is decisive: 17. . . . gS 18. NxgS!
hxgS 19. BxgS Rd6 20. Qf3 and wins.
17. . . . Rd6 18. Nxe5! Qxe5 19. Bg3 Qe7
20. e5! Rd7 21. Rxf6 h5 22. h4
Many other players would calculate 22. Qf3
h4 23. e6. Petrosian remains faithful to pro­
phylaxis.
22. . . . Bb7 23. Qa4 Rg8 24. Rafi Rg7 25. d6
Qd8 26. e6! Rxd6 27. Bxd6 Black resigns
The Soviet national team was warming up
for a return match with the Americans, be­
ginning June 29 in Moscow. Unlike in the
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
1954 match, Mikhail Botvinnik was available.
But the world champion turned out to be the
only Soviet player to have a minus score,
against Samuel Reshevsky. On sixth board
Petrosian scored 2-0 against Al Horowitz
and, when Horowitz was replaced, 2-0 against
Max Pavey.
Sp assky's First Title
In July Spassky became the first Soviet
player to compete in the World Junior Cham­
pionship. Today there are separate world jun­
ior titles for boys and girls in categories down
to under-8-years-old. But in 1955, competi­
tion was considered harmful for young chil­
dren. The Antwerp tournament that Spassky
entered was for players up to 20.
In the ten-player finals section he started
off with two wins, including one over Por­
tisch. He was held to a draw in the next
round by Edmar Mednis of the United States
but took the lead the next day when he mated
a future billionaire.
Spassky-Joop van Oosterom
World Junior Championship, Antwerp,
1955
King's Indian Defense (E85)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
0-0 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. Qd2 Nd7
9. 0-0-0
The Samisch Variation was ideal for Spas­
sky because it was flexible, potentially ag­
gressive and not dependent (in 1955) on
changes in opening theory. Opening knowl­
edge was Spassky's weakness and Tal's
strength. Semyon Furman, a trainer who was
renowned for his opening expertise, advised
young players: "If you want to know the
latest word on theory in this or that varia­
tion, look at Tal's games:' 16
By delaying d4-d5, Spassky enabled Black
to seek counterplay in unusual ways like
9. . . . Nb6 10. b3 exd4 ll. Nxd4 Bd7.
101
9. . . . a6? 10. d5! Na7!
Promoting . . . bS. But on 10. . . . NaS 11. Ngl
White threatens 12. b4 and gains time for
12. h4. Also bad is 10. . . . Ne7 ll. h4 hS 12. g4.
ll. g4 b5 12. Ng3 bxc4 13. h4 f6
The . . . Kf7 escape route is not longterm
salvation. After the game, 13. . . . Nb6 14. hS
NbS was suggested. For example, 15. hxg6
fxg6 16. Qh2 Kf7 (17. Qxh7 Rh8).
14. h5 Qe7? (see diagram)
After 14. ... Qe7
Black may be positionally lost after 14 . . . .
gs or 14 . . . . Nb6. But at least he would not
be mated quickly.
15. hxg6 hxg6 16. Qh2
The threat is 17. Qh7+ Kf7 18. Rh6.
16. . . . Kf7 17. Nf5! gxf5 18. Qh5+ Kg8
19. gxf5 Rf7 20. Be2
Now it is 21. Rdgl and 22. Qh8 mate. On
20. . . . Kf8 21. Rdgl Qe8 22. Qh7 Black can­
not stop an eventual Rxg7!.
20. . . . Nc5 21. Rdgl Qd7 22. Qh8 mate
With a 7½-½ score, and a one-point lead
over Mednis, Spassky drew in 13 moves in
the last round to secure first prize. No one
could have guessed that it would be 14 years
before another Soviet player, Anatoly Kar­
pov, became World Junior Champion.
Before leaving Belgium, Spassky demon­
strated in other ways that he was not quite
1 02 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
like other Soviet masters. He had grown up
amid elders like Grigory Levenfish who knew
what pre-Revolution Russia was like. While
in Antwerp, Spassky wondered how people
lived so well in Belgium "and not study
Marxist-Leninism?" 17 More daringly, he asked
a Soviet official who accompanied him to
Belgium, whether it was true that Lenin died
of syphilis. Why did he take such a risk? "Out
of curiosity;' he said in a 2006 interview. "It
could have turned out very badly for me if I
had asked it two or three years earlier;' he
added-meaning when Stalin was alive. 18
Spassky's words were apparently reported
to Moscow. But the vice chair of the Sports
Committee was his guardian Dmitry Post­
nikov. He was able to take over "the Spassky
case" and end it there. "But freethinking in
those days was not forgiven and Boris be­
came a subject of interest of the KGB;' said
Alexander Nikitin. 19
G etting to Plus- Two
Days after the junior championship ended,
Spassky flew to Sweden for FIDE's third In­
terzonal. Igor Bondarevsky, an elder states­
man of Soviet chess, expressed the general
bewilderment that two Americans who had
qualified for it-Samuel Reshevsky and Larry
Evans-preferred to play in the United States
Open Championship because its first prize
was a brand new Buick automobile. 2 0
Their absence weakened the Goteborg
lineup. The top nine finishers would advance
to the 1956 Candidates tournament. Igor
Bondarevsky guessed that without the Amer­
icans, there would be so few strong con­
tenders that a modest score of plus-two would
probably be sufficient to reach the Candi­
dates. That recommended caution.
Petrosian began Goteborg with five draws
against fellow Soviets, and three of them­
lasting 14, 14 and 19 moves-looked pre­
arranged. But the Soviets played some real
games against one another: Spassky was
crushed by Paul Keres in round four. After
that he alternated wins and losses.
Antonio Medina-Spassky
Interzonal, Goteborg, 1955
Ruy Lopez (C94)
I. e4 es 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0
9. h3 Nb8 10. d3
The Breyer Variation was so untested that
many White players did not trust 10. d4! .
Spassky's positional crush of Milic at Lyon
went 10. a4 Bb7 11. d3 Nbd7 12. Bc2 Re8
13. Nbd2 Bf8 14. Nfl c5 15. Ng3 g6 16. Bg5
Qc7 17. Nh2 d5 18. Qf3 Bg7 19. h4 d4! 20. h5
c4! and eventually . . . Nc5.
10. . . . Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Nfl Nc5
13. Bc2 Re8 14. Ng3 BfS 15. Nh2 d5 16. Qf3
g617. Bg5 Be7! 18. h4 aS 19. h5 Ra6!
White's kingside pressure is neutralized
(20. Ng4 Nxg4 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Qxg4 Bc8
23. Qdl d4!). Spassky used a similar . . . Ra6
maneuver to defend his kingside in the final
game of the 1965 Candidates finals match
against Tal.
20. Bh6 d4 21. cxd4 Ne6!?
Fairly balanced was 21. . . . exd4. A victory
would make Spassky plus-two.
22. hxg6 hxg6 23. dxe5 Nd4 24. Qdl Nd7
(see diagram)
After 24. ... Nd7
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
Among Black's ideas is trapping the h6-
bishop with . . . gs. He would win after 25. f4?
Bc5! . But would he have enough compensa­
tion after 25. Ne2 or 25. Nf3 ousted the d4-
knight? Perhaps not after 25. Nf3 Bc5 26. Be3
Nxf3+ 27. gxf3!? Bxe3 28. Rxe3 Nxe5 29. f4.
25. Ng4 Bb4! 26. Re3?
White was understandably reluctant to
play 26. Rfl and then 26. . . . Nxe5 27. Nxe5
Rxe5 28. Be3 or 28. Bf4 Rc5 29. Bbl.
After the text, 26. . . . Nxe5! 27. Nxe5 Rxe5
favors Black because he threatens 28 . . . . Qh4.
For instance, 28. Ne2 Nxe2+ 29. Qxe2 Rh5
30. Rh3 Rxh3 31. gxh3 gs 32. Qh5 Rg6.
26. . . . Qh4? 27. Bb3?
Chances are roughly equal after 27. Nfl! .
27. . . . Nxe5! 28. Nxe5 Rxe5
Now 29. Nf5 would eventually lose after
29. . . . gxf5 30. Rh3 Qxh3! 31. gxh3 Rxh6.
29. Rf3 Qxh6! 30. Rxf7 Nxb3 31. Rxc7
Nxal 32. Rxb7 Rc6 White resigns
Spassky fell back to an even score with six
rounds to go. He won two games in the stretch
and tied with Gideon Stahlberg and Miroslav
Filip for the three final Candidates spots. As
a result, Spassky became the world's 48th in­
ternational grandmaster, and a new holder
of the title of youngest-ever GM.
Window on Europe
As the Soviet Union gingerly eased into
international chess, their young stars learned
how to behave before Western audiences.
Viktor Korchnoi and Mark Taimanov demon­
strated this when the Sports Committee
agreed to send them in late 1955 to the an­
nual holiday tournament at Hastings, En­
gland. When they were paired, they put on
a show for the spectators.
1 03
Mark Taimanov-Korchnoi
Hastings, 1955-56
Sicilian Defense (B67)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. 0-0-0 Bd7
9. f4 Rc8 10. Nf3 Qa5 11. Kbl b5
This was a very new variation and the
strength of 12. e5! was not known.
12. Bd3 Nb413. Rhel Nxd3 14. Qxd3 b4
Taimanov was one of the world's experts
on this position simply because only one
other game apparently was played before­
his game as Black with Geller from the pre­
vious Soviet championship. It went 15. Ne2
(15. Bxf6! gxf6 16. Ne2 is better) BbS 16. Qe3
Be7 with equal chances.
His next move was ascribed to home prepa­
ration. It was-but not in the way spectators
believed.
15. Nd5 exd5 16. exd5+ Kd8
White has what seemed like compensation
after 16. . . . Be7 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Qe3 Qd8
19. Rd4 f5 20. Rxb4 or 19. Nd4.
17. Bxf6+ gxf618. Qd4 Kc719. Qa7+ Kd8
20. Qd4 (see diagram)
In his travelogue book, Taimanov lavished
praise on both players. After they shook hands,
he asked Korchnoi, "Why didn't you try to
1 04 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
realize your material advantage with 20. . . .
Be7?" "Honestly speaking, I feared 21. Ng5
in that case:' Korchnoi replied. "Your attack
could become very strong. But perhaps it
should have been risked. You know, only
three rounds remain! " Spectators saw them
analyze 21. . . . BfS 22. Nxt7 + Kd7 and con­
clude Black could win, e.g., 23. Nxh8 b3!. 21
But the postmortem chatter was bogus.
Taimanov, who had an adjacent hotel room,
"persuaded me to 'compose' the game be­
forehand to make it look like a fierce battle;'
Korchnoi wrote in his first memoir. 22 In fact,
Black would be better after 20. . . . Rg8
21. Qxf6+ Kc7 or 20. . . . Bg7.
Korchnoi went on to share first prize of 50
British pounds, the equivalent of more than
$1,500 today. But Taimanov got the last laugh.
Korchnoi spent part of his prize on the best
electric shaver he found in a high-end store.
This was the kind of consumer good that was
virtually unknown in the USSR. Taimanov
was impressed by Korchnoi's purchase. So he
found a small London shop where he bought
the same shaver for a fraction of Korchnoi's
price.23 Foreign trips like this were the goal
of every Soviet GM, said Yevgeny Vasiukov,
who became a world-class player in the early
1960s. The Soviet government took 80 to 85
percent of any cash prize won abroad, he
said. 24 But if you spent it, there was no way
the vlasti could take 80 percent of an electric
shaver.
Who went abroad-and especially, who
went to a capitalist, "hard currency" coun -
try-was usually decided by the Soviet Chess
Federation or by the Sports Committee,
which was above it in the government chain
of command. Nikolai Krogius said that by
the time he headed the chess section of the
Committee in the 1980s there were about 100
invitations a year. But there were 500 or 600
requests for them from players. "For exam­
ple, Hastings invited two but ten want to go;'
he said. ''And all say, 'Do it. I'm the most de­
serving for this trip: So two go and the eight
who remain are enemies of the department
and, in particular, of me:' 25
You Will B e a Grandmaster
Hastings ended on January 6. Korchnoi
and Taimanov had little time to rest before
the start of the 23rd USSR Championship fi­
nals in Leningrad on January 10. It was held
in the Chigorin Chess Club, which occupied
two floors and a balcony of a large building.
The focus of attention was a stage which
could accommodate several huge, wood
demonstration boards.
Spassky, seeded because he was world jun­
ior champion, led the pack for most of the
tournament, with Korchnoi close behind.
Spassky-Tal
23rd USSR Championship finals,
Leningrad, 1956
King's Indian Defense (EBO)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
e5 6. d5 Nh5 7. Be3 t'5 8. Qd2 Na6?! 9. 0-0-0
Nf6 10. exf5
Now on 10. . . . BxfS 11. g4 Bd7 12. Bd3 fol­
lowed by h2-h4 and Nge2 leaves Black with
a chronic weakness on light squares.
10 . . . . gxf5 11. Bd3
White's basic plan is to attack the fS-pawn,
since . . . f4? would surrender control of e4.
In the Soviet yearbook, Vladimir Simagin
said Black "has already suffered a positional
defeat:' But Svetozar Gligoric later showed
that with . . . Nd7-f6 instead of . . . Na6 Black
has a playable game.
11. • . . 0-0 12. Nge2 Qe7 13. Rdel c5?
A common positional blunder in the 1950s,
even among good King's Indian Defense play­
ers. Black expects counterplay from . . . b5 but
it never materializes.
14. Ng3! Ne8 15. Nh5 Nac7 16. g4! Kh8
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky!
White's attack is too strong after 16. . . .
fxg4 17. fxg4 Bxg4 18. Nxg7 Nxg7 19. Rhgl,
e.g., 19. . . . Bf5 20. Bh6 Nce8 21. Bxf5 Rxf5
22. Ne4.
17. Rhgl Qf718. Nxg7 Nxg719. f4! (see di­
agram)
After 19. /4
Decisive since Black cannot afford 19. . . .
exf4 20. Bxf4 Nce8 21. Nb5 or allow White
to play fxe5.
19. . . . e4 20. Bc2 b5 21. cxb5 Rb8 22. gxf5
Bxf5
Black is also lost after 22. . . . Nxf5 23. Bxe4
Nxe3 24. Rxe3 and Reg3.
23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Nxe4 Qxd5 25. Qxd5
Nxd5 26. Nxd6 Rbd8 27. Bxc5 Nxf4
28. Bd4!
The pin on the g7-knight leads to a deci­
sive liquidation. Tai did not look like he
would be in Spassky's league in the near fu­
ture.
28. . . . Ng6 29. Re7! Nxe7 30. Bxg7+ Kg8
31. Bxf8+ Kxf8 32. Rfl+ Kg8 33. Rdl Rf8
34. a4 Rf2 35. Nc4 Rxh2 36. Rd7 Nf5
37. Rxa7 Nd4 38. Rc7 Black resigns.
Spassky's games were the most popular,
Simagin wrote. But if prizes were based on
hard work, Korchnoi would have finished
first. He played 132 moves before conceding
a draw to Tai, a debutant this year. In the
tenth round Korchnoi had to defend a diffi-
1 05
cult endgame, with two knights and three
pawns against Alexander Tolush's rook and
four pawns. He drew in 74 moves. As he left
the playing hall, his former teacher, Andrei
Batuev told him, "You will be a grandmas­
ter!" 26 This was an echo of Batuev's "You will
be a master! " nearly a decade before. He was
right again: By the end of 1956 Korchnoi was
awarded the grandmaster title.
With two rounds to go it seemed likely
Spassky, who turned 19 during the tourna­
ment, would break another record and be­
come the youngest-ever Soviet champion.
He had led Yuri Averbakh by a half point,
with Taimanov, Tai and Ratmir Kholmov
below him. But after so much success in the
previous year, Spassky revealed a flaw: He
often tired in long events. It was also his bad
luck to catch Korchnoi in the penultimate
round. Unlike others, Korchnoi played as
hard at the end of a tournament as in round
one.
Korchnoi-Spassky
23rd USSR Championship finals,
Leningrad, 1956
King's Indian Defense (A49)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0
5. b3 d6 6. Bb2 e5
Black's last move was labeled the losing
move after the game-only to be repeated
successfully in hundreds of later master games.
7. dxe5 Ng4 8. 0-0 Nxe5
White also has the slightly better chances
after 8 . . . . Nc6, e.g., 9. c4 Ngxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5
11. Qxd8 or 10. . . . Nxe5 ll. Nc3.
9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3!
White saved a tempo by avoiding c2-c4
and that allows him to make an immediate
threat of 11. Ba3 Re8 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Nd5.
That would win a pawn, since 13. . . . Na6
14. Ne7+ and 15. Nxc8/Bxb7 is much worse.
But 10. . . . Nc6! offers Black fine chances.
1 06 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
10. . . . Nd7 ll. Qd2 Nf6? (see diagram)
After 11. ... N/6
Spassky, under the Tolush influence, was
beginning to find himself in positions de­
rived from his trainer's favorite opening that
he did not fully understand. He needed to
play . . . c6 at some point so that he could de­
velop his queen at e7, e.g., IL . . . c6 12. Radl
Qe7 or 12. Ba3 Nf6! .
12. Qxd8! Rxd813. Rfdl Rxdl+
Black would be lost after 13. . . . Re8 14. Nb5
and in bad shape after 13. . . . Rd7 14. Na4! .
Since he had decided to give up a pawn, 13. . . .
Bf5 14. Bxb7 Rab8 was slightly better.
14. Rxdl Bf5 15. Bxb7 Rb8 16. Bc6 Bxc2
17. Rel Bf5 18. Nb5
Also good was 18. NdS Nxd5 19. BxdS Rd8
20. e4. One of the sources of tension between
Spassky and his trainers over the years was
his reliance on opening advice that did not
allow him to show what he could do in the
middlegame, his strongest phase. Spassky
never got to play a middlegame today.
18. . . . Bh619. Rc4 Be6 20. Ra4 Rd8
Or 20. . . . Rb6 21. Nxa7 so that 21. . . . Nd7
22. Nc8! Rb8 23. Ne7+ wins.
21. Bxe5 Rdl+ 22. Kg2 Rel 23. Bf3 Nd5
24. Nd4!
Or the immediate 24. Rxa7. There were
several ways to win.
24. . . . Bg7 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. Rxa7 Kf6
27. Nxe6 fxe6 28. Ra5 Nc3 29. a4 e5 30. Rc5
Black resigns
Spassky managed to finish in a tie with
Averbakh and Taimanov, forcing a playoff
for first place. Taimanov won the playoff.
Spassky made one draw in three playoff games
and forfeited the meaningless final game. But
the draw, against Averbakh, became legend­
ary. It began I. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6
4. d4 Bg7 5. Be2 0-0 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 Qa5
8. Bd2 a6 9. a4 e5? 10. g4 Ne8 11. h4 f5
12. h5 f4 13. g5 Qd8 14. Bg4 Nc7 15. Bxc8
Qxc8 16. Nf3 and in a very poor position
Spassky played16. . . . Nc6!!?. On his web site
devoted to chess curiosities, Tim Krabbe
called it "the most fantastic move ever played:'
Taimanov said he would rather resign than
play it. But Averbakh took an hour before
playing17. dxc6 and could do no more than
draw. In one of his last interviews, Korchnoi
said of the move, "Such things can not be ex­
plained by logic. They are more easily ex­
plained by parapsychology. It is something
that a person can bring out of himself . . . .
This is a quality which a world champion
must have:' 27
Two Candidates
When FIDE's third Candidates tourna­
ment began March 27, six of the ten players
who appeared for the opening ceremony in
Amsterdam's Vossius Gymnasium were So­
viet citizens. Without Samuel Reshevsky or
Miguel Najdorf to challenge them, it was an­
other case of overkill: There was little likeli­
hood that a non-Soviet player would win the
right to a 1957 world championship match.
It turned out to be the only one of the five
Candidates tournaments from 1950 to 1962
that ended with no serious suspicion of So­
viet finagling.
If matters had gone slightly differently,
 5. Sp assky, Sp assky, Sp assky! 107

Petrosian would have begun with four straight distressed by the chess injustice of it:' 29 Petro­
wins. Instead, he started 1-3. The heaviest sian still seemed shaken in the next round:
blow came in the second round when he had
virtually paralyzed David Bronstein after 29 Vasily Smyslov-Petrosian
moves. With seconds left, Bronstein was re­ Candidates Tournament, Amsterdam,
duced to moving a Black knight back and 1956
forth from d4 to c6. Petrosian had plenty of King's Indian Defense (E63)
clock time, slowly built up his forces and
l. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. g3 0-0
planted his queen on d6. Bronstein again
5. Bg2 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. 0-0 a6 8. h3 Rb8
picked up the knight and put it on c6 without
9. Be3
releasing it. But he changed his mind and put
it on f5 instead. Petrosian ignored it. Theory later embraced 9. e4 bS and then
Stunned, Bronstein shrugged his shoul­ 10. eS or 10. cxbS axbS 11. Rel.
ders and played knight-takes-queen. Petro­
9. . . . b5 l0. cxb5 axb5 ll. d5 Na512. b4 Nc4
sian, even more shocked, immediately re­
13. Ba7 Rb7 14. Bd4 e5! 15. dxe6 fxe6
signed. "I will never forget the look of horror
16. Bxf6?
and amazement that Petrosian had as his
queen left the board;' a spectator said. After Smyslov often tried to solve tactical prob­
Petrosian departed, another spectator pushed lems (the threat of 16. . . . eS) without calcu­
the button on Bronstein's clock to see how lating deeply. Better was 16. NgS es 17. Be3
much time he had to make the remaining or 16. Nd2.
four moves of the control. His flag fell in­
16. . . . Qxf617. Rel d518. e3 Qe7!
stantly.
That evening Petrosian walked and walked So that 19. Qb3 Rxf3 20. Bxf3 Nd2.
with Paul Keres around the streets of Am -
19. Nd4 Qxb4 20. Qd3 Qc5 21. Nb3 Qe7
sterdam. Neither spoke more than three
22. Nd4 Qc5 23. a4! bxa4 24. Nxa4 Qd6
words. Keres knew that nothing he could say
25. h4 Kh8 26. Ne2 Rb4! 27. Nac3 Ba6
would comfort Petrosian, according to his
28. Ral Rb2 29. Rfcl? (see diagram)
biographer. Later in the tournament, the
players attended a dinner in their honor in
Leeuwarden, where chefs had fashioned chess
pieces out of ice cream. Bronstein took the
"queen;' offered it Petrosian and said, "Now
we're even:' Petrosian could only smile. 28
From 1,300 miles away, Mikhail Botvinnik
watched the Amsterdam games closely. He
believed in the grandmaster folk wisdom
that chessboard luck has a way of evening
out. It did this time. After his gift from Petro­
sian, Bronstein did not win again until the
After 29. Rfcl
ninth round and then lost a winning position
against Keres. "Botvinnik was quite right If this were a five-minute game, Petrosian,
when he later said the [queen blunder] game one of the best-ever speed players, would
killed two people: Bronstein and me;' Petro­ have played 29. . . . Rd2! and won quickly. For
sian said. "The acquired point lay heavily on example, 30. Qbl Bxc3 31. Nxc3 Rfxf2. Or
Bronstein's shoulders and I was profoundly 30. Ne4 Rxd3 31. Nxd6 Bxal. Or he might
1 08 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
have won with 29. . . . Na5! 30. Qdl Bxe2
31. Nxe2 Nb3.
He had earlier opportunities to put the
game away, such as 28 . . . . Na3. But Petrosian
was often plagued by a "love of strengthening
his position:• as Lev Abramov put it. 30 Rather
than go for the kill, he would try to find
better and better squares for his pieces in the
belief that this would inevitably win. The
logic of chess told him this.
29. . . . Rtb8?? 30. Rxa6! Qxa6 31. Nxd5!
Suddenly he saw that 31. . . . Rd2 32. Nxc7
saves White. The tournament book recom­
mended 31. . . . Qa3 32. Qxc4 exd5 in view of
33. Bxd5 Rxe2. But 33. Qxc7 is not an easy
win. More convincing is 31. . . . Qa2 or 31. . . .
Qd6 32. Ndf4 Qxd3 33. Nxd3 Rbl.
31. . . . exd5? 32. Bxd5 Rd2 33. Bxc4 Rxd3
34. Bxa6
The win was gone and White managed to
hold the endgame after another 19 moves,
for a draw.
Boris Spassky also had a slow start in Am­
sterdam. Five draws were followed by two
losses and then a worthy win from Smyslov.
His most intriguing victory came in the 12th
round when Bronstein sacrificed his queen
in the opening (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
4. e4 d6 5. f3 e5 6. d5 Nh5 7. Be3 Na6 8. Qd2
Qh4+ 9. g3 Nxg3! 10. Qf2 Nxfl 11. Qxh4
Nxe3). Both players missed the best moves
in a critical position and Spassky's cooler
head prevailed.
The only question in the tournament's
final weeks was whether the 1957 world
championship challenger would be Smy­
slov, Keres or Yefim Geller. They were tied
with four rounds to go and it appeared that
whoever won a game or two would prevail.
But in a harbinger of what happened in the
1962 Candidates, losses were decisive. Smy­
slov went undefeated in the last four rounds
and won the tournament by a point and a
half. Spassky and Petrosian finished in a five­
way tie for third place. It was a learning ex­
perience for Spassky. "It was a revelation to
me how seriously and nervously the candi­
dates took the tournament work;' he said
later. 31
Spassky's achievements during 1955-6 were
stunning. Viktor Korchnoi said it was too
stunning. Korchnoi had begin to study Spas­
sky as he had Tal. He detected a lack of emo­
tional endurance that comes with occasional
failure. When fortune turned against him,
"he turned out to be helpless, and several
years of his life went by before he was able
to temper his character in battle;' Korchnoi
wrote two decades later. 32
This may have been another case of Korch­
noi's reinterpreting history to suit his narra­
tive. But Alexander Tolush made a prescient
prediction. Spassky's prospects seemed lim­
itless, his trainer said. But Boris was bound
to face serious problems. "You'll suffer from
girls;' Tolush said.
''And;' Spassky later said, "he was righf' 33
 6. Volshebnik
Boris Spassky recalled how he and his col­
leagues shook their heads over the inexpli­
cable rise of Misha Tal. "Where did Tal come
from?" Spassky asked Vasily Smyslov. "From
the devil;' responded the deeply religious
Smyslov.
Tal's style of play seemed sacrilegious. He
quickly played the kind of moves that believ­
ers in chess orthodoxy would not consider.
Or if they did, they would take 20 minutes
to recheck and recheck them. "It is possible
Tal is right in his approach to chess practice;'
David Bronstein wrote in Shakhmaty v SSSR. 1
''Although I have different views:' he added,
letting his readers figure out this was a put­
down. Nevertheless, fans quickly saw Tal as
a volshebnik. He was a sorcerer, a conjurer, a
magician.
Tal was virtually unknown in the West
when the World Student Team Champion­
ship began on April 5, 1956, in Uppsala, Swe­
den. The USSR team, led by Viktor Korch­
noi, was expected to contend again with
Yugoslavia for gold medals. The outcome
was foretold when the Soviets crushed the
Yugoslavs 4-0 in the third round of the
finals. "Borislav Ivkov lost to some unknown
Tal;' a Yugoslav newspaper reported. Sahovski
Glasnik, a leading theoretical journal, re­
ported the event under a headline: "Tall Re­
member That Name:' 2
Former world champion Max Euwe helped
1 09
people remember it after he watched Tal play
blitz with a Polish player. He jotted down the
moves of this game and they were printed
around the world.
Janusz Szukszta-Tal
Uppsala, 1956
King's Indian D efense (E86)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
0-0 6. Be3 es 7. Nge2 c6 8. Qb3 exd4
9. Nxd4 dS!? 10. cxdS cxdS
Now 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Qb6 may
give Black a pawn's worth of play.
11. exdS Nc6??!
But 11. . . . Re8 12. Kf2 Qe7 was good enough
(13. Nc2 BfS 14. Rel Nbd7 and . . . Nc5).
12. dxc6 Re8
Tal's basic rule was that time is typically
more important than material. This was true
in many Tal positions but not here after
13. 0-0-0 or 13. cxb7.
13. Kf2? Rxe3! (see diagram)
Tal likely saw 14. Kxe3 Ng4+ 15. fxg4?
Qxd4+ 16. Ke2 Bxg4+ 17. Kel Re8+ or even
16. . . . Bh6! would win.
But he could have been tested by 15. Ke2!,
instead of l5. fxg4. Then 15. . . . Qxd4 16. Ne4!
would favor White (16. . . . Be6 17. Rdl).
1 10 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 13. ... Rxe3
A better try is 14 . . . . Bh6+! 15. Kd3 bxc6
with the idea of . . . cs. For example, 16. Qc4
BfS+ 17. Ne4 cS! 18. QxcS Rc8.
14. Rdl? Ng4+! 15. fxg4 Bxd416. Rxd4 Qxd4
White is lost: 17. Qa4 Re2+! 18. Kxe2 Bxg4+
19. Kel Re8+ 20. Be2 Rxe2+ 21. Nxe2 Qxa4.
17. Qd5 Re2+! 18. Kxe2 Bxg4+ 19. Kel Re8+
20. Be2 Rxe2+ White resigns
A typical at-the-board pose of Tai during his
surge to the world championship. Chess Review,
March 1961 (used by permission of the United
States Chess Federation).
Alexander Kotov chaperoned the Soviet
team and realized Tal was not like any other
player he had met. "Before we flew back to
Moscow Misha asked me to take his passport
because otherwise he would lose it. Then I
took charge of his money as well;' he said.
"One got the feeling that at home he was sur­
rounded by loving guardians who had not
taught him how to cope with everyday life.
Yet at that time he was already 20 and had
finished his university course! " 3 Before the
trip, Kotov said "Tal's uncle" called him to
warn that Misha's health was fragile. "Every
time he has a meal he feels unwell, and we
give him injections every night and morn­
ing;' Kotov was told. But Kotov found Tal in
fine health. 4
Tal and the team reserves, Yevgeny
Vasiukov and Anatoly Lutikov, had the best
scores on their boards. In the always-fraught
USSR-U.S. match, Korchnoi was lucky to
draw in a lost position. The Soviets won
the match 3-1 and took first prize by five
points.
Political undertones were also evident in
June in the first of what would become an­
nual USSR-Yugoslavia matches and match­
tournaments. Chess fans were as rabid in Yu­
goslavia as anywhere, and every Monday they
devoured the full page of chess news in the
nation's leading newspaper, Politika. English
was not yet the lingu a franca of chess. For­
eigners learned Serbo-Croat instead, to read
Yugoslav publications or just to talk with one
another. "Smyslov, Tal and Taimanov com­
municated with Fischer in Serbian;' Adrian
Mikhalchishin wrote. 5
When Korchnoi arrived in Belgrade, an
interviewer asked him who was the best
member of his team. He named himself, even
though Paul Keres, Smyslov, Yefim Geller,
and Tigran Petrosian were with him. "What
else can a young man say?" Korchnoi wrote. 6
Smyslov's 5½-½ was the best Soviet score in
the event while Petrosian's 4-4 was the worst,
thanks to an accident.
 6. Volshebnik
Petrosian-Svetozar Gligoric
USSR-Yugoslavia match, Belgrade,
1956
King's Indian Defense (E66)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0
5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Na5
9. Nd2 e610. Qc2 exdS 11. cxd5 RbS 12. b3
b5 13. Bb2 Res
Among Black's goals is creating a passed
queenside pawn with a prepared . . . b4/ . . . c4.
This is why some computers recommend
14. Ndl and Ne3/Racl.
14. Rfel Bf5 15. e4 Bd7 16. a4!?
Black would have a fine game after 16. . . .
bxa4 ! 17. Nxa4 Rb4 because 18 . . . . Nxb3
19. Nxb3 Bxa4 is threatened.
16. . . . b4? 17. Nb5!
Not 17. Ndl? NxdS. Black would pursue
his strategic goal after 17. Ne2 Bc8 18. h3 Ba6
19. Nf4 Rc8, for example.
17. . . . Bxb5 18. axb5 Rxb5 19. Bfl RbS
20. Ra4
Petrosian was not risking anything after
17. NbS! because he could always win back
his pawn, such as with 20. Qbl, 21. Ra2 and
22. Qal.
20. . . . Nb7 21. Qbl!
Not 21. Rxa7 NxdS. But now 22. Qal is
coming. Note that 21. Qdl-which some
databases claims was played-fails to 21. . . .
Nxe4 22. Bxg7 Nxd2. After 21. Qbl White
invites 21. . . . Nxd5 22. Bxg7 Nb6 because
23. Qal Nxa4 24. Bf6 favors him consider­
ably.
21. . . . as 22. Qal c4?
Svetozar Gligoric rivaled Yefim Geller as
the world's best King's Indian player, and he
understood how badly Black would stand if
he allowed 23. BbS and 24. Nc4. So he played
the move he wanted to make since move 17.
111
But it can turn out badly in either of two
ways. After 22. . . . c4 Petrosian might have
finished with a strong Exchange sacrifice,
23. Nxc4 Nc5 24. NxaS! Nxa4 25. Nc6. He
chose a simpler route to victory.
23. Bxc4 Nc5 24. Rxa5 Nfxe4? 25. Bxg7
Nxd2 (see diagram)
After 25. ... Nxd2
Now 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Bh6! wins in
view of 27. . . . Nf3+ 28. Kg2 Qe5 29. Ra8 ! ! or
28 . . . . Ne5 29. f4.
26. Bh6?? Rxel+ White resigns
"I always liked to play in Yugoslavia but
unfortunately I didn't play very successfully
there;' Petrosian said late in life. He cited this
game and his 1956 Candidates loss to David
Bronstein as his most painful defeats.
Old Gu ard
The Soviets continued to rely on their vet­
erans in the most prestigious events. Mikhail
Botvinnik led their team at the FIDE Olym­
piad, held at the vast Central Army Theater
in Moscow beginning August 31, 1956. The
youngest team member was Taimanov. They
took the gold medals by 4½ points. The
Olympiad was followed almost immediately
in Moscow by an Alekhine memorial tour­
nament, and it was the strongest individual
event of the year. Botvinnik, Keres, Bron­
stein, Smyslov and Taimanov were the Soviet
1 12 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
invitees. When Geller asked Taimanov how
he expected to finish, Taimanov said fifth or
sixth would be satisfactory. "With such an
attitude I wouldn't even play!" Geller replied. 7
Taimanov finished third, behind Botvin­
nik and Smyslov, and the Sports Committee
decided to send him to the Netherlands for
the annual Hoogovens tournament in early
1957. But after Soviet-led forces crushed the
Hungarian revolt in October 1956, anti ­
Russian sentiment swept Western Europe.
Taimanov's invitation was withdrawn. No
Soviets played in the Hoogovens tourna­
ment, later held at Wijk aan Zee, until 1960.
Left out of these events, the priority for
the younger Soviet generation was the next
USSR Championship, the 24th. Korchnoi
blitzed through a quarterfinals in Frunze
with another take-no-prisoners score of 17
wins and a single loss. In one of the semi­
finals tournaments, in Leningrad, Spassky
tied for first. In another, at Tbilisi, Petrosian
dominated with 14½-4½ and Korchnoi also
advanced, although 2½ points behind him.
And Mikhail Tal? After 15 of 19 rounds in
a semifinals in Tbilisi he had an even score
and only a long-shot chance of qualifying for
the finals. "Perhaps chess history could have
been changed then;' Petrosian recalled. ''.And
that could easily have happened:' 8
Alexander Koblents, not Tal, was among
the leaders. "Well, Maestro, apparently this
time I'm training you for the USSR champi­
onship;' Tal j oked. 9 But in the final week,
Koblents fell back while Tal put on a 3½-½
spurt. He squeezed into a tie for fifth place,
just enough to qualify for the finals. For the
first time, all four young rivals would com-
pete in a non-team tournament and, argu­
ably, it was the strongest each of them had
played in.
Koblents was trying to get used to Tal's
lack of self-discipline. Shortly before the fi­
nals the two men were walking late in the
day through Riga's streets. "Well, it's time to
go to sleep;' Koblents said.
"Of course! " Tal replied, "Not to dances:'
Koblents went home. But an hour later he
got a phone call from an alarmed Ida Tal.
What happened to Misha? Koblents went out
to search. At the chess club he found only
checker players playing blitz. He was about
to leave when he noticed several kibitzers
surrounding one table. He approached it and
discovered Tal was the center of their atten-
tion. When Koblents caught his eye, Tal just
smiled sheepishly. 10
New Gu ard
Before the 24th USSR Championship fi­
nals, Tal, Spassky, Korchnoi and Petrosian
were four up-and-coming players who had
met occasionally over the board. Tal had only
played two games with Petrosian and two
with Spassky up to then. But after this tour­
nament they were no longer j ust colleagues.
They were rivals.
Retrospective ratings say Petrosian ranked
fifth of the 22 players in the tournament.
Korchnoi was sixth, Spassky seventh and Tal
ninth. The higher-rated favorites for first
place were Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein and
Taimanov.
But when play began January 21, Tal won
his first four games, including against Tai­
manov and Bronstein. When Bronstein saw
Tal riskily grab one of his pawns, he j ust
shook his head in wonder. 11 As Tal continued
to take risks, Bronstein decided he must be
punished. When Korchnoi asked him what
opening to play against Tal, Bronstein said
it did not matter-as long as he won: "You
can play what you like, but for this game you
will be responsible to all the players in the
tournament. You have not the right to lose
if'12
The players' tables were arranged in three
rows on the stage of Moscow's House of Cul­
ture of Railroad Workers. Tal played the first
four games in the third row but was moved
 6. Volshebnik 1 13

up to the front, showcase row, after that. variation runs 21. . . . Rg8 22. Ne5+ Bxe5
Meanwhile, Korchnoi faded from view. He 23. Qxe5 Rxg6 24. Qh8! and White holds the
drew seven straight games after this lucky trumps. Another bizarre draw, after 20. . . .
first-round encounter with a player who Rae8, would go 21. a3 Qxa3 22. Qb5 and
once denigrated his talent: 22. . . . Rb8 23. Qe2 Rbe8. But only computers
play that kind of chess.
Vitaly Taras ov-Korchnoi
24th Soviet Championship finals, 21. Rdl d4? 22. Bxe8+
Moscow, 1957 This bishop is so strong that White could
Sicilian Defense (B29) have maintained a bind with 22. Qc4! Rhf8
23. Bh5.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nc3 e6
5. Nxd5 exd5 6. d4 d6 7. Bg5 Qa5+ 8. c3 22. . . . Rxe8 23. Qd3! Qf5??
cxd4 9. Bd3 dxc3 IO. 0-0 Nc6
Understandably, Korchnoi did not trust
Korchnoi was resurrecting a line of play 23. . . . e5! 24. Qh7+ Kxd6 25. Qxh6+ al­
that had been discredited since a 1935 crush though it would have favored him.
by Paul Keres 10. . . . cxb2 11. Rbl dxe5?
24. Qa6?? (see diagram)
12. Nxe5 Bd6? 13. Nxf7!. This was another
Korchnoi characteristic. He was skeptical of
one-sided wins in openings that might be
quite good.
11. Rel Be6 12. bxc3 h6
Black would be worse after 12. . . . Be7
13. Bxe7 but it is not dear why he rejected
12. . . . dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Bd6.
13. Bh4 g5? 14. Bg3 Bg7
Too risky was 14 . . . . 0-0-0 15. Rbl and
After 24. Qa6
16. Qb3. To play 14 . . . . Bg7 he likely visu-
alized the position after 18. . . . b5 in the What both players missed was 24. Ne5+ !
game. Nxe5 25. Qb5+, winning (25 . . . . Nc6?
26. Qb7+).
15. exd6! Bxc3! 16. Rxe6+! fxe6
24. . . . e5! 25. h3 Qc2 26. Rfl? d3 27. Kh2
But both players underestimated the dan­
Kxd6 28. Qc4 d2 29. Qe2 Kc7 30. Rdl a6
gerous 17. Rbl!, e.g., 17. . . . 0-0-0 18. Qb3 Rd7
White resigns
19. Bb5 or 17. . . . Rb8 18. Qe2.
Spassky and Petrosian were upset in the
17. Bg6+ Kd718. Rbl b5
first round but recovered and briefly shared
The Black pawns shield his king but White the lead with Tai in mid-tournament. This
can try to slip through them, e.g., 19. Bh5 was Petrosian's high-water mark. He was out­
Qxa2 20. Qd3! and Qg6. played in an endgame by Tai and then tried
too hard to get the point back. The lesson he
19. Qe2 b4 20. Bf7! Rae8
learned-do not seek revenge quickly­
After 20. . . . Nd8 a draw may arise after would help him six years later in his first
21. Bg6 Nc6 (to stop Ne5+) 22. Bf7!. A key world championship match:
1 14 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Anatoly Bannik-Petrosian
24th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1957
Sicilian Defense (B99)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7
9. 0-0-0 Nbd7
This was a standard opening position in
1957 but apparently a first for Petrosian, who
usually played 6. . . . Nbd7. Bannik's logical
After 20. Bxg6
10. Qg3 was soon superseded by 10. g4 and
10. Bd3. because of 21. Rf4! Qe2 22. Bxf7+! Nxf7
10. Qg3 h6 11. Bh4 g5!? 12. fxg5 Rg8 23. Nc7+ and wins (23. . . . Kf8 24. QfS).
But if his queen maintains watch on f7 he
This high-risk idea works in similar posi­ can hold: 21. . . . Qa2! 22. Bxf7+ Nxf7 23. Nc7+
tions when Black can control f4 and es after Kd8, with another perpetual.
. . . hxgS. Later, 12. . . . NhS 13. Qe3 QcS came
into fashion. 20. . . . Ne2+ 21. Kbl Bc8??

13. Be2 Ne5 14. g6
This stops . . . hxgS but somewhat more of
a test, according to practice, is 14. Nf3 Nfd7
15. RhfL
14. . . . Rxg615. Qh3 b516. a3 Bb717. Rhfl?
Nxe4!
Black's move was considered a blunder
after the game but it is much safer than 17. . . .
0-0-0 18. Bxf6 and 19. NdS!, for example.
18. Bh5! Nxc3! 19. Nxe6!
This was the only reasonable idea after
18. BhS. Computers now like 19. . . . fxe6
20. Qxe6 Nxdl! with slightly better chances
after 21. Bxg6+ Nxg6 22. Qxg6+ Kd7 23. Rf7
Re8. Petrosian finds a remarkable winning
try.
19. . . . Qc4! 20. Bxg6! (see diagram)
This position could reasonably end in per­
petual check. For example, 20. . . . Bxh4 21. b3!
Qc8 22. Ng7+ Kf8 23. Qxh4 and now 23. . . .
Ne2+ 24. Kbl Nc3+ 25. Kcl (else 25. . . . Nxg6
favors Black) Ne2+ 26. Kbl.
Petrosian may have rejected 20. . . . Nxdl
Black should have tried 21. . . . Nxg6
22. Ng7+ Kf8 23. Bxe7+ Kxg7! when all
three outcomes are possible. Now he is lost.
22. Ng7+! Kf8 23. Bxe7+ Kxg7 24. Bf5! Nf4
25. Rxf4 Qxf4 26. Bxc8 Black resigns
In a typical 1950s-60s Soviet Champion­
ship everyone-with the exception of Petro­
sian-lost at least one game. In the 1957 ver­
sion, every participant lost twice, including
Petrosian. But Tal kept winning. A day after
making a spectacular draw with Lev Aronin,
he played another dazzling game:
Bukhuti Gurgenidze-Tai
24th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1957
Modern Benoni Defense (A78)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5
5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. e4 Bg7 8. Be2 0-0
9. 0-0 Re8 10. Nd2 Na6 11. Rel
White can carry out his plan of Nc4 and
Bf4, targeting Black's main weakness at d6,
if he plays 11. f3 first. The main line later be­
came 11. f3 Nc7 12. a4 b6 13. Nc4.
11. . . . Nc7 12. a4 b6 13. Qc2 Ng4
 6. Volshebnik
White would have a modest advantage
after 14. Bxg4 Bxg4 15. Nc4, according to
computers and tournament experience (15. . . .
Qf6 16. Be3). Tal later preferred 13. . . . Na6
and 14 . . . . Nb4.
14. h3? Nxf2! 15. Kxf2 Qh4+ 16. Kfl Bd4
17. Ndl Qxh3! (see diagram)
After 17. ... Qxh3
If Tal did not believe in checking the entire
"tree of variations" how far did he see? He
suggested that sometimes he stopped when
he visualized a pretty finish to a main line
variation. Here he might have decided to play
14 . . . . Nxf2 after seeing as far as 18. gxh3?
Bxh3 mate.
18. Bf3 Qh2 19. Ne3
More likely, Tal saw as far as 18 . . . . Qh2
and looked at both 19. Nf2 and 19. Ne3. After
19. Nf2 he could at least force a draw with
19. . . . Ba6+. Then not 20. Nc4? Nxd5! but
20. Be2 Bxf2 21. Kxf2 Qh4+ 22. Kfl Qhl+.
When considering a move that could be
calculated several moves into the future­
and certainty was an unlikely goal-Tal often
tried to guess what the worst-case scenario
was. If that was acceptable, he would play the
move and hope to improve on the end posi­
tion if it appeared on the board. In this case,
he would likely have found that 19. Nf2 fS! is
stronger and, as in the game, is decisive.
19. . . . f5! 20. Ndc4
Black threatened 20. . . . Ba6+ 21. Ndc4 fxe4
1 15
22. Bxe4 Bxc4+ 23. Nxc4 Rf8+ or 21. Nec4
Nxd5.
20. . . . fxe4 21. Bxe4 Ba6 22. Bf3 Re5!
Winning the piece back with 22. . . . Qh4
and 23. . . . Bxe3 is not as thematic as adding
both rooks to the mix, e.g., 23. Ke2 Rae8.
Also winning was 22. . . . g5 and 23. . . . g4.
23. Ra3 Raes
And here 23. . . . Rf8 24. Ke2 Rxf3! would
also have done it.
24. Bd2 Nxd5! 25. Bxd5+ Rxd5 26. Ke2
Bxe3 27. Rxe3 Bxc4+ White resigns
Bronstein was clearly jealous. "Well, that
Tal, he sacrifices, all the time he sacrifices;'
he said. "He thinks he's the first person to
play in that style. He should have looked
at my games:' 13 But with four rounds to go,
Bronstein botched an Exchange sacrifice
and lost to Gurgenidze. He managed to join
Tal and Alexander Tolush in the lead on
the day of the final round. The pairings gave
Tal White against Tolush, while Bronstein
had the first move against Ratmir Kholmov.
Retrospective ratings tell us Tolush was the
underdog in his game. But fans felt he was
the heavy favorite: He was the veteran and
Tal had been too lucky for too long. The
wild card in the mix was Kholmov, who
would have earned the Soviet version of
the grandmaster title if he had won that
day.
On the way to the game Tal seemed light­
hearted. He quoted passages from the satiric
novel The Twelve Chairs, which had been the
subject of his university dissertation. But he
was nervous. When he arrived at the board,
he realized he had absent-mindedly torn off
nearly all the buttons off his coat. "This is
luck;' he said with a smile. 14 Koblents advised
caution. "If you see a draw, don't be upset­
you' ll still win a prize;' he told Tal. "No one
aged 21 ever got into the top three . . . :• 1 5 On
the other hand, Tolush was so confident that
1 16 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
he reserved a table at a choice Moscow res­
taurant to celebrate his victory.
Both Tal and Bronstein quickly seized an
advantage. "My attack played itself,' Tal later
wrote. 16 The only way to defend that Tolush
knew was counterattack. But that was not
possible in the position Tal steered him into.
Tal's attack was so strong that he overlooked
two forced mates in time trouble and was still
winning. Five minutes after Tolush stopped
his clock to resign, Bronstein did the same
to concede a draw in his game. The volsheb­
nik was national champion.
He hurried to call home to Riga. But he
was also struck by "a feeling of disappoint­
ment" because the tournament he had always
dreamed of winning was over. "I won, yet on
the way home I suddenly felt sad:' 17 Spassky
tried to comfort his trainer. But Tolush
shrugged off his loss. "You know, Borya;' he
said. "Today I lost to a genius:' 18
Cry!
The mystery surrounding Tal's father deep­
ens with this account by Viktor Vasiliev:
Nekhemya Tal had been ill during 1957 and
was lying in a hospital, the same one he had
worked in, when his son won the 24th Cham­
pionship finals. He was released but his con-
dition worsened and he had to be readmitted
a short time later.
By a twist of fate, Tal was suffering from
an inflammation of the lungs and was lying
in a hospital bed, one floor above Dr. Tal,
when he learned he had died. Tal turned to
stone. Ida, sitting next to his bed, wanted her
son to release his bottled emotions. "Cry! "
she said. 19
But Tal only looked silently at the wall. He
was released from the hospital. For about
two months he ate almost nothing. Rumors
circulated that he had suffered a nervous
breakdown or had gone mad. Doctors could
not renew his interest in living. But his mother
did. "Only chess could get him out of his bed;'
Vasiliev wrote. An annual May Day blitz
tournament at a Riga chess club was coming
up, Ida said. She got Misha's older brother
Yasha to carry him to a taxi and take him to
the club. 20
After he won the tournament 17-0, a young
player from the Riga Pioneer Palace asked
Tal to show him the games. Tal was able to
remember all of them. "It was something ex­
traordinary;' said Alexander Bakh, another
Riga Pioneer Palace graduate who would
play a role in Tal's career. ''After this tourna­
ment Tal recovered;' he said. 21
Tal's only comment in his memoir was,
"My father died, and for several months I
was out of sorts:' 22 Koblents did not dispute
Vasiliev's account in two books about Tal (al­
though he did deny another, less significant,
Vasiliev story). Vasiliev wrote of Tal's devo­
tion to Nekhemya Tal. "In difficult moments
of life Misha asked himself, 'How would Papa
act in this situation?"' he wrote. 23
Grossmeister
Tal's legions of fans seemed to grow expo­
nentially. Yuri Razuvaev, a future grandmas­
ter, was 11 when his parents brought him to
the annual outdoor blitz championship in
Moscow's Gorky Park. ''All the stars took part
in this tournament. Bronstein, Petrosian,
Spassky, Averbakh, Simagin . . . Everyone;' he
recalled. "Misha got 17 of 19. How he played!
It was a miracle, a genuine miracle. I could
not fall asleep that night. For many years
after that I did not go to sleep until I heard
the latest news about how Tal played:' 24
His new status pushed Tal higher in the
eyes of Soviet chess officials than his rivals.
He was promoted to first board, with Spassky
on second, at the World Student Team Cham­
pionship that July in Reykjavik. All but one
member of the team won their board prize.
A month later, at the first-ever European Team
 6. Volshebnik
Championship finals, Tal was fourth board,
behind Smyslov, Keres and Bronstein but
ahead of Spassky (fifth board), Petrosian (sixth)
and Korchnoi (eighth). Tal's games in both
events were not particularly memorable.
Then at the FIDE Congress in August, the
Soviet Chess Federation took the unusual
step of asking FIDE to grant him the title of
grandmaster-" Grossmeister" in German
and Russian. Tal's victory in the Soviet cham­
pionship was arguably the best result anyone
would have in an individual tournament in
1957, they said. 25
However, Tal was not an international
master, and no one had been granted the GM
title without first becoming an IM since FIDE
began granting titles in 1950. In addition,
"international grandmaster" was understood
to require an impressive result in interna­
tional (individual) tournaments. Tal had
never even played in one. Why not wait until
he had?
But there was some Soviet concern that
Tal might never be as worthy of the title as
he was in 1957. Taimanov said there was no
chance Tal would ever repeat the success he
had in the 24th Championship. He vowed to
"eat his hat" if Tal managed to win again. 26
When Salo Flohr wrote in the popular mag­
azine Ogonyok that every Tal victory "brought
strong disarray in the camp of his rivals;'
Bronstein was outraged by the "hyp erbole:'
He said, ''As if there was Tal on one side and
on the other a camp of rivals:' 27
To ensure Tal's title, a generous package
deal was negotiated with the United States
at the FIDE congress. "I was 'exchanged"' for
Larry Evans and Arthur Bisguier, Tal wrote. 28
The two Americans, then both IMs, had been
champions of their country. As a result of the
agreement, all three became grandmasters.
Tai Style
In October 1958 Viktor Korchnoi was
granted a vacation at the Gagra resort and
117
met his future wife. He did not mention her
name, Bella, in the first version of Chess Is
My Life. In his 2004 version he did and
wrote, "I decided to settle down. I got mar­
ried . . . . An Armenian, born in Tbilisi, she
lived in Moscow. After the marriage, I took
her to Leningrad:' 29 Bella "and many others"
tried to convince him to move to the capital.
But he remained loyal to the city where he
had endured the blockade. He arranged the
wedding for after the 25th Championship fi­
nals. They soon had a son, Igor, and crowded
into a small, two-room apartment, leaving a
smaller flat in a communal floor. 30 Until then
he apparently still lived with his stepmother.
Reaching the finals of this national cham-
pionship was crucial because it was another
Zonal. It would determine who would ad­
vance to the Interzonal tournament in Yu­
goslavia eight months later. Petrosian won a
semifinals at the end of the year in Kiev,
while Korchnoi crushed the opposition at
another semifinals in Sverdlovsk, and Spas­
sky tied for first in a third such, in Leningrad.
Petrosian was playing Petrosian-style chess.
Spassky was imitating Tolush. And Korchnoi
seemed to be channeling Aron Nimzowitsch.
Jacob Yukhtman-Korchnoi
25th USSR Championship semifinals,
Sverdlovsk, 1957
French D efense (Cll)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. exdS?! exdS
5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Be7 7. Bf4 0-0 8. Qd2
Nb4!
A small but lasting advantage will follow
. . . Nxd3+. White hastens to trade one of
Black's bishops.
9. 0-0-0 Ne8 10. Ng3 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 c6
A good middlegame plan for Black is based
on . . . Nd6, . . . b5 and . . . Nc4.
12. NfS BgS 13. BxgS QxgS+ 14. Ne3 fS!
Korchnoi temporarily makes his "bad"
bishop worse in order to secure the c2-f5
1 18 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
diagonal and limit White's knight. Now on
15. g3 f4! 16. Ng2 Black can secure a small
edge with 16. . . . Bf5 17. Qd2 Bg4 (18. gxf4
QhS or 18. Rdel Bf3). More ambitious is 17. . . .
Nd6, with 18 . . . . Nc4 or 18 . . . . Ne4 in mind.
The 18. Qxf4 Qxf4+ 19. Nxf4 g5! endgame
is solidly better for Black.
15. h4 Qh616. f3 Nd6 17. Kbl? f4! (see dia­
gram)
After 17. ... f4
White's pawns and vulnerability on the e­
file would be fatal after 18. Ng4 Bxg4 19. fxg4
Rae8 and . . . Re3.
18. Nfl BfS 19. Qd2 Nc4 20. Qcl Qd6 21. Kai
Rae8 22. Rgl Bg6!
Black's positional superiority is so great
that White is reduced to shifting pieces along
his first two ranks. Computers say his best
survival chance is, sadly, 23. hS BxhS 24. b3
Na3 25. Nbl.
23. Nh2 Ne3 24. Rd2 Qf6 25. Rhl QfS! 26. h5
Bxh5 27. b3 Bg6 28. Kb2 Qf6 29. Qgl Qd6
30. a3 b5! 31. Qal as 32. Rel b4 33. axb4
Qxb4 34. Rde2 a4
So that 35. Nxa4 Nc4+ and wins.
35. Rxe3 fxe3 36. Qxa4 Qd6 37. Ng4 Ra8!
White resigns
As defending champion, Tal did not
need to qualify for the championship finals.
He could relax. But he couldn't. Alexander
Koblents knew "Mishenka's" physical limits
and convinced him to try a vacation at
Latvia's Kemeri resort. On the third day
he rushed back to Riga. "Tal hates any kind
of 'quiet' rest;' Koblents concluded.31 He
had a compulsion to keep busy. Years later,
Tal's wife Gelya said: "The television in
our home practically was never turned off.
He simultaneously watched television and
read-newspapers, books and thick maga­
zines:'32
The 25th USSR Championship finals had
an average rating of about 2670, making it
much stronger than the Interzonal later that
year. It produced several remarkable games.
Alexander Kotov, a veteran of more than 25
years of master tournaments, tried to meet
Spassky's knight check by castling. Spassky
also thought it was a legal move until arbiter
Dmitry Rovner said to Kotov, "Alexander
Alexandrovich, this can not be played. You
know your king is in check:'33 Kotov was em­
barrassed, made a king move instead and still
won.
Yefim Geller was among those who saw
how the Tal style was influencing his col­
leagues. "Even the outwardly calm Boris
Spassky began to play riskily;' Koblents
wrote.3 4 In Spassky's games with Alexey
Suetin and Isaac Boleslavsky he "could not
refrain from offering incorrect piece sacri­
fices. It was good that his opponents took his
word, and he obtained 1½ points in the two
games:'
Spassky-Isaac Boleslavsky
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1958
Sicilian Defense (B63)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. 0-0-0
0-0 9. Nb3 Qb610. f3 a6 ll. g4 Rd812. Be3
Qc7 13. gs Nd7 14. h4 b5 15. g6! fxg6
Also dangerous is 15. . . . hxg6 16. h5 gxh5
17. Rxh5, as Tal showed in a 1957 training
game with Koblents. During this period Tal
 6. Volshebnik
and Spassky were poaching each other's open­
ing ideas.
16. h5 gxh5 17. Rxh5 Nf6 18. Rg5 Ne5
19. Qg2 Bf8 20. f4
Tal became a move behind in this se­
quence when he varied with 20. Be2 Nc4
21. Bxc4 bxc4 22. Nd4 Rb8 at the 1962
Olympiad.
He won after 23. Rhl Rb7 24. Rh6 Kf7
25. Rh4 Qb6 26. Ndl Qc7 27. f4 h6 28. Rg6! .
But Black would have had the upper hand
after 25. . . . eS! 26. NfS Ke8.
20. . . . Nc4 21. Bxc4 bxc4 22. Nd4 Rb8
23. Rgl Rb7 (see diagram)
After 23. ... Rb7
White can make kingside progress with
24. Qh3 (24. . . . Qf7? 25. es dxeS 26. Nc6). But:
24. Nxe6?? Bxe6 25. Bd4 d5! 26. Bes
Did Spassky overlook 26. Bxf6 Qxf4+ and
27 . . . . Qxf6? Or was 26. fS Qf4+ 27. Kbl
Nxe4! what he missed?
26. . . . Qe7 27. exd5 Nxd5 28. Ne4 c3!
Good enough was 28 . . . . Nxf4 because
after 29. Nf6+ Kh8 30. Qe4 gxf6 31. Qxf4
fxeS 32. QxeS+ Bg7 the liquidation 33. Rxg7
Qxg7 34. Rxg7 Rxg7 35. Qxe6 fails to 35. . . .
Rgl+.
29. Nxc3 Nxc3 30. Bxc3 Bxa2 31. Qf3
Now 31. . . . Qd6, for example, leaves White
without threats and just a piece down.
1 19
31. . . . Qf7?? 32. Bxg7! Bxg7 33. Rxg7+
Qxg7 34. Rxg7+ Rxg7 35. b3!
The bishop is trapped and 35. . . . Rgl+
36. Kb2 Bbl offers no winning chances.
35. . . . Rf8 36. Qd5+ Kh8 37. Qd6 Rgf7
38. Qe5+ Kg8 39. Qg5+ Kh8 40. Qe5+ Kg8
41. Qg5+ Rg7 42. Qd5+ Kh8 draw
Mish a and th e Lieuten ant
In the previous championiship Tal ad­
journed in an unfavorable endgame but
skipped analysis with Koblents so he could
go on a date. When he and his lady friend
crossed the street the wrong way, they were
stopped by police, who asked for Tal's inter­
nal Soviet passport. As usual, he did not have
it. Taken to a police station, he found a bored
desk lieutenant analyzing a chess position. It
turned out to be the Boleslavsky-Tal game,
which had been reported on the radio.
Tal interrupted to suggest a move. The
lieutenant seemed annoyed and pushed the
board away and asked "Name?" When the
answer was "Tal;' he said, "What, another
one?" "You will laugh;' Tal said, "but I'm not
'another' one:' He and the lieutenant then
analyzed the game for hour. Tal went home
at 7 a.m. 35
Not surprisingly, he lost. He lost again in
1958. When he reviewed the game with Kob­
lents they concluded that he made second­
best moves.
Tai-Isaac Boleslavsky
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1958
King's Indian Defense (E87)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
0-0 6. Be3 es 7. d5 c5? 8. g4! Ne8 9. h4 f5?!
After Tal beat Tolush in a similar pawn
structure in the previous USSR Champion­
ship, annotators concluded Black had to get
1 20 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
quick kingside counterplay or he will be over­
whelmed. But this move ruins his control of
key light squares.
10. gxfS gxfS 11. exfS BxfS 12. Bd3! e4!?
13. fxe4 Qe7 14. exfS Qxe3+ 15. Qe2 Qg3+
16. Kd2 Nc7
The game might have ended quickly after
17. Nh3! and 18. Ragl.
17. Qh2? Qxh2+ 18. Rxh2 Nd719. Ne4 KhS
(see diagram)
IT['jt�l
t��� �!
s more. Yes, he could analyze like that-or
.�
,. . . . . ,� 1/. . . . .
r against Boleslavsky he had to defend.
���� ft�B,B
�,�i��� if
�� "· · - -�� �� �
%"¼
w �
�m--� �A���r· ···
ft ifil �§
§%,. . ·'� '· ���� -- ..
After 1 9. ... Kh8
With 20. Rel b5 21. b3 and Rhe2 White
could have retained his sizable superiority.
But he played 20. Rg2? bS! and 21. b3 was
not possible. To keep control of the position,
Tal needed to calculate 21. Nxd6! bxc4
22. Nxc4 Nxd5 23. Ne2. But 21. Nf3? bxc4
22. Bxc4 RabS instead gave Black the upper
hand.
To try to seize the initiative back, Tal
should have visualized lines such as 23. Ragl!
Rxb2+ 24. Kel Rxg2 25. Rxg2 RxfS 26. NfgS.
He settled for 23. Rbl RxfS 24. NfgS. Then
24. . . . Ne5? instead of 24 . . . . Bes gave him a
chance to examine 25. Nxd6!, with all of its
complications. But he went for 25. Bb3 c4!
26. Bc2 Nxd5.
This gave him another chance to eliminate
dangerous pieces with 27. Nc3! and then
27. . . . Nxc3 28. bxc3 Rxbl 29. Bxbl rook­
move 30. Bxh7. Or 27. . . . Nf4 28. BxfS Nxg2
29. Be4. But he opted for 27. Nxd6? Rf6
28. NfS RdS!.
His last chance was to work out 29. Nxg7!
Nf4+ 30. Kc3 Nxg2 31. N7e6. But instead he
was lost after 29. Kel? Nf4 30. Rg3 Ned3+
31. Bxd3 Nxd3+ 32. Rxd3 Rxd3.
Tal and Koblents concluded that he lost
because he did not calculate far enough. "He
could not force himself to go deeply into the
concrete features of the position;' Koblents
wrote.36
But how could that be? When Tal anno­
tated his victories he often gave might-have­
been variations that ran 10, 15, 20 moves or
claim that he did-when he had the initiative
and the position lent itself to calculating. But
His opponents eventually learned Tal's se­
cret when they postmortemed with him. He
admitted that he often looked only a few
moves into the future and guessed (correctly)
how the complications would turn out.
When Yuri Razuvaev got to play against his
hero in 1972, "I suddenly and unexpectedly
discovered that Tal almost never calculates
variations [to the end] but with some kind
of surprising feeling he senses the end posi­
tion:'37
This helps explain why Taimanov and
Bronstein had such grave doubts about Tal.
They were not alone. Korchnoi believed Tal
was "superficial" and played "stereotyped"
moves. Korchnoi felt he proved it in the
ninth round.
Tal-Korchnoi
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1958
French Defense (C18)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3
Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 NfS
This was once the main line of the Win­
awer, soon to be replaced by 7. Nf3, 7. a4 and
7. Qg4 0-0 and 7. . . . Qc7.
8. Bd3 h5 9. Qh3 cxd4
 6. Volshebnik
Now 10. Ne2 dxc3 ll. Bx5 or 10. Bx5 ex5
11. cxd4 offers a small plus.
10. Nf3? Qc7!
Korchnoi's study of Tal's games convinced
him that Tal had such self-confidence that
when he won he did not recheck his opening
moves afterward. So Korchnoi rechecked
Tal's games and found that he had beaten
Petrosian in the previous championship after
10 . . . . Nc6 11. g4 Nfe7 12. gxh5 and then
12. . . . Qc7 13. Bf4 Ng6 14. Qg4!. Korchnoi
found an improvement that threatens an im­
mediate 11. . . . Qxc3+ and gains time to win
a pawn safely.
11. Rbl dxc3 12. g4 Ne7 13. gxh5 Nbc6
14. Bf4 Ng6! (see diagram)
After 14. ... Ng6
This was an improvement over a Paul
Keres analysis that said White was better
after 14 . . . . g6 15. h6 N5 16. 0-0!.
15. Bg3! Ngxe5! 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Kfl Bd7
18. Qh4? f6?
Better was 18. Rel f6 19. Bg6+. After 18. Qh4
Black could have gotten a nice edge with
18 . . . . Nf3 or 18 . . . . d4 19. Qxd4 Qc6.
19. Bxe5! Qxe5 20. Rxb7 Rb8 21. Rxb8+
Qxb8 22. Qg4 Kf8 23. Rgl g5! 24. hxg6 Kg7
25. h4! a5
Chances are even as time pressure ap­
proaches.
121
26. Rg3 Qbl+ 27. Kg2 Qb7 28. h5 d4+
29. Be4 Bc6
This last move was considered a misstep
because 29. . . . Qb5 30. Rh3 Qg5! seemed to
win. But Garry Kasparov felt White would
be better in the endgame after 31. Qxg5 and
32. Rhl. He concluded White had found
enough attacking resources since move 19
and Black defended well. A draw was the de­
served result.
30. Bxc6 Qxc6+ 31. Kgl Qd5 32. Qf4 Qe5
Now 33. Qf3! Qd5! could have drawn by
repetition (34. Qf4 Qe5 35. Qf3). Tal mistak­
enly saw a forced win.
33. h6+?? Rxh6 34. Qxh6+ Kxh6 35. g7
Qxg3+! White resigns
This debacle came a day after another: Tal
lost lifelessly, on the Black side of another
Winawer Variation, to Anatoly Bannik,
Petrosian's tormentor in the previous cham­
pionship. Koblents, arriving late for the
round, sat down near one of the other sec­
onds, Yefim Stolyar. "Look, your man is rock­
ing, like a lunatic;' Stolyar said. 38 Tal resigned
on move 52.
Tal was not crazy. He was medicated. Be­
fore the game a nurse at a polyclinic had in­
tended to give Tal a shot of Vitamin C to
combat the grippe but by mistake adminis­
tered a shot of a barbiturate. Tal was rocking
to avoid falling asleep at the board.
Since Tal had just been promoted to Gross­
meister at the urging of the USSR, his loss to
Bannik was embarrassing to the govern­
ment. The next day Koblents got a phone call
from a senior Sports Committee official:
"How did you, being such an experienced
trainer, allow Tal to play the French Defense?
Comrade Koblents, we did not expect this of
you!" They both knew Tal did not play the
French well. Koblents had nothing to say.
After all, he wrote, "The participant wins,
the trainer loses:' 39
1 22 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
On Stage
Petrosian's line in Soviet championship
crosstables was usually a model of efficiency.
He drew with the strongest players and
crushed the weaker ones. In 1958 he beat the
six players at the bottom of the crosstable
and drew with everyone else. This was enough
to easily secure one of the four qualifying
spots for the Interzonal. Yet he could have
done much more. Typical was his game with
Spassky.
Spassky-Petrosian
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1958
Giuoco Piano (C53)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6
5. Qe2 0-0 6. d3 d5 7. Bb5 dxe4 8. dxe4
Qe7 9. Bg5 Nd8 10. Bel? Bg4! 11. h3 Bh5
12. g4?! Bg6 13. Bd3 (see diagram)
It is hard to imagine Tal or Korchnoi pass­
ing up 13. . . . Ne6! with the idea of . . . Nf4!.
To play it, Black has to calculate 14. Nxe5.
But it would not be hard to see that 14 . . . .
Bxf2+! is very good (15. Kxf2 Qc5+ or
15. Qxf2 Nc5!).
Petrosian chose the timid 13. . . . Bd6?.
Drawish bishops of opposite colors appeared
after 14. Nh4 Ne615. Nf5 Bxf516. gxf5 Nf4
17. Bxf4 exf4 and a handshake came three
moves later.
Petrosian's sense of danger both helped
and hindered him, his colleagues said. "I
know of no chessplayer with such a super­
developed sense of danger;' Bent Larsen con­
cluded. "He was occupied with prophylaxis
when his opponent had not even thought of
serious counterplaY:' 40 As Mark Taimanov
said, "Unfortunately, this impoverished his
play. He extinguished the flames too earlY:' 41
When Tal's score was 5½-4½, he was tied
for tenth place. With eight rounds to go, his
chances of making the Interzonal seemed
minute. "Why is Misha trying so hard;' jour­
nalist David Ginzburg asked Koblents, "You
know, he has no chances for fourth place:' 42
The other three Interzonal qualifying places
seemed certain to be divided up among
Spassky, Bronstein, Yuri Averbakh and Yefim
Geller.
Geller was rated 12th in the world and still
improving. But as Tal noted, he made more
"one-move" blunders than any other world­
class player. Spectators witnessed his dra­
matic downfall in the 14th round.
Tal-Yefim Geller
25th USSR Championship finals, Riga,
1958
�,---- - ' --'■� ���-
.-is �� ) ;?!
�
T•�§' · - '�
�
�� �- j� �
; t i�- - - ,��t
-- - - ;�r �
g
��,��� � ✓
,.,.�r�fj
�� -- . ¼� �� �
1
���is�- · ��-
After 24. ... Rd8
Four moves earlier Tal had left his rook
hanging, based on tactics. The playing hall
"began to buzz like a beehive;' Isaac Bole­
slavsky said. 43 The position quickly sharp­
ened. Boleslavsky's friend Boris Veinstein
was sitting in the first row of the audience
 6. Volshebnik
and recalled what happened next: "Geller
was cheerfully strolling about the stage, and
Tal watched him with a fixed glaze, not pay­
ing the slightest attention to the position.
After several minutes, continuing to look at
Geller-and only at him!-he made the move
25 Bxf6:'
Geller, standing near the arbiters' table on
the playing stage, looked at the demonstra­
tion board and said aloud, "If I take on f6
with the queen it's a draw. But I have to
win!" 44 Geller felt he had to win because Tal's
12th move seemed so unsound to him. Since
Geller had played accurately after that, vic­
tory should be near. This was the kind of
logic that guided his friend Petrosian. Dubi­
ous moves are inevitably penalized by solid
ones.
But the natural 25. . . . Qxf6 26. Qxf6 gxf6
would likely result in a draw after 27. d7!. He
rejected that because "my opponent's play
simply 'demanded' punishmenf' 45 That left
25. . . . gxf6. Geller quickly walked to the
board "and without sitting, calmly took the
bishop with his pawn:' Veinstein wrote. Just
as calmly, Tal replied 26. Re7. "Only then did
Geller sink into his chair and see what the
entire hall saw: he could not take the rook:'
That is, 26. . . . Qxe7 27. Qg4+ !. Through in­
ertia Geller played 26. . . . Qxd6 27. Qxd6
Rxd6 28. Rxel and soon resigned.
This victory was part of Tal's stunning fin­
ish, seven points out of eight, which cli­
maxed in the defeat of Spassky described in
the Introduction. He had repeated as national
champion.
Bobby
If Mikhail Tal was the strange new face of
international chess, what were Soviet fans to
make of Bobby Fischer? Fischer's mother had
written Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in
1957 to get her son invited to a "youth and
student festival'' in Moscow. That fell through
1 23
but he was invited to a 1958 version. The gan­
gly, 15-year-old Brooklynite arrived in Mos­
cow, escorted by his older sister, to prepare
for the Portoroz Interzonal. He was not in-
terested in a youth festival but in playing two
training matches. Soviet officials chose the
opponents they felt were most appropriate.
One was Spassky, since he was the world
junior champion and the world's youngest
grandmaster. The other was Yevgeny Va­
siukov, champion of Moscow and two-time
member of the world champion student
team. "But after arriving in Moscow, Fischer
said that he only wanted to play Botvinnik;'
Vasiukov recalled. "This only drew smiles
because Mikhail Moisseyevich stood on such
a pedestal, and to play training games, with
an American, no less . . . :' 46
So Fischer spent his two weeks playing
blitz games at the newly established Central
Chess Club "from morning to night and in­
variably beating everyone;' Vasiukov said.
Embarrassed officials searched for someone
to halt Fischer's streak. Lev Abramov, head
of the Sports Committee's chess section,
called on Bronstein, Petrosian, and Vasiukov
to "show the American the true class of Soviet
chess players:'
Bronstein refused: "Sorry, but why should
I play a kid?" he said, according to Vasiukov.
Petrosian showed up and played Fischer in
the club's "grandmaster room:' He surprised
Fischer by winning the first two games. While
this was happening, Vasiukov passed the
time by playing Geller, who was not strong
in fast chess. When Fischer rebounded to
make his score 3-2 against Petrosian, Va­
siukov was 7-0 against Geller. Then Vasiu­
kov took on the American. "I literally crushed
Fischer:' he said. 47
It is not clear why Spassky did not play
Fischer. But when they met, "I liked him im­
mediately;' because of Bobby's un-Soviet
candor. "He liked to say openly what he was
thinking;' Spassky said. 48 Fischer's bluntness
was unsettling to others. "What can I say
1 24 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
about a country where there are no normal
toilets?" he said of the club's lavatories. 49
After a minor dispute, he left Moscow in a
huff and never returned to the Soviet Union.
Spreading Thin
Tal prepared for the Interzonal by playing
first board on the USSR team at the student
Olympiad in Varna, Bulgaria in July. He won
his board prize and the Soviets easily took
the gold team medals. It was often hard to
distinguish between his games and those of
his second board teammate. A year before:
Julius Kozma-Spassky
World Student Team Championship,
Reykjavik, 1957
Modern Benoni Defense (A61)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5
5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. g3 Bg7 8. Bg2 0-0
9. Nd2 Ne8
Black defends d6 before it is attacked and
will ease his game after Nc4 with . . . Ne5 and
a trade of knights.
10. 0-0 Nd7 11. Nc4 Ne5 12. Qb3? Nxc4
13. Qxc4 a6 14. Bf4 b5 15. Qd3 f5 16. Qd2
Nf6 17. Rfel Ra7!
This second-rank rook deployment was
also a favorite idea of Tal's in the Modern
Benoni. Also good is 17 . . . . b4 18. knight­
move Ne4.
18. a3 Ng4 19. h3 Ne5 20. Bxe5?
A better way to stop . . . Nc4 was 20. b3.
White may have expected to reach equality
after 20. . . . Bxe5 21. f4 Bg7 22. e4 fxe4
23. Nxe4 and 24. Ng5.
20. . . . Bxe5 21. f4 Bg7 22. e4 Bd4+ 23. Kh2
g5! (see diagram)
Another Tal-like move, in place of 23. . . .
fxe4 or 23. . . . Re7. The rook would strongly
come into play after 24. e5 gxf4 25. gxf4 Rg7.
�.&_,L�. i
� &E4�
f: _ _ j� "il
±'�■rr1r1r
·}�■·-··
� � �
rr��
�� f.- - - -� � l��f._ _ ��
��-��
, - ��� .,,1 · · · @Jffe, ..... ,�r-� �
� � � i� ft
-
. . .•-
�'--·- ��"-
,
-
¼����"-
After 23. ... g5
24. fxg5 f4! 25. gxf4 Rxf4 26. Ne2?
White loses faster if he allows 26. . . . QxgS
or falls for 26. Qxf4 Bes. But 26. Rfl Rxfl
27. Rxfl Rg7 28. b3 puts up better resistance
than the game (not 28. h4 h6!).
26. . . . Rf2 27. Rfl Raf7 28. Rxf2 Rxf2
29. Rfl Qf8 30. Qcl Rxfl 31. Qxfl Qxfl
32. Bxfl Bxb2
The endgame is lost but 31. Bxfl Qf2+
32. Khl Bes was also hopeless.
33. a4 bxa4 34. Nf4 a3 35. Bc4 Bd7 36. Kg3
Bb5 37. Ba2 c4 38. Ng2 c3 White resigns
Supremely calm at the board-or so it
seemed-Spassky had developed a reputa­
tion as a hothead away from it. One morning
at breakfast, Yuri Averbakh, the team chap­
erone, noticed that team reserve Aivars Gip­
slis had a black eye. "I fell out of bed;' he
lamely explained. It turned out that at the
previous dinner he and Spassky fought over
a trifle-who should get a dinner roll. "The
enraged Gipslis went for Spassky, but the
others grabbed him and then Spassky
thumped him!" Averbakh recalled.so
Spassky acknowledged he acted irrespon­
sibly in those years. "The trainer Tolush did
not know what to do with me in my youth. I
behaved recklessly;' he said in a 2003 inter­
view.s 1 He added in 2016:
"There were times when I was so drunk
that I had to get to home on all fours. The
 6. Volshebnik
last time it happened in Bulgaria. The Soviet
student team won the world championship.
I drank some aniseed vodka and felt very
sick. I managed to walk out of the bar, al­
though I was staggering. I got to the hotel,
and there, I fell on all fours. Since then, I
have never drunk aniseed vodka!" 52
Petrosian was leading quite a different life
style. Before the Interzonal, he took time off
for a surgical procedure. A Soviet doctor
"performed on me a so-called resection of
the nasal membranes:' 53 This is usually done
to cure a deviated septum or nasal obstruc­
tions. Petrosian did not say what his problem
was. But he felt it impaired his ability at the
board. After the procedure "I became capa­
ble of withstanding the tension of chess bat­
tles;' he said.
As time went by he came to terms with his
faulty hearing. "He always had a big cream­
colored hearing aid behind his ear" but was
"not shy" using it even when it annoyed ac­
quaintances, his later friend Andrei Gavrilov
said. "He constantly tuned it, without taking
it out from behind his ear. The apparatus
made terrible sounds, squeaked and mewed,
and the unflappable grandmaster continued
to calmly talk:' 54
Tal, the least healthy of the rivals, was
spreading himself thin. He was busy study­
ing for a university state exam in the Russian
language. This was critical because he was
still considering a day job as a teacher. Dur­
ing his studies he was swamped with aca­
demic literature, on Old Church Slavonic
and other arcane subject matters. At the same
time he tried to regain the Latvian Champi­
onship, even though he was Soviet cham­
pion.
Tal's overbooked schedule cost him when
he was preparing for a game as Black against
Gipslis. Tal was not sure how to meet 1. e4
when, it seemed, fortune rang his doorbell.
It was the postman delivering that month's
copy of Shakhmatny Bu lletin. This was the
technical magazine, launched in 1955, which
1 25
each month provided about 200 significant
recent games, as well as high quality theo­
retical articles. Bobby Fischer, along with al­
most every other aspiring master, became a
devoted reader.
In the issue Tal received, Nikolai Krogius
analyzed a topical line in the Richter-Rauzer
Variation, 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6. It went
7. Qd2 a6 8. 0-0-0 Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4
Nxe4 ll. Qel! Nf6 12. Nf5 Qa5 13. Nxd6+
Bxd614. Rxd6 0-0-015. Rd2.Tal's interest
was piqued because Gipslis regularly played
6. Bg5 and would likely follow these theoret­
ically recommended moves. He scanned to
the bottom of the page, where Krogius said
15. . . . e5 was an interesting idea.
Reading no further, he put the magazine
away and concluded the new move might be
sufficient for a draw. But when the game
began and he played 15. . . . e5? he instantly
began to wonder how he would defend the
f7-pawn after 16. Bc4!. There was no good
answer. Gipslis won in 53 moves. After the
game Gipslis asked Tal if he had seen the lat­
est issue of the Bulletin. Gipslis pulled his
copy out of his bag and showed Tal the top
of the next page that Tal had not had time to
read. Krogius wrote that 15. . . . e5 was, of
course, bad because of 16. Bc4!. 55
Josif Zilber also beat Tal in the tourna­
ment, and Zilber and Gipslis finished a half
point ahead of him. But fans devoured every
Tal game, like this one.
Janis K\aviq.s-Tal
Latvia Championship, Riga, 1958
Sicilian D efense (B90)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0
9. f4 b5 10. a3?! Nbd7 11. Be3? Bb7
White's 6. Bc4, a Fischer favorite, was new
and it took a while to appreciate the need to
push the f-pawn quickly, such as with 8. f4
or 11. fS.
1 26 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Now it is too late (12. fS eS 13. Nde2 Nxe4

or 12. Qf3 NcS).
12. Bxe6!? fxe6 13. Nxe6 QeS 14. Qd4 RcS
15. Rael
"As paradoxical as it seems;' Tal wrote of
a famous knight sacrifice against Bent Lar­
sen, but it "carries a positional character:'
Today this seems obvious. But in 1958 the
notion that here, for example, White might
have long-term positional compensation, as
After 18. ... d5
opposed to a quick mating attack, drew
stares. In any case, Black deserves more than Black threatens 19. . . . Rxd4 20. Qxd4 Bes.
a 15. . . . Rf7 16. NgS Rf8 17. Ne6 draw by rep­ There is also a threat to trap the queen with
etition. . . . Bd6-b8, e.g., 19. b4 Bd6! 20. Bxf6 Bc7! and
15. . . . Rc4! 16. Qa7 QcS! . . . Bb6+.

Better than 16. . . . Qa8 17. Nxf8 Bxf8
18. Qxa8 Bxa8 because White's king is the
vulnerable one if queens remain on the
board.
17. NxfS BxfS 18. Bd4 d5! (see diagram)
19. Khl dxe4 20. Rdl Qc6
One cute finish is 21. Bgl e3 22. Rf3 Qxf3!
23. gxf3 Bxf3 mate. A routine loss follows
21. Be3 Bxa3.
21. b3 Rxc3! 22. Bxc3 e3 23. Rf3 e2 White
resigns
"Tal was my idol! " re­
called Larsen. "He simply
smashed his opponents:'
But even Tal's multitasking
was not enough to juggle
two careers. He wrote how
he "worked as a teacher of
Russian language and liter­
ature for half a year. I taught
with great fondness:' But
chess interfered and "I was
forced to quit school:' 56

Portoroz
Tal and Koblents were
educated but seemed un­
schooled in social skills
Bobby Fischer (left), Tai and Petrosian relax during a rest day of
the 1958 Interzonal in Portoroi, Yugoslavia. The tournament was when they arrived at the
the first meeting of all three future world champions. Tal-Botvin­ resort town of Portoroz for
nik 1960 (courtesy Russell Enterprises). the Interzonal in August.
 6. Volshebnik
Svetozar Gligoric greeted them and said they
had half an hour to change out of their travel
clothes before they were expected at a dance
hall. "And what shall we do there?" Koblents
asked. Gligoric, a veteran of Interzonals,
showed them a poster that read "Today, in
the central hall of Adriatica Hotel, there' ll be
a dance party for the world's outstanding
chess players." Tal turned to Koblents and
said, "We have nowhere to retreat:' If they
did not attend, "we can not be considered
outstanding players." They showed up and
found that Yuri Averbakh and Petrosian were
already in the swing of the party and dancing
to rock tunes. 57
Tal, Petrosian and David Bronstein were
the pre-tournament favorites, followed by
Gligoric, Bent Larsen and Averbakh. Of the
21 players, Bobby Fischer was rated 14th. "No
one took him seriously;' Tal recalled. 58 Tal
joked about how the American made nai've
predictions about qualifying for the 1959
Candidates and then began poorly at Por­
toroz. But Tal's start was also suspicious. Fis­
cher had an even score after five rounds. For
Tal, it could have been minus-two in view of
his first round:
Tai-Boris De Greiff
Interzonal, Portoroz, 1958
English Opening (A17)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. b3
0-0 6. Bb2 b6 7. d4 Bb7 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. 0-0
Ne4 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Qe2 a6 12. Qc2
Tal makes no effort to theoretically chal­
lenge his opponent, a Colombian master
who finished 20th in the field of 21.
12. . . . f5 13. Ne2 Bd6 14. Ne5 Qe7 15. Rael
Rac816. Nc6 Qh417. Nf4 Ndf618. g3 Qh6
19. f3! g5! (see diagram)
Now 20. fxe4 fxe4 would give Black a
strong game following 21. Be2 gxf4 22. gxf4
Qh3. But 21. NxdS! NxdS would transpose
into the game. Another crucial continuation
127
After 19. ... gs
is 20. Ne6, which wins material after the rare
fork 20. . . . Rt7 21. Ncd8.
Tal must have seen 20. . . . Ng4! (21. fxg4?
Qxe6) and concluded he would have better
winning chances in other lines than after
21. Nxf8 Nxe3 22. Qe2 Nxfl.
20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. fxe4 fxe4
Alexander Khalifman, in his four-volume
anthology of Tal games, dismissed 21. . . .
Nxe3 with 22. Bc4+ Kg7 23. dS+ Kt7 24. Qd3
Nxfl 25. Rxfl. But White's attack dies after
25. . . . bS! and 26. RxfS+ Ke8 or 26. es Bes+
27. Kg2 g4.
22. Bxe4?? Nxe3??
Black's advantage would have been indis­
putable after 22. . . . Rxfl+! 23. Rxfl Nxe3
24. queen-move Nxfl. White had to play
22. Rxf8+! Rxf8 23. Bxe4.
23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Qe2 Bxc6?
White's edge is slim after 24 . . . . g4.
25. Bxc6 g4 26. a3 Qg5 27. Rel NfS 28. Qe6+
Rf7?
The outcome is not certain after 28 . . . .
Kh8.
29. Bd5 Black resigns
Like Fischer, Tal was thinking from the
tournament's start about how much of a plus
score he needed to clinch a Candidates spot.
But for the Soviet entrants this was compli-
1 28 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
cated by a new FIDE rule. It limited the num­
ber of Candidates from one country to four.
Since Vasily Smyslov and Paul Keres were
already seeded into the Candidates tourna­
ment, there were only two other spots avail­
able to Tal and his countrymen. This is the
kind of numbers game Tal hated. When asked,
in a 1969 interview, "What don't you like in
chess?" he said, "Qualifying events for an­
other competition:' 59 He joined his comrades
in writing a protest letter to FIDE.
The tournament calculus indicated Tal
would need a plus-five score in the remain­
ing 17 rounds, much more than the plus-two
required of Spassky three years before. Tal
went for blood in the fifth round against
Miroslav Filip, the Czech grandmaster who
was nearly a foot taller than him and was one
of the top two dozen players in the world.
Tal-Miroslav Filip
Interzonal, Portoroz, 1958
Ruy Lopez (C98)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0
9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 ll. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Nc6
The same pawn structure arose in a 1969
Soviet Championship game between Tal and
Geller. "The advance d4-d5 gives White an
advantage;' Tal said in the postmortem. "Yes,
but I knew that you wouldn't play it;' Geller
replied. 60 Tal replied with a smile. They both
knew his opening quirks.
13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Nfl Bd6 15. Nh4 Ne7
16. Qf3 Rd8 17. Ne3
This variation was well known in 1958 be­
cause it appeared in the Smyslov-Botvinnik
world championship match the previous
year. Averbakh, who rarely played 1. e4, won
a nice game at Portoroz that went 17. . . . Qc6
18. c4 Ne8 19. Bb3.
17. . . . Qb7 18. g4?
This was "stereotyped;' as Korchnoi would
say. Fischer showed a better policy against
Filip a year later, 18. Ng4! Nxg4 19. hxg4 fol­
lowed by NfS.
18. . . . c4 19. Nef5 Nxf5 20. Nxf5 Bxf5
21. gxf5 Kh8 22. Kh2 h6 23. Rgl Qe7
24. Bd2 Bc5 25. Radl Rd7 26. Qg3 Qf8 (see
diagram)
�E ■ E ■ tr-�ff,,�w-�, �J
�W}, �%% �,,
t ��-1�ff -��_;� fiJ
�� �� �lf "'1
� t ��i�
'-- ---/ ft -
97/2� - -
��t)f�-�f(,)��
� %�
% , i.tf1,w ��m- -�rfjr.:4�
�
ft im..QJQl im w
��l!D' ' ' '��,- -
After 26. ... Qf8
Tal played 27. Khl!?. It makes little sense
except to prepare a sacrifice on h6. The im­
mediate 27. Bxh6 gxh6 28. Qxe5?? would
lose to 28 . . . . Bd6. Filip must have looked at
the Bxh6 idea before he attacked the bishop
with 27. . . . Rad8!.
While Tal thought, Geller approached
Koblents in the audience. Petrosian had
brought Geller to Portoroz as his second and
personal cheering section. "It seems this time
Misha didn't achieve anything!" Geller gloated
to Koblents. Koblents recognized how solid
Filip's position was. But he wanted to deflate
Geller. "If Misha has an open file, it' ll be
mate;' he replied. 61
This quote became part of the Tal legend
and would be invoked by journalists when­
ever he smashed away pawns to get to an
enemy king. But Tigran Petrosian cited it as
an example of how Koblents lacked objectiv­
ity when he came to Tal. Koblents is "exces­
sively admiring of all that his protege does;'
Petrosian said. 62
Borislav lvkov agreed. "I know how Kob­
lents trains Tal;' he said. "One hundred times
a day he tells him that he plays like a genius:' 63
 6. Volshebnik
28. Bxh6
The tournament book said "all those pres­
ent, including Dr. Filip" expected this since
Tal advertised it with 27. Khl. Besides, White
would be clearly worse after 28. Be3 Nxe4 or
28 . . . . Rxdl 29. Rxdl Rxdl+ 30. Bxdl Nxe4.
But the sacrifice is stunning because Filip
had offered a draw when he played 27. . . .
Rad8. 64 (Tal misremembered in his memoir,
saying Filip made the offer after 28. Bxh6.)
Why did Filip make the offer and why did
Tal refuse? Neither of them could be sure
that the sacrifice was sound. The best expla­
nation may be that Filip was worried about
defending against a Tal attack-and that Tal
sensed that. As in the denouement of Tal's
game with Spassky in February, Tal smelled
fear.
28. . . . gxh6
This was forced in view of 28 . . . . NhS?
29. Bxg7+ Nxg7 30. Rxd7 Rxd7 31. f6. Or
29. . . . Qxg7 30. Qh4 Rxdl 31. Bxdl and
30 . . . . Qh6 31. Rxd7 Rxd7 32. RgS.
29. Qxe5
How much did Tal calculate of 29. . . . Qe7
30. Qf4? Most likely he saw that the natural
30. . . . Ng8? loses quickly to 31. Rxg8+! Kxg8
32. Rgl+ Kh7 33. f6! or 32. . . . Kf8 33. Qxh6+.
He must have looked at 30. . . . Kh7 and re-
alized that 31. eS Rxdl 32. Bxdl NdS is un­
clear. He probably also noticed that 31. Rxd7
Rxd7 32. eS would favor him because of
33. f6+ if the knight moves. Yes, but 31. . . .
Qxd7! 32. eS Qd2! or 32. . . . QdS+ would win
for Black.
29. . . . Be7! 30. Rd4! Rxd4 31. cxd4
Black can coordinate his pieces with 31. . . .
Rd7 and 32. . . . Bd8. He would be better even
if he gave back a knight, e.g., 32. . . . Bd8 and
33. . . . Qd6 (34. Qxd6 Rxd6 35. es Rxd4
36. exf6 Bxf6).
31. . . . Kh7 32. Rdl (see diagram)
1 29
After 32. Rdl
Had Petrosian been Black he would likely
have neutralized White's center pawns, such
with 32. . . . Nd7 and 33. . . . f6. Had Korchnoi
been Black, he would have looked at the
counterattacking 32. . . . Qg7. He would have
found that 33. Qxe7 Rg8! or 33. Rgl Bd6!
34. Rxg7+ Kxg7 wins. After 32. . . . Qg7 Tal
would likely reply 33. Qf4, threatening 34. es
knight-move 35. f6+. But he would be
defending a bad ending after 33. . . . QgS
34. QxgS hxgS 35. es Kh6 36. exf6 Bxf6.
What happens next can be explained by
what Korchnoi called "the 'young' Tal ef­
fect" -"Playing a game with all your energy,
emanating a kind of hyp notic influence and
an air of absolute confidence, a player can
sometimes convince his opponent that his
tricks are watertight and absolutely irrefut­
able! " 65
32. • . . Ne8? 33. f6! Nxf6?
Black is still very much alive after 33. . . .
Bxf6 because of 34. QfS+ Kg8 35. eS Qe7! .
34. Qf5+ Kh8 35. e5 Qg7 36. exf6 Bxf6
37. Rgl Bg5 38. f4 Black resigns
After the game, critics pointed out the
many flaws. Black could have gotten the upper
hand with 29. . . . Qe7 30. Qf4 Nh7 31. Qxh6
Qf6 or 31. Rxd7 Rxd7 32. eS f6!. Admirers
shrugged. "Bravery must be honored;' wrote
Matanovic. Koblents remembered how in
1936, Shakhmaty v SSSR said of the sainted
Botvinnik: "It is difficult to name any master
1 30 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
who saved so many not so much lost posi­
tions as hopeless positions:' 66
Three Qu arters of a Point
Late in the tournament-Tai said it was
after round 12-a FIDE Congress in Dubrov­
nik responded to the protest letter of the So­
viet players. It enlarged the 1959 Candidates
tournament and created the possibility of a
third Soviet player advancing from Portoroz.
They would likely need a plus-four score.
Petrosian was already plus-five. One of his
dominating wins:
Petrosian-Aleksandar Matanovic
Interzonal, Portoroz, 1958
Queen's Gambit Declined (D38)
I. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Bb4
5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. e3 0-0
Opening theory later turned to a quick
. . . g5/ . . . Ne4.
9. dxc5 Nbd7 IO. Be2 Qa5?!
After this Black can not afford . . . Nxc5 be­
cause Bxf6 ruins his castled position. Better
was 10 . . . . Nxc5 or 10 . . . . Bxc3+ 11. bxc3
Nxc5.
11. 0-0 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qxc5
White's c5-pawn is an asset after 12. . . .
Qxc3? 13. Rel Qa5 14. Rc2. But his superi­
ority would be slim after 12. . . . Ne4! 13. c4
dxc4 14. Bxc4 Ndxc5.
13. Rel b6
No better is 12. . . . Qe7 13. Qd4 Nb6 be­
cause of 14. Qb4 (14 . . . . Re8 15. Bb5 Bd7
16. Bxd7 Qxb4 17. cxb4 and Rc7).
14. c4 Bb7 15. Nd4 RacS?
A last bid for a playable game was 15. . . .
dxc4 and 16. . . . Qe5.
16. Bf3 Qb4 17. a3! (see diagram)
After 17. a3
Now on 17. . . . Qa5 18. Nf5! the threat of
Nd6 can win neatly, e.g., 18 . . . . Res 19. Qd4
(threat of 20. Nxh6+) Kh7 20. Nxg7! Kxg7
21. Bg4! and Bxd7. If the queen retreats,
17. . . . Qd6, it is embarrassed by 18. Nb5 Qb8
19. Bg3. Better survival chances lie in 17. . . .
Qc5 18. cxd5 Qxcl 19. Qxcl Rxcl 20. Rxcl
Bxds 21. Rc7 Bxf3.
17. . . . Qxa3? 18. Ral Qc5 19. Rxa7 BaS
20. Qal! Kh7 21. Rdl
The threat is 22. cxds Bxds 23. Rxd7!
Nxd7 24. Nf5!.
21. . . . Qxc4 22. Be2! Qc3 23. RxaS! Black
resigns
Also lost was 22. . . . Qc5 or 22. . . . Qb4 be­
cause of 23. Bd3+ Kg8 24. Bf5! and 23. . . . g6
24. Bxf6 Nxf6 25. Ne6.
With four rounds to go, Tal was plus-four.
To be sure of qualifying for the Candidates
he wanted another win. In the next game he
adjourned a favorable position with Oscar
Panno. Koblents' first question after Tal
sealed his adjournment move was what he
thought of the outcome. "It seems like a
draw;' he said. "Then why are you waiting.
Offer! " Koblents said. 67 Tal shook his head
and smiled.
He and Koblents analyzed late into the
night. The next day Tal would be Black against
Fridrik Olafsson. He did not think their
game would be a problem. He had a plan:
When he sat down at the board with the Ice-
 6. Volshebnik
lander he would draw a line on his scoresheet
next to the space for the 15th move. That is
when he would offer a draw and save his en­
ergy for more Panno analysis.
The next round came and pieces were
quickly traded. "Are you playing for a win?"
Tal asked at move 15. Olafsson said "Yes! " 68
It had not occurred to Tal that his opponent
would try to beat him. If he had studied the
scoretable he would have known that Olafs­
son also had good chances of reaching the
Candidates and also needed a win to feel cer­
tain.
Olafsson pressed well and sealed his 42nd
move in a very promising endgame. That
meant Tal and Koblents had two difficult ad­
journments to study. They concluded that
Tal deserved only three quarters of a point
from them. But he needed a full point to be
sure of qualifying.
Since the Olafsson position looked closer
to a loss than the Panno game did to a win,
Koblents and Tal decided to focus on it. With
"every minute" they became "more and more
convinced that things were very, very bad;'
Tal wrote. 69 After play resumed:
Fridrik Olafsson-Tal
Interzonal, Portoroz, 1958
After 44. d6
Tal and Koblents analyzed this far and de­
cided to go with the "completely absurd" idea
of moving the king away from the dangerous
d-pawn, 44. . . . Kg7!.
131
Olafsson had used up 45 minutes on his
sealed move but found the best reply, 45. Ke8!,
since 45. . . . Re3+ 46. Re7! Rxe7+ 47. Kxe7
a3 48. d7 a2 49. d8(Q) al(Q) 50. Qf8+ wins.
Tal relied on his student acting experience.
He made his moves quickly, getting up from
the table and putting on an appearance that
everything had been foreseen: 45. . . . Rxf3
46. Rxa4 Re3+ 47. Kd8 f5!. His last move
was the surprise he and Koblents had
planned.
His king blockaded White's second passed
pawn, 48. gxf5? Kf6 ( 49. Ras g4!). After the
game, Olafsson learned that he could have
won after 48. Ra5! . And much later Vasily
Smyslov found an earlier win, beginning with
46. d7! Re3+ 47. Kd8 a3 48. Ra8!.
Koblents was late for the adjournments
and when he arrived, he asked ifTal had got­
ten the point he needed from the two games.
"More:' Tal replied. He had drawn with Olafs­
son and beaten Panno.
That allowed him to play a quick draw
with Petrosian in the next-to-last round and
guarantee first prize, the equivalent of $1,000.
Petrosian tied for third place. The biggest
surprise of the final round was Bronstein's
upset at the hands of Rodolfo Cardoso of the
Philippines. It was an anti-climactic end of
the third world championship bid by Bron­
stein, who had starred in the previous Can­
didates tournaments.
Nevertheless, Bronstein was still valued
more highly than the young rivals when the
lineup of the Soviet team for the 1958 Olym­
piad at Munich was announced. He was
fourth board, behind Botvinnik, Smyslov
and Keres, but ahead of the reserves, Tal and
Petrosian. However, there was a significant
change. In previous Olympiads, the Soviet
reserves usually played when a top board was
tired or out of form. At Munich, Tal and
Petrosian played 15 and 13 games respec­
tively, while each of the other team members
were limited to 12. The reserves had the best
results of the gold-medal team: Tal scored 12
1 32 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Petrosian (left), Roman Toran Alberto of the Spanish team (above) elegant antique furniture or
and world champion Mikhail Botvinnik watch Tai (right) analyze chandelier. It was "the non­
during the 1958 Olympiad in Munich. Shakhmaty v SSSR, January
1959.
wins and three draws; Petrosian had eight
wins and five draws. There was no longer any
question of whether Tal was a real Grossmeis­
ter.
S ally
Tal's life took yet another major turn on
the evening of December 31 when he wel­
comed 1959 at a popular Riga restaurant. A
former college classmate of his had a date
that night with a local celebrity, a red-headed
singer-actress named Sally Landau. He took
her to the restaurant and introduced her to
"our famous Mikhail Tal:' 70
She was unimpressed. "Chess absolutely
did not interest me;' she recalled. But Tal
later insisted they-or rather, he-had fallen
in love "at first sight:' He was stunned by her
appearance and joked that her fiery hair
could only be found on a space alien. 71
They were born five days apart and were
both children of cultured Jewish profession­
als. As a child during World War II she was
evacuated to Siberia. After the war, her fam-
ily fled to relatively safe Vil­
nius during the Doctors'
Plot campaign. Like Tal, she
was naturally attracted to
the stage. She joined a drama
troupe, then moved to a
Riga youth theater, where
she was well received, and
also won plaudits as a stage
singer.
Despite her lack of en -
thusiasm, Sally was con­
vinced by friends to visit
Tal's Riga home at Gorky
Street, number 34. It
charmed her. It was not the
Soviet spirit of their home:'
She felt that "those who
lived here will understand me:' And she was
struck by Tal's face, especially his "huge eyes
which reflected, as it were, mischievous
thoughts and deeds:' She noticed how much
he looked like the "elegant" relative identified
as Uncle Robert, and how little Tal resembled
a portrait on the wall. "This is my father, Dr.
Tal;' Misha said. 72
After small talk, she was asked about her
musical background and was convinced to
play the piano. She began Rakhmaninoff's
Elegy. It was Tal's favorite composition. "He
looked at me as if he had made an incredible
discovery;' she recalled in her memoir, which
she titled Lyubov i Shakhmaty, Elegiya Mik­
haila Talya (Love and Chess, the Elegy of
Mikhail Tal).
Tal told her he was leaving for Tbilisi, for
the January 9 start of the next national cham­
pionship. He asked for her telephone number
and whether he could call her during the
nearly five-week tournament. She consented,
not realizing it would "turn into a daily tele­
phone bombardment:' 73 It was the beginning
of a remarkable relationship.
 7. Three Directions
During Mikhail Tal's magical ascent, one
of his rivals considered giving up chess. It
was not Boris Spassky, whose career was en­
tering a nightmare downward spiral. It was
Tigran Petrosian.
For years Petrosian had been quite happy
with the quality of his play and with his tour­
nament results. He almost always finished
with a plus score and often took home a
prize. True, he had never won a major event.
But that did not matter. "For many years I
was almost indifferent to the place I occupied
in tournaments;' he wrote, because of his
"complete lack of ambition:' 1
This changed after he tied for third through
seventh place in the 1956 Candidates tour­
nament. He called it an "honorable and cus­
tomary" result-it was where he was ex­
pected to finish. But Petrosian was stunned
and hurt by the tournament report in Shakh­
maty v SSSR. "I eagerly scanned it to see what
it had written about me:• he wrote. "Not only
was there not a single word of support or
criticism, but even my name did not appear
in this article:' 2
This led Petrosian to realize his "custom-
ary" results meant he was flatlining. In his
early 20s his rating had steadily risen. He was
the sixth best player in the world as 1954
began according to Chessmetrics. But five
years later he was seventh best. While Tal
was still headed upward, and Spassky was
1 33
descending, Petrosian seemed to be going
nowhere. As he turned 30, he realized he
might never get any better.
Moreover, he was out of fashion in the Tal
era. In an otherwise praising 1959 article in
the widely read magazine Ogonyok, Mikhail
Botvinnik took a shot at Petrosian's policy of
playing "according to position:' If the posi­
tion seemed balanced, playing that way was
an excuse to make a quick draw. This is "not
a popular approach;' Botvinnik wrote. "It
seems too circumspect, cautious, even cow­
ardlY:'3
It could also seem almost unpatriotic. "It
was a time when in all forms of sports, 'our
fighting, attacking style' was strongly in­
stilled;' recalled journalist Valery Asrian.
''.And those who liked to defend, be they ten-
nis players, boxers or chessplayers, were mer­
cilessly criticized:' 4 Andrei Potanin, the first
great Soviet tennis player, was intensely at­
tacked by state media for his baseline strat­
egy. It got so bad that Potanin abandoned
competition in 1965.
Petrosian came to the same conclusion: "I
wanted to give up chess:' He "decided to ob­
tain a 'normal profession:" But he was talked
out of this by a journalist, Ashot Arzuman­
ian, who was writing a book on Russian­
Armenian culture. When Arzumanian came
to interview him, Petrosian revealed his
intention. "No, that would be cowardice:•
1 34 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Arzumanian replied. "Giving up chess you Korchnoi-Georgy Bastrikov

will prove nothing. You should play and win.
Only then you will prove your case;' he said. 5
At this crossroads moment, Rona Petro­
sian rallied his spirits. "She was for Tigran
Petrosian a faithful wife, a trainer, a mother,
a lover, a chief adviser, psychologically and
organizationally leading his play;' said a fam­
ily friend, Iser Kuperman. 6
Rona wanted to be married to a world
champion. His Armenian supporters wanted
to root for one. Petrosian had been receiving
pleading fan mail and even phone calls for
some time. His friend Yuri Averbakh recalled
the basic message: "Dear Tigran, when will
you finally become world champion? We're
tired of waiting. Please hurry up:' 7
After his crisis of confidence, Petrosian's
outlook turned 180 degrees. Instead of giving
up chess, he decided to take the world cham­
pionship seriously. No more "It's better to be
fifth:' A first step in that direction was real­
izing he had outgrown his trainer, Andre
Lilienthal. "In 1959 I hesitantly approached
Isaac Boleslavsky with a view to chess col­
laboration;' he wrote. "Frankly speaking, I
was not only gladdened but rather surprised
that he agreed:' 8
Boleslavsky had been meeting Petrosian
over the board since 1949. He recognized
Petrosian's strengths. He also saw his flaws.
''Tolstoy believed in people;' Boleslavsky said.
"Petrosian believed in the strength of any op­
ponent:' 9 Together they made a formidable
team. Soon Petrosian's career was again go­
ing in the same direction as Tal, upward.
I Just Pushed Him
No one could detect flatlining in Viktor
Korchnoi's career. He had up-and-down ex­
periences in the previous USSR Champi­
onships. He looked like he was due for an up
in the 26th after he scored 11-4 in a semi­
finals and won games like:
26th USSR Championship semifinals,
Tashkent, 1958
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E44)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Ne2
Bb7 6. a3 Be7 7. d5! 0-0 8. Ng3 d6 9. Be2
c6 10. Bf3 cxd5 11. cxd5 e5?
White has taken so much time to establish
his superior center that 11. . . . NxdS 12. NxdS
BxdS 13. BxdS exdS 14. QxdS Nd7 should
equalize.
12. h4!? Bc8 13. e4 Na6 14. Be3 Bd7 15. Rel
Re8 16. Be2 Nc7 17. Nfl Qb8 18. g4! Rc8
19. Ng3 Bf8 20. g5 Nfe8 21. Bg4! Bxg4
22. Qxg4 b5 23. b4 a5 24. h5 axb4 25. axb4
Na6 26. g6! Qb7 27. Nf5 Kh8 (see diagram)
After 27. ... Kh8
28. h6! fxg6 29. Qxg6!
So that 29. . . . hxg6 30. hxg7+ Kg8 31. Rh8+
and mates.
29. . . . gxh6 30. Bxh6! Bxh6
And here 30 . . . . hxg6 31. Bg7+ Kg8
32. Rh8+ Kf7 33. Rxf8 mate.
31. Qxh6 Qf7 32. Ke2 Nxb4 33. Rcgl! Rxc3
34. Rg7 Ra2+ 35. Kfl Ral+ 36. Kg2 Qxg7+
37. Nxg7 Rxhl 38. Kxhl Nxg7 39. Qxd6
Kg8 40. Qxb4 Rc4 41. Qe7 Black resigns
Yet when the championship finals began
on January 9 in Tbilisi, all eyes were on Mik­
hail Tal. Could he do what no one but Bot­
vinnik had done-win the tournament for
 7. Three Directions
the third straight time? Many of his colleagues
felt he had enjoyed two years of uninter­
rupted, incredible luck. Mark Taimanov
raised the ante from his "eat my hat" vow of
a year before. If Tal won again, Taimanov
would give up chess, he vowed. 10
The player who seemed most motivated
as the 26th Championship finals began was
the one who ended the 25th painfully. Spas­
sky led by a full point after nine rounds.
Korchnoi-Spassky
26th USSR Championship finals,
Tbilisi, 1959
Caro-Kann Defense (Bll)
I. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3
5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. d4 e6 7. Bd3!? dxe4 8. Nxe4
Qxd4! 9. c3
Boleslavsky had shown the value of 9. Be3!
Bb4+ 10. Ke2 and 9. . . . Qd8 10. 0-0-0.
9. . . . Qd810. 0-0 Be711. Rdl Nbd712. Qg3
Nxe4 13. Bxe4 g6
White would have compensation for his
pawn by making it hard for Black to castle
with 14. Bh6! Bf6 15. a4. Play might go 15. . . .
Qe7 16. as a6 17. Qc7 or 15. . . . Qa5 16. Qf3
with good chances.
14. Bf4 Qb6 (see diagram)
After 14. ... Qb6
Black would be on more solid ground after
14 . . . . 0-0. By threatening the b2-pawn he
hoped to win time for 15. . . . 0-0-0.
15. Bc7! Qxb2
1 35
Korchnoi probably rejected 16. Rahl Qxa2
17. Rxb7 Qa6 as insufficient. What he did not
appreciate was 17. Qf3! , e.g., 17. . . . Qa6
18. Rxd7! Kxd7 19. Be5 f6 20. Bd3. Or 17. . . .
f5 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Qxc6.
16. Qf3 Rc8!
Korchnoi had threatened to gain the upper
hand with 17. Rahl or, in some cases, Bxc6.
He would not be worse after 16. . . . Qa3
17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Qxc6 0-0 19. Rxd7. But
after 16. . . . Rc8 he must accept a queen sac­
rifice since 17. Bf4 Nc5 is bad.
17. Rabi Qxbl! 18. Bxbl Rxc719. Qg3 Rc8
20. Qe3 Nc5
The position is roughly equal. But Black's
knight cannot be dislodged and his bishop,
unlike White's, has targets to attack. That
makes it harder to be White. Korchnoi could
hint at a draw with 21. Qh6 (21. . . . Bf8 22. Qf4
Be7 23. Qh6) but Spassky would be justified
in playing for more with 21. . . . Rd8.
21. h4? 0-0 22. h5 Reds 23. Rd4 Rd5
24. hxg6 hxg6 25. Bc2 Rfd8 26. Rg4 Bf6
27. Kfl Bg7 28. Rg5 Rxg5 29. Qxg5 Rd5
The outcome is fairly certain and Spassky
forced a resignation at move 98. But he suf­
fered two bad losses as Black and fell out of
contention. Petrosian burst into first place.
His confidence was bolstered by a wall board
demonstrator, a local engineer who also
trained Armenian juniors. "You are playing
in your hometown;' he told Petrosian before
one round. "You should be first in the tour­
nament. You can be first:' 11
In this tournament he won eight games,
some destined for Petrosian game antholo­
gies. But Tal won nine games and Spassky
won eight. And while Petrosian did not
suffer a loss, he had also gone undefeated in
three of the previous four Soviet champi­
onships he entered.
The reason he won it this time was that he
1 36 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

was ready to regularly play for five hours. was 13. . . . Nh5 because Black would get the
Aside from the usual non-game with Yefim upper hand if he could play 14 . . . . Nxg3. The
Geller, he pressed each time he had White most dangerous line is 14. Ba4+ bS 15. Bxe5.
and worked harder than in the past when he But Black is equal with 15. . . . dxe5 16. Nc6
had Black. "I said it often-play, play to the Qc7 17. Nxe7 Kxe7. His king is quite safe and
end;' his wife Rona recalled. "That's how I his minor pieces are superior to White's.
put pressure on him in Tbilisi in 1959 when Bronstein asked the obvious question about
he won the championship of the country 14. Ba4+ and 15. Bxe5: "And what if he plays
for the first time. I just pushed him in those differently?" 13 Korchnoi just shrugged. Bron­
days:' 12 stein laughed. He decided to defend a Ruy
The tournament was held in the Rustaveli Lopez instead and lost. Korchnoi had not
Theater, not far from the officers' club where forgotten their conversation.
Petrosian once swept floors. That must have
13. . . . Nh5! 14. Ba4+ b5 15. Bxe5 dxe5
brought back bittersweet memories. But he
16. Nc6 Qc7 17. Nxe7 Kxe7 18. Bb3 Nf6
benefited by the devoted support of Tbilisi's
19. Qe3 Bb7 (see diagram)
Armenian fans. They even arranged a torch­
light parade in his honor during the tourna­
ment. In the penultimate round, when Tai
trailed Petrosian by a half point, a delegation
of Armenians visited Tal's next opponent,
Korchnoi. They demanded that he stop the
Latvian. They did not know that Korchnoi
had been waiting for this opportunity.

Tal-Korchnoi
26th USSR Championship finals,
Tbilisi, 1959
Sicilian Defense (B94) After 19. ... Bb7
A draw might be expected after, say, 20. a3
l. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
Rad8 21. f3 Rxdl 22. Rxdl Rd8.
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. Qd2
But Tai was looking ahead. He would have
e6
Black against the hard-to-beat Ratmir Khol­
Six rounds earlier, Bronstein asked Korch­ mov in the last round. His best chance for
noi which opening he should play against another championship title lay in winning
Tai. Korchnoi suggested this line, even though this game, not the last one.
Bent Larsen lost with it against Tai at Por­
20. a4? b4 21. Na2 a5!
toroz.
Tai correctly evaluated 21. . . . Nxe4 22. Nxb4
9. 0-0 h610. Bh4 Be7 ll. Radl Ne512. Bb3
as favorable but misjudged how bad 21. . . .
g5 l3. Bg3
as is.
Larsen played 13. . . . Bd7 and stood well
22. c3 Ba6 23. Rfel bxc3 24. Rel Rab8
after 14. f4 gxf4 15. Bxf4 NhS 16. Bxe5 Qxe5
25. Rxc3 Qb6 26. Qxb6 Rxb6 27. Rc7+
17. Khl Nf6 18. Nf3. But he lost after 18 . . . .
Kd6 28. Ra7 Bb7 29. Bc4 Ra8
QhS? (18 . . . . QcS!) 19. e5! dxe5 20. Ne4! 0-0-0
21. Ng3. Now clearly better, Black trades off White's
Korchnoi told Bronstein that a better idea only active piece and wins a pawn.
 7. Three Directions
30. Rdl+ Ke7 31. Rxa8 Bxa8 32. Bb5 Bxe4
33. b4 axb4 34. Nxb4 Bb7 35. Nd3 e4 36. Ne5
Bd5 37. Rbl Rb8
The passed a-pawn does not go further
after 38. a5 Ne8! and . . . Nc7 (39. Nd7 Rxb5).
38. Rel Rb7 39. Kfl Ne8 40. Rdl Nc7 41. Be2
f6 42. Ng4 f5 43. Ne5 Rb2 44. Rel?
Petrosian was gradually becoming close
to Tal. But when this position was adjourned
Petrosian offered to help Korchnoi analyze.
Korchnoi had only an even score, so winning
would not mean much to him. But it would
to Petrosian by knocking off the only player
who could catch him.
This ethical issue would be revisited at Cu­
ra�ao 1962, when Korchnoi was incensed at
the notion of Petrosian offering someone else
help to ensure he would win a tournament.
But in 1959, Korchnoi felt differently. ''.At that
moment it was the game that interested me
and I, of course, accepted:' he wrote. Unlike
the 1962 case, Petrosian's help made a differ­
ence this time. "Together we found a win:'
Korchnoi wrote. 14 Victory would have been
tougher after 44. Ral Bb7 45. a5 or 45. Nc4.
44. . . . Ra2 45. Ng6+ Kd6 46. Nh8 e5 47. Rdl
Ke6 48. Bh5 Kf6 49. Bf7 Bxf7 50. Nxf7
Kxf7 51. Rd7+ Ke6 52. Rxc7 f4! 53. Rc6+
Kd5 54. Rxh6 f3! 55. gxf3 exf3 56. Kel
Rxa4 57. Rb6 Ral+ 58. Kd2 Rfl 59. Ke3 g4
60. Rb5+ Kc4! White resigned
Rather than adjourn again, Tal conceded
that 61. Rxe5 Rel+ 62. Kf4 Rxe5 63. Kxe5
Kd3 or 61. Rb8 Rel+ was lost.
While Tbilisi's Armenians rooted for
Petrosian, the city's Georgians included many
who preferred Tal-or any non-Armenian.
In the final week Tal received a telegram that
read "Catch up with Petrosian. All of Rus­
taveli Prospekt and Plekhanov Prospekt is
with you:' 15 As the study composer Gia Nada­
reishvili put it, ''.An Armenian should not be­
come national champion in the capital of
Georgia! " 16
137
Korchnoi was due for White against Petro­
sian in the last round. A group of Georgians
approached him beforehand and implored
him to win. If he did, Tal still had a chance
to tie Petrosian. Korchnoi sought complica­
tions, giving up two pieces for a rook and
two pawns. But a draw was agreed in an even
position at move 20. Petrosian's decision not
to give up chess had been justified.
Tal shared second place with Spassky and
returned home to Riga. Sally Landau was be­
coming a bigger factor in his life. After each
of her theater performances, Uncle Robert,
who was relatively well-to-do, chauffeured
Misha in his Pobeda car, a prestigious vehicle
in Soviet times, to the stage door. There they
waited until Sally emerged. It struck her, as
it had Alexander Kotov, that all of the Tals
were doing the utmost to make life easy for
Misha.
Sally said she felt her relationship with Tal
would not be more than platonic. And when
it did, she never thought it would lead to
marriage. After all, he had other girlfriends.
She did not realize yet how many. "Misha did
not seem shy but he did not seem like a lady
killer:' she recalled. 17
Sp assky's Favorite G ame
Boris Spassky tried to forget 1958 by keep­
ing busy in 1959. He acknowledged that his
main flaw was lethargy. "It's in my nature to
be like a Russian bear:' he said years later.
"Someone who is very calm and lazy and
finds it an effort to spend the time to stand
up:' 18 But he tied for first in a solid interna­
tional tournament at the Central Chess Club
in Moscow, won another international at
year's end in Tal's Riga and also captured the
Leningrad Championship by two and a half
points.
Although nominally a professional jour­
nalist, he annotated games somewhat rarely.
"It turns out I'm untalented:' he later ex-
1 38 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
plained. 19 But occasionally he could be pro­
voked to write. His notes to this game are
odd because he did not award punctuation
to any move, even those in might-have-been
variations.
Spassky-Aron Reshko
Leningrad Championship 1959
Caro-Kann Defense (Bll)
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3
5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. e5 Nfd7 7. Qg3 e6 8. Be2
Qc7?
In the Soviet chess yearbook, Spassky said
he planned to meet 8 . . . . cS! with 9. f4 Nc6
10. b3 Nd4 11. Bd3. But this is dubious in view
of ll. . . . c4! 12. bxc4 dxc4 13. Be4 Nc5 when
Black is comfortably superior.
9. f4 a610. b4!?
Spassky did not play this variation to get
passive positions such as 10. d3 cS and . . . Nc6-
d4. More ambitious is 10. d4 cS 11. Be3 but
that grants Black a nice version of the French
Defense (11. . . . Nc6 12. 0-0-0 cxd4 13. Bxd4
bS). Spassky's idea is to use the b-pawn to
discourage queenside castling. He thought
10 . . . . Bxb4 11. Qxg7 Rf8 12. Qxh7 cs fol­
lowed by . . . Nc6/ . . . 0-0-0 might be best.
Computers prefer White.
10. . . . c5 11. b5! c4! 12. Rbl d413. Ne4 axb5
14. 0-0
Not 14. Rxb5 Qc6. Spassky will sacrifice
all three queenside pawns.
14. . . . Rxa2 15. d3! Rxc2 16. Bdl Ra2 (see
diagram)
Spassky's comment: "It's strange that Reshko
still does not feel the danger, otherwise he
would activate his pieces with an Exchange
sacrifice, 16. . . . cxd3. For example, 17. Bxc2
dxc2 18. RxbS Qc6 19. Qd3 Nc5 20. Nxc5
Bxc5, and Black, despite the loss of the pawn
at c2, will preserve two pawns for the Ex-
change and can complete development:' 20
After 16. ... Ra2
For example, 21. Rf2 0-0 22. Rxc2 b6 and
Black is not worse. Spassky did not mention
the alternative Exchange sacrifice 16. . . . Rxcl
17. Rxcl c3 and . . . b4, which more clearly fa­
vors Black.
"With the next move White demonstrates
that the deflecting operations on the queen­
side are over but the center struggle is trans­
ferred to the kingside;' Spassky wrote. 21
17. f5! Nxe5
On 17. . . . QxeS 18. Bf4 Qx£5 19. Bxb8 Qg6
Black temporarily has five pawns for a piece
but the initiative favors White. Spassky might
have preferred 18. fxe6 Qxe6 19. Rel or 18 . . . .
Qxg3 19. exd7+ Nxd7 20. Nxg3.
18. fxe6 f6
Another likely line was 18 . . . . fxe6 19. Bf4
Nbd7 20. Rxb5 Ras. Then 21. dxc4 Rxb5
22. cxbS favors White. But again Spassky
might have gone for adventure with 21. BhS+
g6 22. Nf6+! Nxf6 23. Bxe5, e.g., 23. . . . Nxh5
24. Qel! Rxb5 25. Bxc7 Kd7 26. Be5 Bb4
27. Qe4 and wins.
19. Rxf6!?
Some computers prefer 19. RxbS and
19. . . . Ras 20. dxc4-until they take a closer
look at White's coming 23d move.
19 . . . . gxf6 20. Nxf6+ Kd8 21. Nd5 Qd6
22. Bg5+ Kc8 23. Bg4!!
"This is the point of the sacrifice;' Spassky
 7. Three Directions 1 39

wrote. Among the variations

he gave was 23. . . . Bg7
24. Ne7+ Kc7 25. NfS Qxe6?
26. Nxg7 Qd5 27. Bf6 and
White wins with 28. Ne6+ or
28. Bxe5+. However, 25. . . .
Qc5! keeps White's edge to a
minimum (26. Nxg7 Kb6
27. e7 Nxg4).
23. . . . Nxg4? 24. e7 Bxe7
25. Qxg4+!
The win takes longer after
25. Nxe7+? Qxe7 26. Bxe7
Ne3.
25. . . . Nd7 26. N xe7+ Kc7?
Tal (right) demonstrates one of his games to two veteran Soviet
White has to work a bit players, Salo Flohr (left) and Andrei Lilienthal, in 1959. Shakh­
harder to win after 26. . . . maty v SSSR, September 1959.
Kb8 27. Bf4 Ne5 28. QfS Re2.
confidante, recalled a pattern. Tal and Sally
27. Bf4 Ne5 28. Qg7! Kb6 29. Bxe5 Qe6
"constantly fought, broke up, reunited and
30. Bxd4+ Black resigns
separated;' he said. 24 She moved into the Tal
A decade later, participants in the USSR­ home and then moved out. She admitted she
versus-Rest-of-the-World match were asked was an "impulsive person, who does some­
to name their best game. Spassky said a thing and only then thinks about it:' 25 Tal,
Reshko game was "the dearest" to him. 22 On equally impulsive away from a chess board,
the eve of the Fischer-Spassky match, Shakh­ was used to winning prizes that he could
maty v SSSR recalled this comment but mis­ own. "He, apparently, regarded me as his vic­
takenly presented a routine positional 1960 tory;' she wrote. "The victory he achieved in
win from Reshko instead. In 1997, 64 re­ a fair, correct fight, the victory he dreamed
peated the mistake, reprinting the wrong about and which gave him great human
Reshko game as Spassky's "best:' j oy:,26
One night Sally said she wanted to sleep
in her own apartment rather than at the Tal
Soap Op era with S ally home. "His face suddenly became distorted
. . . as if a demon had entered Misha. He hit
As Tal's fame grew, his relationship with me and left:' When they inevitably made up,
Sally Landau-or Saska, as he called her­ he said he could not explain how he lost con­
became volatile. They began to quarrel. As trol. 27
"100 percent Scorpios" they were fated to It got worse: One morning in May 1959
have fights and reconciliations, she said. 'Tm after spending the night together, Tal locked
not a little doll;' she protested during one the door with a key "and said he would not
spat. "I know you're not a little doll. You're let me go to the rehearsal, that he did not
simply my Sally;' he answered. 23 want me to work in the theater anymore:'
Mark Taimanov, who was becoming Tal's She responded with an ultimatum. Release
140 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

me or their affair was over, she said. Tai went 8. . . . Bb7 9. Bd3 Be7 10. 0-0-0 Qb6
to the medicine cabinet, took out a handful ll. Rhel?! Nbd7 12. Nce2
of pills and said, "If you leave, I will take all
This makes a bad impression but 12. Nd5
these pills. And if they don't work, I'll throw
exd5 13. NfS Bf8 is not sound.
myself out the window:' 28
He backed down but Sally felt she would 12. . . . Nc5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. g4 Na4!
never see him again. However, a few days
The threat is 15. . . . Nxb2 16. Kxb2 Bxd4+.
later her theater boss got a visit from Uncle
There is no defense in 15. b3 Bxd4 16. Nxd4
Robert. He said Misha was due to leave for
Nc3.
a tournament in Switzerland but was suffer­
ing from "nervous shock . . . a kind of stupor:' 15. c3 b4!?
He was not eating, drinking or even getting
More traditional attackers would wait
out of bed.29 It was much like what happened
until they had castled and could use their
after Dr. Tai died. Robert wanted Sally to
KR. For instance, 15. . . . 0-0 16. Bc2 g6 and
make up with Misha so he could go to the
. . . Rfc8.
Zurich international. She refused and he
went anyway. 16. Bc2 (see diagram)

Who Won?
It is impossible to be certain how much
this influenced Tal's play. But he appeared to
play more recklessly in Zurich than in any
other major tournament of his career. He im­
mediately paid a price when his unsound
bishop sacrifice in the first round was refuted
by Edwin Bhend. "It's good that you weren't
there:' Tai told Alexander Koblents when he After 16. Bc2
returned. 30 "Truly Tal's play in Zurich was
16. . . . Nxb2!
more than risky;' the Maestro wrote. 31
But after the Bhend loss Tai won nine of "I did not calculate variations:' Tai claimed
his next ten games, almost all with sacrifices. after the game. "It must be correct:' 32 That
It began with a game that forced many mas­ is an exaggeration, of course. But sacrifices
ters to question what they had learned about like this raised a problem for Soviet annota­
chess. tors.
For decades, the proper basis for choosing
Josef Kupper-Tai moves was supposed to be "scientific" analy­
Zurich, 1959 sis based on calculation. This was the method
Sicilian Defense (B96) of Jose Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik:
A sacrifice should be only made as part of a
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
combination in which material was quickly
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5 8. Qf3
regained or it provided tangible compensa­
Lev Polugaevsky's pet 7. . . . b5 was very tion. "To sacrifice a piece one should be ab­
new and few people understood that 8. e5! solutely sure that one will quickly gain com­
was the only way to test it. pensation;' Capablanca had said. 33
 7. Three Directions
Later in 1959 Botvinnik endorsed this view
when the Cuban embassy in Moscow cele­
brated Fidel Castro's overthrow of the Batista
regime. Botvinnik was among the Soviet
celebrities who attended. "I especially value
Capablanca for his dislike of adventurous
plaY:' he said at the embassy party. 34
But moves like 16. . . . Nxb2 could only be
termed adventurous. When Tal said he relied
on his intuition it ran afoul of Marxist­
Leninism. "Intuition is the beloved concept
of the foreign idealist philosophy;' as Vasily
Panov put it. It was based on the false idea
that truth was "a revelation from above:• he
wrote. 35
17. Kxb2 bxc3+ 18. Kxc3 0-0!
Tal needed little more than to see the
White king exposed on c3 to decide on 16. . . .
Nxb2. Now 19. gS Bxd4+ is strong, e.g.,
20. Rxd4 QaS+ 21. Rb4 Rfc8+ 22. Kb3 Rxc2.
Or 20. Nxd4 Rac8+ 21. Kd3 es 22. Nb3 Qb4.
Also, 22. Ne2 dS 23. exdS e4+! 24. Qxe4
Rfe8-although 25. Qxe8+ Rxe8 26. Nd4 is
not an easy win.
Pyotr Romanovsky knew what original
chess looked like. He had played Capablanca
but also Alexander Alekhine. Tal's games
were "a new word in chess art:' Romanovsky
said. His sacrifices, "for the most part do not
have a forcing nature" -as in a combina­
tion-but simply "create the conditions for
attack:' 36
As Svetozar Gligoric put it, "Tal 'legalized'
the idea of sacrifice:' 37
19. Rbl! Qa5+ 20. Kd3 Rac8
Now 21. Reel could lead to 21. . . . Bxd4
22. Rxb7 Bb6 23. Rbl Rc6 24. Rlxb6 Rxb6
25. Rxb6 Qxb6 26. Qe3 and White is not
worse.
21. Qf2? Ba8 22. Rb3?
Tal felt that after 22. gS Bd8 23. Reel "the
fall of the White king would be inevitable"
in view of . . . ds or . . . eS. 38 This is hardly con-
141
vincing, e.g., 23. . . . dS 24. eS! {24 . . . . Rc4
25. Bb3). Or 23. . . . eS 24. Nb3. If White were
playing for a draw, 23. Bb3 eS 24. Reel Rxel
25. Rxel exd4 26. Qxd4 might do the job.
22. . . . es! 23. gs
Or 23. NfS Rxc2! 24. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 25. Rb2
Bxe4+.
Tal's intuition-and Spassky's and Petro­
sian's-eventually forced Soviet annotators
to find a new way to explain their success.
Their solution was linguistic: It was not in­
tuition at all. It was "chess instinct;' some­
thing that could be developed like any useful
trait. 39
23. . . . exd4 24. Nxd4 Bxd4 White resigns
During his postmortems in the tournament
Tal quickly reeled off variations to prove his
sacrifices were sound. Other players offered
suggestions for the defense. Only Paul Keres
was able to refute Tal's assertions. "But my
dear friend;' Keres asked in German after sug­
gesting a move, "what is your reply to this?"
Tal answered, in German, "Who won?" 40
The Dutch grandmaster J. H. Donner was
shaken by Tal's attack on orthodoxy. "Chess
has always been thought of as a game of
logic;' he wrote. lf a player followed tradi­
tional principles and played "correctly" he
should win. When he lost a superior posi­
tion, it was "a swindle. It was an unfair result,
a blot on the game's reputation:' 41
But here was Tal getting applause, not con­
demnation. Something must be wrong, Don­
ner suggested. In his game with Tal he took
nearly all of his allotted two and a half hours.
Tal took about 15 minutes.
J. H. Donner-Tat
Ziirich, 1959
Modern Benoni Defense (A70)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5
5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. e4 Bg7 8. Bd3 0-0
9. 0-0 a6 10. a4 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3
Nbd7
142 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Before the 1960s this kind of position was
routinely described as better for White be­
cause of his two bishops and what was con­
sidered a prohibitively superior pawn struc­
ture. White just had to target d6 or prepare
e4-e5 to win, it seemed.
13. Bf4 Qc7 14. Qe2 Rfe8 15. Bh2 Rac8
16. Bc4?
Black intended . . . c4 and . . . Nc5. That can
not be stopped (16. b3? Nxe4! 17. Nxe4 Bxal
18. Rxal f5). But rough equality is appropri­
ate after 16. Bc2 c4 17. a5.
16. . . . Ne517. f4 Nxc418. Qxc4 Nd7
Black must beware e4-e5. The outcome
would be unclear after 19. as Rb8 20. e5!
dxe5 because of 21. d6 Qxd6 22. Qxf7+ Kxf7
23. fxe5+ and 24. exd6.
19. Rfel Qb6 20. Rabi Qb4! 21. Qfl c4 (see
diagram)
After 21. ... c4
The h2-bishop would get into play after
22. f5! prepares Bxd6. But White would still
be worse after 22. . . . Bd4+ 23. Khl Ne5.
22. Re2 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Khl?
Again 24. fS! was best. If Black creates a
passed c-pawn, 24 . . . . Qc5+ 25. Khl b4
26. Ndl c3, White may be able to blockade
it, 27. bxc3 bxc3 28. Rel Qa3 29. Rcc2.
24. . . . Bxc3 25. bxc3 Qxc3 26. Rxb5 Qd3
27. Qel? c3 28. Rbl Nc5 White resigns
Back in Riga, Sally followed the tourna­
ment news. After play ended on June 8, an­
other actress, Roma Veksler, told her that
Tal's victory proved that he did not need her.
''.And happiness was so possible, so close;'
Veksler said. "No;' Sally replied, "He thinks
that now that he's a hero, I'll understand how
wrong I was." 42 Nevertheless, when he re­
turned from Switzerland they reconciled
once more.
Botvinnik Variation Declin ed
Tal's play made an impression on Mikhail
Botvinnik. But he was not ready to admit it.
"What do you think Mikhail Moisseyevich,
does Tal have a chance to win the Candidates
tournament?" the world champion was asked
by Yevgeny Vasiukov. "Botvinnik looked
slyly and said with a smile, 'Only if he plays
the entire tournament as a genius. But up till
now he couldn't do that:" 43
Botvinnik had played no chess in eight
months when he decided to take first board
in a USSR Spartakiad team championship.
His Moscow team agreed that no reserves,
such as Vasiukov, would play in the match
against Latvia. Fans eagerly anticipated the
first Tal-Botvinnik game.
But on the day of the match Botvinnik's
longtime confidant and second Grigory
Goldberg found Vasiukov and said the world
champion wanted to talk to him. Goldberg
dialed Botvinnik's phone number and handed
the receiver to Vasiukov, who heard a "thun­
derous baritone" voice: "Yevgeny Andreye­
vich, you know that I should play Tal today.
But I think it would be better if you played
Tal today. But please don't tell anybody about
that:'
''.As you wish;' Vasiukov replied. The match
was held at the Central Chess Club. Outside,
Gogolevsky Boulevard was packed with fans.
''.And I must say Misha was horribly disap­
pointed when he came to the second floor
 7. Three Directions
and saw the game Tal-Vasiukov would take
place;' Vasiukov recalled. They drew in 18
moves. 44
Botvinnik may have dodged a bullet. Tal
had planned to meet the champion's Caro­
Kann Defense with the then-rare 1. e4 c6
2. d3. Because of the change in opponents,
he kept his preparation a secret until the sec­
ond cycle of the Candidates tournament
when he used it to win a spectacular game
from Vasily Smyslov.
Cogn ac and Misdiagnosis
After finishing seventh in the 26th USSR
Championship finals, Yuri Averbakh flew
home to Moscow. Also aboard his TU-104
airliner was Alexander Koblents, a longtime
friend. He asked Averbakh to serve as Tal's
official second at the Candidates tournament.
Averbakh eventually agreed and went to Riga
in June to analyze with Tal and Koblents.
He knew Botvinnik well because they had
played training games in 1955 and 1957. In
Riga he quickly realized that Tal thought dif­
ferently. Botvinnik always began his analysis
of a position by trying "to find the most ex-
pedient plan, the most rational arrangement
of his forces:' 45 But Tal looked instead for the
most aggressive plan, the one leading to
sharp tactics. "Whereas Botvinnik sought the
rule, Tal sought the exception;' Averbakh
concluded. 46
What Averbakh did not know when he left
Riga after a month was the precarious nature
of Tal's health. Tal said he had his "first attack
of kidney trouble" before the Spartakiad.
Sally indicated he was soon in almost con­
stant agony. It stumped his doctors.
"I still cannot understand how he pre­
pared-almost daily attacks of monstrous
pains;' she recalled. "Misha refused to eat"
and when he was persuaded to eat, he also
needed alcohol. "Cognac at least somehow
reduced pain;' she said. 47
143
There were already indications that Tal
was locking himself into a foolhardy lifestyle.
He did not care. In general Tal didn't follow
the advice of doctors, Svetozar Gligoric re­
membered. "He never thought about him­
self' 48
But he had to think about the Candidates.
"Part of the training took place in the uro­
logical hospital, where we put Misha, despite
his desperate resistance;' Sally wrote. "The
specific smells and sanitary condition of this
and all subsequent urological hospitals and
departments still cause me to shiver:' 49
At a polyclinic, where he was under ob­
servation, a doctor told Sally, "He has some­
thing wrong with his lungs:' Then it turned
out that there was a different problem. His
kidneys were "not right;' she was told. But
no one could say exactly how or why. 50 Mean­
while, surges of pain exhausted him. During
the next attack doctors diagnosed "acute ap­
pendicitis;' put him on an operating table­
and removed a perfectly healthy appendix.
Tal managed to find humor in this. "The
most amusing thing is that for several years
after this, my attacks of kidney trouble
ceased (! )" he wrote. 5 1 He did not learn of the
misdiagnosis until years later when he was
operated on for the real cause of his pain, a
diseased kidney.
Averbakh found out about the appendec­
tomy just before the Candidates began in
Bled, Yugoslavia. When Tal arrived in Mos­
cow for their flight south, "I was horrified;'
Averbakh said. "He was pale, and noticeably
haggard. Only his eyes were the same­
piercing and burning like fire:' It was only
nine days since the operation. Tal was "too
weak to even carry his luggage;' Averbakh
said. 52
Council of War
Averbakh, Koblents and Tal held a council
of war to work out a strategy to deal with his
1 44 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
fragile condition. They decided Tai should
avoid adjournments in the tournament's first
cycle, the first seven games. Then he should
be content with a 50 percent score after an­
other seven games. Only at the tournament's
midway point, when play shifted from Bled
to Zagreb, he could begin playing harder to
win.
Before the first round, each of the players
and their seconds were asked by the news­
paper Borba to predict the finish of all of the
participants. No one but Averbakh said Tai
would win.
When play began, the war council strategy
proved impossible to execute. Tai had bad­
but not resignable-endgames at adjourn­
ment time against Vasily Smyslov and Paul
Keres in the first week. He played them out
and lost both. But the climate around Lake
Bled "proved excellent medicine;' Averbakh
said. "Tai was both feeling and looking much
better than at the start:' 53
Pal Benko-Tai
Candidates Tournament, Bled-Zagreb-
Belgrade, 1959
Dutch Defense (A89)
I. Nf3 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3
0-0 6. 0-0 d6 7. d4 Nc6 8. d5 Na5 9. Qd3 c5
On the previous move 9. b3? would have
allowed 9. . . . Ne4!. Here 10. b3 leads to a
promising position after 10 . . . . a6 ll. Bb2.
10. Ng5 a6 11. Rbl Rb8 12. Bd2 Qe8 13. b3
b5
Based on 14. NxbS?! axbS 15. BxaS b4 and
the aS-bishop must be rescued.
14. a3 Ng4 15. Nf3 bxc4 16. bxc4 Rb3
17. Rxb3 Nxb318. Rbl Nd419. e3?
White did not like 19. Nxd4 cxd4! 20. Ndl
NeS. But 19. Rb8 was promising (19. . . . Nxf3+
20. exf3! NeS 21. Qe2.
19. . . . Nxf3+ 20. Bxf3 Ne5 21. Qe2 Nxf3+
22. Qxf3 e5!
After the game, 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. Rb6
was recommended. But 24 . . . . Bxc4! would
win a pawn, since the rook becomes clumsy
after 25. Rxd6? Bes 26. Rb6 Qd8 27. Rb2
Qd3 or 26. Rc6 Qd7.
23. Qdl e4 24. Qa4! Qe7
Now 25. Ne2 and Nf4 or Bc3 is reasonable.
25. Qc6? f4! (see diagram)
After 25. .. . f4
Tai magic: The White queen is slow get­
ting back to the kingside after 26. gxf4 Qh4.
For example, 27. Nxe4 Qg4+ 28. Ng3 Qf3
with . . . Bh3 threatened. Or 27. Qxd6 Bh3
28. fS! RxfS! 29. Rb8+ Bf8. And 26. exf4? e3
27. fxe3 Bxc3! loses quicker. Or 27. Rel exd2!
28. Rxe7 Bxc3 29. Qa4 Bg4 and queens.
26. Rb8? Bh3 27. Rxf8+ Qxf8 28. exf4
Qb8! 29. Ne2 Qbl+ White resigns
After Tai crushed Smyslov using the anti­
Caro-Kann analysis he had prepared for
Botvinnik, critics said his attack was un­
sound. The veteran Yugoslav master Vladi­
mir Vukovic, "Skeptic of the Century;' found
a defense for Smyslov. Tai responded with a
way to continue the attack. It became a daily
exercise: Vukovic defends, Tai attacks. "To
allow me to play chess without further worry,
grandmaster Vyacheslav Ragozin, the head
of the Soviet delegation, deflected the attack
onto himself. With the same patience, he'd
prove to Vukovic that the sacrifice was sound.
I think they'd finally agreed that White 'did
 7. Three Directions
have something' for a sacrificed piece. And
I didn't argue:' 54 To Tal, it was another case
of "Who won?"
Ass ault R atio
Well before the computer age it was evi­
dent that many Tai victories were swindles.
He scored 1½ points from two lost positions
against Smyslov later in the tournament and
was equally lost in an ending he won from
Svetozar Gligoric. Some of his success in du­
bious positions can be explained by novel
thinking about how to attack.
Tai-Pal Benko
Candidates Tournament, Bled-Zagreb-
Belgrade, 1959
Benoni Defense (A43)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3
Nf6 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. a4 0-0 8. 0-0 a6 9. Be2
Rb8 10. Rel Ne8 11. Bf4 Nc7 12. Bfl b5
13. Qd2
Classical chess thinking regarded White's
position as clearly preferable because of his
center pawns and ability to centralize pieces.
However, Black can undermine the center
with 13. . . . b4! 14. Ndl fS. After 15. es dxe5
16. Nxe5 NxeS 17. BxeS Bxe5 18. Rxe5 he
plays 18 . . . . f4! and the dS-pawn is threatened
by 19. . . . Qd6.
13. . . . Re8 14. h3 Nf6 15. Radl
Tal had formulated a theory that if you
could create a numerical superiority of pieces
in the vicinity of the enemy king-a favor­
able "assault ratio;' lost pawns would not
matter. Here he has the ratio. But where is
the compensation after 15. . . . b4 16. Nbl
Nh5! and 17. . . . Bxb2 or 17. . . . Nxf4?
According to one Tai game collection,
17. Bh2 Bxb2 18. e5 is strong because of threat
of Qh6 and Ng5. But 18 . . . . f6 (19. e6 Bb7) is
not clear.
145
15. . . . Bd7?! 16. e5 b4! 17. Ne4 Nxe418. Rxe4
Bxa4! 19. Bh6
The next test for the assault ratio would
be 19. . . . Bxc2 20. Rh4 when the White
pieces outnumber the defenders (20. . . . Bxdl
21. Bxg7 Bxf3 22. Rxh7!).
19. . . . Bh8 20. Rdel f6?
Better is 20 . . . . Bb5 since 21. Rh4 Bxfl
22. Kxfl dxe5 puts the dS-pawn under attack
before there are more kingside threats.
21. e6 fS 22. Rh4! (see diagram)
After 22. Rh4
Now the attack ratio is decisive because
there is no Black counterplay. There are four
attacking pieces and only a bishop to protect
the king. The best try is 22. . . . Bf6 but after
23. Ng5 White has a strong g2-g4 coming
up.
22. . . . Bxb2 23. Bf8! Rxf8 24. Qh6 Rf7
25. exf7 Kxf7 26. Qxh7+ Bg7 27. Rh6 Qg8
28. Qxg6+ Kf8 29. Ng5 QxdS 30. Rh8+!
Black resigns
By the mid-tournament break, Keres led
with 10-4. But Tai had done much better
than the 50 percent goal set in the council of
war. He was in second place with 9½ points
followed by Petrosian at 8½. Keres remained
in contention until the end because he won
three times from Tal. He was still the player
who had out-analyzed Tai at Ziirich.
During one of their Candidates games Tai
offered a piece sacrifice. Keres got up from
1 46 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
the board, took off his jacket and hung it on
the back of his chair. Then he sat down,
thought about the position and accepted the
sacrifice. After he won, Tai told him, "I cal­
culated all the variations but one:' "Which?"
asked Keres. "That you would take off the
jacket;' was the answer. 55
Petrosian lost four games, more than he
would in any tournament for the rest of his
life. His losses were uncharacteristic: a blun­
der in a relatively simple rook endgame
against Fridrik Olafsson was followed two
rounds later by this:
Petrosian-Vasily Smyslov
Candidates Tournament, Bled-Zagreb-
Belgrade, 1959
Queen's Gambit Accepted (D29)
I. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6
5. 0-0 cs 6. d4 a6 7. Qe2 b5 8. Bb3 Bb7
9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Rdl Bd6!?
This was a new Smyslov idea, in place of
10. . . . Be7 11. e4, which was known to favor
White slightly.
11. e4 cxd412. Nxd4 Qb8! (see diagram)
After 12. ... Qb8
Black threatens the h2-pawn, controls eS
and looks for a safe way to grab the e4-pawn.
After the game 12. Rxd4! was found to be
much stronger because 12. . . . Qb8 would
allow 13. Rxd6! Qxd6 14. eS (14 . . . . Bxf3
15. Qxf3 QxeS 16. Bf4!).
Petrosian got to play 12. Rxd4! against
Mario Bertok at the 1962 Interzonal and won
after 12 . . . . BcS 13. Rd3 Ng4 14. BgS Qb6
15. NdS! (since 15. . . . exdS 16. exdS+ Kf8
17. d6 is too strong).
13. Nf3?
Petrosian also underestimated the pawn
sacrifice 13. g3! b4 14. Na4. Then 14 . . . . Nxe4
15. Bc2 offers better chances than the game
(15. . . . Ndf6 16. f3 NcS 17. NfS or 15. . . . Nef6
16. NfS).
13. . . . b4! 14. Nd5?
Better is 14. Na4 although Black need not
grab the e-pawn to gain the upper hand
(14 . . . . 0-0 15. Bc2 Bc6).
14. . . . exd5 15. e5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 0-0
17. Nf3 ReS 18. Qd3 a5 19. Bg5 Ng4 20. g3
Bc5! 21. Rd2 Qa7 and Black wins
Tai had a very high regard for Smyslov.
When asked at Portoroz to rank the world's
top players, he diplomatically came up with
two lists, so that he would not have to com­
pare Soviets and non-Soviets. The best play­
ers in his country, he said, were Botvinnik,
Smyslov, Keres and David Bronstein in that
order. He said he was the fifth best, followed
by Petrosian, Spassky, Geller, Averbakh and
Taimanov. Note that he left out Korchnoi.
The Art of Making Draws
In the Zagreb cycle, the third series of
seven games, Tai followed the script and
piled up points. He won five games and led
Keres by a point. Averbakh said, "Tai stood
out with unmatched self-confidence, and
even if his combinations were not always
correct, this faith in himself helped him de­
stroy the resistance of the opponent:' 56
But not always. When Tai was paired for
the last time with Keres, Koblents and Aver­
bakh told him to play for a draw. "For a draw,
with White?" he replied. "It's simply embar-
 7. Three Directions 147

rassing:' 57 He played the first 20 moves half­

heartedly and when he realized he had to
seek a draw, it was too late. Keres won.
Petrosian's bid to catch up with them was
limited by two factors. One was his person­
ality. "As usual he underestimated his chances,
and was clearly happy to fight for a place not
higher than an honorable third;' Tai wrote. 58
The second factor was a secret pact. In the
first three cycles Petrosian and Tai drew in
12, 23 and 15 moves, barely out of "book" in
After 16. ... Rf6
each case. This was not normal for Tai. He
drew only two other games out of 15 in that takiad two months earlier. It went 12. Radl
period of the tournament. One of the Petro­
Ne5 13. Be2 Nxg3 with an eventual draw.
sian-Tal games went I. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6
Amateurs who repeated the Tal-Petrosian
3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3 cxd4 moves, thinking it was a legitimate draw, dis­
7. Nxd5 Qxd5 8. Qxd4 Qb5 9. e3 Qb4+ covered that Black is lost after 17. Qc7! in­
10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Qxb4 Bxb4 12. Bg2 Bd7 stead of 17. Nc7+, e.g., 17. . . . b6 18. Ng7+ Kf8
draw. ''As White against me, Petrosian did 19. Nh5! . In fact, White had a second win
not force matters;' Tale wrote disingenu­
later in the game: 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Qh8+ Kt7
ously. 59
23. N3d5.
A Yugoslav chess writer hinted at the ob­ More than 800 miles away, Sally followed
vious when he said Petrosian and Tai were Tal's progress. "I really missed Misha;' she
such good friends that fighting chess should wrote. 61 There was little reason to remain at
not be expected. That angered them. "We de­ Gorky Street, number 34. "I began to spend
cided 'Right, we' ll show them how to really
less time in his house. After the plays or night
draw without a fight! "' Tai said. 60 Their fourth
rehearsals I returned to my eight-meter room
game lasted only five minutes.
in the hostel:' More than once, someone told
her that her boyfriend had real chances to
Tai-Petrosian become a contender for the title of world
Candidates Tournament, Bled-Zagreb- champion. She found the right answer: "It's
Belgrade, 1959 more important to me that he is a contender
Sicilian Defense (B94) for the title of my husband:'
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Bc4 a6 7. Bg5 Qa5 8. Qd2
e6 9. 0-0 h6 10. Bh4 gs 11. Bg3 Nh5 The Huss ar and the Sheriff
12. Bxe6! fxe6 13. Nxe6 Nxg3! 14. fxg3!
Ne5 15. Rxf8+! Rxf8 16. Qxd6 Rf6 (see di­ During his rise, newspapers dubbed Tai
agram) the "Hussar of Riga" and the "Demon of the
64 Squares:' As the Candidates tournament
17. Nc7+ Kf7 18. Rfl Rxfl+ 19. Kxfl Nc4
moved to Belgrade for the final cycle, jour­
20. Qxh6 Qc5 21. Nxa8 Nd2+ 22. Ke2 Bg4+
nalists elaborated on the theme, calling him
23. Kd3 Qc4+ 24. Ke3 Qc5+ draw
the "Baltic Pirate" who stole points and half
Petrosian had analyzed 12. Bxe6 after his points from his opponents. His fans loved
game with Eduard Gufeld from the Spar- that.
148 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
"Tal! Sacrifice! Tal! Sacrifice!" they cheered
as he entered the playing hall, according to
Koblents. After a game they would gather to
accompany him back to his hotel. ''.Always
among them was a boy with big, dark eyes
that spoke of his joy;' according to historians
Isaac and Vladimir Linder. He was eight­
year-old Ljubomir Lj ubojevic, the future
world-class player. 62
After the composed draw with Petrosian,
Tal's lead over Keres had shrunk to one point,
with two rounds left. He was scheduled to
play Fischer, nicknamed the "Sheriff from
Brooklyn" by the Yugoslav journalists. "You
play the Sheriff today? Be very careful;' Petro­
sian warned Tal that morning. 63
They were more of a team than the j our­
nalists suspected. Petrosian j oined another
council of war that day and he advised Tal to
answer Fischer's automatic first move, 1. e4,
with a solid Caro-Kann Defense. "No, I will
play Bobika's favorite Sicilian system;' Tal
replied. He meant the Naj dorf Variation,
1. . . . c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6.
In the second cycle Fischer answered
6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 and Tal got the upper hand
with a quiet policy, 7. . . . Be7 8. f4 0-0 9. Qf3
Qc7 (10. 0-0?! bS 11. f5? b4! 12. Na4 es 13. Ne2
Bb7). Now with Koblents and Averbakh lis­
tening, Tal wondered if he could challenge
Bobby with 7. • . . b5! and if 8. f4 then 8. . . .
b4 9. Na4 Nxe4 when they met that after­
noon. "Such a nice little central pawn;' Petro­
sian told him. "Hmmm, hmmm . . . . I think I
would take it:' 64
Averbakh and Koblents felt the Naj dorf
Variation itself was a risky choice. "But I be­
lieved in Tal's lucky star, and that in the end,
it would turn out right;' Averbakh said. 65 Tal,
too, had his doubts about 9. . . . Nxe4. But
after more discussion he exclaimed, ''.Ah,
what the devil. I' ll take it! " 66
When the play began, Tal captured the
pawn and Fischer quickly amassed what vir­
tually all spectators saw as an overwhelming
position. Keres was winning his game, so if
Tal lost they would be tied going into the
final round.
Bobby Fischer-Tai
Candidates tournament, Bled-Zagreb­
Belgrade, 1959
After 21. ... Qxb8
Fischer wrote 22. Rael on his scoresheet.
He used algebraic notation instead of his
usual English descriptive. Then he moved
the scoresheet "so that I could see it" and
kept thinking, Tal wrote. "He was testing me:
wouldn't I frown or show any nervousness?"
This was psychological payback. Fischer had
become annoyed in previous games when
Tal wrote down a move before playing it. In
a section of his manuscript of My 60 Memo­
rab le Games that was later omitted, Fischer
wrote, "He usually writes lemons down on
the first draft, reserving the move he actually
selects until somewhere around the fourth
chicken scratch:' 67
Tal recognized that 22. Rael was the strong­
est move and wondered how he could change
Fischer's mind. "I could make myself smile,
but Bobby wasn't a child, so heel understand;'
Tal wrote. 68 He came up with a strategy: "I
calmly stood up-my years in the student
theater surely counted for something!-and
started to pace along the boards. I joked with
somebody, looked at the demonstration
boards and then got back with a satisfied
look. I'm totally sure that Fischer looked at
 7. Three Directions
me all the time, rather than calculating vari­
ants. He stared at me again (I didn't budge)
and then . . . crossed out the move! :' 69
Fischer blundered with his substitute move,
22. Qc6+?. Vladas Mikenas, Keres' second,
watched helplessly as Fischer's position dis­
integrated and, with it, Keres' world cham­
pionship hopes once again. "I only came into
the playing hall after three hours of play,"
Averbakh said. "Misha had a completely
winning position, and Koblents and Mikenas
. . . were sitting down, holding their hearts,
with sedative tablets in the mouths:' 10
After the game, a consensus formed that
22. Rael would have won. Garry Kasparov,
in My Great Predecessors, Part II, said that
after 22. . . . Kd8 23. Rxe7 Bxe7 24. Qd5+
"White can only dream of a draw." Actually,
it is a forced draw: 24 . . . . Kc7 25. Qe5+ Kd7
26. Qf5+ or 24 . . . . Bd6 25. Rf6 Rg6 26. Rxf7
Qb5 27. Qa8+ Bb8 28. Rf8+ Kc7 29. Rt7+ etc.
After the game, Tal was asked what he
would have felt if he were White in the posi­
tion before move 22. "I would have been sur­
prised that my opponent hadn't resigned," he
said with a smile. 71
Muzio Gambit
In the final round Tal only needed a draw
with White against Pal Benko to win the
tournament. "Play quietly;' Averbakh ad­
vised.72 Tal agreed to offer an early draw. But
when they went to Koblents' hotel room, Tal
showed him the moves of the wild Muzio
Gambit. Tal said it might be a good way to
play against Benko because it would give him
something to ponder and "he loves to think:' 73
There are three versions of what happened
next: Tal said Koblents took on a look of "ter­
ror" but then he realized it was a joke.
Koblents, however, said he knew all along
that Tal was just being Tal. And Averbakh
said both he and Koblents took Tal seriously.
"I said, 'Misha we already agreed about every-
149
thing. Why did you think this up?' Tal couldn't
contain himself any longer and burst out
laughing;' he said.74
His seconds got Tal to promise to offer
Benko a draw after 12 moves whatever the
position. "Otherwise I' ll start throwing rot­
ten tomatoes at you," Koblents said. 75 But
when Tal made the offer, Benko refused. (Tal
felt Benko pretended not to hear the offer.)
Within a few moves Tal obtained a winning
position. Benko could have resigned but Tal
forced perpetual check and secured first place.
Next stop: a world championship match. "My
head is filled with sunshine," Tal said. 76
In a post-tournament interview, he said
Keres had played the best chess. This was Tal
modesty: After winning the 24th USSR Cham­
pionship, he said David Bronstein had played
the best. Readers understood what he was
saying about the element of luck in chess.
On the flight home there were only three
passengers, Tal, Koblents and Uncle Robert,
according to Koblents. A huge crowd of fans
assembled at the airport for their arrival but
bad weather prevented the plane from land­
ing. There was a real danger of it crashing.
Only Robert panicked. "Don't worry, Uncle,
if we crash, it will only be once! " Tal said. 77
The plane landed safely. Sally said she heard
that Tal shrugged off the danger with "a fit
of nervous laughter:'
Before meeting Sally nine months earlier,
Tal had kept in touch with other girlfriends
and had been getting serious with one in
Moscow. But "Saska" replaced her. Tal was
ready to go further once the Candidates
tournament was finished. "Literally two days"
after arriving back in Riga "he said to me as
though by the way: 'Saska, let's submit doc­
uments to the [marriage] registry office;"
Sally wrote. 78
She said she was "frightened of losing my
independence. I was afraid that, having be­
come Tal's official wife, I would have to leave
the theater, lose my freedom and become a
'normal chess wife:" She replied, "Where are
150 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

we hurrying to? Let the match with Botvin­
nik end and then we'll submit the documents:'
To this Misha joked: "I understand: you want
to marry a world champion, and not a chal­
lenger."79
She heard him phoning a friend, a well­
known photographer, to arrange for him to
take pictures of them registering the mar­
riage, for the widely read Soviet Union mag­
azine. "Do you want the entire Soviet Union
to learn about the historical moment?" she
asked. "Not the whole of the Soviet Union;'
Tal replied. "Only his readers:•so
 8. A Takeoff,
an Apo gee and a Crash
After the advent of Elo ratings, a joke cir­
culated among grandmasters: Marriage will
cost you 50 points in playing strength. The
evidence of this was mixed during 1958-1960
when, first Viktor Korchnoi, then Boris Spas­
sky and finally Mikhail Tal got married after
short courtships. Korchnoi's career took off,
Tal's achieved his greatest height and Spas­
sky's nightmare deepened.
Even as a teenager, Spassky enjoyed a rep­
utation as a ladies man. With gray-green
eyes, wavy hair and infectious joie de vivre,
he found himself very attractive to women.
And vice versa. He told an interviewer in
2007 that love was the most important thing
in life, more than chess. Did love ever inter­
fere with chess? Yes, he said, and recalled an
incident in 1958 in Rostov-on-Don. A Spar­
tak sports society women's basketball team,
visiting from distant Vladivostok, was stay­
ing at the same hotel as him. He arranged a
hasty rendezvous with a member of the team,
hasty because "within two hours her train
was leaving:'
But Igor Bondarevsky, serving as his sec­
ond, "showed me an interesting position:' he
said. "I was so fascinated I forgot everything
else. When I came to my senses I ran to the
train station in horror to say goodbye. In an-
swer to my apology the girl slashed me with
151
her glance. I still remember her eyes. And I
regret the lost encounter:' 1
Spassky made up for it with many other
encounters. Nevertheless, in 1959 he married
a fellow Leningrader, a philology student
named Nadezhda Konstantinovna Latynt­
seva. In 1960 they had a daughter, Tatiana.
But Nadezhda was "very aggressive:' Spassky
claimed. 'J\.lmost immediately I realized that
my wife and I were opposite-colored bishops.
We never intersected, we constantly dis­
agreed:' He said their fights became violent. 2
To end matters, "I offered a draw to my wife,
a divorce," he said. "She objected and a war
started. I was stalemated:' 3
The romance of Mikhail Tal and Sally
Landau was much more public. They soon
became the Soviet equivalent of a celebrity
couple. "They were glamorous:' Mark Tai­
manov said, using a term that could not be
applied to many USSR marriages. Tal was the
famous chessplayer with the haunting dark
eyes. She was the stage starlet with fiery red
hair. "No chessplayer in all history had such
popularitY:' Taimanov said. Borislav Ivkov
amended that: "The most popular chessplay­
ers in all history were Fischer and Tal. One
because he was a genius, the other-crazy." 4
Tal's fans seemed crazier. In Yugoslavia Tal
was chatting with Yuri Averbakh when a
152 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

pretty young woman took Tai aside to speak
privately. "When he came back, he was grin­
ning;' Averbakh said. "What's up?" Averbakh
asked. "She said she wants to have my baby!"
Tai replied. 5
Both Tai and Sally recognized how attrac­
tive the other was to the opposite sex. If Sally
was in a group of l3 men, he told her, "twelve
would fall in love with you immediately, and
the 13th would when you begin to sing:' 6
Even Bobby Fischer was smitten when he
met her at Cura<;:ao 1962. "I want to have 150
suits, three houses and a wife like Tal's;' he
said. 7
Tal's charm overcame his refusal to take
steps to become attractive. "In life, I did not
meet another person, who would be so in­
different to his own appearance;' Sally wrote.
He "forgot" to cut his fingernails and seemed
helpless when it came to washing his hair,
she said.8 Yet they were deeply in love as he
entered the most testing years of his life.
been expected to contend for first place were
unrecognizable.
David Bronstein-Petrosian
27th USSR Championship finals,
Leningrad, 1960
Caro-Kann Defense (BIO)
I. e4 c6 2. Ne2 d5 3. es cs 4. d4 Nc6 5. c3 e6
6. Nd2 Nge7 7. Nf3 cxd4
Black seeks a comfortable form of the
French Defense (8. cxd4 NfS).
8. Nexd4! Ng6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bd3 Qc7
11. Qe2 f6 12. exf6 gxf6 13. Nd4 Kt7 14. f4
Instead of going for complications (14 . . . .
Nxf4 15. Bxf4 Qxf4 16. Nxc6), White would
get reasonable play from 14. 0-0. Then 14 . . . .
es 15. Qh5 is stronger (15. . . . Bg7 16. NfS)
than in the game.
14. . . . c5 15. Qh5? cxd4! 16. Bxg6+ hxg6!
17. Qxh8 dxc3 (see diagram)

Now Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi's marriage was a strategic
move, like his later decision to join the Com­
munist Party. "Subconsciously I hoped that
my new, solid family situation would help
me also to achieve solid successes at the chess
board;' he wrote. ''And as we will see, my cal­
culations were justified:' 9
The evidence was the finals of the 27th
USSR Championship. It was held in his After 17. ... dxc3
hometown in the grandly titled Palace of It is hard to imagine why Bronstein pro­
Culture of the First Five-Year Plan. Korchnoi voked such an evidently sound sacrifice. He
battled defending champion Tigran Petro­ would be worse even after 18. b3 Bg7 19. Qh4
sian for the lead for almost the entire tour­ Ba6 20. Be3 fS.
nament. Their 12-move draw was one of the
few "grandmaster draws" in an exceptionally 18. Qh7+? Bg719. Be3? cxb2 20. Rdl Ba6
hard-fought round-robin. They had drawn
White can resign in view of the 21. . . . Qc4
their previous eight games, some of them
and 21. . . . Rh8 threats.
without a fight. It was not until a Soviet team
tournament at the end of l961 that they began 21. f5 exf5 22. Qh3 Qc2 23. Qf3 Bc4 White
beating one another. Other players who had resigns
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash 1 53

Spassky treated his hometown fans to one But the latter is quite good, e.g., 14. Qg4 Nxd4
of his greatest games. He left a rook en prise 15. QxhS gxh6 16. Qxh6 Kh8.
against Bronstein in a King's Gambit and
13. d5 Nd4 14. Nc3 (see diagram)
won in 23 moves. In the Soviet chess year­
book he gave three reasons: His attacking
pieces were at their peak efficiency, Bronstein
was weaker at defense than attack and Bron­
stein was short of time. But the fourth and,
he implied, most important reason was, "in­
dependent of whether the move is good or
bad, I liked the idea:' This was the kind of
answer Tai would give. Years later he ac­
knowledged his influence. "If you asked me
how I would like to play I would answer like
Capablanca or the Mikhail Tai of 1960:' 10
After 14. Nc3
But he lost other games without a fight.
His home life turmoil was exacerbated by an­ Best, according to Romanovsky, was 14 . . . .
other break. Alexander Tolush, his trainer of Rg8. But there was nothing wrong with the
eight years, was tiring of dealing with Spas­ tacit draw offer of 14 . . . . NhS 15. Qg4 Nf6.
sky's peccadilloes. On top of that, "Boris be­ Then 16. Qxg7? Rg8 17. Qh6 Rg6 18. Qe3 Nc2
came an object of interest of the KGB;' Alex­ costs material.
ander Nikitin said. 11 Everything was going
14. . . . g6? 15. Bg5!
wrong, Spassky said. "This was the critical
year of my life:' 12 It showed in some of his Spassky had counted on 15. . . . h6 but
games. overlooked 16. Qh4! . In view of 15. . . . 0-0
16. Qh4 Kg7 17. Bh6+, he played:
Korchnoi-Spassky
27th Soviet Championship finals, 15. . . . Qd8 16. Qh4
Leningrad, 1960 Korchnoi might have been tempted by
Queen's Gambit Accepted (D25) 16. Rxd4 exd4 17. es (17 . . . . Nh5 18. Bxd8
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 Nxg3 19. Bf6 dxc3 20. exd6! with a big edge).
But simpler is 16. f4! because 16. . . . exf4 loses
5. Bxc4 e6 6. 0-0 a6 7. Qe2?! Nc6 8. Rdl
Bd6 to 17. Qf2! . And 16. . . . NhS 17. Bxd8 Nxg3
18. Bf6 is an obvious advantage.
Black should have a comfortable middle­
game based on . . . es. 16. . . . Be717. f4 Nc2?
Suicidal. After 17. . . . Ng8 18. Bxe7 Qxe7
9. h3 Bh5 10. e4 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 e5
19. Qxe7+ Nxe7 he can resist, at least for a
Pyotr Romanovsky, in the May issue of while (20. fxeS Nc2 21. Rael Ne3).
Shakhmaty v SSSR, said "many spectators"
18. fxe5 Nd7 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Qxe7+
believed Black was already better, in view of
Kxe7 21. d6+ Kf8 22. dxc7! Nxe5 23. Rael
12. d5 Nd4 13. Qd3 bS 14. Bb3 Nd7! and . . . Nc5.
Spassky played 23. . . . Nb4 and resigned
12. Qg3! Qe7
at move 40. He might have conceded ear­
This, with the idea of . . . 0-0-0, is more in lier if Korchnoi had found 23. Rd8+ Kg7
Spassky's style than 12. . . . 0-0 13. Bh6 NhS. 24. Radl!.
154 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

This game left Korchnoi tied with Petro­ Black acts before White can untangle with
sian with four games to go. In the next round, a queen move and Nd2/f2-f3. Now 15. cxb5
an ill Petrosian was badly outplayed by Yuri cxd5! 16. exd5? e4 or 16. Nxd5 Nfxe4 is fine
Averbakh. Korchnoi's fans expected him to for Black.
take the lead by converting a big positional
advantage against Vladimir Bagirov, a new­
comer to the championship. But while con­
sidering a routine recapture, Korchnoi
touched the wrong bishop. If he moved it he
would remain fatally behind in material. He
stood up and left the tournament hall with­
out a word. Chess Is My Life said he was tense
that day because his son Igor, born the year
before, was sick and he had to help care for
him. In addition, he said he was put off by
seeing what he believed was Eduard Gufeld
blatantly throwing a game to Gufeld's friend,
Yefim Geller. Korchnoi was increasingly de­
After 18. Bd3
tecting deceit, real or imagined, in the games
of others. Petrosian saw . . . f5-f4 coming and pre­
Petrosian recovered quickly and gave Spas­ pared 18 . . . . fS 19. Bxe4! fxe4 20. Rxe4 Nxe4
sky a tutorial on the subject of Exchange sac­ 21. Qd5+ and 22. Qxe4, with excellent com­
rifices. pensation. White also has 20. h3 (20. . . . Bh5
21. Nxd6!) and 20. Nxd6 exf3 21. Qd5+.
Petro sian-Spassky
27th USSR Championship finals, 18. . . . Nxg3 19. hxg3 f5
Leningrad, 1960 After the game, Petrosian pointed out how
King's Indian Defense (E95) 19. . . . Rac8 and 20 . . . . Rxc7! would have
I. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 0-0 given Black good practical chances. 13
5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 20. Bc2! f4
Spassky was expecting 7. d5 and 8. Bg5, White's last move allowed him to answer
soon to be the "Petrosian Variation:' 20 . . . . e4 with a favorable 21. QdS+ Qf7
22. Nfd4. On 20. . . . Ra6 Petrosian had
7• • • • Nbd7 8. Rel c6 9. d5 Nc5 10. Bfl a5
planned 21. QdS+ Kh8 22. Nh2 and another
11. Bg5
Exchange sacrifice, 22. . . . f4 23. Nxg4 fxe3
This was a trademark Petrosian move, in 24. Nxe3, to dominate the light squares.
similar positions. It discourages a change in
21. gxf4 gxf4 22. Rel Ra6 23. Be4 h5?
the center (11. . . . exd5 12. NxdS).
Spassky felt 23. . . . Bd7 followed by 24 . . . .
11. . . . h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3
BxbS and . . . Rb6 was his last chance. 14 But
The standard counter in similar positions 23. . . . Bxe4 24. Rxe4 Qe6 was better and
is 13. . . . Nh5! followed by . . . Nf4 or . . . Nxg3. nearly equal. His position worsens quickly
Black stands well after 14. Nd2 Nxg3 15. hxg3 now.
cxd5 16. cxd5 fS.
24. Qc2 Qf6 25. Nd2 h4 26. f3! Bc8 27. Bd5+
13. . . . Bg4!? 14. Re3 b5! Kh8 28. Ne4 Qh6? 29. Re2 h3 30. gxh3!
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash 1 55

Opening the file loses quickly, 30. . . . Bxh3? 12. . . . NcS 13. Bc2 f6!14. exf6 Bxf615. Nxe6
31. Rh2. Qxe616. Qxe6+ Nxe617. Bb3 Rad818. Rdl
Ne7 19. Nd2 Kf7 20. Rfl?!
30 • . . • RfS 31. Rh2 a4 32. h4 b3 33. axb3
axb3 34. Qdl Rxal 35. Qxal Black resigns White's pieces are misplaced but 20. Bc2
g6 21. Rel was better than this bid for coun­
Petrosian and Spassky played ten games
terplay from f3-f4.
with one another before their 1966 world
championship match. All the others were 20. . . . cS! 21. f4 c4 22. Bdl Nc6 23. Nf3 d4
drawn. 24. NgS+! BxgS 25. fxgS+ Ke7 26. Rel Kd6
27. cxd4 Nexd4 28. Bd2 Rde8 29. Rel Kd5
(see diagram)
Declaration of War
After he defected, Korchnoi told two sto­
ries of what happened on the final day. He
led Petrosian and Geller by a half point and
was paired with Alexey Suetin. In one of the
stories, he said that after he offered a draw,
Suetin went to his friends Geller and Petro­
sian for advice.
A draw would give Petrosian a chance to
tie with Korchnoi for first place. He advised
Suetin to accept. But as Geller saw it, if Suetin After 29. ... Kd5
won, Geller might take first prize alone or
Black would be closing in on a win after,
with Petrosian. "Play on. You' ll beat him;'
for example, 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 and . . . b4 be­
Geller told Suetin. 15 How did Korchnoi learn
cause of the powerful coordination of his
of this alleged conversation? It is highly un­
knights and king. But, as Tai put it, "There
likely Suetin, Geller or Petrosian told him.
are very few chess players who only begin to
In any case, Suetin certainly had good reason
play when they obtain a poor position!
to refuse the draw offer by the third hour.
Korchnoi is among them:' 16
Korchnoi-Alexey Suetin 30. b3!? Rxel+! 31. Bxel NeS 32. bxc4+
27th USSR Championship finals, bxc4 33. Rbl
Leningrad, 1960
Black would be making progress with
Ruy Lopez (C83)
33. . . . Nd3 34. Bc3 Nf2, perhaps with the idea
1. e4 eS 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. BbS a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 of . . . Ke4-d3. He decides to push his c-pawn
5. 0-0 Nxe4 6. d4 bS 7. Bb3 dS 8. dxeS Be6 instead.
9. Qe2 Be710. c3 0-011. Nd4 Meanwhile, Petrosian had a small but
solid edge against Nikolai Krogius, while
Based on 11. . . . NxeS 12. f3, winning ma­
Bronstein had sacrificed unsoundly in an
terial.
even endgame against Geller. Geller's chances
II. . . . Qd7 12. f3?! of sharing first place, with or without Korch­
noi, appeared very good.
Black is soon better. Chances are roughly
balanced after 12. Bc2 f6 13. Nxe6 Qxe6 33. . . . Rc8 34. Bc3 NbS 35. Bal c3 36. a4
14. exf6. Nd6??
156 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
In mutual time pressure, Black would have
had excellent winning chances with 36. . . .
Na3!. For example, 37. Rel c2 38. Be2? Rb8!
and 38. Bb2! Nd3 39. Bf3+ Kc4. But after
36. . . . Nd6?? Black's centralized king turns
from an asset into a liability.
37. Bb3+ Ke4 38. Rel+ Kf5 39. Bc2+ Ke6
40. Bb3+ Kf5 41. Bc2+ Ke6 42. Re3!
White's bishops have come alive and he
might also have begun harvesting pawns
with 42. Bxh7.
42. . . . Nc4 43. Rxc3 Rd8 44. h3 g6 45. Bb3
Kf5 46. Kh2 Rc8 47. Rc2! Rc6 48. Re2!
Afterward Korchnoi told journalist Viktor
Vasiliev that he had ten lost positions in the
tournament and won nearly all of them. In
the March 1961 issue of Shakhmaty v SSSR
Vasiliev painted a picture of him for a wider
audience by comparing him to Tai:
Tal loved to attack. Korchnoi loved to
counterattack-and no one does it as well as
him. Tal preferred White. Korchnoi pre­
ferred Black. Korchnoi almost never refuses
a sacrifice. "In any tournament he could fin­
ish first or last;' Vasiliev wrote. Both men
tried to live up to their reputations but even­
tually realized the images were costing them
points.
48. . . . Rb6 49. Bc2+ Ke6 50. Bd4 Rd6 51. Bc3
Rb6 52. Kg3 Kd5 53. Kf4 Nc6 54. Rel Rb7
55. Be4+ Kc5 56. Rel Rb3 57. Bg7 Nb4
58. Bf8+ Kd4 59. Rdl+ Nd3+ 60. Rxd3+!
Rxd3 61. Bg7+ Black resigns
This victory made Korchnoi the sole win­
ner of the tournament. In his memoirs he
told a second story about this round, based
on what Bronstein told him in 1974: Bron­
stein said he threw his game to Geller so that
Geller would finish first. Bronstein did this
because he saw "how unscrupulously and
crudely Krogius was losing to Petrosian" and
he did not want to see Petrosian become
champion this way, he said. "But what about
me?" Korchnoi demanded. Bronstein's excuse
was "You were in a bad way. I thought you
were losing:' 17
Korchnoi concluded that the last round in
1960 "was Petrosian's first conspiracy against
me. I had to be stopped." He later added that
Geller also became his enemy and it influ­
enced events like the 1962 Candidates tour­
nament. They "forged a pact against me in
1960;' he said. 18 But there is ample evidence
that Korchnoi and Petrosian remained on
good terms for several years. In one of his
last interviews Korchnoi said they "were
friends" during the 1960s. 19 And how was it
a hostile act for Petrosian to tell Suetin not
to try to beat Korchnoi?
Also, Korchnoi must have known of Bron­
stein's dubious credibility. Gennady Sosonko
indicated that Bronstein concocted his last­
round tale. 20 Looking at the games today, it
appears Bronstein made his dubious sacrifice
against Geller when the Petrosian-Krogius
game was still fairly close, not when Petro­
sian was winning. In short, the story Korch­
noi told for the last 30 years of his life about
the start of his "war" with Petrosian may be
based on a myth he wanted to believe.
Evil Victor
Yevgeny Vasiukov first played Korchnoi in
1953 and later served as his trainer. He said
he could not think of a single player Korch­
noi respected. "It's no accident that when he
was still a young man people began to whis­
per. They called him 'Evil Viktor;" said Va­
siukov. "I think something like that has to be
earned . . . . You don't simply acquire such
things:' 2 1 Mark Taimanov considered Korch­
noi a friend but recognized that over a chess­
board Korchnoi was no one's friend. "He
thought he had to hate any opponent during
the game;' Taimanov said. 22
Korchnoi was surprised when his oppo­
nents took offense. He told the story of how
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
Vladimir Simagin, during a game with Korch­
noi, approached Taimanov and asked him,
"Why does he look at me with such malice­
as if l had slaughtered all of his family down
to the sixth generation?" 23 Korchnoi seemed
to cultivate his "sporting malice," as the Rus­
sians called it. "More than once I heard from
him, 'Don't calm me, or my malice will pass!'"
his sports psychologist, Rudolf Zagainov,
said. 24
Controlled animosity was Korchnoi's most
noticeable personal quality, according to many
of his opponents. Viktor Kupreychik, who
played Korchnoi over a 2O-year period, said,
"In what way did Korchnoi distinguish himself
from the others? By his sporting malice. In the
best sense. Everyone knew that if Korchnoi sat
at the board, he was your enemy." 25
Petrosian and Spassky, among others, said
Korchnoi did not have the talent to become
world champion but made up for it with mo­
tivation, by conjuring up contempt for his
opponents. 26 Vyacheslav Osnos, another of
his later trainers, said his own playing career
was held back because he could not develop
the sporting malice he saw in Korchnoi. "One
needs to look at the opponent as if he stole
100 rubles from you. And I can't do this;'
Osnos said. 27
At various times Korchnoi acknowledged
and denied his practice. "To be honest, com­
petitive malice is not something I practice,"
he said. 28 But he ridiculed Svetozar Gligoric
for saying he played "against the pieces;' not
against an opponent. "This sounds like stu­
pidity. You play against a person who has a
mood, who has or lacks a will:' He admitted,
'Tm no angel:'
In an 80th birthday interview he recalled
a game with Taimanov in a Leningrad team
championship: "Our teams met on the day
on which my family observed an anniversary
party. Mark and his wife were invited. He
counted on a quick draw but I was inclined
to play. As a result the game dragged on. I
won but the party was called off. My wife was
157
in tears, the event was spoiled and I was em­
barrassed:' 29
Smoking and the Ma estro
Mikhail Botvinnik was notorious for ar­
guing over trivial matters before his world
championship matches. He could not do that
in 1960. "Even if Mikhail Moisseyevich offers
the most extravagant option, I will agree," Tal
told his wife. Why? "First, because it is Bot­
vinnik, and secondly, because I will still
crush him . . . . "30
Most of what we know about Tal's prepa­
rations comes from Alexander Koblents. The
Maestro had idolized Botvinnik when he
covered the champion's matches with Bron­
stein and Vasily Smyslov as a journalist.
Koblents concluded that Botvinnik had "pro­
grammed himself, not only in chess but in
the course of life" and stuck to the rigid reg­
imen he believed was best for him. "It seemed
to me that Mikhail Moisseyevich very early
understood that what he wanted to do was
not always beneficial:' Perhaps with a hint to
Tal he added, ''.And what was beneficial was
not always what he wanted to do."3 1
After a decade together, Tal depended on
Koblents. His mother told him, "You know,
Misha, you should never be separated from
the Maestro. He brings you luck:'32 Koblents
was also an enabler, who accepted the ex­
cesses that other seconds would not. When
Koblents asked Isaac Boleslavsky if he would
help the challenger, he refused. "Tal doesn't
need a trainer;' Boleslavsky said. "He needs
a nannY:'33
What Sally remembered of the match
preparation was the image of two silhouettes
traced in tobacco smoke, "continuously mov­
ing pieces on a chessboard and occasionally
making notes in a notebook. I would go to
bed, and Misha and Koblents continued to
move the wooden figures. I got up, and they
sat in the same poses and moved the wooden
158 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

figures . . . . Misha-unshaven, unwashed, un­ 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Nde2 Nf6 8. 0-0
combed, already then with the unchanged Be7 9. Ng3
Kent [cigarette] in his teeth, and Koblents­
Tolush had won impressive games in the
trimmed, neatly dressed, completely Euro­
Sicilian Defense by mating a castled king
pean-looking:'3 4
with a Ng3-h5xg7 sacrifice.
Smoking was Tal's newest bad habit. There
are two versions of how he went from non­ 9. . . . b5 10. Be3 Bb7 11. f4 d6 12. Qe2 0-0
smoker to a two-pack-a-day addict in a mat­ 13. Radl Rac8 14. a4? b4 15. Nbl dS! 16. eS
ter of months. That they gave such different Nd717. Nd2
accounts illustrates how Tai and Sally seemed
Black stands well (17. Bxa6? Bxa6 18. Qxa6
to live in separate worlds.
Ncb8 19. queen-move Qxc2). His advantage,
Tal's version: Early in the 1959 Candidates
after 17. Nd2, would be enlarged by 17. . . .
tournament he was depressed about his poor
Nc5! (18. b3 Nxd3 19. cxd3 Na5 or 18. Bxc5
start and suffering from the tug of his post­
Bxc5+ 19. Khl Nd4).
appendectomy stitches. A Yugoslav journalist
offered him a cigarette. "I tried one, it worked 17. . . . Bc518. Nb3! Bxe3+ 19. Qxe3 Nb6??
and I even liked it;' he wrote. Since he won the
Tai was reluctant to weaken his kingside
tournament, he did not consider smoking
(19. . . . g6!) or enter a poor endgame (19. . . .
harmful. Back home in Riga he began to "bor­
Qb6 20. Qxb6 Nxb6 21. NcS). But he mis­
row" occasional cigarettes from his uncle. By
judged White's attacking potential and prob­
the time of the Botvinnik match he was smok­
ably counted on 20. Nc5? NxeS! or 20. a5?
ing openly, even unfiltered Camels.35
Nc4).
Sally's version: "I confess, I 'taught' Misha
to smoke;' she wrote. "Previously, he could 20. Nh5! (see diagram)
not bear tobacco smoke and drove Robert
out of the room if he lit a cigarette-and
Robert smoked very much:' Sally started to
smoke because her character in a play did.
Once, when rehearsing, she got dizzy from
the smoke and "almost fell into an orchestra
pit. But gradually I got used to it, I smoked
a lot and . . . Misha did not want to leave me
behind, and also became addicted:'36
Koblents convinced Tai to enter a round­
robin international in December 1959. He
said he wanted Tai to play "somewhat pas­ After 20. Nh5
sively in the opening, so as to become accus­
Tai allowed Tolush to do what he did best.
tomed to defending:'37 But a look at his Black
White threatens 21. Bxh7+! Kxh7 22. Nf6+!
games shows Tai defended aggressively in all
gxf6 23. Qh3+ and mate after 24. Qg4+ and
of them. This should have cost him in the
25. Rf3. Black's best defense is 20. . . . Ne7 but
first round:
it would not be hard to see that 21. Nf6+!
Alexander Tolush-Tai gxf6 22. exf6 Ng6 23. fS! would threaten
Riga, 1959 24. Qh6 and mate. Then White is close to
Sicilian Defense (B43) winning (23. . . . Nd7 24. fxg6 fxg6 25. Qxe6+).
1. e4 cs 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 20. . . . g6? 21. Nf6+?
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
It is remarkable that perhaps the two
fiercest attackers of this age both underesti­
mated 21. fS!. Black would lose after 21. . . .
QxeS 22. Qxb6 or 21. . . . gxhS 22. f6. Perhaps
what they missed was 21. . . . exfS 22. RxfS!
(22. . . . gxfS? 23. Qg3+). White wins in lines
like 22. . . . f6 23. Nxf6+ Kh8 24. RgS. The
greatest resistance is offered by 21. . . .
NxeS 22. Qh6 f6. But it is not enough after
23. fxg6 Ng4 24. Qxh7+ Qxh7+ 25. gxh7+
Kh8 26. Nf4.
21. . . . Kg7 22. Rf3 Nxa4!
Both 23. . . . Nxb2 and a queen trade with
23. . . . Qb6 are in the air.
23. Rh3 Rh8 24. Rel Qb6?
Black could have safely taken a second
pawn (24 . . . . Nxb2!). Computers claim that
Qcl at move 23 or 24 would have kept chances
in balance. Humans do not attack like that.
25. Qxb6 Nxb6 26. Nc5?
But he had to play 26. Rall first, since
26. . . . Ra8 27. NcS or 26. . . . aS 27. BbS would
give him some compensation for a pawn.
Now Tal ends the pressure.
26. . . . Nxe5! 27. Nh5+ gxh5 28. Nxb7
Nxd3 29. cxd3 Rc7! 30. Na5 Rhc8 31. Nb3
Rc2 32. f5 Rxb2 33. Nd4 e5 34. f6+ Kxf6
35. Rf3+ Kg7 36. Nf5+ Kf8 37. Rxe5 Rel+
38. Rfl Rbbl White resigns
Spassky won the tournament impressively.
Tal chalked up his fourth-place finish to a
learning experience, like the secret training
games that Botvinnik engaged in before his
world championship matches. Tal did play
at least one training game with the Maestro.
Tai-Alexander Koblents
Training game, Riga, 1960
Caro-Kann Defense (Bll)
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3
5. gxf3?!
1 59
"Chess can't be played this way;' Tigran
Petrosian wrote when Tal made this move in
the championship match. But Koblents was
happy when he read Botvinnik's post-match
comment about Tal's play: "I was struck by
how, instead of playing 'according to the po­
sition' (as I was taught in youth), the oppo­
nent made an illogical move-to force his
opponent to solve problems . . . when the op­
ponent erred, Tal would find an elegant and
unexpected solution:' 38
5. . . . e5 6. f4 dxe4
Tal was ready to gambit a pawn, 6. . . . exf4
7. exdS cxdS 8. d4. For example, 8 . . . . Qe7+
9. Qe2 f3 10. Qxe7+ Nxe7 and now 11. NbS
Kd7 12. Bf4 followed by 0-0-0 and h3-h4/
Bh3+.
7. fxe5 Qd4 8. Qe2 Qxe5 9. d4!? Qxd4
10. Nxe4
Foiling discovered checks with 10. . . . QeS
11. f4 Qe6 allows White a big lead in devel­
opment (12. Bd2 Nh6 13. 0-0-0 and Bc3/
Rgl).
10. . . . Be7 11. Bf4!
Gennady Sosonko recalled how he spent
a month in Riga as Tal's trainer in spring
1968. "We worked, of course, only on the
opening but basically his successes didn't lie
in theoretical knowledge;' he wrote. "The
most important thing for him was to create
a situation on the board so that the pieces
came alive. . . . " 39
This is such a position. White has enough
for a pawn if Black stops Nd6+ with 11. . . .
Kf8 in view of 12. c3 QdS 13. Bg2. And he
would win after 11. . . . Nf6? 12. Nd6+ Kf8
13. Qxe7+! Kxe7 14. NfS+.
11. . . . Qxb212. Rdl
Some computers say 12. Nd6+ Kf8 13. Bes
was stronger. For example, 13. . . . Qb4+ 14. c3
QcS 15. Nxb7.
12. . . . Nf6 (see diagram)
1 60 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 12. ... Nf6
There are traps galore, e.g., 12. . . . Qxa2
13. Rgl g6? 14. Bes and 13. . . . Kf8? 14. Qg4!.
But White's compensation would have been
doubtful after 13. . . . Nd7.
13. Nd6+ Kf8 14. Qxe7+! Kxe7 15. Nf5+
Ke8!
White mates after 15. . . . Kf8? 16. Rd8+
Ne8 17. Bd6+ and wins after 15. . . . Ke6?
16. Nxg7+ Ke? 17. Bd6+ Kd8 18. Ba3+.
16. Nxg7+ Kf8 17. Bd6+! Kxg7 18. Rgl+
Ng4!
Mikhail Tai Games: Volume I points out
18 . . . . Kh6 19. Bf4+ KhS 20. Be2+ Kh4 21. Bg3+
Kxh3 22. Bfl+ Kg4 23. Bes+ KfS 24. Bxb2
"with attack:'
But in this line: (a) Black is better after
24 . . . . Re8+, (b) White had two forced mates
at move 22, with 22. Rhl+ and 22. Kfl, and
(c) There was another forced mate a move
earlier, 21. BgS+! .The faulty 21. Bg3+? would
have allowed Black to play an endgame after
21. . . . KgS!.
19. Rxg4+ Kf6 20. Rf4+ Kg7 draw
Black can not afford 20. . . . Ke6? 21. Bc4+
Kd7 22. Rxf7+ Ke8 23. Re?+. Nor is 20. . . .
KgS 21. Rg4+ KhS 22. Be2 a winning attempt.
Hard Currency Dreams
The reward for winning the national cham­
pionship could be an American dishwasher
or TV set. Not directly, of course. But being
allowed to play in an international tourna­
ment in a capitalist country guaranteed ac­
cess to convertible "hard" currency. Return­
ing home, a player could cash in his unspent
dollars, pounds, guilders and so on for "cer­
tificate rubles;' which could be spent in
limited-access shops where scarce goods
were available and prices were lower than in
shops open to everyday citizens.
This was new in the mid-1950s. When So­
viet players first got a chance to play abroad
they could not officially accept hard currency
fees. That changed after a free day in the 1955
U.S.-USSR match in Moscow, according to
Mark Taimanov. The Soviet players and the
highest-ranking vlasti were invited to cele­
brate July 4 at the American ambassador's
residence. During a social moment, Nikita
Khrushchev chatted with Taimanov. "When
Soviet players compete abroad, do they re­
ceive honoraria?" the Kremlin leader asked.
"What, Nikita Sergeyevich? How can we
accept money from the bourgeois?" was Tai­
manov's ideologically proper reply.
''And do they receive them when they
compete at home?'' Khrushchev continued.
"Of course;' Taimanov answered. "How
else can we live?"
Khrushchev thought for a moment and
decided that taking money away from capi­
talists made sense. ''And within a few days
the Sports Committee issued a new special
order that allowed chess players to accept
hard currency when abroad;' Taimanov said. 40
Petrosian had played in the West in team
tournaments and matches and world cham­
pionship qualification events but not foreign
invitationals. That changed in January 1960
when he was sent with Salo Flohr to Bever­
wijk, the Netherlands, as the first Soviet play­
ers to a Hoogovens international. Later in
the year, he went to Copenhagen with Yefim
Geller for a Nimzowitsch Memorial tourna­
ment. He tied with Bent Larsen in the first
tournament and won the second.
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash 161

Korchnoi scored travel assignments in
1960 that sent him to three Argentine inter­
nationals. In Buenos Aires he trailed Samuel
Reshevsky by a point with five games to go.
At a banquet at the Soviet embassy he met
the poet Maria Rosa Oliver, a Lenin Prize
winner, who convinced him that "I was
obliged to win this tournament so as not
to allow an American to be the winner:' 41
Korchnoi was impressed by the impact "So­
viet propaganda" had on South Americans.
He caught up with Reshevsky and they tied
for first prize.
South America was also Spassky's desti­
nation when he and Bronstein played in the
resort city of Mar <lei Plata. Spassky's second­
round win from Bobby Fischer, a King's
Gambit, got worldwide attention after they
tied for first prize. But his best game was:
Black prepared . . . Bes. The immediate 11. . . .
Bes would have walked into 12. Be3 Qd6
13. Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. Qc4+ with advantage.
12. Bb3 Bc5? 13. Be3 Qd6 14. Radl Qe7
15. Bxc5
Slightly more accurate is the immediate
15. NfhS because if play follows the game,
15. . . . NxhS 16. NxhS 0-0 17. Qg4 g6, White
still has his bishop and wins faster with
18. Bxh6. It does not help Black to insert
16. . . . Bxe3 in view of 17. Nxg7+! Kf8 18. fxe3
and then 18 . . . . Kxg7 18. Qg4+ Bg6 19. Rxf7+.
15. . . . Qxc5 16. Nfh5 Nxh5 17. Nxh5 0-0
18. Qg4 g619. Rd3 (see diagram)
White plans 20. Rfdl and 21. Rd8 or 21. Rd6.
Also winning is 19. Rfel and Qg3/Rxe5.

Spassky-Alberto Foguelman
Mar del Plata, 1960
Caro-Kann Defense (B18)
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5
5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nle2
Spassky had never played the 4. Nxe4 BfS
main line of the Caro-Kann before, accord­
ing to databases. He was adopting another
Tai idea: A week before this game, Tai played After 19. Rd3
6. Nle2 Nf6 7. h4 in the Botvinnik match.
19. . . . a5
7. . . . Nf6 8. Nf4 Bh7 9. Bc4
Black could not play 19. . . . Na6 because
The Tai game went 9. . . . e6 10. 0-0 Bd6. of 20. Nf6+ and 21. Nd7. Spassky noticed that
Annotators suggested that 9. . . . eS 10. dxeS 20 . . . . a4 was not a threat, e.g., 20. a3 a4
QaS+ might equalize. But 10. Qe2!? had been 21. Ba2 Qxc2? 22. Bxf7+! and wins. His next
analyzed in Shakhmaty v SSSR in 1952 and move prepares 21. Bxf7+ Rxf7 22. Rd8+ Rf8
found to be strong after 10. . . . Qxd4 11. 0-0 23. Qe6+ and wins.
Be7 12. Rdl QcS 13. Be3 QaS 14. NfhS 0-0
20. Rfdl! Ra7
15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. NhS! .
Among the pretty lines is 20 . . . . Qe7
9. . . . e5 10. Qe2!? Qxd4 11. 0-0 b5?
21. Rd7! Nxd7 22. Rxd7 Qb4 23. Qf3! gxhS
Spassky felt 11. . . . Nbd7 12. Rdl QcS would 24. Rxf7 and wins.
give him enough compensation for a pawn
21. Rd6 Kh8 22. Nf6 a4 23. Nxh7 axb3
after 13. Be3 Qe7 14. NfhS NxhS 15. QxhS.
Computers tend to prefer Black. Instead, Black can resign after 23. . . . Kxh7 24. Bxf7!.
1 62 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
24. Nxf8 bxa2 25. Nxg6+! fxg6 26. Rd8+
Kg7 27. Rg8+! Kxg8 28. Qxg6+ Rg7
29. Rd8+ Qf8 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Qd6+ Kf7
32. Qa3 Black resigns
Fighting for Squ are Meters
No less important than foreign trips in the
life of a Soviet grandmaster was housing. Top
players regularly told horror stories of their
frantic hunt for a better place to call home.
When Spassky cited the many personal prob­
lems he faced in 1960, high on the list was
"apartment trouble:'
Spassky, his mother and two siblings had
shared a single room of 14 square meters
until 1956. Thanks to his international suc­
cesses he was allowed to move his family into
a two-room, 28-square-meter flat-"from a
slum to a palace:' he said. 42
Adult children often remained with their
parents in the Soviet era. By 1960 the addi­
tion of Spassky's wife and daughter meant
that five people and an infant were sharing
the "palace:' He discovered how scarce decent
apartments were. Soviet housing construc­
tion, halted during World War II, was re­
vived in the 1950s largely in the form of mas­
sive, low-cost and often ugly apartment
buildings. Each was derided as a khru sh­
chob a-a portmanteau that blended the
name of the Soviet leader and the Russian
word for slum. Spassky said he was still living
in a khru shchob a when he won the world
championship in 1969.
After Korchnoi's triumph in the 27th
USSR championship, he was allowed to leave
his kommunal k a, where he, his wife and
newborn son shared 20 square meters, in­
cluding a single kitchen, toilet and bath­
room, with several other families. "On the
initiative of the Sports Committee:' his
family moved into their own two-room
apartment comprising 27 square meters, he
said. 43
Trading up to a better home was a com­
mon grandmaster goal, even if it meant mov­
ing hundreds of miles way. Isaac Boleslavsky
moved to Minsk because he got a four-room
apartment. "Such a flat was worth its weight
in gold:' his daughter Tatiana recalled. 44
Leonid Stein was the pride of Lvov, Ukraine
but moved to Kiev in the late 1960s because
he could get a better apartment there. Yefim
Geller wanted to move from Odessa to Kiev
because he knew of a three-room apartment
in a desirable location. But the secretary of
the Kiev city council did not see a reason to
give up such a choice property. "Why do we
need this? We have enough Gellers in Kiev:'
he said. ''.As a result a candidate for the world
championship left for Moscow:' said Yefim
Lazarev, then the trainer of the Ukrainian
team. 45
Getting approval for a move was often an
agonizing process. Yuri Averbakh said that
when he tried to trade up from a kommu­
nal k a in which he, his wife and daughter
shared less than 12 square meters, he was re­
jected by the Moscow city council, by his
sports society and by the Sports Committee.
He eventually won approval after a second
meeting with a wary "workers commission''
and moved into new quarters, with 19 square
meters. 46
There were also big winners in the
housing game. In 1962 Petrosian managed
to move from a small apartment on the
outskirts of Moscow to a somewhat lux­
urious, five-room apartment on Piatnat­
skaya Street closer to the center. It was
"an unrealizable dream in Soviet condi­
tions:' according to family friend Iser Kuper­
man. It was "only thanks to the power and
influence of Rona Petrosian . . . . For Rona,
it seemed, nothing was difficulf' 47 Alexan­
der Kotov expressed a widespread view
among grandmasters: "Tigran only knows
how to exchange a bishop for a knight.
Rona knows how to exchange everything
else:' 48
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash 1 63

Mikhail Botvinnik, right foreground, ponders his 29th move in a lost position of the first game
of the 1960 World Championship match with Tai (left). Match arbiters sit to the right of the
stage at Moscow's Pushkin Theater (Tal-Botvinnik 1960, courtesy Russell Enterprises).

The Biggest Stage
Mikhail Tai already had a nice home. But
the whole Tai family temporarily moved in
March 1960 to the Moskva hotel in the center
of the capital, not far from Kremlin. This was
his headquarters during the title match. He
knew the city. Moscow was the backdrop of
his first national championship victory in
1957 and he had competed there as recently
as August 1959 in the Spartakiad team cham­
pionship. But the Botvinnik match was by
far the biggest stage he had appeared on.
Sally was thrilled by Moscow but horrified
by the virulent anti-Semitism she found.
Botvinnik had been the target of it during
his 1954 match with the Russian Orthodox
Vasily Smyslov. But this time both the chal­
lenger and champion were Jewish. Someone
"slipped us under the [hotel room] door a
nasty rhyme, where it was said that here two
Jews are playing for the glory of the Russian
people;' Sally recalled. It depressed her. But
Tai laughed it off. The national question, as
Soviets put it, did not interest him. "Most
likely, Tai really believed himself to be a man
without a certain nationality, a chess player
belonging to the whole world;' she said. 49
On the eve of the match, grandmaster pre­
dictions were divided. Petrosian said his
friend Tai could win "because he's brave. He
can work miracles:' Bobby Fischer did not
believe in miracles: "Botvinnik will crush
him:'50 While the match was going on, Fischer
1 64 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
was playing in Mar del Plata. Fischer would
analyze the match's adjourned games on a
pocket set while lying on a beach, Spassky
recalled. If Botvinnik had the better position,
"Robert tried to find a win:' But if Tal had
the edge, Fischer refused to look further, he
said. 51
The Tal fans who managed to snare tickets
to the Pushkin Theater in Moscow, or fol­
lowed the moves in newspapers, were not
disappointed. Tal tipped them-and Botvin­
nik-off by announcing at the end of the
Candidates tournament that he would play
1. e4 in his first White game. But the way he
played it was a last-minute decision, accord­
ing to Koblents.
A half hour before the first game, he and
Tal were undecided how to meet Botvinnik's
French Defense. Koblents was sitting on the
carpet floor of their hotel room, amid chess
magazines, when he noticed a loose-leaf
page from Max Euwe's journal Chess Ar­
chives. It cited a game with a strange move,
11. Kdl!?, that had been played in the 1959
Candidates tournament. "Misha, do you
know this variation?" he asked and set the
position up on a board near him. Tal called
it "a crazy variation:' 52
Koblents told him to play it as a "bluff"
because "it's necessary to answer Botvinnik's
moves instantaneously. Let him think that
this variation has been the center of your at­
tention:' Tal later wrote that he analyzed the
line with Koblents out of curiosity. "If not
analytically, then psychologically, we were
prepared for it:' he said. 53
Even if 11. Kdl had only been played once
before, Botvinnik was probably aware of it.
Andrzej Filipowicz, a Polish IM and arbiter
who knew both men, said they had remarkable
memories. He said he "personally tested Tal. I
would describe a position and he answered,
for example, 'That's Barcza-Keres, Zurich
1959' and recalled it from the first to last move.
And Botvinnik could, too:' Filipowicz said
both men remembered "about 5,000 games:' 54
Tal won that first game and took a three­
point lead after seven games. But he and
Koblents recognized the score did not reflect
the quality of the moves. Botvinnik was los­
ing due to time pressure oversights.
The VIP Card
As the match progressed, Tal began to ap­
preciate his superstar status. Sally usually
prepared his meals on a hotplate in their
hotel. But one day they decided to have lunch
at perhaps the most famous restaurant in the
Soviet Union, the Aragvi. It served Georgian
cuisine and other Black Sea specialties like
pickled garlic and had been a favorite of the
vlasti since Lavrenti Beria, head of the secret
police, was a regular patron in the 1930s.
When Tal and Sally arrived, there was a line
of about 50 to 60 people waiting to get in. 55
"We stood at the very end:' she recalled.
"Tasty smells came from the restaurant, and
Misha said: 'Saska, you will play the next
game with Mikhail Moisseyevich by proxy
because I will starve to death:"
She had an idea: "Misha, let's go to the en­
trance and say that you are Mikhail Tat:' But
he did not like to play the VIP card. ''I'm un­
comfortable:' he said. "Be uncomfortable and
starve to death:' she replied.
''And suddenly the man standing before
us looked at us and shouted with a Georgian
accent: 'Look, this is our Miho! Miho Tall '
Instantly the line parted, and we literally
were carried into the restaurant. Misha was
clearly embarrassed, blushed, but I saw that
he was pleased:' 56
Tal lost the eighth and ninth games: he led
by only one point and was no longer invin­
cible. Bent Larsen, then 25, felt Botvinnik
was the better player. "There were so many
holes in the Tal of 1960! And they are very
easy to see:' he said years later. "But Botvin­
nik played the match without having studied
well how Tal played:' 57
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
Slowly Tai built his lead back up to three
points. Botvinnik missed good winning
chances late in the match, in games 16 and
18. Tai felt the 17th was decisive.
Tai-Mikhail Botvinnik
World Championship Match,
17th game, Moscow, 1960
Caro-Kann Defense (B18)
I. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5
5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Nle2 Nf6 8. Nf4
Bd6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. 0-0
Qa512. f4!?
This move was controversial since it made
White's bad bishop worse. But 12. Be3 Nb6
13. Bd3 0-0-0 seemed to favor Black. On
12. h4 Black could try 12. . . . Bxg3 13. fxg3
Ne4 or 12. . . . Qc7 13. Qf3 Nh7. That left the
dubious 12. Qcl?! Ne4 and the endgame of
12. Qd2 Qxd2. Tai said he rejected 12. Qd2
because it would lead to a quick draw and he
would have to solve a new problem, "Will
my wife and I manage to get to the cinema
or theater?"58 It was the first mention in his
memoir of being married.
12. . . . 0-0-0 13. a3
Tai was looking for a chance to make his
pieces "come alive:' For example, 13. . . . cS
14. b4! cxb4 15. axb4 Qxb4 16. Be2 Kb8
17. Rf3 and Rb3.
13. . . . Qc7 14. b4 Nb6 15. Be2? Ben
The final weeks of the match might have
been quite different if 15. . . . eS! 16. fxeS BxeS
had been played. Computers say this favors
Black after 17. Bg4+ Kb8 18. c3 Rxh2 19. Kxh2
Bxg3+ or 18 . . . . Bxg3 19. hxg3 Nbd5.
16. Qd3 Nfd5
Botvinnik passes up a second chance to
alter the pawn structure, with 16. . . . cS and
then 17. c3 cxd4 18. cxd4 Qd7. The more ex­
citing line was 17. bxcS Rxd4! 18. cxb6 Rxd3
19. bxc7 BcS+ 20. Khl Rxg3 21. Bf3 Ng4 with
a more definite superiority.
1 65
17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. c4 Nf6 19. Rabi Qd7
20. Rbdl KbS 21. Qb3 Qc7 22. a4 Rh4 23. a5
NcS 24. Qe3 Ne7 25. Qe5 RhhS 26. b5!?
If Tal's attack fails, both his aS-pawn and
d4-pawn will be weak.
26. . . . cxb5 27. Qxb5 a6 28. Qb2 Rd7 29. c5
KaS 30. Bf3 Nc6 31. Bxc6 Qxc6 32. Rf3 Qa4
33. Rfd3 RcS 34. Rbl Qxa5!?
"The audience constantly applauded, as
though encouraging the tired players;' Tai
wrote. 59
35. Rb3 Qc7 36. Qa3 Ka7 37. Rb6 Qxf4!
This courageous move should have won
and cut Tal's lead to one game.
38. Ne2 Qe4 39. Qb3 (see diagram)
After 39. Qb3
White threatens 40. Nc3! because after
40. . . . Qxd4+ 41. Khl there is no defense to
Rxb7+ or Rxa6+. He has a secondary threat
of 40. c6! bxc6 41. Rxa6+! or 40 . . . . Rxc6
41. Rxb7+. But captures on b7 would not
come with check after 39. . . . Ka8! . Tai felt he
would still have had chances after 40. h3 or
40. Rb4. For example, 40. Rb4 Qxe2? 41. Rxb7
wins. However, as Garry Kasparov observed,
40. Rb4 Ng4! makes 41. . . . Qxe2! 42. Rxb7
Qf2+ 43. Khl Qf4! a winning threat. 6 0
Black would also be winning after 40. h3
NdS because the rooks beat the queen after
41. Rxb7 Qxbl+ 42. Qxbl Rxb7. Also lost
was 40. c6 Nxb6.
1 66 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

vinnik;' explained Sally's

father, who had come for
the end of the match.
"And they did not have
time to try it on Tal:' 64

Sp assky Sinks
Spassky and Tai had
been missing from the
USSR team in the 1959
World Student Team
Championship even
though they were still
under the age limit of 26.
Without them, the Sovi­
Petrosian analyzes a world championship match game in the press ets led by Bukhuti Gur­
room. He was happy with Tal's success but regretted what Tai was genidze finished second,
doing to chess orthodoxy. Shakhmaty v SSSR, June 1960.
a point and a half behind
39. . . . Qd5?? 40. Rxa6+! Kb8 41. Qa4 Black Bulgaria. This was a se­
resigns vere setback after four easy victories in 1955-
58. "The Chess Federation of the USSR must
That night Grigory Goldberg, Botvinnik's draw the most serious conclusion from the
second, all but conceded the match. "We will concluded championship;' Mikhail Yudovich
meet you in the return match! " he told Kob­ wrote sternly in Shakhmaty v SSSR. 65
lents. 6 1 Tai had become close to the pianist Spassky was pressed into service for the
Bella Davidovich and before the match asked 1960 tournament, held where his career
her to play Rakhmaninoff's Elegy at the con­ started, the Leningrad Pioneer Palace. The
cluding concert if he won. The night of the other contenders were supposed to be the
17th game he phoned her to ask her to "get Bulgarians, Czechs and Yugoslavs. "Nobody
ready to perform Elegy:' thought before the championship that the
Petrosian was happy for his friend. But he USA students were serious contenders;'
was upset with what Tai was doing to chess. Spassky and Bondarevsky wrote.66 They were
Viktor Vasiliev asked him if positional prin­ caught off guard when the Americans began
ciples would have to be rewritten in the Tai with 18½-l½. About a thousand fans tried
era. "No, because sooner or later a chess to pack into the palace for the U.S.-USSR
player of the style of Capablanca will become match, forcing organizers to add more dem­
world champion;' he said. That will "bring onstration boards.
order to chess:' 62
After 18 moves of the 21st game, Botvinnik Spassky-William Lombardy
said, "Let's call it a draw, Misha:• Tai accepted World Student Team Championship,
and became the eighth official world cham­ Leningrad, 1960
pion. 63 When Tai was crowned with the cer­ Sicilian D efense (B94)
emonial wreath, it looked too big for him. I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
"Of course, the wreath was ordered for Bot- 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. Qd2 e6
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
On the previous day Spassky and Lom­
bardy played several off-hand games in the
same opening with Spassky's favorite move,
9. 0-0-0!. When they met in the game that
counted they were daring one another to re­
peat the opening. Spassky blinked. 67
9. 0-0 Be7 10. a3
A safety move, in place of the popular
ideas like 10. Radl.
10. . . . h6! 11. Be3
Not 11. Bh4 because of ll. . . . Nxe4! (a trick
not possible after 10. Radl).
11. . . . Ne5 12. Ba2 Qc7!
This prepares . . . 0-0 or . . . bs and equalizes.
The immediate 12. . . . 0-0? allows 13. NdS!
Qxd2? 14. Nxe7+ and 12. . . . bS walks into
13. f4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4 15. Nc6.
13. Qe2 bS 14. f4? Neg415. h3 Nxe316. Qxe3
0-0 17. Rael es
So that 18. Nf3 dS! threatens 19. . . . Bes.
18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. exf5 d5
The October 1960 Shakhmaty v SSSR ex­
planation of what happened was that Spassky
had a good game "but then an unexpected
paradoxical move put difficult problems to
White:' Which move could that be?
20. Qxe5?
White is a bit worse after 20. Qd2 exf4!
21. NxdS NxdS 22. BxdS Rad8. But 20. Kh2!
is fine for White: 20. . . . d4 21. QxeS QxeS
22. RxeS! dxc3 23. Rxe7 cxb2 24. Rbl.
20. . . . Bd6 21. Qe2 Bxa3! (see diagram)
The best move here is 22. NxdS. The situ­
ation is unclear after 22. . . . Qa7+ 23. Khl
Bxb2 24. c4. The problem is that Spassky
would have zero chances of winning after
22. . . . QcS+ 23. Qf2 Qxf2+ 24. Kxf2 Bxb2 or
22. . . . NxdS 23. BxdS QcS+ and 24 . . . . QxdS.
A draw could cost the match and the gold
1 67
After 21. ... Bxa3
medals. On second board, Alexander Nikitin
was losing and on fourth board Janis KlaviQs,
an old sparring partner of Tal's, was a bit
worse. Spassky said he felt compelled to
complicate:
22. Ndl? Raes
Even faster is 22. . . . Bes+ 23. Khl QaS,
e.g. , 24. Nc3 b4 or 24. Bb3 Rae8!.
23. Qf3? Bc5+ 24. Khl Rxel 25. Rxel Qa5
26. Nc3 b4 27. Nxd5 Qxa2 28. Nxf6+ gxf6
29. Qc6 Qc4 White resigns
The Americans won the match 2½-1½
and coasted to gold medals. Spassky finished
10-2 but the Lombardy loss, in front of his
hometown fans, was a severe blow to a player
trying to rebuild his career and nervous sys­
tem. Worse, Spassky was declared nyevyezdny
by Soviet officials. This meant he was tem­
porarily barred from travel abroad. For a
grandmaster, this was disastrous. This was
one of three times that Spassky was declared
nyevyezdny before he became world cham­
pion. 68
Perip atetic Tai
Everyone wanted to know more about the
new world champion and Tal could not re­
fuse them. He constantly traveled, talked on
the radio and did interview after interview.
Koblents tried to get him to make room in
1 68 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Plachetka. He won 11 games

and drew nine.72 Tal seemed
to start thinking about his
next move only when he
had the radio microphone
in his hand.

Tal-Stanislav Wintr
Radio Simultaneous
Exhibition, 1960
King's Gambit Accepted
(C36)
I. e4 es 2. f4! exf4 3. Nf3
d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Bb5+ c6
6. dxc6 bxc6
One world champion-women's champion Elizaveta Bykova-con­
gratulates another, Tai, on his victory over Mikhail Botvinnik. Botvinnik had popular­
Shakhmaty v SSSR, January 1961. ized 6. . . . bxc6 and 7 . . . .
NdS, and 1960 theory en­
his schedule to prepare for a Botvinnik re­ dorsed that as the best defense. Spassky vir­
match. "But to Tai it was like water rolling tually retired it when he showed the value of
off a duck's back;' said Mikhail Beilin, a White's next moves. Then Spassky made
lawyer who served in various high-ranking 6. . . . Nxc6! the main line when he played
Soviet chess positions. 69 Black.
Tal became editor of a new Riga-based mag­ 7. Bc4 Nd5 8. 0-0 Bd6 9. Nc3 Be610. Ne4!
azine. It appeared twice a month, in Latvian Be7 ll. Bb3!
as Sahs and in Russian as Shakhmaty. Sahs had
a circulation of about 2,000 to 3,000 but the In the national championship in February,
Russian version had a circulation of 60,000, Spassky beat Yuri Sakharov after 11. . . . 0-0
with remarkable 4,000 copies sold overseas. 70 12. d4 Nd7 13. Qe2 gs 14. c4 N5b6 15. h4! h6
Tai also wrote an acclaimed book on the 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. NfxgS! BxgS 18. Bxf4.
Botvinnik match, which was published in Riga 11. . . . Nd7 12. d4 N7f6? 13. Negs Bg4
in 1961. He did not dispute reports that he dic­ 14. Qd3 Nd715. Bxd5 cxdS 16. Bxf4 h6 (see
tated his commentary from memory, without diagram)
notes or even a chessboard. He indicated he
left most of the words to his trainer. "Mr.
Koblents completed the lion's share of the
work, while my role most often entailed play­
ing devil's advocate:' he said of his first books. 71
And Tai agreed to give a "radio simul"
against 20 strong Czech juniors. Every day,
besides Sunday, he would exchange a pair of
moves with each of his opponents on a Prague
radio program. His opponents included the
future international grandmasters Vlastimil
Hort, Vlastimil Jansa, Jan Smejkal and Jan After 16. ... h6
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
Korchnoi had a point. Tal did make some
stereotypical sacrifices when stronger moves
were available. Here 17. Rael! and the Bd6
threat was strong, e.g., 17. . . . Qb6 18. Qe3 or
18. h3! hxg5 19. Nxg5 Bh5 20. Qa3.
17. Nxf7?! Kxf7 18. Ne5+ Nxe5 19. Bxe5+
Bf6 20. Rf4? h5 21. h3 Be6 22. g4?
White still has some compensation after
22. Raft.
22. . . . hxg4 23. hxg4 Rh4! 24. Raft Rxg4+??
With 24. . . . Qh8 or 24. . . . Kg8 Black
should not lose.
25. Rxg4 Bxg4 26. Qh7! Ke6 27. Qg6! Bh3
28. Rf3 Qe7 29. Bxf6 Qxf6 30. Rxf6+ gxf6
31. Qg7 Bf5 32. Qb7 Black resigns
Psychologist Tai
How did Tal keep winning? David Bron­
stein offered a flip explanation: "Very simple.
He places his pieces in the center and then
sacrifices them somewhere:' 73
In 1969 Bronstein was more serious. Tal
put opponents under unusual psychological
press because he understood "the inevita­
bility of chess chaos;' Bronstein wrote. Tal
could quickly realize whether or not the best
move in a complex position could be calcu­
lated. If it could not, he relied on intuition.
"But his partner, who was insidiously dragged
into the maelstrom of complications, is try­
ing to calculate everything to the end. Nat­
urally, nothing comes out of this;' Bronstein
said. "Then the enemy begins to get nervous
and, because of the panic that has arisen in
his mind, chooses an outwardly easier ver­
sion and, as a result, without noticing it,
brings his position to the abyss:'
Vladimir Simagin was among those who
felt there was something more sinister hap­
pening: Tal must be a hypnotist. Simagin
showed one of his games with Tal to Dr. Vik­
tor Malkin, a respected psychologist. Malkin
1 69
had treated cosmonauts and later consulted
in an investigation of Yuri Gagarin's fatal
crash.
"To maintain the attack Tal sacrificed a
pawn;' Simagin told him. "l took it because
there was nothing wrong. Tal sacrificed a
second pawn and I took it, too . . . . Tal was in
a lost position, just as I evaluated it. But what
do you think? Within three moves I made a
gross error and lost;' Simagin said. 74
Many Soviet grandmasters believed in the
kind of mental intervention, from parapsy­
chologists and hypnotists, that Western play­
ers would laugh at. Simagin said he did not
really believe in hypnosis but there was no
other explanation of what happened. No, it
was not hypnosis, Malkin, a candidate mas­
ter, told him. At the critical moment "you
weakened because you thought you were
winning but the struggle wasn't over:' 75
While his opponents were mystified about
Tal's mental powers, he was often in physical
agony. 'J\lmost immediately after the Botvin­
nik match, Misha began to have wild pains,
terrible attacks that did not give him rest day
or night;' his wife wrote. He took handfuls
of painkillers, but they, and injections, brought
only temporary relief. 76 Doctors told Tal it
was "something wrong with the kidneys:'
Complicating their relationship was Tal's
insistence that she become Sally Tal the
housewife, instead of Sally Landau the per­
former. Uncle Robert had good ties to the
Central Committee of the Latvian Commu­
nist Party and "tried to press the vlasti to get
me fired;' she said. "But I was still a good ac­
tress. I was not so easy. . . . " In addition, she
wanted to move out of Gorky Street, number
34. Now that he was Tal, with capital letters,
he should certainly warrant a Tal-worthy
apartment elsewhere. But his family would
not hear of it. "Mishenka;' I told him, "Let's
move on and we will live separately:' She said
famous players like Botvinnik, Smyslov and
Averbakh had their own apartments. "We'll
buy beautiful furniture, we'll hang cozy lamps;'
1 70 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Bobby Fischer (standing, third from left) shows his interest as Tai (sitting, left) outplays Burkhard
Malich of East Germany late in the 1960 Olympiad in Leipzig ( Chess Review, February 1961,
used by permission of the United States Chess Federation).

she said. 77 But even when the vlasti said they
would find a new home, he refused.
L eipzig
On top of that, Sally was not feeling well
herself. There was a reason: She was preg­
nant. Her due date was uncomfortably close
to the opening of the next FIDE Olympiad
on October 17 in Leipzig. It was politically
unthinkable that a new Soviet world cham­
pion would fail to appear in the first major
chess event hosted by a Communist-bloc
ally, East Germany.
Tal was allowed to miss the first three
Olympiad games. While the other Soviet
team members gathered in Moscow on Oc­
tober 12 for the flight West, Sally was giving
birth to a son, Georgy, in Riga. He was nick­
named Gera but Tal playfully called him
Goose, Goosevich, Goosenish and so on.
When Tal was ready to leave, a flight to
Leipzig was arranged for one passenger. "To
Leipzig Misha flew alone (!). Alone. It's hard
to imagine such a fact in those days;' Sally
recalled. "But Misha was loved not only by
admirers of chess. Misha was also loved by
the vlasti. At least for the time being:' 78
Tal landed in Berlin and was driven by a
Soviet Embassy car to Leipzig, where he ar­
rived around midnight at the Astoria Hotel,
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
a stately 45-year-old building that housed
most of the Olympiad players. He found sev­
eral of them still hanging out in the lobby
and was soon playing blitz games there with
Bobby Fischer. After he won 4-1, he took on
Miguel Najdorf and also ran up a big plus
score into the early hours of the morning.
Under the Olympiad system then in use,
teams were seeded into preliminary sections
and advanced to different finals sections. Tal
drew with Najdorf in 12 moves in the pre­
liminaries. Before they met in the finals, Naj­
dorf spotted Tal and Koblents having lunch
at the hotel. Najdorf walked by and told Tal,
"I will accept all of your sacrifices. Remem-
her, I successfully fought with world cham­
pions Capablanca and Alekhine!" Tal replied
that he was honor-bound to make sacrifices,
adding "I hope you keep your promise:' 79 In
the game, Tal offered the Exchange. But after
he added a bishop, Najdorf said, 'Tm sorry,
but I can't keep my promise. If I take this
piece, I' ll get checkmated:' He resigned five
moves later, at move 26.
Tal had a team-high 2700 performance in
the finals despite a last-round loss to Jona­
than Penrose of England. It was the only de­
feat suffered by the Soviets and it came well
after they had secured gold medals.
The tournament was Korchnoi's Olympic
debut and was a huge payday. Team mem­
bers received 1,500 rubles, which he said was
roughly 11 times the average monthly salary
of a Soviet worker. Korchnoi played well but
demonstrated how tone deaf he could be in
social settings. At the closing banquet, Bot­
vinnik told him, "Let's drink a glass of co­
gnac:' He added, "This is good cognac, Ar­
menian. Like your wife!;' alluding to Bella
(nee Markarian) Korchnoi.
Korchnoi replied, "But allow me. This is
good, an old Armenian cognac, like your
wife! " Botvinnik was offended at the slight
to his wife and Korchnoi eventually apolo­
gized. But when Korchnoi retold the inci­
dent he felt it showed that Botvinnik was
171
the one with "a poorly developed sense of
humor:•so
Petrosian was bumped down to second re­
serve on the Olympic team, despite being na­
tional champion just a year before. He had
the best point score of anyone in Leipzig,
eleven wins and two draws. In annotating his
grinding win from Werner Golz of East Ger­
many he explained that he passed up an op­
portunity to play for mate because of the ef­
fect it might have on his teammates: "In
extremely important events, such as the chess
olympiads, I was always required to play
calmly, to win without any great risk, and to
avoid positions which would cause agitation
among other team members:' 8 1 His readers
might have recalled how Spassky's team­
mates influenced his game with Lombardy
two months earlier.
Nevertheless, when the situation called for
it Petrosian looked like a risk-taker.
Petrosian-Gerhard Pfeiffer
Olympiad, Leipzig, 1960
Semi-Slav Defense (D45)
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7
5. d4 e6 6. Qc2 a6 7. b3 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7
9. 0-0 Be710. Bb2 dxc411. bxc4 c512. Ne5
More thematic is 12. d5 exd5 13. Nxd5 and
13. . . . Nxd5 14. cxd5 with a slight superiority
(14 . . . . Bxd5 15. e4 and Bxg7).
12. . . . cxd413. exd4 Nxe5!?
Fairly balanced is 13. . . . Rc8 or 13. . . . 0-0.
Petrosian felt he was in trouble now because
he gets an isolated c-pawn. Once again he
was seeing more for his opponent than for
himself.
14. dxe5 Nd7
"Black's position is much to be preferred;'
Petrosian wrote. He probably based that on
15. Ne4 Qc7 16. f4 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Bxc5+. But
White is at least equal after 16. Nd6+! Bxd6
17. exd6.
1 72 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
15. f4 Nc5 16. Be2 g6?!
Unnecessary. Black would have the better
minor pieces and the upper hand after 16. . . .
0-0 17. Radl Qc7. He must have been afraid
of 18. fS and 18 . . . . Qxe5? 19. Nd5 or 18 . . . .
exf5 19. Nd5! . But White's pawns have just
become weaker after 18 . . . . Rad8 and 19. Bg4
Rxdl 20. Rxdl Rd8 or 19. f6 gxf6 20. exf6
Rxdl and 21. . . . Bd6.
17. Radl Qc7? (see diagram)
After 17. ... Qc7
18. Nd5! exd519. cxd5
If the queen had gone to c8 at move 17 the
sacrifice would have been unsound and "in­
credible efforts would have been required of
White in order to maintain the balance;'
Petrosian wrote. 82 For example, 17. . . . Qc8
18. Nd5 exd5 19. cxd5 0-0 (20. d6 Bd8 21. f5
Be4). But with the queen on c7, Black faces
a fork with 20. d6 and the sacrifice is sound
(19. . . . Qd7? 20. e6 and 19. . . . Qd8 20. d6 Bf8
21. e6 f6 22. d7+ Ke7? 23. Bxf6+!).
19. . . . Qc8 20. e6
Also 20. d6 Bh4 21. e6 0-0 22. e7 Re8
23. f5! with a winning attack.
20. . . . 0-0 21. Qc3 f6 22. d6 Na4
Petrosian said he had seen this far when
he sacrificed the knight and counted on hav­
ing two favorable options. One was 23. Qb4,
probably with 23. . . . Nxb2 24. dxe7 in mind.
23. Qxc8! Rfxc8 24. Bal! Rc2
White also regains his piece and wins after
24 . . . . Bd8 25. e7 or 24 . . . . Bf8 25. e7 (25. . . .
Bg7? 26. d7).
25. dxe7 Rxe2 26. Rd8+ Kg7 27. Rel!
This tames 27. . . . Rxg2+ and wins.
27. . . . Rxe6 28. Rc7 Kh6 29. Bxf6! Be4
30. Bg5+ Black resigns
A neat finish would be 30. . . . Kh5 31. e8(Q)
Rxe8 32. h3!! and mate next.
Tai continued his brisk pace with first
prize at a New Year's tournament in Stock­
holm. But he continued to rebuff Koblents'
efforts to get him to prepare for the rematch
with Botvinnik. Koblents tried adding some­
one to their inner circle-Korchnoi. The
Leningrader would have been an ideal ad­
viser because he knew Tai's weaknesses as
well as some of Botvinnik's. At the end of
1960, Korchnoi had scored a win and a draw
against Botvinnik in the annual Moscow ­
Leningrad match. That prompted Botvinnik
to invite Korchnoi to be his second in the re­
match.
Korchnois felt he could have learned a lot
from Botvinnik or from Tal/Koblents. "But
I had not been invited to learn but to work! "
He declined the offers because he had his
own dreams of becoming world champion.
Serving as a second "would be akin to spy
activity;' he wrote in his later memoirs. "At
the end of the 20th century many young
grandmasters were not inclined to share my
point of view:' 83 This seemed like a veiled
slap at Vladimir Kramnik, who served as
Garry Kasparov's trainer before dethroning
him as world champion in 2000.
Hitting Bottom
At 23 Boris Spassky should have been en­
tering his prime playing years. From a cre­
ative point of you, he was. "I liked Spassky's
play most of all from about 1958 to 1963;'
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
Korchnoi said later. 84 He did not mention
that this included the low point of Spassky's
sporting career.
Spassky seemed to be recovering in Sep­
tember 1960 when he won a semifinals for
the next Soviet Championship. He annotated
one of his losses for Shakhmaty v SSSR.
Igor Zaitsev-Spassky
28th Soviet Championship semifinals,
Rostov-on-Don, 1960
Queen's Gambit Accepted (D25)
l. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 Bg4
5. Bxc4 e6 6. Qb3 Bxf3 7. gxf3 b6?!
This anti-positional move was a Spassky
favorite at the time. The sound gambit 7. . . .
Nbd7! soon replaced it in opening books.
8. Nc3 Be7 9. d5 exd510. Nxd5 0-0
In the student Olympiad earlier in the
year, Kolarov-Spassky, went 11. Bd2 Nbd7
12. 0-0-0 NxdS 13. Bxds NcS 14. Qc4 c6 with
good play for Black.
ll. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Bd2 a6 13. Rgl b5
14. Bd5 Ra7
Spassky regarded 14 . . . . Nxds 15. Qxds
Nd7 16. Bc3 g6 17. 0-0-0 as too dangerous.
15. Bc3 g6
"With this move Black significantly weak­
ens the kingside and loses time-15. . . . c6
should have been played, although in that
case, Black is worse;' he wrote. For example,
16. Be4 Rd7 17. Qb4! and White gets a supe­
rior endgame (17. . . . cS? 18. Bxh7+! wins).
But 15. . . . cS! followed by . . . Nbd7 and . . . b4
or . . . c4 should equalize.
16. h4? c6!
Resourceful defense. Now 17. Bb4 cS 18. Bc3
c4 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Qc3 Qxh4 favors Black.
17. Be4 Nxe418. fxe4 Qxe4
1 73
Now White should continue 19. hS. Even
a draw by repetition is possible, e.g., 19. . . .
Rd8 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. Ke2! Qd3+ (else
22. Rhl wins) 22. Kel Qe4! 23. Ke2! .
Black should have avoided this with 18 . . . .
Qxh4! when White lacks compensation for
the pawn.
19. 0-0-0 c5
It is too late for 19 . . . . Qxh4 because with
his rooks connected White has 20. Rhl Qe4
21. Rxh7! Kxh7 22. Qb4! with a finish similar
to the game (22 . . . . Qxb4 23. Rhl+ and
mates). But 19. . . . Nd7 so that 20. hS fails to
20. . . . NcS would keep Black on top.
20. h5 b4? (see diagram)
After 20. ... b4
"Black should play 20. . . . c4;' he wrote,
adding 21. Qb4 Nc6 22. Qd6 b4 23. Bxb4
Nxb4 24. Qxb4 QfS 25. hxg6 fxg6! "with
sufficient resources for defense:' More am­
bitious is 21. . . . QfS and 22. . . . aS.
21. hxg6 hxg6 22. Rd6! Kh7 23. Qc4! Black
resigns
Spassky had seen 23 . . . . f5 24. Qxe4 fxe4
25. Rhl+. Also winning are 24. QxcS and
24. Qfl!. He dryly added that the game pro­
vides "some theoretical interest:'
This tournament advanced him to the fi­
nals, held in Moscow in January and Febru­
ary 1961. It was another Zonal tournament,
Spassky's first chance to get back on the world
championship track since the last-round
1 74 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
disaster in Riga three years before. He led by
a full point after seven rounds.
But below the surface he was suffering
from the slow divorce proceeding and kid­
ney stones. In addition, every Soviet Cham­
pionship finals seemed to fall at the worst
time of year for him, in the dead of winter
when he had to study for university tests and
was usually sick. He claimed he came down
with tonsillitis and temperatures over 100 de­
grees during four successive championships.
On top of that he was hospitalized "for
nerves" around this time. "My nervous en­
ergy was destroyed for three years:'85
"In that tournament I proposed a draw
twelve times;' he said. "Twelve times!" Nerves
betrayed him in a crucial tenth round game
that could have been his greatest win.
Spassky-Lev Polugaevsky
28th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1961
Queen's Indian Defense (E12)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7
5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3
Annotating the game in the May 1961 issue
of Shakhmaty v SSSR, Lev Aronin under­
lined how Spassky was avoiding the book­
endorsed 4. g3. His moves were considered
somewhat dubious in 1961.
6. . . . Ne4 7. Nxe4 Bxe4 8. Bf4! 0-0 9. Bd3
Bb4+
The bishop is misplaced here because after
a king move White threatens c4-c5 and a2-
a3.
10. Kfl Bxd3+ 11. Qxd3 Be7 12. h4! f5
13. Ke2 d6 14. g4
Spassky said he was playing in Tolush style.
Aronin pointed out that 14 . . . . fxg4 fails to
15. NgS BxgS 16. hxgS g6 17. Qe4!.
14. . . . Nd7 15. Ragl fxg4 16. Rxg4 Nf6
17. Rg5 Qd718. h5 Ne819. Rg2
Garry Kasparov said this is where Black
began to go wrong. With 19. . . . RfS or 19. . . .
Rc8 20. Rhgl Bf6 Polugaevsky could have de­
fended more easily. Instead, he hoped for
counterplay with 19 . . . . bS 20. cxbS Rb8
21. a4 a6.
19. . . . b5? 20. c5 dxc5? 21. h6 Rf5
Kasparov pointed out that 21. . . . g6 would
allow 22. Rxg6+ hxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8 24. NeS
QdS 25. Rgl and wins. Prettier is 21. . . . c4
22. Qxh7+! Kxh7 23. hxg7+ Kg8 24. Rh8+
Kf7 25. NeS+ Kf6 26. Rxf8+ and mates.
22. Be5! c4 23. Qe4 Qd5 24. Qg4 c3 25. b3
b4 26. e4 Qb5+ 27. Ke3 Rti 28. hxg7 Nf6
29. Bxf6 Rxf6 (see diagram)
After 29. ... Rxf6
Black's flag was already on the tilt with 11
moves to go before the time control. Spassky
had 15 minutes. The appearance of the play­
ers was revealing. "Lvova" was "dying;' Spas­
sky recalled.
Polugaevsky's position was so hopeless
that he paced up and down the stage, at the
Railway Workers' Central House of Culture,
waiting for a coup de grace, such as 30. eS Rg6
31. QhS. But Spassky felt a Tolush-like attack
deserved a Tolush finish. "I wanted to give
mate in the style of Alexander Kazimirovich;'
he said in a 1997 lecture.
At the board, he seemed calm. But this
was his poker face, or what he called his
"clown's face:' Spassky was a grandmaster at
concealing emotions. Bobby Fischer remem-
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
bered this from their game at Mar del Plata.
"He sits at the board with the same dead ex­
pression whether he's mating or being mated:'
Fischer said when he included Spassky among
"The Ten Greatest Masters in HistorY:' 86
Spassky later explained his inner turmoil
in tense games. ''.Actually I feel very nervous
during a game, as if there was an explosion
in progress:' he said. "When I appear partic­
ularly calm I am really feeling specially nerv­
ous:' 87
30. Rxh7!? Rxf3+ 31. Kxf3 Qd3+ 32. Kf4
Bd6+ 33. Kg5 Kxh7
It is mate in seven after 34. Kf6! Qxd4+
35. Kf7!. The prettiest finish is 35. . . . Rf8+
36. gxf8 (N)+! Bxf8 37. Rh2+ Bh6 38. Qg8
mate. The game would have been "immor­
tal:' Alexander Nikitin wrote. But Spassky
began to feel "paralyzed:' His calculations
slowed down as he noticed another apparent
win. It seemed to avoid the messy Black
checks of the 34. Kf6 line.
34. Kh5?? Qb5+!
"I just forgot about the bS square:• Spassky
recalled more than 30 years later. "Just for­
got:'
35. Kh4?
Even here 35. eS! would likely have won
because of Polugaevsky's time trouble. With
only seconds left, there was little chance of
him finding the saving 35. . . . Qe8+! 36. Kh4
Be7+ 37. Kh3 Qf7 38. Kh2 Kg8 and then
39. Qh3 Qf4+ 40. Kgl Qcl+.
35. . . . Be7+! 36. Kh3 Qg5! 37. Qxg5 Bxg5
38. Rxg5 Rd8 39. f4?
Vladimir Akopian demonstrated, in 64 in
2005, that White can draw with 39. Kg3! .
Spassky believed he had drawing chances
even after the adjournment but was too de­
pressed to find them.
39 . . . . Kg8 40. Rc5 Rxd4 41. Rxc7 Rxe4
(sealed) 42. Kg4 e5 43. a3 Rxf4+ 44. Kg5 a5
1 75
45. axb4 axb4 46. Kg6 Rg4+ 47. Kf6 Kh7
48. g8=Q+ Kxg8 49. Kxe5 Rgl 50. Kf6
Rfl+ 51. Ke5 Rbl White resigns
Spassky called this the most painful game
of his life, worse than losing to Tal in the final
round of the 25th USSR Championship fi­
nals. His memory would not wipe out the
position of the forced win he rejected, 34. Kf6
Qxd4+ 35. Kf7. "I was haunted by that posi­
tion for years:• he said.
The surprise of the tournament's endgame
was Petrosian. In the past when he suffered
an emotional defeat, he turned off his ambi­
tion and settled for quick draws. But after
being crushed in 26 moves by a champion­
ship newcomer, Leonid Stein, Petrosian won
one of his finest games in the next round
against Smyslov. With two rounds to go he
was in first place and had clinched an invi­
tation to the next Interzonal.
There were three other tickets to the In-
terzonal. Korchnoi and Spassky were tied for
second place, with Geller and Stein a half
point behind. One of them would be left out
and have to wait three years for another shot
at the world championship.
Spassky said of this era, "I possessed poor
fighting spirit;' he said. "If I lost a game, I
could not sleep:' He lost badly to Korchnoi
in the next-to-last round and faced Stein in
the final round. Stein eventually became one
of Korchnoi's good friends. But before the
game, Korchnoi offered to prepare Spassky
because he did not want to make it easy for
Stein to become a grandmaster. "I do not
think he was sympathetic towards me:' Spas­
sky said later. "He just did not want the
grandmaster title to be within easy reach:' 88
Stein outplayed Spassky and adjourned a
favorable but difficult bishop endgame. After
lengthy analysis with Igor Bondarevsky, Spas­
sky went to Stein's hotel room and resigned.
To make matters worse, Stein told him he
was analyzing another winning attempt,
"something terrible:• Spassky said. "I under-
1 76 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
stood that I resigned too early. It is necessary
to fight to the last drop of blood in chess:'
Nikitin summed up Spassky's tournament.
"It wasn't a brilliant grandmaster who fin­
ished the championship but a man who had
lost interest in playing;' he said.89
R ematch
As 1961 began, Shakhmaty v SSSR asked
grandmasters to evaluate the previous world
championship match. "Botvinnik couldn't
solve 'the problem of the fifth hour;" Yuri
Averbakh said. "In this 'fatal' hour he made
the majority of his mistakes:' Tal, on the
hand, had shown a quality of play that seemed
so unreal that it might not last. "In chess you
cannot be a genius forever;' Averbakh said
later. "Only for a short burst:' 90
His burst might have lasted longer. But
Koblents could not coax him back to the
level of intensity he had earlier. The influence
Koblents had when Tal was a Candidates
contender and championship challenger was
gone when he was world champion. At one
point, a discouraged Koblents proposed to
withdraw in favor of another trainer. "Either
you, Maestro, or no one! " Tal replied. 9 1 Nor
could Koblents convince Tal to seek a delay
in the match start because of a relapse of his
illnesses. "You are giving Botvinnik signifi­
cant odds;' he said. 92
Why did Tal not request a delay? Soviet
officialdom had made considerable efforts to
please him in the previous year. His son later
concluded that Tal felt he had to live up to
the image as the swash-buckling daredevil.
"He went to the revenge-match seriously ill;'
Georgy Tal said. "But he was all of 25! And
he had to be seen, it seems to me, like a Hus­
sar:' 93
Koblents had a different explanation: Tal
believed that he could be disqualified and
deprived of the title by Soviet officials. "If the
match is delayed, then it won't happen;' Tal
told him. 94 Koblents felt Tal had lost his
ability to figure out what was best for him.
"Tal was deprived of the 'instinct of self­
preservation;" he said.
The match opened on schedule on March
15. Tal looked uncomfortable at the board
after queens were traded at move 12 in the
first game. His position demanded active
play but he played listlessly in the third and
fourth hour and did not resume play after
Botvinnik sealed his 41st move. Tal showed
signs of his former strength when he won the
second game. His moves continued to pro­
voke controversy.
Tai-Mikhail Botvinnik
World Championship Match,
Fourth Game, Moscow, 1961
Caro-Kann Defense (B12)
I. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5
Surprised by Tal's third move, Botvinnik
did not want to find out what he intended
against the usual 3. . . . BfS! . He used it to
greater effect as the match unfolded.
4. dxc5 e6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Nge7 7. Nf3
Ng6 8. Be3!?
White leaves himself without a pawn cen­
ter. "For such anti-positional play Misha
should be punished;' Spassky said in the
press room. Lev Aronin disagreed: "I like
Tal's brave, original idea:' 95
8. . . . Ncxe5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Qh5 Nc6
11. 0-0-0 Be7 12. f4 g6! 13. Qh6 Bf8 14. Qg5
Botvinnik might have gone for a draw
(14 . . . . Be7) but he is a bit better in the end­
game.
14. . . . Qxg5 15. fxg5 a6 16. Na4 Bd7 17. Bf4
h6!
Black sacrifices the Exchange when 17. . . .
Rd8 would have likely led to a draw (18. Bc7
Rc8 19. Bg3 Rd8! 20. Bc7).
18. Nb6 Rd8 19. Bc7 hxg5 20. c4 d4 21. b4!
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
It is all about Black's center pawns now. If
White liquidates before attacking, 21. Bxd8
Kxd8 22. b4, then 23. . . . e5! makes those
pawns more dangerous than the Exchange.
However, after 21. b4 it would be a mistake
to play 21. . . . e5? 22. b5! since the center
pawns are doomed and White is much bet­
ter.
21. . . . Bg7 22. Bxd8?
Tal missed his chance with 22. b5! Nb8
23. a4 or 22. . . . Na7 23. c6 bxc6 24. Bxd8
Kxd8 25. Nxd7 Kxd7 26. b6! .
22. . . . Kxd8 23. b5 Nb8 24. Be2 f5 25. Bf3
axb5 26. cxb5 Bxb5 27. Bxb7 Kc7
Black appears to be winning (28. Ba8 Na6
or 28. Bf3 g4).
28. a4! Bxa4 29. Nxa4 Kxb7
Spectators-and press room experts-felt
Tal was doomed, according to David Bron­
stein. "Two connected, protected pawns with
a bishop's support in the hands of Botvinnik.
It's the end:' 9 6
30. Kd2 Nd7 31. Rbl+ Kc6 32. Rhcl (see di­
agram)
After 32. Rhcl
Petrosian's newspaper report said White
had no real threat because of 32. . . . Rxh2
33. Rb6+ Nxb6 34. cxb6+ Kb5 and 35. b7
Rxg2+ 36. Kd3 Rg3+ 37. Kd2 Bes. Computers
say 32. . . . g4 (threat of . . . Bh6+) also wins.
But in the press room Spassky had new re-
1 77
spect for Tal. "I was greatly impressed;' he
said. "He realized psychologically exactly
what he had to do:' 9 7
32. . . . Be5 33. Kd3 Ra8?
Black could do away with tricks with 33. . . .
Bc7.
34. Rb6+! Nxb6?!
Annotators said 34 . . . . Kc7 would have
been refuted by 35. Rb7+ Kxb7 36. c6+ Kc7
37. cxd7+ Kxd7 38. Nb6+. They overlooked
37. . . . Kd8!, when Black wins.
35. cxb6+ Kd7 36. Nc5+ Ke7 37. Rel! Ra3+
Thanks to Black's 33rd, White can meet
37. . . . Kd6 with 38. b7 Rb8 39. Rxe5! (39. . . .
Kxe5? 40. Nd7+).
38. Kc4 Rc3+ 39. Kb5 Re3 40. Ral Bxh2
41. Ra7+ draw
After the game Spassky believed Tal would
win the match. But something was wrong.
In the next game, Botvinnik's choice of a
quiet opening system gave him "not a chess
advantage, but a psychological" edge, Bron­
stein wrote. "The proof? Tal thought 52 min­
utes on the 13th move! " 98
Tal managed to draw the game and won
the eighth, cutting Botvinnik's lead to one
point. But this was his high point. Koblents
said Tal came down with a fever and seemed
indifferent to his condition. "The absence of
appetite, a categorical refusal to stroll in the
fresh air and intensive smoking-SO to 60
cigarettes a day-didn't help improve his
health;' he said. Tal desperately needed a
short rest and that meant making draws. But
Tal had not learned how to rest or make
draws.
Tal said he caught "a bad cold" and was
hospitalized after winning the eighth game.
There was a one-week break before the ninth.
But Tal tried to resume play too quickly. Lit­
erally "straight from the hospital" he went to
the ninth game and chose a too-risky defense
1 78 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
to 1. c4. 99 This was the first of three losses. In
the 11th round he invited an Exchange Vari­
ation of the Slav Defense, unaware he was
walking into analysis that Botvinnik had pre­
pared in 1944. One of his few bright spots in
the match was:
Tai-Mikhail Botvinnik
World Championship Match,
12th game, Moscow, 1961
French Defense (C18)
I. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. es cs 5. a3
Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 7. Qg4 f5 8. Qg3 Ne7
9. Qxg7 Rg8 IO. Qxh7 cxd4 11. Kdl Bd7
12. Qh5+ Kd8
Botvinnik had not played the French De­
fense since losing the first 1960 match game,
which went 12. . . . Ng6 13. Ne2 d3 14. cxd3
Ba4+ 15. Kel Qxe5? 16. Bg5! with advantage
to White. Afterwards 12. . . . Kd8 was sug­
gested. Tal said he would have played for at­
tack with 13. Bg5. But when he got the op­
portunity he chose:
13. Nf3!? Qxc3 14. Ra2!
Bronstein pointed out the remarkable
14. Rbl Ba4 15. Nel Nbc6 when 16. f4 allows
16. . . . Rxg2! 17. Bxg2 d3 18. Rb2 Nd4.
14. . . . Nbc6 15. Rb2 Kc7
The strange 15. . . . Qxa3 16. Rxb7 Qal
makes sense because of the looming advance
of the a-pawn but 17. h4 favors White.
Botvinnik wanted to prepare 16. . . . Rh8
17. Qg5 Rag8 18. Qd2 Qxd2+ 19. Bxd2 Ng6,
with a playable game.
16. Rb5! (see diagram)
"For such play, all chessplayers love Tal;'
Bronstein wrote. 100 He invited a queen sac­
rifice, 16. . . . a6 17. Bb2 axb5 18. Bxc3 dxc3,
after which White can neutralize the pres­
sure with 19. Bxb5 Rxa2 20. Ke2 Ra2 21. Rel.
More of a problem is 16. . . . Qal! when
White is faced with a counterattack from
. . . Ng6 or . . . Rac8.
After 16. Rb5
16. . . . Rh8 17. Qxh8! Rxh8 18. Bb2 Qxf3+
19. gxf3 Ng6? 20. h4!
Shaken by the queen trap, Botvinnik hur­
ried his moves and overlooked 20. h4! . Had
he found 19. . . . Rh4! the position would be
close to equal. But now he had had to allow
a fatal trade of rooks (20. . . . Rxh4 21. Rxh4
Nxh4 22. f4) or permit the h-pawn to grow
in strength. Petrosian and Sal Flohr thought
20. . . . Ncxe5 was the best defense but 21. Rb3
looks convincing.
20. . . . Ngxe5 21. h5 Nt7 22. f4! Nd6 23. Rb3
Ne4 24. Kel Rh6 25. Be2 Be8 26. Rd3 Nf6
27. Bxd4 Nxd4 28. Rxd4 Bxh5 29. Rd3
Rh7 30. Rdh3 Bg6 31. Rxh7+ Nxh7 32. Rh6
Nf8 33. Rh8 Nd7 34. Rg8 Bt7 35. Rg7 Be8
36. Re7 Kd8 37. Rxe6 Bt7 38. Rh6 Ke7
39. Bd3 Be6 40. Rh5 Nf6 41. Rg5 (sealed)
Black resigns
Tal's health was precarious through much
of the match, according to those close to
him. One night he and Sally were invited to
a performance of the Moscow Circus. Before
the show, he was asked by the circus admin­
istrator if he would perform in the second
act with the legendary clown Oleg Popov and
his trained walruses. "Misha was as happy as
a child;' Sally said. But before the intermis­
sion he began experiencing sharp pains. An
ambulance had to be called. He was given an
injection and taken to the hospital-yet
played the next day on schedule. 101
 8. A Takeoff, an Apogee and a Crash
With Botvinnik's victory in the 21st game,
the match ended 8-13. Tal endeared his fans
when he said, "Never before have I played 21
so tough opponents:' 102 Botvinnik did some­
thing so unlike him that many readers
doubted Koblents' account. He said Botvin­
nik invited Tal to his home for dinner and,
raising his glass in a toast, he compared his
opponent to another national icon. "Yuri
Gagarin rose into the cosmos only after long
preparation;' he said. "If Mikhail Tal follows
this example, I am convinced that he will
achieve cosmic heights! " 103
Tal knew he was expected to play the role
of good loser. ''At that time he had an excel­
lent quality which I envied;' his son said. "He
took his loss publicly in the context of chess
1 79
interest and not in wounded pride. That is,
not as a personal loss but an important event
in the chess world. But, I think, internally he
was hurt:' 104
Tal held the title for one year and five days,
the briefest reign of any world champion. He
was also burdened with another record.
When he returned home to Riga, he told his
mother, "You know, Mama, I'm the youngest
ex-champion of the world in the history of
chess! " 105
For the rest of his life he used variations
on this quip so often that it seemed a way of
shielding his pain. When a great future was
predicted for a promising youngster, Tal
would shrug. "When I was his age;' he would
say, "I was already ex-champion:' 106
 9. Why Not Me?
The events of l959-61 pushed the aspira­
tions of the young Soviet grandmasters
sharply upward. As long as Mikhail Botvin­
nik was on the throne, the world champi­
onship was a distant goal. But seeing Mikhail
Tal-who was rated only number 41 in the
world in 1956-replace Botvinnik was a
shock for many of his colleagues. "Why Tal?"
they asked.
For Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi,
and Boris Spassky there was a more personal
question: "Why not me?"
"Does he really understand chess better
than I do?" Korchnoi demanded of his for­
mer trainer Vladimir Zak. 1 Yevgeny Vasiukov
said that was the question that "all the lead­
ing players" were asking. 2 Tal-mania made
Spassky envious, according to Tigran Petro­
sian. The "universal admiration of Tal . . .
had its effect on Spassky;' he said. 3 Petro­
sian did not say what it meant to himself.
But after Tal emerged, Rona Petrosian seemed
to redouble her efforts. "Basically, she 'forced'
this modest, lacking-ambition Tigran to
become world champion;' said Yuri Aver­
bakh. 4
The rival of Tal's who appeared to have the
brightest future was the one who was still
improving. Korchnoi allowed only one draw
in nine games when the Soviets successfully
defended the European Team Championship
in Oberhausen, West Germany.
180
Korchnoi-Josef Marsalek
European Team Championship,
Oberhausen, 1961
English Opening (AW)
1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. d4 f5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. g3
c6 6. Bg2 0-0 7. d5 cxd5 8. cxd5 b6 9. 0-0
Bb710. e4! fxe411. Ng5 Na612. Ngxe4 Rc8?
Black does not have the development to
justify 12. . . . Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Nc7, which
would be met by 14. d6! exd6 15. Bg5 Qb8
16. Qxd6. But trying to trade further, 13. . . .
Nc5, would approach equality.
13. Nxf6+! exf6
Black would also suffer following 13. . . .
Bxf6 14. Bh6 Rf7 15. Rel.
14. Be3 Nc5? 15. b4 Na6
Not much better is 15. . . . fS 16. bxc5 Bxc3
17. Rel (17. . . . Bas 18. Qb3 or 17 . . . . Bg7
18. Qa4).
16. Nb5! f517. Rbl (see diagram)
If this were not a team event, Korchnoi
might have gone for 17. Nd6! Bxal 18. Qxal.
Instead, he prepares to win without risk, with
18. Nxa7 or 18. Nd6. For example, 17 . . . . Bes
18. Nxa7 Ra8 19. d6. Or 17. . . . Ra8 18. Nd6
Bc8 19. Qb3.
17. . . . d618. Nxa7 Rc419. Nc6! Qf6 20. Qe2
b5 21. Na5 Black resigns
 9. Why Not Me?
After 17. Rbl
His result made Korchnoi the world's sec­
ond highest rated player, after Petrosian and
just ahead of Tal and Botvinnik. When
Korchnoi returned home, a KGB officer, who
was deputy head of the Soviet delegation at
Oberhausen, reported that he had behaved
badly: Korchnoi invited a German woman
to go to the movies with him, the officer said.
''A black mark" appeared on Korchnoi's per­
sonal file. 5
He did not get an invitation to the most
prestigious tournament of the year, an Alek­
hine memorial at Bled, Yugoslavia. Tal, Pet­
rosian, Paul Keres and Yefim Geller went in­
stead. Korchnoi consoled himself by easily
winning a fall international in Budapest. With
his cash prize he bought a heavy coat. "For
the first time, at the age of 30, I put on a gen­
uine winter coat! " he wrote. 6
Big winning margins had become a Korch­
noi trademark. He often won by developing
an advantage with Petrosian-like strategy,
then finished off in his own way.
Korchnoi-Gyula Kluger
Budapest, 1961
King's Indian Defense (E64)
l. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0
5. d4 d6 6. Nf3 cs 7. d5 es 8. e4 Ne8 9. Qc2
Na6 10. a3 Nac7 ll. 0-0 f5 12. exf5 gxf5
Soviet players were trained to retake with
a pawn in these kinds of positions to exert
greater control of e4. However, 12. . . . gxfS
181
creates a target on fS and is the greater evil
compared with 12. . . . BxfS, e.g., 13. Qe2 Qd7
14. NgS.
13. Nh4 Bd7 14. Bh3 Qc8
At some point-and this is a good one­
Black should play . . . f4.
15. Bd2 Rb816. b4 b617. b5!?
Most grandmasters would retain the op­
tion of bxcS. But b4-b5 is the way Petrosian
liked to prevent counterplay, which could
arise from 17. . . . cxb4 18. axb4 bS and 19. cS
dxcS 20. bxcS b4. After 17. bS White clears
the deck for a3-a4-a5 or Rael/f2-f4.
17. . . . f4! 18. Bxd7 Qxd7 19. Ne4 Nf6
20. Rael Nxe4 21. Qxe4 Qh3 22. Qg2
This is why the immediate 20. . . . Qh3 was
preferable. Black would be worse after 22. . . .
Qxg2+ 23. Kxg2 but at least he could use the
a-file, 23. . . . a6! .
22. . . . Qg4 23. Re4 Ne8 24. f3 Qh5 25. Bel!
(see diagram)
After 25. Bel
Now 26. g4 queen-move 27. N5 would in­
crease White's superiority.
25. . . . fxg3 26. hxg3 Nf6 27. Re2 Rbd8
28. g4 Qf7 29. Nf5 Ne8 30. f4! Kh8 31. Bc3
Black can try to erect a fortress, 31. . . . exf4
32. Bxg7+ Nxg7 33. Re7 NxfS! 34. Rxf7
Rxf7. But it would not hold for long after
35. Rxf4.
1 82 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
31. . • . Qg6 32. fxeS dxeS 33. RxeS!
Of course, 33. . . . Bxe5 24. Bxg7+ is lost.
33. . . . RxfS 34. gxfS!? Qxg2+ 35. Kxg2
BxeS 36. BxeS+ Kg8 37. Kf3 Nd6 38. Rgl+
Kf8 39. Bxd6+ Rxd6 40. Rhl Kg7 41. Kf4
Rd8 and Black resigned (in view of 42. Kg5
and f5-f6+).
Tai Vindicated
Mikhail Tai ended up in a hospital soon
after the rematch, his wife wrote, without
elaboration. His memoirs mention a recur­
rence of "kidney colic:' 7 But he was healthy
enough to re-establish his prestige in Octo­
ber 1961 in a race for first prize at Bled with
Bobby Fischer.
Soviet players were beginning to get an­
noyed with Fischer being hailed as "a genius:'
Tai joked in 1960 that if the American did
not improve "he will, with time, stop being
a prodigy-and just become an ordinary ge­
nius:•s Bled showed Fischer was not ordinary
when he also scored his first victories over
Tai, Petrosian and Yefim Geller.
Tai overtook Fischer in the final week.
One of his late wins showed that his rematch
preparation was not as bad as it seemed five
months earlier.
Tal-Ludek Pachmann
Bled, 1961
Caro-Kann Defense (B12)
I. e4 c6 2. d4 dS 3. es
When Tai played this move against Bot­
vinnik, David Bronstein recalled how Alex­
ander Alekhine said it "obligates White too
much." Bronstein imagined a dialogue in
which Tai responded, "White is obligated?
To do what?" "To attack;' answered Alek­
hine. 'Tm ready to attack according to obli­
gation or from free will;' Tai replied. "It's all
the same to me:' 9
3. . . . BfS 4. h4 h6 5. g4!? Bd7 6. hS cS 7. c3
e6 8. f4!
After Tai played (7. . . . Nc6) 8. Bh3? e6
9. Be3 Qb6! and lost the tenth rematch game,
he was ridiculed. "Tai evidently forgot that
pieces move in chess;' Alexander Tolush said
in the match press room. 10 Like almost every­
one else Tolush underestimated the value of
White's spatial edge and exaggerated his
weaknesses.
8. . . . Qb6 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. Na3
When White's system was revived more
than 50 years later, masters took even more
liberties, with 10. Kf2!? and 10. Rh2!?.
10. . . . cxd4 11. cxd4 0-0-0 12. Nc2 Kb8
13. Bd3 Nge714. Rbl NaS 15. Bd2 Rc816. b4
Nc417. bS! (see diagram)
After 17. b5
Based on 17. . . . Bxb5? 18. a4. White pre­
pares 18. a4 followed by Bxc4 and a4-a5. But
Black can fight back with 17. . . . f5!. For ex­
ample, 18. exf6 gxf6 19. a4 Rg8. Or 18. gxf5
NxfS 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. a4 g6.
17. . . . Nxd218. Nxd2? g6!
This (19. hxg6 Nxg6) is why 18. Qxd2!
was better. Then 18 . . . . g6 19. hxg6 fxg6
20. a4 Qd8 21. a5 Bg7 22. b6! shows how
quickly White could make queenside prog­
ress. Then 22. . . . a6 23. Nb4 and the threat
of 24. Bxa6 bxa6 25. Nxa6+ Kb7 26. Nc5 is
powerful.
 9. Why Not Me?
19. Nb3 Bxb5 20. Nc5 Rxc5?
The right move order, leading to equality,
was 20. . . . Qa5+ so that 21. Kf2 Rxc5 22. dxc5
Bxd3 23. Qxd3 Qxc5+. Or 21. Qd2 Qxd2+
22. Kxf2 Bxd3 23. Rxb7+ Ka8 24. Kxd3
Rxc5! .
21. dxc5 Qa5+ 22. Qd2! Qxd2+ 23. Kxd2
Bxd3 24. Kxd3 Nc6
Better was 24 . . . . gxh5 to secure a kingside
square for the knight (25. gxh5 Nf5 or
25. Rxh5 Ng6). Now White is manifestly bet­
ter.
25. hxg6 fxg6 26. Nd4! Nxd4 27. Kxd4 Kc7
28. f5! gxf5 29. gxf5 Kc6! 30. fxe6
The win is more secure after 30. Rbcl! so
that 30. . . . exfS 31. Rhgl.
30. . . . Bxc5+ 31. Kd3 b6 32. Rbfl h5 33. Rf7
a5 34. Rh4! Rh6
Since Black is almost in Zugzwang, 35. a4!
should finish matters. Then 35. . . . b5 loses
to 36. Rf6 (36. . . . Rh7 37. e7+ Kd7 38. axb5!
Bxe7 39. Ra6 Bxh4 40. Ra7+ Ke6 41. Rxh7).
Or 35. . . . Rxe6 36. Rxh5 b5 37. Rf6! Rxf6
38. axb5+.
35. Rf6 Rh8 36. Rf5? Rg8! 37. Rhxh5 Rg3+
38. Ke2 d4! 39. Rf3 Rg2+ 40. Kd3 Rxa2??
A draw was likely after 40. . . . Kd5!. Black
did not resume play after Tal sealed 41. Rf7.
For example, 41. . . . Ra3+ 42. Ke4 Re3+ 43. Kf4
Rel 44. e7 Kd7 45. e8(Q)+! Kxe8 46. Rb7.
Tal clinched victory by a full point by beat­
ing Miguel Najdorf in the final round while
Fischer drew with Borislav Ivkov. Whether
it was faulty memory or his penchant for em­
bellishment, Tal wrote that Fischer played
"literally until there were only kings left:' 11
The tournament book and other sources
show that it was K+P-vs.-K+N+P when the
game ended.
Meanwhile, all was not well at Gorky
Street, number 34. Sally did not like being
1 83
Tal's "second love;' as journalist Evgeny Gik
put it. "The chess king and his queen were
jealous of one another but were not going to
change their habits:' 12
"We fought often, over everything imagi­
nable;' Sally remembered. "One time it got
so bad that I threw his engagement ring in
the toilet, he got it back, and put it back on
my finger. Ah, we would fight, swear, break
up, and get back together again . . . . Well, in
fact, we were children. It was childhood-a
sweet, romantic childhood! " 13
In a later interview she added, "When we
got married, I was only 19 years old . . . I un­
derstood that he was a genius; but to accept
that I would have to live with just him and
chess. That I could not do. I was unable even
to imagine myself a normal 'chess-player's
wife' -someone like Rona Yakovlevna, Mrs.
Petrosian, for example. Without her, Tigran
Vartanovich would hardly have become cham­
pion:' The difference is that Rona "would
only talk about Tigran and chess. I loved the­
ater and music:' 14
Sally had other reasons to be upset. Tal's
mother told her "Misha has a new fan . . . a
movie actress, a woman of extraordinary
beauty, that she is fanatically in love with
chess" -and with Tal. Ida Tal added that this
was "quite normal" because "Tal should have
fans:' 15
But the actress was more than a fan. "It
was not difficult for me to quickly find con­
firmation'' that Tal had a new romance, Sally
wrote. "I cried, got angry, was ready to take
revenge;' she said. She was not ready to cheat
on Tal-yet. "Now I understand that Misha
didn't try to hide anything from me, didn't
try to deceive me:' 16
She eventually confronted Tal and asked
whether he was "exchanging" her for a girl
friend. As usual, he made a joke: 'J\sk [Ed­
uard] Gufeld. He said exchanging Sally would
be like trading the black-squared bishop in
the King's Indian Defense!" 17 Sally knew vir­
tually nothing about chess when she met Tal.
1 84 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
But by then she had learned that Gufeld
cherished that bishop.
Pater
As Spassky's marriage collapsed, his chess
family changed. "I became unhappy with my
trainer, Alexander Tolush;' he said. 1 8 One
night after Spassky adjourned a game, they
returned to the Tolush home in Leningrad.
"Go to sleep, I'll look at the position;' Tolush
said. The next day he gave Spassky the fruits
of his overnight analysis. But when the game
was resumed Spassky did not play as Tolush
advised. In Soviet chess culture, this was a
breach of faith.
"Boris, you no longer need me;' Tolush
told him when they got home. "Let them
train you:•
Spassky later painted different pictures,
dark and rosy, of his eight-year relationship
with "Kazimirich:' In one, he said Tolush was
a "brusque" man who "liked to lecture me
on my mistakes:• including his marriage. 1 9
"He even found a bride for me in Riga! " 20
Spassky would entertain friends with his im­
pression of an overbearing Tolush: "I've al­
ways tried to teach you. You are a very stupid
boY:' he mimicked. 2 1
But later Spassky conceded that he had ex­
hausted Tolush's tolerance. His trainer was
worn out trying to defend him before the
KGB, his university, the Leningrad and Soviet
chess federations and even Spassky's divorce
court. "He was a powerful shield but his pa-
tience was limited;' Spassky said. "He slowly
left me, complaining that I had become an
unguided missile:•22
In yet another version, Spassky said he
abruptly dumped Tolush while under a lot
of stress. "It was terrible! Eight years is a very
long time, you know. I had nobody to turn
to at that time except my mother:' He said
he was "in a very nervous state" because of
his divorce. But still he should have explained
his feelings to Tolush, he said. "Instead I re­
fused to talk to him:• 23
Tolush's wife Valentina was preparing a
meal when she heard her husband say, "Let
them train you:' Who was them? "Through
an open door I only heard the surname Bon­
darevskY:' she said. 24
Twenty three years older than Spassky, his
new father figure had been a world-class
player until World War II robbed him of his
best years. Bondarevsky became Paul Keres'
trainer in 1948, when many Russian players
shunned Keres because of his suspected dis­
loyalty during the war. Bondarevsky earned
a reputation for training the very best players:
After Keres it was Yefim Geller during 1952-
5, then Vasily Smyslov during 1956-9.
Spassky considered Bondarevsky a "living
computer" because of his accuracy in ana­
lyzing adjourned games, which was then a
very high priority, more so than opening ex­
pertise. 25 They had become acquainted dur­
ing 1954-55 at the Leningrad Pioneer Palace.
Bondarevskyjoined Spassky at various points
in the next six years, including analyzing the
lost adjournment with Leonid Stein in the
28th Soviet Championship finals.
But if Spassky could not take Tolush's ef­
forts to get him to work harder, he was bound
to have problems with the gruff and de­
manding Bondarevsky. They agreed to ignore
the potential conflict. In the short run, their
relationship was built on respect rather than
friendship. Spassky said he began to enjoy "a
wonderful feeling of solidarity and mutual
trust:' 26
There were other benefits of switching
trainers. After the breakup with his wife,
Spassky needed a home. Bondarevsky invited
him to live with him at his Leningrad apart­
ment. Critics said it may also have helped
that Bondarevsky had good ties with the
KGB. Spassky took to calling him Pater, the
German word for father. Spassky explained
that this is what "the insurgents called [Nestor]
Makhno:• the leader of an anarchist army
 9. Why Not Me?
during the Russian civil war. At various times
Spassky considered himself a secret anarchist
or a monarchist.
Yet he continued to benefit from Commu­
nist Party protectors. A heavy-handed cam­
paign was launched in late 1961 to justify an
Interzonal coup. The semi-official newspaper
Sovietsk aya Rossiya ran an article under the
headline "Spassky Should Play in the Inter­
zonal! " -that is, in place of Stein. 27 Another
powerful newspaper, Literaturnaya Gazeta,
said Spassky deserved to go to the Stockholm
tournament instead of "young Stein'' (who
was two years older than Spassky but rela­
tively unknown). Korchnoi felt the campaign
was anti-Semitic because Stein was Jewish.
It was the kind of propaganda effort that was
used to prepare the Soviet public for a con­
troversial decision, in this case negating Stein's
finish ahead of Spassky in the 1961 Zonal.
Direct pressure was applied to Stein. Some­
one with connections to the vlasti pitched a
deal: If Stein declined his Interzonal spot he
would be rewarded with a good foreign in­
vitation. There was an implied threat that he
would be punished if he refused, according
to Stein's close friend Eduard Gufeld. But
supporters of Stein counter-attacked with a
publicly-circulated joint letter, a familiar
Soviet-era weapon. 28 Mikhail Tal and Korch­
noi were among those who signed the letter,
saying Stein had won the right to go to Stock­
holm fair and square.
This is the kind of issue that was often de­
cided in the Party hierarchy, rather than in
the government bodies such as the Soviet
Chess Federation or, directly above it, the
Sports Committee. This time the federation
made the final decision-to send Stein-but
"only after several hours of heated discus­
sion;' according to Alexander Kotov. 29 Gu­
feld said he included the story of the joint
letter in the manuscript of a 1980 Stein game
collection that was published by the main
government chess publisher, Fizku ltura i
Sport. But it was edited out.
185
New Sp assky
Spassky's more balanced style was on dis­
play in the 29th USSR Championship finals
in November. He came to the Baku tourna­
ment site armed with new opening weapons.
He scored 3½-½ with Black in delayed ver­
sions of the Steinitz Defense of the Ruy
Lopez. He beat three of the other contenders
for first prize and virtually clinched the title
with two rounds to go. His most important
game came in round five.
Vasily Smyslov-Spassky
29th Soviet Championship finals,
Baku, 1961
Reti Op ening (A06)
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. b4 Bg7
5. Bb2 0-0 6. 0-0 Bg4 7. c4 c6 8. Na3 Nbd7
Black is prepared to build a center with ei­
ther . . . Bxf3 and . . . e6 or . . . Re8 and . . . es.
9. Rel a5 10. b5 a4
Soviet tournament bulletins contained
more than bare game scores. They often had
photos, interviews, annotations, even poetry.
In his Bulletin of the Central Chess Club notes,
Petrosian wrote, "The goal of this move is
defensive. It is important to deprive White
of the possibility of placing a knight on bS
after the liquidation of the pawn tensions
created by . . . c6 and . . . ds:• That is, 11. bxc6
bxc6 12. cxdS cxdS 13. NbS QaS.
11. d3 e5! 12. bxc6
At least equal for Black is 12. NxeS NxeS
13. BxeS Qe7 and then 14. Bb2 Qxe2 15. Qxe2
Bxe2.
12. . . . bxc6 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nc2 e4?!
Black can also exploit his space edge with
14 . . . . Bh6. Then 15. Rbl Qc7 and . . . Rfc8 is
comfortable. So is 15. Ne3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 d4!?
17. Bxa8 Qxa8 18. Nc4 Bxcl 19. Qxcl Rc8.
15. dxe4 dxe4 16. Nd2!
1 86 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
"Now it was fully appropriate to occupy
d4 with the knight but White pursues an­
other goal;' Petrosian wrote. 30 Black would
have an easier time after 16. Nfd4 Qb6 and
. . . Rfc8.
16. . . . Rb8 17. Ba3
White's Hypermodern strategy would pay
off better after 17. Bd4! Re8 18. Ne3 and 18 . . . .
Be6 19. Nxe4 or 18 . . . . BhS 19. h3 (threat of
20. g4).
17. . . . Re818. Ne3 Ne5! 19. Nxg4
Not 19. Nxe4? in view of 19. . . . Nxe4
20. Bxe4 Qxdl 21. Rfxdl Bxe2 with advan­
tage (22. Rd2 Nf3+ or 22. Rd4 Bf3).
19. . . . Nexg4 20. Nc4 e3!
The best defense to various threats (Nd6,
Qxa4). Now 21. f4 Qxdl 22. Rfxdl Nf2 is fine
for Black because he can play 23. . . . N6e4 in
answer to 23. Rd6 or 23. Rd4.
21. f3! Nf2 22. Qxa4
Black has no problems after 22. Qxd8
Rbxd8 23. Bes NdS because 24. Nxe3? Nxe3
25. Bxe3 Rxe3 26. Kxf2 Ra3 favors him.
22. . . . Nd5 23. f4 Nc3! 24. Qc2
The liquidation of 24. Rxc3 Bxc3 25. Bd6
Rc8 26. Bb7 is harmless after 26. . . . Re4!
27. Bxe4 Nxe4 28. Rdl Nd2.
24. . . . Qd4!? 25. Ne5! Bxe5 26. fxe5 Rec8!
27. Bf3
Smyslov plays for more than 27. Bb2 Rxb2
28. Qxb2 Qd2! and 29. Rxc3 Qxb2 30. Rxc8+
Kg7.
27. . . . Qd2 28. Kg2! Qd7 29. Bd6 Nce4
30. e6?
This deserves a better fate. Black would
have perpetual check after 30. Bxb8 Rxc2
31. Rxc2 Qh3+ 32. Kgl Nxg3!. Or he might
try for more with 31. . . . NgS. The point of
White's move is to control g3 with his bishop
and perhaps lure Black into the losable 30. . . .
Qxd6 31. Qxc8+ Rxc8 32. Rxc8+ Kg7 33. exf7
Kxf7 34. Bxe4.
30. . . . Qxe6 31. Bxb8 Rxc2 32. Rxc2 g5!
(see diagram)
After 32. ... gs
Spassky threatens 33. . . . g4 34. Bxe4?
Qxe4+ and mates. For example, 33. g4 hS
34. h3 Nxh3 35. Kxh3 hxg4+ 36. Bxg4 Nf2+.
Now 33. Ba7! g4 34. Bxe3 gxf3+ 35. exf3
would have been a tougher defense to break
than:
33. Kgl? Nd2 34. Rfcl Nxf3+ 35. exf3 Nd3
36. Rc6 Qxa2 37. R6c2 Qa4 38. Rc8+ Kg7
White resigns
This was Tal's first Soviet championship
in nearly three years. He was headed for a
minus score when he lost to Rashid Nezh­
metdinov in the 15th of 20 rounds. Going
back to their hotel Tal told Lev Polugaevsky
that he would not draw again in the tourna­
ment. "So you're intending to lose them all?"
Polugaevsky asked. 31
"No! " Tal replied and was proven right
when he won five games, lost one and fin -
ished 12-8. The Soviet chess yearbook, the
semi-official voice of the USSR chess estab­
lishment, was unimpressed: "Even in the pe­
riod of the stormy ascent of M. Tal there were
grandmasters who did not take the Rigan 'at
his word' but accepted his sacrifices and re­
pulsed attacks:' The first-rank players who
used to do this included Petrosian and Korch-
 9. Why Not Me?
noi but now other masters have joined them
and this "can explain the relatively low result
of M. Tal:' 32 Translation: his colleagues had
solved Tai.
Stockholm to CurafaO
The next indication that a Westerner could
challenge Soviet supremacy came at the In­
terzonal beginning January 27, 1962, in Stock­
holm. Bobby Fischer started with two draws,
then won five straight games. The Soviets
lagged behind: Geller and Korchnoi were
upset by Miguel Cuellar of Colombia in early
rounds. Petrosian offered draws to oppo­
nents he considered dangerous and then
spent hours trying to figure out how he could
have played to win. "Perhaps I played rather
timidly when I offered those draws;' he said
after the tournament. "But no one can blame
me: at least I qualified" for the Candidates
tournament.33 He finished in a tie with "Fimka"
Geller for second, behind Fischer.
Their comrades faced the problem of FIDE's
limit on Candidates from one country. Be­
cause Keres and Tai had been seeded into the
upcoming Candidates tournament on the is­
land of Cura4rao, only three Soviet players
from Stockholm could advance to it. Stein
and Korchnoi began the final day tied for
fourth place and vying for the final ticket to
the Caribbean. Korchnoi claimed Fischer
was so afraid of facing him in Cura4rao that
he helped his opponent, Abe Yanofsky, pre­
pare his opening. 34 Yanofsky soon had the
edge.
Abe Yanofsky-Korchnoi
Interzonal, Stockholm, 1962
Here 33. . . . Qa5 and then 34. c6 g6 might
have held. But after 33. . . . Qa8? 34. Qal! and
34. . . . b4 35. a7 Korchnoi was lost. A crucial
variation was 35. . . . Bd5 36. Qxe5 b3!
37. Qb8+ Kh7 38. Qxa8 Bxa8 and now
39. Bg2! b2 40. Bxa8 bl(Q)+ 41. Kg2 will
187
After 33. a6
leave White with an extra bishop (41. . . . Qa2
42. Be4+ and queens).
But in time pressure, play went 35. . . . Bd5
36. Bd7? b3! 37. c6?. Korchnoi found an in­
spired defense, 37. . . . b2! 38. Qxb2 Qxa7
39. Qxe5 Qc5 40. Qe3 Qc2 41. f3 h5. White
accepted a draw because of perpetual check
in lines like 42. Kfl Kh7 43. c7 Bb7 44. Qb6
Qdl+. The half point made Korchnoi a world
championship candidate for the first time.
Fischer won the tournament by two and
half points. Igor Bondarevsky warned his
colleagues that the American could be a fu­
ture world champion. But Yuri Averbakh ob­
jected. "Igor, we have a whole school, tradi­
tions, and many strong players in their prime;'
he said. Bondarevsky replied, "And on the
side of Fischer is youth, enormous talent,
unique capacity to work and fanatic devotion
to chess:' 35 But in 1962 few Soviet players
placed much stock in that.
The Candidates tournament started eight
weeks after Stockholm with a modest prize
fund of $3,400, including $750 for first place.
Once again, the main prize was the right to
challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the world
title in 1963. The two youngest players were
the favorites. A poll of readers of the news­
paper Komsomolsk ay a Pravda found 2,557
thought Tai would win and 1,252 believed
Fischer would. Then came Petrosian, 906
and, at a distance, Keres, 456; Geller, 156 and
Korchnoi, 145.
1 88 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
The tournament has become legendary but
not because of the somewhat indifferent qual­
ity of the games. Rather it is because Korchnoi
and Fischer alleged that the outcome was or­
chestrated. Petrosian, driven by "devilish de­
termination:' conspired with Geller and Keres,
Korchnoi wrote. 36 'J\s we all know, everything
was arranged by Petrosian:' 37
What is undeniable is that Geller, Keres and
Petrosian drew their mutual games in an av­
erage of 19.1 moves. This seems quick. But it
was not out of character: At Bled 1961, Keres,
Petrosian, Geller and Tal also drew their mu­
tual games in an average of l9.l moves.
Korchnoi said a conspiracy was hatched
by Petrosian but also said it began with
Petrosian and Geller. They persuaded Keres
to join them. Korchnoi felt this was ethically
outrageous for Petrosian and Geller. But he
indicated it was merely bad strategy for
Keres. 'J\ more crafty person, on learning
about the pact between Geller and Petrosian,
would have sought a separate alliance;' he
wrote. 38 (That could only mean Keres mak­
ing a non-aggression pact with Korchnoi.)
Tal was not worthy of an alliance because
of his health. After a USSR team champion­
ship at the end of 1961 he "was not feeling
too well and it was decided to send me to
Marianske Lazne;' he wrote. 39 This was a
renowned Carlsbad area spa, known to chess
players as the site of a famous tournament,
Marienbad 1925. Just before Tal was about to
leave for the Czech resort, his condition de­
teriorated. Within 24 hours he was on an op­
erating table. His surgeon, Dr. Anatoly Frum­
kin, said a human body needed plenty of
time to recover after an operation like that.
"I don't understand how Tal can play chess"
so quickly afterward, he told Koblents. 40
Pantopon Ch ess
Tal had less than two months to recover.
That was much more than for the previous
Candidates but his latest operation was a
greater challenge to his body than an appen-
dectomy. He prepared by playing training
games against Aivars Gipslis. At the insis­
tence of doctors, they used a fast time limit,
40 moves in 90 minutes. Tal said he did well.
But he did not appreciate that this meant he
only had the stamina to play three hours a
day. At Curac;:ao he repeatedly collapsed in
the fifth hour of a game, "the same hour that
had always brought me so many dividends
in the past:' 4 1
The other players quickly learned of Tal's
condition. When he went to a swimming
pool at Curac;:ao he had a visible scar from
one side of his stomach to the other. What
was not known was that searing pain quickly
returned after the operation and he had to
receive regular injections of Pantopon. 42 This
is a powerful opium-based narcotic often
taken by people who can not be treated with
morphine.
When the tournament began, Tal lost his
first three games. "Never in my life had I
been in such poor form:' he wrote. He claimed
he was "swindled" by Benko in the time trou­
ble of his third-round game. But the moves
show that he was steadily outplayed He began
the second cycle of seven games with "what
was probably the worst game of my life:' 43
Tal-Petrosian
Candidates tournament, Cura�ao,
1962
French Defense ( ClO)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4
5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Nf3 c5
People who knew nothing of chess could
notice a difference between Tal and Spassky
in their scoresheets. Spassky took time to
write down his moves slowly and in full no­
tation (Ngl-f3, not just Nf3, for example).
His scoresheets reflected the calmness he al­
ways tried to exude.
Tal's written-and often crossed out-
 9. Why Not Me? 1 89

u.s.s . .
Petrosian's (left) first round defeat of Tai at the 1962 Candidates tournament in Cura�ao set the
tone for his greatest tournament victory-and one of Tal's worst results ( Chess Life, July 1962,
used by permission of the United States Chess Federation).

moves were often the chicken scratches that 14. 0-0 Bc6 (see diagram)
Fischer described. Tal said he wrote down
one move here (probably 8. Bb5+), crossed
it out and replaced it with 8. Bc4. He could
not decide between the two and after more
than an hour "I suddenly made a third,
ridiculous move:'
8. Qd3?! Be7 9. B xf6 B xf6 10. QbS+ Bd7
ll. Qxb7 Rb8 12. Qxa7 Rxb2
Humans lack a computer's faith in lines
like 13. Qxc5 Be? 14. Qe5. But Tal could have
played for a drawish bishops of opposite After 14. ... Bc6
color ending with 13. Ne5 cxd4 14. Nxd7.
Even here 15. Qc5 Qd5 (15 . . . . Bxf3?
13. Bd3? cxd4 16. Bb5+) 16. Qxd5 Bxd5 17. a4 offered draw­
White would be losing after 14. Nxd4? ing chances.
Qc8 (threat: 15. . . . Rb7) 15. Nb3 Qc3+. 15. Qa3 Qb6 16. Bc4? Rb4 17. Qd3 0-0 18. a3
190 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Ra4 19. Rfdl Qa7 20. Ra2?? Rxc4! White
resigns
Ethical Enigma
Opinions about the ethics of the Petrosian,
Keres and Geller draws tend to depend on
what motives are attributed to them. There
are four basic theories:
1. They wanted to keep Soviet control of the
world championship. This was Fischer's claim
in a Sports Illustrated article published after
the tournament. 44 He suggested Korchnoi
furthered this by throwing games to his com­
patriots. "Nonsense;' Korchnoi responded
after he defected. "It is well known in the
chess world that it is very difficult even to
prearrange a draw with me:' 45
2. They wanted to mak e sure Petrosian
won. This was one of Korchnoi's claims: "The
head of our team, Yuri Averbakh, was his
personal friend, and our coach Boleslavsky
had already cooperated with him for years.
Petrosian won the tournament as was re­
quired;' he said. 46
But even if Keres were willing to destroy
his last good chance at the world title, there
were holes in this theory. For example, Petro­
sian offered a draw to Keres in round 25
when his position was nearly won after 14
moves. This makes little sense if they were
conspiring to make Petrosian finish first. If
he had won that game he would have led by
a point with three rounds to go, a huge lead
so late in the tournament.
3. They wanted to stop one or more of their
rivals. Fischer said the conspiracy was di­
rected solely at him. Korchnoi said it was di­
rected at him. He claimed that after Geller
drew with Petrosian in ten moves, "I asked
Geller whom he was intending to beat. 'You! '
was his direct reply. I merely shrugged my
shoulders:' 47 He later revised this: "I am al­
most certain that this plot was also directed
against me, just as it was against Fischer:' 48
In his 2004 memoir he added a third victim:
"The agreement was devised against Korch­
noi, Fischer and Tal! " 49
But the quick draws continued to the very
end of the tournament, after Tal had with­
drawn from it and when Fischer and Korch­
noi were out of contention. There was no
need to stop anyone by then.
4. Each wanted to save energy for his own
b enefit. This was the explanation of Keres
and Averbakh. Endurance had to be con­
served in a 28-round tournament on a trop­
ical island. so Why else would Geller and
Petrosian also make quick draws with Miro­
slav Filip and Pal Benko, the least dangerous
players in the tournament?
Occasional quick draws had been Petro­
sian's style since he was a teen. At Stockholm
he drew 14 games out of 22 and only in his
draws with Fischer and Korchnoi did he
seem to exert himself. At Curac;:ao he chose
his days to play.
Petrosian-Miroslav Filip
Candidates tournament, Cura�ao,
1962
Queen's Gambit Declined (D37)
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6
5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3 Nc6
9. Qc2
White prepares 10. Rdl. He would stand
slightly better in symmetrical pawn middle­
games, such as after 9. . . . dxc4 10. Bxc4 a6
11. Rdl.
9. . . . Be710. Rdl Qa5 ll. Nd2 e512. Bg5 d4
13. Nb3 Qd8 14. Be2
These moves were very new in 1962. Later
14 . . . . aS came into fashion {15. exd4 a4).
14. . . . Ng4? 15. Bxe7 Qxe716. exd4 Qh4
Afterwards, 16. . . . exd4 17. Nxd4 QcS was
recommended but Black has nothing for his
missing pawn after 18. Qd2 Rd8 19. NdS.
17. g3 Qh3
 9. Why Not Me?
Black may have some compensation if
White's king remains in the center, e.g., 18. Bfl
Qh5 19. d5 Nd4! ? 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Rxd4
Re8+ 22. Be2 Bf5 23. Qdl Qh3.
18. d5! Nd4
Annotators liked 18 . . . . Qg2 19. Qe4 Qxf2+
20. Kd2 Qb6. White can improve with 19. Rfl!
so that 19. . . . Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Qe4!
favors him.
19. Nxd4 exd4 20. Rxd4 Qg2? (see diagram)
After 20. ... Qg2
Black seems to be doing well (21. Rfl Re8).
Spassky later tried the immediate 20. . . . Re8
and earned a draw this way with Lajos Por­
tisch at the 1966 Olympiad (21. Re4 Bd7
22. Bfl Qh5 23. Be2 Qh3 24. Bfl Qh5). But
23. h3! favors White (23. . . . BfS 24. hxg4!).
So 21. . . . Qh6! became Black's best chance
for equality.
21. Qe4! Qxf2+ 22. Kd2 Nf6 23. Qe3 Qg2
24. Qgl
Petrosian was fond of queen moves to and
along the first rank. But 24. Rgl Qxh2 25. Rh4
Bh3 26. g4! would have won more quickly.
24. . . . Qh3? 25. Rh4 Qd7 26. Qd4 Re8
27. Bd3 b6 28. Rfl Black resigns
The threat was 29. Rxf6 gxf6 30. Ne4, and
Filip apparently had no taste for 28 . . . . Qd8
29. Bd3. Of course, more than one of the four
motives could be at work. By agreeing to
191
draws, players could save energy as well as
target another player. This was the case in
1976 when Tal, Petrosian and Lajos Portisch
tied in an Interzonal for two Candidates
spots. The trio played a match-tournament
in Varese, Italy. Tal and Petrosian made blood­
less draws of 18, 18, 20 and 17 moves. Were
they saving energy? Yes. Were they targeting
Portisch? Also, yes. Poetisch foiled the plan
by beating Tal, who was eliminated.
Caribb ean Middlegame
Tal remained optimistic well into the mid­
dle of the Cura<;:ao schedule, when his score
was 5-10. In the third cycle he thought up a
stunning queen sacrifice against Keres. After
making a preliminary move, he got up from
the board and told Petrosian, 'Tm going for
the brilliancy prize:' 51 When he returned to
his table he wrote down the move he ex­
pected would lead to the sacrifice. But once
again he changed his mind, played another
move and lost miserably. When he wrote his
memoirs years later he did not realize the
queen sacrifice would have been woefully
unsound.
The Soviet Sports Committee had made
the unusual decision of allowing wives of
the players to join them, during the mid­
tournament break. This was almost never
done because of the risk of defection. Loved
ones had to stay home as virtual hostages.
"In those years, to go abroad, and to a capi­
talist country, was an impossible dream for
the overwhelming majority of Soviet citi­
zens;' Sally Landau said.52
The wives had to pay their own way to Cu­
ra<;:ao. Sally said Uncle Robert came up with
her airfare by selling, for 1,000 rubles, a por­
trait by a famous Latvian painter that had
hung in their home.
Despite his great successes, Tal had no sav­
ings. "Misha hadn't the faintest idea about
money;' Sally said. "When he travelled to
192 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Soviet tournaments, he wouldn't even fill out
the expense form for the chess federation, so
he went at his own expense:' Or at the ex­
pense of "a doting relative;' she said. 53 But
Robert's money was never enough because
Tai was a spendthrift. "In Cura<;:ao, he man­
aged to spend $500 in one month, just on
haircuts-and this was in 1962! " Sally said.
Korchnoi held the tournament lead briefly
but then went 11 games with only one win.
One of the conspiracy theories-denied by
Korchnoi-is that Rona Petrosian convinced
her good friend Bella Korchnoi to pressure
Viktor to throw this game:
Petrosian-Korchnoi
Candidates tournament, Cura�ao,
1962
English Opening (A31)
I. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6
5. Nc3 d5 6. Bg5 dxc4 7. e3
Korchnoi became the acknowledged ex­
pert on the Black side of this variation after
he beat Vasily Smyslov in 1952 with 7. . . . Bg7
8. Bxc4 0-0 9. 0-0 a6.
7• • . . Qa5? 8. Bxf6 exf6 9. Bxc4 Bb4 IO. Rel
a6 ll. 0-0 Nd7? (see diagram)
After 11. ... Nd7
12. a3?
"A Russian former world champion once
told me that Korchnoi had been told to lose
his game as Black against Petrosian in round
23;' Jan Timman wrote. 54 But if this game
were fixed, someone failed to tell Petrosian.
His move allowed Korchnoi to play a merely
bad middlegame with 12. . . . Bxc3 13. Rxc3
Ne5 and . . . 0-0. However, Black might not
have gotten out of the opening if White had
played the obvious 12. NdS!, threatening
13. Nc7+ Qxc7 14. Bxf7+.
After 12. . . . Bd6 White has various plans
that give him a substantial edge, including
13. f4 and 14. Qf3. (Alexey Suetin, in the So­
viet chess yearbook, said Petrosian passed
up 12. Nd5 because he was influenced by "his
positional habits:') Also good is 12. Nb3 Qd8
13. Qd4, threatening 14. Bxf7+ and Qxb4.
But what is astonishing is that White could
have won immediately with the kind of tactic
you find in many basic primers, 12. Bxf7+!
Kxf7 13. Qb3+. For example, e.g., 13. . . . Ke8
14. Qe6+ and 15. Nd5. Or 13. . . . Kg7 14. Ne6+
Kh6 15. NdS because 15. . . . Bd6 16. e4 threat­
ens 17. Qh3 mate.
The wins are not hard for a grandmaster
to calculate, e.g., 15. . . . Nc5 16. Nxc5 BxcS
17. Qc4! and 15. . . . Ne5 16. Rxc8! Raxc8
17. e4!.
Petrosian was no stranger to this kind of
sacrifice. In fact, nine rounds before, his
game with Benko went 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bf4 0-0 6. Rel cs
7. dxc5 dxc4 8. e4 Qa5 9. es Rd8 10. Bd2 Ng4
11. Bxc4 QxcS 12. Ne4 Qb6 13. Bxf7+! Kxf7
14. Rxc8! Rxc8 15. NfgS+ Kg8 16. Qxg4. He
only drew after 16. . . . Qc6 17. Nd6? Qd7.
12. . . . Be7? 13. b4! Qe5
Now Petrosian probably saw that 13. . . .
Qd8? loses to 14. Bxf7+! Kxf7 15. Qb3+. Or
13. . . . Qxa3? 14. Nd5 Bd8 15. Ral Qb2 16. Ra2,
winning the queen.
14. f4 Qb8
Another queen trap is 14. . . . Qxe3+ 15. Khl
and 16. Rf3.
15. Bxti+! Kxti 16. Qb3+ Ke817. Nd5
White has a greater advantage now than
 9. Why Not Me?
in the 12. Bxf7+ version but he would have
won in either case. This version is arguably
harder to calculate to a finish than the earlier
one.
17. . . . Bd6 18. Ne6 b5 19. Ndc7+ Ke7
20. Nd4!
This was the nicest move of the game, al­
though 20. Nxa8 Qxa8 21. Nd4 Nb6 22. Nc6+
Ke8 23. Qd3 also wins. Among the key points
is 20. Nd4 Qxc7 21. Rxc7 Bxc7 22. Qe6+ Kf8
23. Qc6! wins
20 . . . . Kf8 21. Nxa8 Black resigns
Petrosian felt Korchnoi had been his chief
rival for first place until he destroyed his
stamina by trying too hard before the final
weeks. "Korchnoi's nerves gave out;' he said.
"He overlooked a piece in the better position
against Fischer. Then a defeat against Tai, the
first one in his life. Korchnoi had dropped
out. This was my chance:•ss Late in the third
cycle Korchnoi broke his winless streak but
only with luck.
Bobby Fischer-Korchnoi
Candidates tournament, Cura�ao, 1962
Sicilian Defense (B89)
1. e4 cs 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0
Isaac Boleslavsky did not assist Petrosian
alone, as Korchnoi suggested. He helped all
of the Soviets prepare their games with non­
Soviets, and this could easily have made
Geller the challenger: In round 23, Bole­
slavsky prepared him for a game with Fischer
that went 8 . . . . Nxd4! ? 9. Qxd4 0-0 10. f4
b6! 11. Khl Ba6. Then came 12. Rf3 d5! 13. exd5
Bc5 14. Qa4 Bb7 15. Be3 exd5 16. Bd4. Geller
would have had a powerful, if not winning
advantage, with 16. . . . a6! because of the
threat of 17. . . . b5.
For example, 17. Bxc5 bxc5 and 18 . . . . c4
or 18 . . . . d4. Also 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. f5 d4 and
. . . b5. But he played 16. . . . Re8? 17. Rdl Ng4?
1 93
18. h3 Qh4 19. Rdfl and eventually lost. Had
Geller won (thanks to Boleslavsky), he would
have held at least a temporary lead of a half
point with five rounds to go.
9. Be3 NaS 10. f4 b6 11. eS Ne8 12. fS dxeS
13. fxe6! Nxb3! 14. Nc6 Qd6
These moves were played instantly because
the players were following Bilek-Petrosian,
Oberhausen 1961. Until that game, White was
thought to be winning with 15. Nd5. But
Petrosian's 15. . . . Bh4! allowed him to keep
his extra piece and win.
15. Qxd6! Bxd6 16. axb3 Bxe6
Later annotators claimed White would
have been slightly better after 17. Nb5 Bd7
18. Ncxa7 Bc5 19. Bxc5 bxc5 20. Ra4. But he
is, if anything, worse after 20. . . . Nd6. 56 A
better test of Black's opening is 17. Bxb6! .
17. Nxa7 Rb8! 18. Ra6 Nf6
In a previous game, Black gave up the b­
pawn with 17. . . . Nf6. Korchnoi's moves are
better but could have been tested by 19. Rdl
or 19. h3.
19. Rxb6? Rxb6 20. Bxb6 Rb8 21. Bf2 Ng4!
Chances are even and an immediate draw
(22. Nc6 Rc8 23. Na7 Rb8) was reasonable.
22. Nabs Bb4 23. Ba7! Rb7 24. h3 Bxc3
25. bxc3 RxbS 26. hxg4 Bxg4 27. c4 Rb7
28. Ral BfS! 29. cS! Bxc2 30. c6 Rxb3 (see
diagram)
After 30• ... Rxb3
194 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
A hard-fought game deserved a drawn
endgame. It would likely have arisen after
31. c7! BfS (31. . . . Rc3? 32. BcS!) 32. Rel hS
33. c8(Q)+ Bxc8 34. Rxc8+ Kh7. That is what
Fischer's second, Arthur Bisguier, was look­
ing at in the press room. "But why shouldn't
Fischer play 31. g4, denying the bishop the
f5 square?" asked Nathan Divinsky, editor of
C anadian Chess Chat. The answer came
from Boleslavsky. "Your move loses:' he said
quietly. "Black has the reply 31. . . . Rg3+ and
then 32. . . . Rxg4:' "Yes, it doesn't work;' Di­
vinsky conceded. 57 But:
31. g4?? Rg3+ 32. Kf2 Rxg4 33. c7 Bf5
34. Be3 h5 35. Ra8+ Kh7 36. c8(Q) Bxc8
37. Rxc8 h4 38. Kf3 f5
White's extra piece is no match for four
passed pawns. Among the winning ideas is
. . . e4+ followed by . . . h3-h2.
39. Rf8 Kg6 40. Rh8 Rg3+ 41. Kf2 f4 42. Ba7
h3 43. Bb8 Kf5 44. Rf8+ Ke4 45. Re8 Rg5
In view of 46. . . . f3 followed by . . . h2,
White resigns.
When Petrosian and Tal played prear­
ranged draws late in the previous Candidates,
it helped Keres stay close to Tal. This time a
nonaggression pact hurt Keres: He could not
play to beat Geller, against whom he had a
big plus score, or Petrosian. Averbakh hinted
at this when he told Shakhmaty v SSSR read­
ers that Keres had chosen the "wrong tour­
nament tactic:' Before play began Keres be­
lieved that his chief rivals would be Tal and
Fischer. When it turned out that they were
Petrosian and Geller, it was too late, Aver­
bakh wrote. 58
During the third cycle, Tal was in such
pain that he was hospitalized. The only player
to visit him was Fischer. Tal signed himself
out but was still ailing. On the night before
the fourth cycle was to begin, a pale Sally
knocked repeatedly on Averbakh's hotel door.
"Come quickly, Misha's in a bad way;' she
said. Averbakh said he rushed to Tal's room
and found him bathed in sweat and writhing
in pain. "To moisten a towel I went into the
bathroom and saw there was an empty bot­
tle;' he said. 59 Clearly, Tal's drinking had
brought on a relapse. Tal was taken to a hos­
pital, where doctors were unanimous in rec­
ommending that he quit the tournament. It
would have been "simply criminal" to risk
Tal's health, Averbakh said. "But Tal wanted
to keep playing from a bed;' he recalled. "I
can play in any condition! " Tal told him. 60
"But I called [Folke] Rogard, president of
FIDE, and I called Moscow, our federation,
and all recommended that Tal leave the tour­
nament. Even from a bed, Tal could beat al­
most anybody, but it was best for him to
withdraw:' Averbakh said. The tournament
standings were so tight-Keres was a half
point ahead of Petrosian and Geller-that
the games of an ill Tal could unfairly deter­
mine the winner. Averbakh announced Tal's
withdrawal at a press conference before tell­
ing Tal. Tal was upset to learn the news from
a doctor at his hospital but finally conceded
the decision was necessary. He was well
enough to return to the tournament hall to
kibitz games in the final week.
The Accidental Challenger
It seemed clear by then that a single vic­
tory by one of the leaders could decide who
would challenge Botvinnik. Keres told a
friend that the tournament winner would be
the one "who has the best nerves and who
can concentrate the besf' 61 But once again it
was not wins that determined first place in
a Candidates tournament. "Seeing the faces,
tired from nervous tension, of the players, I
understood that the winner would be the one
who lost the least;' Averbakh said. 62
The situation was ideal for the player who
routinely went through tournaments unde­
feated-Petrosian. But back in Moscow, the
chess authorities wrote him off. Alexander
 9. Why Not Me? 1 95

Kotov accused him of cowardice. "What does

T. Petrosian lack in order to play a match
with M. Botvinnik?" he wrote. "Courage,
above all courage!" 63
Petrosian's strange behavior in the tour­
nament finale has remained a mystery for
more than 60 years. One explanation comes
from his son Mikhail: After the mid­
tournament break, the players' wives re­
turned to the USSR. Petrosian called Rona
before the final round and said he just wanted
to go home. "Father didn't want to play the
last game;' Mikhail Petrosian said in a 2008
might have gone 35. . . . e5 36. h3 h5 37. Kf2
interview. He quoted his father as saying,
Kg6 38. Ke2 KgS. Black would be threatening
"What if l win the tournament-then I have
39. . . . h4 (40. g4? Kf4). After 39. h4+ Kg6
to play a match with Mikhail Botvinnik:'
40. Kf2 Ng4+ followed by . . . fS, he would be
And if he won that, "what troubles would be
closing in on a win. If 41. Bxg4 hxg4 42. Rc2
in store:' he told Rona. 64 But "Mama literally
Black wins a pawn with 42 . . . . Rf3+ 43. Kg2
insisted" that he should play his normal
Re3.
game of chess. Mikhail Petrosian said he re­
Yet Petrosian played 35. . . . h5? and offered
membered that Rona Petrosian reluctantly
a draw. He later explained that he had low­
allowed Tigran to offer a draw. "But just don't
ered his hands below the table and felt his
lose-and see what happens:' she said. 65
pulse. It was racing. He felt he had to end the
This may be a convenient family myth, the
game. His move made the position a legiti­
way the Petrosians wanted to remember
mate draw because of 36. eS ! . That would
things based on what happened later: Petro­
lead to 36. . . . Ng4 37. Bxg4 hxg4 38. Rd4!.
sian eventually regretted taking on the re­
The draw becomes apparent after 38 . . . .
sponsibilities of being champion. There were
Rxa2+ 39. Ke3 Kg6 40. Rxg4+ KfS 41. Rf4+
witnesses to his relief when he lost the title.
KxeS 42. Rxf7 Rxh2 43. Ra7.
He also appreciated Rona's role in pushing
After shaking hands with Fischer, Petro­
him towards a Botvinnik match. But Petro­
sian watched Keres adjourn against Benko.
sian may have genuinely wanted to end the
Benko was still better. But Keres held a hex
tournament with second prize. That also
over him that was worse than Korchnoi's
helps explain the next-to-last round. When it
over Tai. Keres had won all seven of his pre­
began, he and Keres were tied. After four
hours, Keres stood worse against Benko. vious games with Benko.
Petrosian had a considerable endgame ad­ Korchnoi later charged that Rona Petro­
vantage against Fischer. sian got her husband and Geller to go to
Benko's hotel room, where they found a win
for him. Korchnoi called this "monstrous"
Bobby Fischer-Petrosian
from "whatever point of view-ethical or po­
Candidates Tournament, Cura�ao,
1962 litical:' 66 He added, without apparent irony,
that he was "outraged" because Petrosian and
Petrosian has a Petrosian position: He Geller had helped a defector who had fled
could play riskless moves, such as . . . es, . . . h5 Communist Hungary. The next day Keres
and . . . Kg6-g5, and adjourn. The game lost the adjournment due to the "painstaking
196 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
night of analysis" by Benko, Geller and Pet­
rosian, Korchnoi wrote. 67
But Korchnoi was not in that hotel room.
Benko was and he denied Korchnoi's ac­
count. "Petrosian and Geller came to me in
secret and offered to help me beat their own
countryman! " he wrote in his memoirs, "I
was disgusted:' Benko said he told them that
with best play the game would be a draw. "I
demanded they leave:' 68 He gave a slightly
different version in 2001, saying he showed
Petrosian and Geller his written analysis and
they could not add to it. 69 In any case, com­
puter analysis shows Benko was right when
he said their visit had no effect on the game's
outcome: Keres lost because he played badly
immediately after play resumed.
Petrosian went into the final round with a
half point lead. He had the White pieces
against Filip. A win would have guaranteed
him a world championship match. Another
elite player would have played calmly and
reached a middlegame with winning chances
while keeping an eye on Keres's game with
Fischer. But not Petrosian.
Petrosian-Miroslav Filip
Candidates Tournament, Cura�ao,
1962
After 14. ... b5
He thought about 40 minutes. "Sensing he
could not play" he offered Filip a draw, Bole-
slavsky said. 70 Surprised, Filip just looked at
Petrosian, then accepted. Spectators were
also stunned. 71 The draw meant Petrosian
had to wait to see if Keres could convert his
promising position against Fischer and tie
for first place.
Petrosian's behavior has puzzled fans for
more than half a century. But he knew how
rarely he won in last rounds, particularly
when it mattered. He did not have the nerves
for it. "They called me Iron Tigran but no one
except me knows what it cost me to preserve
self-control;' he recalled later. "I remember
that in 1961 after a decisive victory in time
control I couldn't reproduce the game score.
My hands were shaking. Since then I've always
taken Validol with me to games;' he said re­
ferring to the anti-anxiety tranquilizer. 72
After he signed his scoresheet, Petrosian
left the playing hall for a walk, "trying to stay
calm;' his biographer said. "From time to
time he came back and glanced into the halt:'
It was like the final round of the 25th Soviet
Championship when he could not bear to
watch the Spassky-Tal endgame.
Unlike Petrosian, Keres thrived on last­
round pressure. A win would force a Keres­
Petrosian playoff match in which anything
could happen. Their previous record was
three wins apiece. Keres' position against
Fischer kept improving. At one point it was
"overwhelming;' according to Boleslavsky.
But Keres let the air go out of the position.
A handshake after 30 moves gave Petrosian
the right to challenge Botvinnik in 1963.
Korchnoi said Rona Petrosian later "ex-
plained in Moscow how she made her hus­
band world champion:' 73 He was right but
perhaps not in the way he meant. If Rona re­
ally did advise him not to lose "and see what
happens;' it was the strategy that won the
tournament, by accident. "Papa never wanted
to be world champion;' Mikhail Petrosian
recalled. "Mama forced him:' 74
 10. Private Lives, Public Games
During the inaugural Capablanca Memo­
rial tournament in 1962, Miguel Najdorf
found Boris Spassky lying on a sun-drenched
Cuban beach, enjoying a book. "Spassky will
never become world champion:' Don Miguel
said. "He loves life too much! " 1
This was Spassky's first foreign tourna­
ment since being declared nyevyezdny and
barred from travel abroad after the 1960 stu­
dent Olympiad. (He was supposed to play at
Hastings 1961-62 but was replaced at the last
minute.)
Spassky needed new challenges. At 25 he
was still growing as a player:
Wolfgang Pietzsch-Spassky
Havana, 1962
Ruy Lop ez (C79)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 d6
Spassky was experimenting with this move
and the related 5. . . . Be7 6. Rel d6. With the
latter he won a game against Yuri Kots in the
29th USSR Championship finals that went
7. c3 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. d3?! Qd7 10. Nbd2 g5!
11. g4? Bg6 12. Nfl h5 13. N3h2 hxg4 14. hxg4
0-0-0.
After that, Max Euwe gave 7. . . . Bg4 an
exclamation point in an extensive analysis
of the line in Chess Review, August 1962.
But 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. d4 proved to be more
197
of a test and the "Spassky Variation'' burned
out.
6. c3 Bg4?! 7. d4 b5 8. Bb3 Be7 9. h3 Bxf3
10. Qxf3 exd4 11. Qg3! Qd7?
This was a Spassky/Bondarevsky attempt
to improve over 11. . . . 0-0, which was re­
garded as suspicious after 12. Bh6 Ne8 13. Bd5!
Qd7 14. Qd4.
12. Qxg7 0-0-0 13. Qxf7 Kb714. Be6 Qe8
But now 15. Bh6! would leave White a safe
pawn ahead.
15. cxd4? Nxd416. Nc3 Rf817. Qxe8 Rdxe8
18. Bg4 Nxg419. hxg4 b4 20. Nd5? Bh4!
Tactics rescue Spassky (21. g3 Rxe4!
22. gxh4? Rxg4+ with advantage to Black).
Or 21. f3 h5! 22. gxh5 Ne2+ 23. Kh2 Bg3+
24. Kh3 Rxe4!. But White could have kept
the lead with his own tactic, 20. Rbl! so that
20. . . . bxc3 21. bxc3+ Nb5 22. a4 regains a
piece.
21. Bh6 Ne2+ 22. Kh2 Rxf2 23. Kh3! Rxfl
24. Rxfl Bd8
Black's queenside pawns are potentially
more dangerous than White's g-pawns, so
25. Nxb4 Rxe4 26. Nd5 makes sense (26. . . .
Kc6 27. Rf8).
25. Rf7 Rxe4 26. Rf8?
198 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
White may have envisioned 26. Rf8 Be7
27. Rf7 Bd8 28. Rf8 with a draw, or 27. Re8
Kc6 28. Rxe7 Kxd5 29. Rxc7 with counter­
play.
26. • . . Kc6! 27. Ne3 Be7?
The Black pawns are faster after 27. . . .
Re6! 28. Nf5 Bf6 29. b3 d5! and 30. . . . d4.
28. Rf7 d5 29. Nf5 Bc5 30. Rxh7 d4! 31. Bd2
Ngl+?
After 31. . . . Nf4+! 32. Kg3 Nd3! 33. g5 Ne5
the g-pawn is stopped and Black has good
winning chances (34. Rh6+ Kd5 35. Rxa6 d3
and . . . Re2).
32. Kg3 Re2 33. g5!?
This comes close to winning. Computers
see a roughly equal position after the re­
markable 33. Bxb4! d3 34. Rh6+ Kbs 35. Bxc5
d2 36. Bxgl dl(Q) 37. Nd4+and 38. Nxe2.
33. . . . Rxd2 34. g6 Ne2+ 35. Kg4 Nc3! (see
diagram)
After 35. ... Nc3
Spassky wins if a new pair of queens ar­
rives, e.g., 36. bxc3? dxc3 37. g7 c2. But 36. Kh3
would have kept the outcome in doubt.
36. g7? Rxg2+ 37. Kf3
Not 37. Ng3 Ne4! .
37. . . . Rg5 38. Kf4
Some sources mistakenly say White played
38. Rh5. Then Black would have to try to use
three pieces to beat the queen, after 38 . . . .
Rxh5 39. Nxd4+! Bxd4 40. g8(Q). In that
version, 38. Rh5 Rgl? would have allowed
White to escape with 39. Ng3! (or 39. bxc3
dxc3 40. Ng3!).
38 . . . . Rgl! 39. bxc3 dxc3 40. Rhl c2
41. Rxgl Bxgl 42. g8(Q) cl(Q)+ 43. Kg4
Qdl+ 44. Kg5 Qd2+ 45. Kf6 Qb2+ 46. Ke7
Qe5+ 47. Kd8 Qxf5 48. Qxgl Qd7 mate
Spassky did not lose a game in Havana.
But he took weaker players too lightly. He
made four draws with players who finished
in the lower half of the crosstable and fin­
ished a half point behind tournament winner
Najdorf.
But Spassky added to his reputation as a
playboy. At the Capablanca Memorial a year
later, Viktor Korchnoi was in the lobby of the
Havana Libre (formerly the Hilton) when an
attractive young woman asked his help in ar­
ranging a rendezvous with Mikhail Tal, who
was also playing. She added that she and her
girlfriend were Communists. "We support
you! " she said.
Sorry, but Soviet citizens had special rules
of conduct abroad, Korchnoi said. They could
not separate their private lives from their
public lives. "But Spassky was here last year
and went with young girls!" she said. "That's
why he's not here this year;' Korchnoi re­
sponded. "What's this? Loving is forbidden?"
"Yes, prohibido amar;' Korchnoi said. Much
was prohibido in the Soviet Union, he wrote
later. 2
B ecoming Univers al
To become the "universal" player he was
in the late 1960s, Spassky needed to eliminate
weaknesses. Under Bondarevsky's guidance,
he improved his winning technique and abil­
ity to defend bad endgames. Spassky also en­
hanced his ability to detect enemy tactics. It
is one thing to calculate ten moves ahead when
 10. Private Lives, Public Games 1 99

you have the attack, as he demon -

strated in his 1959 game with Aron
Reshko. It is quite another to navigate
the only safe path through a trap­
packed thicket as a defender:

Spassky-Dragoljub Ciric
World Student Team
Championship,
Marianske Lazne, 1962
Sicilian Defense (B29)
1. e4 cS 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. eS NdS 4. Nc3
Spassky was trying to atone for his
failure in the 1960 World Student
Team Championship. He got up after
making this move and was surprised
to see the same position in the third­
board game, Vladimir Bagirov ­
Drazen Marovic. Clearly the Yu­
goslavs had cooked up something for
this match.
4. . . . e6 5. Nxds exds 6. d4 Nc6!?
7. dxcS BxcS 8. QxdS Qb6 9. Bc4!
Bxf2+ 10. Ke2 0-0
Korchnoi got greater international recognition when
Spassky's annotations were fea­ America's Chess Review magazine featured his victory
tured in Soviet Life, an English lan­ at Havana 1963 (Chess Review, November 1963, used by
guage "soft propaganda" publication permission of the United States Chess Federation).
for Western consumption. He wrote
The "book" move was 12. . . . Nd4+. After
that his opponent was normally a solid,
Ciric played 12. . . . NxeS, Spassky felt he had
"cool-headed" player so his choice of this
fallen into a deeply prepared trap-and that
opening "caught me flat-footed:' 3
this game might determine which team won
11. Rfl BcS 12. NgS NxeS!? (see diagram) gold medals. "Needless to say, I was far from
a state of tranquility at that moment;' he
wrote. Even if there were a flaw in the enemy
team's analysis, it might be impossible to find
it over the board.
For example, 13. Be3 looks strong in view
of 13. . . . Bxe3? 14. Nxf7 ! or 13. . . . Nxc4
14. Rxf7!. But as Spassky studied the position
he saw 13. . . . d6!. Then 14. BxcS? Bg4+! fa­
vors Black. He also realized he could bail out
of the complications with 13. Nxf7 and hold
a slim endgame edge after 13. . . . Nxf7
After 12. ... Nxe5 14. Rxf7 Qe6+.
200 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Should he try for more? In his previous
student Olympiad he did against Lombardy
and paid a heavy price. His intuition told
him 12. . . . Nxe5 was likely to have a major
flaw.
13. Qxe5! d5!
Black's main threat is 14 . . . . Bg4+ and
15. . . . Rae8. That suggests 14. Bxd5 Bg4+
15. Kel so that 15. . . . Rae8 16. Bxt7+ Kh8
17. Bxe8. But this is one of the traps Black
set: 17. . . . Qa5+! wins (18. c3 Bf2+ and
mates). When Spassky saw that, he consid­
ered 17. Qxe8 Rxe8+ 18. Bxe8, thinking he
would not have winning chances after 18 . . . .
Qc7.
Spassky felt the ideal for a player was to
develop "the harmony of intuition and cal­
culation:' That meant letting your intuition
tell you which moves to calculate and when
to stop calculating a variation. By stopping
his calculation after 18 . . . . Qc7 he did not ap­
preciate how strong 19. Rf4! was. But his in­
stinct to reject 17. Qxe8 was still right-be­
cause in that line 18 . . . . h6! would have made
the outcome unclear (19. Nf3? Qe6+).
Unsatisfied with 15. Kel, Spassky looked
for alternatives. First he examined 15. Rf3.
But he spotted the remarkable 15. . . . Qb5+
16. c4 Rae8! when he would be in trouble. He
looked again, this time at 15. Kd3. Then 15. . . .
Rae8 16. Bxt7+ Kh8 17. Bxe8 appeared good
for him. But 15. . . . Rfe8! is more dangerous
because 16. Bxt7+ Kh8 17. Bxe8?? walks into
mate after 17. . . . Rd8+!.
14. Qxd5! Re8+
A second crisis arises. Black would win
after 15. Kdl?? Bg4+ 16. Rf3 Rad8. If Spassky
had tried 15. Ne4 he would invite a slightly
favorable endgame (15. . . . Be6 16. Qxc5
Qxc5 17. Nxc5 Bxc4+). But he could not be
sure-with his clock ticking-about 15. . . .
Bg4+ 16. Rf3 Rad8 17. Qxt7+ Kh8. For ex­
ample, 18. Bd3 Rxe4+! 19. Bxe4 Bgl! .
15. Kf3! Qf6+ 16. Kg3 Bd6+ 17. Rf4!
"Evidently this reply was overlooked by
my rival in the analysis he made at home:'
he wrote. Black would have won after 17. Bf4?
Re3+.
17. . . . Be618. Nxe6 Rxe619. Qxd6!
Yes, the immediate 18. Qxd6! would also
have won. Now he gets a rook and two bish­
ops for the queen.
19. . . . Qg6+ 20. Rg4 Re3+ 21. Bxe3 Qxd6+
22. Kf2 Re8 23. Rf4 Re7 24. Bb3 Qe5 25. Rel
g5 26. Rf3 Kg7 27. Rdl f6 28. Kgl g4 29. Bd4
Black resigns
After the game, the Soviets discovered that
12. . . . Nxe5 had been played before-in the
previous student Olympiad. Had Spassky
been sent to that tournament he would have
spared himself a lot of agony. Nevertheless,
the Soviets won the match with Yugoslavia,
Spassky earned a gold-medal as best first
board and his team won the tournament by
4½ points. Thanks to the success of his more
universal style, Spassky was back in the good
graces of the vlasti. Two months later he was
selected for the first time for a Soviet team
in an Olympiad, at a favorite vacation spot
for Eastern Bloc elite.
R ed Riviera
The playing site was the Golden Sands re­
sort in the Black Sea city of Varna, Bulgaria,
known as the "Red Riviera:' Spassky played
third board, behind Mikhail Botvinnik and
Tigran Petrosian, but ahead of Paul Keres,
Yefim Geller and Mikhail Tal.
Noticeably absent was Korchnoi, the fourth
board of the 1960 Olympiad team. He blamed
an incident at Curac;:ao, like the one at Ober­
hausen: This time the number two ranking
member of the Soviet delegation, a KGB offi­
cer named Sergey Gorshkov, discovered him
in a casino. "I lost a game, I was upset and I
wanted to distract my mind;' Korchnoi ex-
 10. Private Lives, Public Games
plained. 4 Gorshkov advised Yuri Averbakh,
"Tell Korchnoi to hang around less in the
casino and fraternize less with foreigners:•
Averbakh said he did not warn Korchnoi be­
cause he "would have defied me:• Instead,
Averbakh told Korchnoi's wife Bella (to no
avail). 5
This came back to haunt Korchnoi when
Gorshkov returned to Moscow and delivered
his report on the players' behavior. Korchnoi
was visiting the Petrosian home when he dis­
covered he had been dropped from the
Olympic team. Rona Petrosian took com­
mand. According to Averbakh, she called
him: "Come at once! There is trouble! " 6 But
Korchnoi could not be helped. He was told
by Soviet officials that he would have been
vulnerable to blackmail if he ran up gam­
bling debts. "It cost me a few tournaments
abroad;' he said.
Tal had a very different obstacle to mak­
ing the Olympic team: his health. He was al­
lowed to go to Varna "after lengthy debates"
and a "medical inspection that was 'not in­
ferior' in severity to that which cosmonauts
undergo;' he wrote. 7 Tal passed the tests and
at the Olympiad he, Petrosian, Geller and
Spassky each won their board prize. Tal's
play, as usual, drew the most admirers, even
among grandmasters. When he got up from
the board after making a stunning queen
sacrifice against Hans-Joachim Hecht, the
ebullient Najdorf walked up to Tal and kissed
him.
Spassky loved to perform in front of an
audience as much as Tal. But he knew Tal
stirred greater emotions. "Whenever he was
playing in a tournament, the atmosphere
among the chess public was immediately
charged with electricity;' Spassky wrote. ''All
the spectators in the room were as if on a
high. It was like this from the first to the last
round:'s
The Soviet team virtually clinched gold
medals with a 2½-1½ defeat of the United
States in the next-to-last round. The hero
20 1
that day was Spassky, who was about to mate
Larry Evans when Evans resigned after 26
moves. But the match is best-known for
Bobby Fischer's favorable rook endgame
against Mikhail Botvinnik. The accounts by
Tal and Spassky of their role are strikingly
different:
Tal said he, Spassky and the team second,
Isaac Boleslavsky, examined the Botvinnik
position "for almost all the night:' Every so
often, Tal or Spassky would go upstairs to
another hotel room where Botvinnik, Geller,
Keres and Semyon Furman were exchanging
their own ideas about it. Geller found a mag­
ical drawing plan for Botvinnik around 5
a.m. and he drew, Tal said.9
But at a Tal Memorial tournament in 2016,
Spassky recalled: "Our commissars couldn't
allow Botvinnik to lose that game, and they
shut Misha Tal and me in a room and said
look, analyze the adjourned position and
find a way out for Botvinnik. Misha and I . . .
immediately came to a death sentence for
Botvinnik. Things were bad for Botvinnik.
Botvinnik should lose. After that Misha
and I were asked to leave and told, 'That's
not how things will go: And then, ceremo­
niously, titans entered the room-Paul
Petrovich Keres, then Yefim Petrovich Geller
and, who else? Isaac Yefremovich Bole­
slavsky, it seems. During that time Misha and
I had already made our exit and given them
the slip:'
"We found Fischer and fed him black
caviar-we had no vodka. Bobby was very
happy. Bobby spent his time listening to
some Soviet broadcasts, in English, and was
hungry. Bobby was always hungry, and Misha
was having fun. Misha was always having
fun . . . . At 7 in the morning, Geller found an
escape for Botvinnik:' 10
In the final match with Hungary, the So­
viets drew quickly on three boards and as­
sured the gold team medals. Tal might have
drawn, too, but his opening position dis­
couraged a quick handshake.
202 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Tai-Gedeon Barcza
Olympiad, Varna, 1962
French Defense (Cll)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4
5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Nf3 Be7
8. Bd3 c5 9. Qe2 cxd4 10. 0-0-0 a6
Annotators often attributed sacrifices to
Tal that he would have quickly rejected. For
instance, the tournament book said 10 . . . .
0-0 was risky because of ll. h4, which threat­
ens 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. NgS+.
But after 14. . . . Kh6! Black would safely be a
piece ahead (15. Qd2 BxgS 16. hxgS+ Kg6
17. f4 fS).
11. Rhel Bd7
Annotators also claimed 11. . . . 0-0 12. Nxd4
QaS-not 12 . . . . Qxd4? 13. Bxh7+-would
be strongly met by 13. NfS exfS 14. Qxe7. But
Black is much better after 13. . . . Bd8!.
12. Nxd4 Qa5
But now 12. . . . 0-0 13. NfS! would have
worked. For example, 13. . . . Bb4 14. Nxg7!
Kxg7 15. QeS (15. . . . Be7 16. Qg3! and 15. . . .
Bxel 16. Rxel and 17. Re3).
13. Nf5! h6
Relatively best was 13. . . . Bf8 and 14 . . . .
0-0-0.
14. Nxg7+! KfS
It is easy after 14 . . . . Kd8 15. Bh4 Qxa2?
16. QeS.
15. Bxf6 Bxf6
Here 16. NhS was appealing since White
holds the high cards after 16. . . . Qxa2!
17. Nxf6 Qal+ 18. Kd2 QaS+ 19. c3 QgS+
20. Qe3 Qxf6 21. Kcl.
16. Bc4!
Tal would have a choice of sacrifices after
16. . . . Qb6 17. c3 Ba4. The doubtful one is
18. NhS Bxdl 19. Rxdl Be7. The sound one
is 18. Nxe6+! fxe6 19. Qf3 eS 20. RdS and
RdxeS (or 20. . . . Qc6 21. Rexes).
16. . . . Qg5+ 17. Kbl
More punishing is 17. f4! Qxf4+ 18. Kbl
Kxg7 19. Rxd7 or 17. . . . Qxg7 18. Rxd7.
17. . . . Bb518. Bxb5 Qxg7! 19. Ba4 b5
The immediate 19. . . . Bxb2 allows 20. Qe4
followed by 21. Qb4+ or 21. Qxb7. But 19. . . .
Qxg2 puts up more resistance (20. Rd7 Rd8
or 20. Rgl Qxh2 21. Qe4 QeS).
20. Bb3 Bxb2? 21. Qe4
Also winning is 21. Qf3 Re8 22. Rxe6.
21. . . . ReS 22. Qb4+ KgS 23. Re3 Kh7
24. Rg3 Qe5 (see diagram)
After 24. ... Qe5
Now 25. c3 would trap the bishop and win.
Some sources say the game ended with 25. Rd7
Black resigns. The tournament book gives:
25. f4 Qe2 26. Kxb2 a5 27. Rd7! Black re­
signs
Spassky and Tal hung out together through­
out the tournament. Spassky said he saved
Tal's life the night of the final round: "Near
midnight, I decided to go to Misha's room.
His door was half-open, and I saw a lot of
smoke. He slept on a smoldering pillow!
Threw a cigarette butt, missed the ashtray,
did not notice that and went to sleep. He
could have suffocated. I quickly picked up a
flagon, got some water from the bathroom
and put out the fire:' 11
 10. Private Lives, Public Games
The Petrosian Model
Spassky's best result in 1962 occurred in
an event that drew little attention outside the
Soviet Union. In the USSR teams champi­
onship he led Leningrad to victory and
scored 6-2, with a performance rating of
2740, on first board. This result and Varna
made him the second-highest rated player
in the world, behind Petrosian. He had leap­
frogged Korchnoi and Tal in a matter of
months.
But there was never any permanence in
the pecking order of the four rivals, not with
their ambitions and personal problems. Spas­
sky improved during 1962-3 by filling in his
skill gaps. Tal, on the other hand, focused on
his strengths rather than weaknesses. Col­
leagues said trying to be the daring Hussar
helped him before 1961 but hurt him after.
"It has to be said that Tal was a slave to his
image;' said Lev Polugaevsky. 12
Korchnoi followed Spassky's example. He
reviewed his play at Cura\'.ao and realized he
had failed to convert advantages against Gel­
ler, Petrosian, Keres and twice against Benko.
So he studied the games of the great techni­
cians-Akiba Rubinstein, Vasily Smyslov,
Botvinnik and Petrosian. "He decided to
reach the technical perfection of Petrosian;'
Viktor Vasiliev wrote.
And unlike Tal, Korchnoi was beginning
to regret the image he created for himself­
someone who loved to give away the initia­
tive and take the blows, while looking for a
counterpunch. ''I'm not like that. I freely ex­
press my opinion, take the initiative. In short,
I needed to rebuild myself;' he recalled. 13
Korchnoi demonstrated what he had
learned at the 30th USSR Championship fi­
nals beginning November 21 in Erevan. He
won excellent technical games against Leonid
Stein, Igor Zaitsev, Nikolai Krogius and
Alexey Suetin in the first two weeks. It was
easy for spectators to detect the difference
between Korchnoi and his colleagues. Most
203
of the players got up after making a move
and walked about the playing stage to relax.
Korchnoi remained at the board, "working;'
Mikhail Beilin said. The fight for first prize
was decided in the 13th and 14th rounds when
Korchnoi played two of his finest games,
grinding down Spassky with Black and then
elegantly crushing Tal's Modern Benoni De­
fense as White. Here is the first game.
Spassky-Korchnoi
30th USSR Championship finals,
Yerevan, 1962
Queen's Gambit Declined (D41)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5
Nxd5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bc4 cxd4 8. exd4 Be7
9. 0-0 0-0 10. Rel a6 11. Bd3?!
The bishop is better placed on the b3-d5
diagonal. Spassky eyes a familiar attacking
idea of Bbl/Qd3.
11. . . . Nf6 12. Bg5 b5 13. Rel Bb7 14. Bbl
Rc8 15. a3 Na5 16. Qd3 g6 17. Bh6 Re8
18. Ne5 Nc4
One of the thematic ideas in such posi­
tions is Qh3 and Nxf7. But here 19. Qh3
Qxd4! 20. Nxf7 (20. . . . Kxt7?? 21. Qxe6
mate) is lost after 20. . . . BcS!.
19. Nxc4 bxc4!? 20. Qd2 Qb6
Black debated with himself over whether
to retake with the pawn or rook on move 19.
He chose the pawn so he could exert pressure
on the b-file. White needed to go on the de­
fensive with 21. f3 and 22. Be3/23. Qf2.
21. Bf4 Red8 22. Bes Ng4! 23. Qe2 Nxe5
24. dxe5 Rd4 25. Be4! Rcd8 26. Bxb7 Qxb7
Korchnoi had the greater strategic sense.
Spassky often joked about his own occa­
sional strategic lapses. He recalled a familiar
Russian joke: A man named "Chuchka'' ap­
plies for membership in the Soviet writers
union and is asked if he had read Dostoev­
sky. "Chuchka not reader, Chuchka writer! "
204 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
he answers. As Spassky told the anecdote
he would add, "And so I am a Chuchka­
strategist:' 1 4
27. Ne4 Qb5 28. Nc3 Qb8 29. Rc2
Now 29. . . . BgS would threaten 30. . . . Rd2
but also 30. . . . Bd2 31. Rfl Qb3! and the rook
is trapped. But 30. Ne4 QxeS 31. Rxc4 is not
an easy win.
29. . . . Rd3! 30. g3
This prepares Ne4 which would have failed
immediately, 30. Ne4? QxeS 31. Rxc4 fS!
32. Ng3 Qxe2 33. Rxe2? Rdl+ or 33. Nxe2 Rd2.
30. . . . R8d4 31. Ndl?
His last chance was 31. Ne4 so that 31. . . .
QxeS 32. Rxc4. Black could do better with
31. . . . Qb5 (or 31. . . . Qd8) and . . . Qd5.
31. . . . Qb3! 32. Ne3 Bg5!
Black wants to induce the weakening f2-
f4, e.g., 33. f4 Bd8! followed by . . . Re4, . . . Bas
or . . . Bb6.
33. Nfl a5 34. f4 Be7 35. Reel Bc5 36. Khl
Qb7+ 37. Qg2 Qd5 38. a4 Rf3! (see diagram)
White is out of "pass" moves since 39. Rel
loses to 39. . . . Rdl! (40. Rel Rxcl 41. Rxcl Qd3
and . . . Rf2).
39. Nd2 Rf2 40. Qxd5 exd5 41. Nfl Rd3
42. Rc3 Rxc3 43. bxc3 d4 44. cxd4 Bxd4
White resigns. (In view of . . . c3-c2.)
After the Tal game, Korchnoi's score was
12-2. He could have gone to sleep and still
won the tournament. Instead, he lost one
game and drew four others and still finished
first, a half point ahead of Tal.
Nikolai Krogius added a footnote. Late in
the tournament, he was scheduled to play
one of Spassky's rivals for a top prize (appar­
ently Leonid Stein). "On the evening before
the game I went to Spassky's room, intending
to discuss the choice of opening variation.
Boris shook his head. 'Excuse-I can't. You
know I am competing with him:" 1 5 This was
a rare instance of ethical purity in this era.
And there was yet another thing that made
Spassky stand out. He was beginning to say
things publicly that he had said before in pri­
vate. When it was his turn to speak at the
championship's final banquet, he said: "And
I want to raise a toast not only for great chess
players but also for the management, and for
my modest neighbor-my friend and his
notebook! " He was referring to a KGB officer
who, like Gorshkov at Cura<;ao, was assigned
to spy on the players. Spassky's comment
sounds innocent and oblique today. But "at
that time it was a bombshell! " Yuri Averbakh
said. 16
Spassky had begun to become politically
aware when he researched his college diploma
thesis at a library. His subject was the first
Russian chess magazine, Shakhmatny Listok
(1859-1863). After reading Russian periodi­
cals of that era he discovered the cultural
heritage that Communism had cost his home­
town. "What a beautiful city St. Petersburg
was! I was completely shocked;' he wrote.
"When I left the national library I found my­
self in the sleepy, dreadful provincial town
of Leningrad:' 17
Botvinnik's L ast Stand
While the chess world debated the out­
come of the impending Botvinnik-Petrosian
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games
match, the challenger wondered if it would
happen. Mikhail Botvinnik hinted that he
might decline to defend his title. If that hap­
pened, Petrosian's match opponent would
be Paul Keres, the second-place finisher at
Curac;:ao. But Petrosian received a letter from
his federation in October 1962: Botvinnik
would play.
To prepare for the biggest match of his life,
Petrosian underwent an operation to elimi­
nate what he called regular bouts of "severe
tonsillitis:' 18 He began his preparation at the
Litvinovo sanatorium near Moscow, with
Boleslavsky, Suetin and Vladimir Simagin.
Petrosian did not want a "warm and friendly
atmosphere" during training camp. It would
make his team too comfortable to prepare
him properly.19
But Litvinovo turned out to be too much
the opposite. It was depressing. Petrosian and
his seconds found themselves surrounded by
the old and ill. Nine sanatorium patients died
during their 36-day stay. 'J\rnong the patients
were numerous victims of Stalin's repression,
who had escaped death but had lost many
years of their normal life and usually also
their health;' Suetin remembered. 20
It was also brutally cold outside, almost
minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks.
Although he had been living in Moscow
since 1949, Petrosian had never spent much
time outdoors in winter before. Now he had
to acquire "a really warm overcoat:' He and
his team later moved to the Sukhanovo ar­
chitects' sanatorium, outside Moscow, which
was relatively luxurious and familiar to Pet­
rosian from previous visits.
Petrosian believed that he needed to de­
velop "chess hunger" to play well. "Roughly
three weeks before the match I stopped study­
ing chess;' Petrosian wrote. "Skiing, billiards,
books, evening walks and conversations round
a blazing fire-that is how I tuned myself up
for the match:' 21
Photographs of Petrosian on skis later ap­
peared in Soviet media to depict rigorous
205
physical training. Skis "became inseparable
from me'' that winter, he wrote. Readers were
led to believe he had achieved skill on the
slopes since he and Geller failed at it in the
1954 training camp. But after the match, U.S.
chess federation official Ed Edmondson asked
about his skiing regimen. Petrosian burst out
laughing. "He began by skiing on level ter­
rain, eventually worked up to small promi­
nences, and managed to fall on every one.
He came to know their features well-the
hard waY:' Edmondson wrote. 22
Despite his hearing difficulty, Petrosian re­
laxed by listening to classical music. ''I'll re­
veal one secret;' he told his old Tbilisi friend
Tengis Giorgadze. "Before a game with Bot­
vinnik I always received a musical charge. I
listened to the final movement of Tchai­
kovsky's Fifth Symphony. A powerful thing! "
But when he lost the first match game, he
switched "to my 'proven' repertoire, Tchai­
kovsky's First Piano Concerto:' 23
A Friendship Ends
Conspicuously absent from the Petrosian
camp was his closest grandmaster friend.
"Fimka'' became his bitterest foe. Yefim Gel­
ler and Petrosian stopped talking to one an-
other shortly after Curac;:ao "and became en­
emies for 14 years:• according to journalist
Valery Asrian. 24
There are differing explanations of the
break, including possible bitterness between
Rona Petrosian and Geller's wife Oksana. But
Asrian said the falling out was due to "purely
chess" reasons. Geller may have been struck
by the "Why not me?" syndrome: If Petro­
sian beat Botvinnik, someone four years
younger than Geller would be champion­
probably for several years. Geller's best chance
for the title would have died at Curac;:ao. So
while Petrosian prepared, Geller tried to be­
come one of Botvinnik's helpers.
Unlike Tal in 1960, Petrosian was not ready
206 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
to accede to Botvinnik's demands concern­
ing match conditions. They argued for an
hour about where the players' toilet should
be located in the playing hall. 25 But Petrosian
was still slightly awed by his famous oppo­
nent. Mikhail Petrosian remembered how
Botvinnik arrived for each game with a Ther­
mos of black coffee: "Father brought one too,
but a smaller amount. He explained, 'I am
the challenger, but he is the champion:" 26
Petrosian's awe was evident in the first
game when he was badly outplayed as White.
The next day, with no game scheduled, he
got his seconds together. "I only ask you for
one thing, that you don't suggest that I must
win the point back;' he told them. "In the
next 11 games I am giving myself the goal of
not losing and not trying to win. I still have
time:' 27
Trying to get a point back quickly had cost
him when he lost to Bannik in the 24th USSR
Championship. This time he got the point
back four games later.
Petrosian-Mikhail Botvinnik
World Championship Match,
Fifth game, Moscow, 1963
After 40. ... Rhl
When the chief judge, Harry Golombek,
opened the sealed move envelope, Botvinnik
said Petrosian had written an illegal move,
41. Kf8, and should be forfeited. Petrosian
insisted his move was 41. Kf7. He had a habit
of writing a "7" with a curl. 28 Golombek
shrugged his shoulders and accepted 41. Kf7.
The game resumed with 41. Kf7 Ral 42. Re6!
BdS 43. Rd6+ KcS 44. KeS! Bc7 45. Rc6
Rdl 46. Ng5 RdS+ 47. Kf7 Rd7+ 48. KgS
White resigns (48 . . . . hS 49. Ne6).
Botvinnik angrily demanded a photocopy
of the sealed move. It apparently took a week
for Soviet officials to find a copying machine.
The delay unnerved the champion. ''.All week
I was nervous and managed to lose yet an­
other game;' Botvinnik wrote. When he fi­
nally saw the photocopy he agreed that Pet­
rosian intended Kf7. While it may have been
somewhat ambiguous, Botvinnik blamed the
arbiters for creating a needless conflict. 29
Today We're All Armenians
The match in Moscow was treated as a na­
tional event in Armenia, more than a thou­
sand miles away. Huge crowds gathered on
the streets of Yerevan each evening to follow
the moves on a large demonstration board.
When Petrosian won a game, fireworks dis­
plays went off. But when he lost the first
game the hundreds gathered there walked
away in silence.
At the playing site, on the second floor of
the Estrada Theater, his VIP supporters in­
cluded prominent Armenians, such as com­
poser Aram Khachaturian and army Marshal
Ivan Bagramian. His supporters flew shash­
lik, lavash and dolma from Yerevan to Mos­
cow so Petrosian could dine on Armenian
dishes. One day when Botvinnik was climb­
ing a staircase at the theater, he was upset to
find that Armenians had strewn "holy earth"
from Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother
church of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
in front of Petrosian, to honor him.
Tal and Petrosian had switched roles. In
1960 Petrosian, as a part-time journalist cov­
ering the world championship, regretted what
Tal was doing to chess thinking. Now in 1963,
part-time journalist Tal found the games he
covered to be boring. "This is not the chess
 10. Private Lives, Public Games
I understand;' he told Golombek about one
game. 30 Petrosian said that was understand­
able. After the match, he was asked the main
reason he won. "Botvinnik had remarkable
combinative vision;' he said. Trying to beat
him with tactics was unlikely to succeed. "On
the other hand, everyone was used to the
idea of the faultless Botvinnik in the end­
game. The match showed that it was possible
to outplay him in the endgame:' 31 A turning
point, ironically, came when Petrosian was
beaten in an endgame.
Mikhail Botvinnik-Petrosian
World Championship Match,
14th game, Moscow, 1963
After 54. Kd7
When the game was adjourned Tal pre­
dicted to his readers that it would be drawn.
Petrosian did not rely on his second. He an­
alyzed that position until 3 a.m., got some
sleep, and then analyzed it again until just
before play resumed. This allowed him to
improve his drawing chances during moves
43 to 50.
But here play went 54. . . . h4 55. f4! Rf2
56. Kc8 Rxf4 57. Ra7+! and Petrosian re­
signed before 58. d7.
Petrosian went immediately to the match
press room to see what the armchair anno­
tators had to say. They told him 54 . . . . gS
would have drawn. (More than 50 years later,
computer analysis blamed passing up 55. . . .
Kf6. Then 56. Kd8 KfS 57. d7 Rd2 58. Ra8 h3
might draw.)
207
World champions were traditionally given a
laurel wreath immediately after the final match
game. Here Petrosian poses for photographers
after Mikhail Botvinnik conceded his title
(Chess Life, June 1963, used by permission of
the United States Chess Federation).
Realizing he had thrown the game away
at the very end convinced Petrosian that hav­
ing a clear head was more valuable than last­
minute analysis. Rona guessed his mood,
took his arm and "almost dragged him" from
the room, his biographer wrote. "Hurry;' she
said, "There's just enough time to catch the
football:' She realized that he needed to be
more relaxed. "After this I drastically changed
my regime;' Petrosian said. "I spent only 10-
15 minutes preparing for a new game, and
went for long walks" at his dacha outside
Moscow. 32
The two-month match exhausted both
players. Petrosian later told his friend Andrei
Gavrilov, a celebrated pianist, how Rona
"dragged" him to one of the last games over
208 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
his protests. Despite her size she "had the en­
ergy of a rocket-launcher:' Gavrilov said.
"I don't want to go! I won't go. I'm tired;'
Petrosian told her. "Rona shoved her hands
into his back and hissed, 'You're going, you
lazy bum, you're going, you donkey"' accord­
ing to Gavrilov. "I threw him into the car and
took him to the game:' she said.
Petrosian was slightly embarrassed by this
admission but did not deny it. "Ronotska,
Ronotska. Stop giving away the company se­
crets:' he said.33
The great matches of the 1960s were
often very close until one of the players col­
lapsed, emotionally or physically. That hap­
pened to Botvinnik. He tied the match in
round 14. But after the next five games he
trailed by three points. He conceded a draw
in ten moves in the 21st game. Petrosian
needed one more draw to become cham­
pion.
When the next round began, master Yanik
Zakarian called the press room from Arme­
nia. Zakarian, later the head of the Armen­
ian chess federation, was covering the game
for Armenian television and needed updates.
Salo Flohr, a former second of Botvinnik,
picked up the phone. Zakarian asked him
to transfer it to someone who spoke Armen­
ian. "Today we're all Armenians! " Flohr re­
plied.3 4
Botvinnik agreed to a draw after ten
moves. Immediately, rhythmic chants of
"Tigran! Tigran!" rang through the hall.
Hundreds of Petrosian fans stormed the
stage. Petrosian's personal bodyguard could
not stop the surging crowd from carrying the
new champion off. They took Petrosian to
his apartment, where he was greeted with the
triumphant sound of Wagner's prelude to
The Ring of the Nib elung, another of his fa­
vorites. Petrosian often said that without
Rona he would not have become champion.
It was a family joke. Rona always answered,
"Without me he might have become cham­
pion earlier:'35
I Pledge to Win
As they approached and passed the age of
30, the rivals experienced major health set­
backs. Korchnoi was "seriously ill, for the
first time in my life, with a stomach ulcer" in
1963 and took tranquilizers during a key
tournament.36 Petrosian still had recurring
ear and throat problems, despite his previous
medical procedures. Tal was hospitalized on
the first day of 1963, for a kidney operation
that was "completed successfullY:'37 But he
did not play again until he won an interna­
tional tournament in Miskolc, Hungary in
July.
Tal hid the extent of his illnesses, accord­
ing to Josef Vatnikov, who coached the Mos­
cow State University team for 25 years. If Tal
was playing on a stage and the pain grew too
great "he would duck backstage where a doc­
tor or his wife would be waiting to inject an
anesthetic. Tal would return, relieved of pain
and invigorated, all smiles as if he had made
a routine trip to the men's room;' Vatnikov
said.38
In August 1963 Tal went to the second Ca­
pablanca Memorial where "my kidneys be­
haved themselves:' Going abroad carried
with it major political responsibilities. Before
a foreign trip, Soviet grandmasters were sum­
moned to the Sports Committee headquar­
ters in Moscow and handed a sheet of paper.
Tal remembered the drill:
''At first, you couldn't understand what
that was, but then you read: 'I, name, pledge
to win the first place/win the match; and you
had to sign that. I've signed those sheets a
couple of times with something like 'Read
[it] , M. Tal; so they eventually stopped giving
me those 'pledge letters:"39
Korchnoi took first places more seriously.
After Tal drew with him in the middle of the
Havana tournament, Korchnoi "suddenly
stopped speaking to me:' More than a week
later Tal was upset by the local player Ivan
Calero and "the first person to console me
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games 209

was Korchnoi:' 4° Korchnoi

explained that he could not
be friendly with a fellow
contender for first prize.
Tal's loss to Calero changed
that. Korchnoi won the
tournament a half point
ahead of Tal, Geller and
Ludek Pachmann.
The Tal-Korchnoi rela­
tionship was tested further
when they played a match
of "living chess" at the end
of August 1964. In "living"
games, humans portray
pieces on a giant board, ex-
ecuting moves announced
World champion Petrosian strikes a characteristic pose as he stud­
by two masters. The match ies the position on a nearby board. Shakhmaty v SSSR, July 1971.
was held at a vast stadium
in Leningrad and drew a greater attendance rebels, adored by women, admired by men.
than recent football matches, according to Tal said he and Vysotsky played two games
the newspaper Smy ena. To start the match, but did not give details except to say, "I re­
two "master of sport parachutists;' represent­ member that in the second game I kept
ing Tal and Korchnoi, jumped from an air­ trying to offer a draw:' 44
plane. The player whose parachutist landed Vysotsky later wrote a poem about how he
closest to the center of the chessboard/play­ played ten games with Tal-not of chess, but
ing field had White in the first game. The blackjack, billiards and the card game prefer­
role of the pieces was performed by promi­ ance. Tal said this was poetic license. They
nent Soviet stage actors, opera singers and never played these games. He confessed that
others. 41 at the pool table, 'Tve managed to pocket a
"Living" games are usually pre-arranged. grand total of one ball in 30 years of my bil­
But Korchnoi won the match, 2-1, thanks to liards playing:' 45
a theoretical innovation. It was reported that
Korchnoi told Tal before the match, "We will
fight until the last pawn!" 42 Asked about this King Petrosian
many years later, Korchnoi said, "Such words
I did not say. It's not my style. But something After the Botvinnik match, Petrosian re­
like that happened:' 43 turned to Armenia for his first extended stay
In 1963 Tal got to meet a kindred spirit, in years. He was treated like royalty. Mark
Vladimir Vysotsky. Little known in the West, Taimanov and his wife had made a previous
the singer-songwriter-poet was a Soviet cul­ visit to Yerevan as guests of the Petrosians
tural superstar like Tal. They were intro­ and were stunned by the reverence that
duced at the end of a Vysotsky concert. "And Petrosian inspired: "I well remember the first
after two minutes I got the feeling that we night at the opera. The hall was full, we were
had known each other for a thousand years;' in honored seats, the lights dimmed and the
Tal said. They were both self-destructive performance began. The musicians started
210 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

to play, the curtain rose and suddenly the
sounds of the orchestra fell silent and all the
lights in the hall lit up. It turned out that
Tigran and his wife Rona were a bit late. The
audience, as a group, jumped up and burst
into a greeting ovation, and only after the
Petrosians solemnly went to their opera box,
everything began again. The audience qui­
eted, the lights dimmed, the director gave
the sign to the audience and the opera was
heard from the very beginning:' 46
Korchnoi claimed Petrosian "gave up chess"
after he became world champion and was oc­
cupied until the end of 1965 in catching up
on the education he had missed during the
war years. 47 But Petrosian played more than
100 tournament games in that period. First
up was the Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles,
sponsored by the eminent cellist Gregor
Piatigorsky and his wife Jacqueline, a serious
player herself. "For the highest artistic suc­
cess, it was essential that the world champion
participate;' the tournament organizer, Isaac
Kashdan, said. Mrs. Piatigorsky wrote Mos­
cow well before the world championship
match to make sure that the winner would
play in her tournament. "Finally the reply
came during the early stages of the Botvinnik­
Petrosian match;' Kashdan wrote in the tour­
nament book. 48 Petrosian and Paul Keres
would be going to Los Angeles.
Korchnoi disputed this account. "The
Americans invited Keres and Korchnoi to the
tournament and sent two tickets;' he wrote.
''.At a session of the [Soviet] Chess Federa­
tion, Petrosian declared that he was world
champion and that as world champion, he
wanted to play in the tournament:' Korchnoi
said Jaqueline Piatigorsky later told him that
when tournament officials learned of Petro­
sian's insistence, they sent a third airplane
ticket for Korchnoi. But Rona Petrosian used
it to accompany her husband to California,
he said. 49
The first half of the tournament was a dis­
appointment for Petrosian: an even score
and his first loss as champion, to his Yugoslav
nemesis, Svetozar Gligoric. He looked like
quite a different Petrosian when he began
the second half.
Petrosian-Svetozar Gligoric
Piatigorsky Cup, Los Angeles, 1963
King's Indian Defense (E81)
1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3
0-0 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Be3
exd5 10. cxd5 b6 11. g4 h5
Petrosian felt Gligoric deserved a patent
for the . . . h5 idea, which he used to defuse
kingside attacks in similar positions. (Glig­
oric said he came up with the idea in five
minutes while preparing for a game in his
hotel room at the Portoroz Interzonal.)
Here Black would stand well after 12. gxh5
Nxh5 13. Qd2 Qh4+ 14. Bf2 Qf6, for exam­
ple.
12. g5 Nfd7 13. f4 Ba6 14. a4 Bc4!
Black can make queenside progress with
. . . Na6-b4 and . . . a6/ . . . b5. White's main
choice concerns his fl-bishop. On g2 it would
protect his e4-pawn but on h3 it has more
scope.
One scenario is 15. Bg2 Na6 16. 0-0 Nb4
17. Qd2 Re8 and now 18. f5 Ne5! 19. f6 Bf8
would be unclear.
15. Bh3 ReS 16. 0-0! (see diagram)
After 16. 0-0
Petrosian dares Black to accept an Exchange
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games
sacrifice: 16. . . . Bxc3 17. Nxc3! (much better
than 17. bxc3 Rxe4) Bxfl 18. Qxfl. 5 0 Black
would have a solid position but little control
of light squares and counterplay and no good
squares for his knights. After a long think,
Gligoric declined.
16. . . . Na6
A natural continuation would be 17. Rf3
Nb4 18. Bfl Qe7 when White has to calculate
19. . . . Bxe2 20. Qxe2 Bxc3 21. bxc3 NxdS.
Petrosian opts for a thematic sacrifice. But
unlike the Exchange sacrifice he offered a
move ago, this one is un-Petrosianlike.
17. e5!?
This is similar to the sacrifice that beat Tal
in the last round of the Leipzig Olympiad.
The key continuation is 17. . . . dxe5 18. fS,
when Black is denied . . . Ne5. White threat­
ens 19. fxg6 fxg6 20. Be6+ Kh7 21. Bt7 (21. . . .
Re7 22. Bxg6+! Kxg6? 23. Qbl+). But after
18 . . . . Nb4! and 19. fxg6 fxg6 20. Be6+ Rxe6
21. dxe6 Bxe6 Black has two pawns and good
piece play for the Exchange.
Gligoric, who understood the King's In­
dian Defense as well as anyone, knew that
Black often has to make some kind of sacri­
fice before being overwhelmed. Here he
makes the wrong one.
17. . . . Nxe5? 18. fxe5 Bxe519. Rf3!
Petrosian could have made another good
Exchange offer with 19. Qd2 Bxc3 20. Nxc3
Bxfl 21. Rxfl. Now 19. . . . Nb4 20. Qd2 a6
followed by . . . Ra7-e7 would keep the out­
come in greater doubt.
19. . . . Nc7 20. Qd2 Qe7 21. Bg2
Petrosian was famous for anticipating
threats well before they became threats. In
this case Black was preparing 21. . . . Bg7 fol­
lowed by 22. . . . Bxe2. Then 23. Qxe2 Bxc3
or 23. Nxe2 Qe4 gets Black into the game.
But after 21. Bg2 the dS-pawn is secure.
21 1
21. . . . a6 22. Rbl b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. b3!
Bxe2 25. Nxe2 b4 26. Rbfl Ral 27. Ncl!
White avoids a rook trade to prepare Rxt7.
If Black averts it with 27. . . . Rf8 White can
make slow progress with 28. Qd3 followed
by Khl, Bh3 and Nd3.
27. . . . Nb5 28. Rxt'7! Qxt'7 29. Rxt'7 Kxt'7
30. Bfl Nd4 31. Kg2
A major justification for 28. Rxt7 was that
the g6-pawn will be vulnerable after Bd3 and
a knight maneuver to f4.
31. . . . Nf5 32. Bd3 Kg7? 33. Bxf5! gxf5
34. Qd3 Rf8 35. Bd2 f4 36. Kf3 Ra7 37. Qe4
Ra3 38. Qc4 Ra7 39. Qc2 Re7 40. Nd3 Bd4
41. Qc4 Be3 42. Bxe3 Rxe3+ 43. Kf2 Rh3
44. Kgl Rf5 45. Qe4 Rxg5+ 46. Kfl Rg6
47. Nxf4 Rf6 48. Kg2! Black resigns
In the end, Petrosian did what Botvinnik,
Tal and Smyslov could not: He won a major
international tournament (in a tie) as world
champion. Suetin later said the Botvinnik
match was Petrosian's greatest achievement.
But Spassky said it was the first Piatigorsky
Cup. Petrosian shared the $5,000-plus in first
and second prizes with Keres. This was an
enormous payday for a Soviet sportsman.
However, Petrosian had a psychological
flaw that became increasingly evident: He
could not play against a hostile opponent.
This was obvious in his matches with Korch­
noi from 1974 to 1980-but also in the 1963
version of the quadrennial all-sports team
competition called the Spartakiad.
Yefim Geller-Petrosian
Spartakiad Team Tournament,
Moscow, 1963
French Defense (C16)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 b6 5. Nf3
Qd7 6. Bd2 Bf8!? 7. a4
Black's last move was designed to avoid a
trade of his good bishop (6. . . . Ne7 7. NbS
or 7. Ne2).
212 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Geller said his reply was "dictated by a
knowledge of the opponent:' He knew that
Petrosian liked to castle queenside in this
opening. Geller had watched as Petrosian
won a positional masterpiece at Bled 1961
against Fridrik Olafsson that began 4 . . . .
Qd7 5. Qg4 f5 6. Qg3 b6 7. h4 Bb7 8 . Bd3
Nc6 9. Nge2 0-0-0. Geller said he intended
to "frighten" Petrosian away from . . . 0-0-0
with a quick a4-a5xb6.
7. . . . Nc6 8. Be2 Nge7 9. 0-0 f6? 10. Rel
fxe5?? (see diagram)
After 10 . ... fxe5
Petrosian would be only slightly worse
after 11. dxe5? Ng6. But his move is the kind
of blunder he would never make against, say,
Tal because he would avoid allowing the cen­
ter to be blown open. "He couldn't play against
a person with whom he had poor relations;'
Averbakh said. 51
11. Bb5! Ng6
The threat was 12. Nxe5 Qd6 13. Qf3 and
Qf7+. Black is losing after 11. . . . exd4
12. Nxd4 Bb7 13. Nxe6 (13. . . . Kf7 14. Bg5).
12. Nxe5 NgxeS 13. Rxe5
Visibly nervous during the opening, Pet­
rosian could have resigned soon after 13. . . .
Bb7 14. Qh5+ g6 15. Qh3 0-0-0 16. Rxe6. Or
after 13. . . . Be7 14. Nxd5 exd5 15. Bg5.
He played 13. . . . a6 14. Bxc6 Qxc6
15. Nxd5 Bd7 and played out 16. Bg5 Bd6
17. Qh5+ Kf8 18. Qf3+ Kg8 19. Rxe6 Rf8
20. Ne7+ Bxe7 21. Qxc6 Bxc6 22. Rxe7 for
another 20 moves. Petrosian's discomfort
when playing Geller became evident in later
years. He often sat slightly sideways at the
board, so he would not directly face him. 52
Korchnoi led the Leningraders with a 3-2
score in the finals, with a win over Petrosian.
Spassky was demoted to third board on the
Leningrad team and barely managed a plus
score. His personal affairs remained complex.
His former wife "began to write denuncia­
tions" of him to government officials, he re­
called. "In 1963 my situation was quite
shakY:' 53 Igor Bondarevsky urged him to leave
Leningrad and start over. "You know the KGB
is interested in you too much;' his trainer
said-that is, Spassky was under regular sur­
veillance. "Leave;' Bondarevsky told him. 54
"Easy to saY:' Spassky recalled, "But leave
to where? I had only one route-to Moscow:'
He said he was rescued by the Lokomotiv
sports society, which was based on railroad
workers and had a long affiliation with chess
players. Spassky was loyal to it and had even
joined a Lokomotiv boxing circle in 1958 to
improve his physical conditioning. "My spar­
ring partner used to beat me regularly. I was
stronger physically, but his technique was
better. In sport, particularly in chess, you
often need technique more than strength;'
he said. 55
Lokomotiv arranged for another new home,
a one-room apartment. It was in the town of
Ramenskoye, some 30 miles from Moscow,
in a five-story khrushchoba. Ugly or not, it
allowed Spassky to rebuild his personal life.
Spassky was living alone, at age 27. "I was
happy. I had my personal corner:' And he
soon had an attractive new wife.
Tourn ament of Eight
(Minus On e)
Every three years since FIDE set up its
world championship qualification system, the
 10. Private Lives, Public Games
USSR championship was designated a Zonal.
The next Zonal in the series was supposed
to be the 31st Championship finals, begin­
ning October 24, 1963. But Soviet officials
announced that it would only be a prelimi­
nary event. The top six finishers would join
two seeded grandmasters in a separate Zonal,
dubbed the Tournament of Eight. The cham­
pionship finals and the Zonal were Spassky's
opportunity to resume the upward climb of
his teenage years. "It was evident that sooner
or later I would become world champion;'
he said of l955-56. 56 But it had not happened
sooner or later.
Petrosian attributed Spassky's failures in
1958 and 1961 to his "psychological instabil­
itY:' Tal blamed his well-concealed nervous­
ness. 57 Whatever the cause, Spassky felt he
was a new person in 1963 because he finally
took his future seriously. It began with a joke.
"Pater, perhaps I should become world cham­
pion?" he asked Bondarevsky. "OK, let's do
it! " his trainer replied. "That was how our
work began;' Spassky recalled. 5 8
The fruits of their labor included new
analysis of the Marshall Gambit in the Ruy
Lopez. Spassky scored such a crushing win
with it early in the 31st Championship finals
that opponents began to evade the Marshall.
He found other ways to sacrifice a pawn:
Janis Klovans-Spassky
31st USSR Championship finals,
Leningrad, 1963
Ruy Lopez (C84)
1. e4 es 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. a4!? Bb7
9. d3 d6 10. Nc3 Na5 11. Ba2 b4 12. Ne2 c5
13. Ng3 b3!?
Black would have ample compensation
after 14. Bxb3 Nxb3 15. cxb3 Bc8. That is
why 16. b4! cxb4 17. d4 is considered White's
way to get a small advantage.
14. cxb3? Nc615. Nf5 Nb416. Bbl a517. Bg5
Bc818. Nxe7+ Qxe719. Nd2! h6 20. Be3 g5!?
213
The natural 20. . . . Ng4 followed by . . . f5
and . . . Nxe3 favors Black. Spassky had a dif­
ferent plan for the kingside. It requires stop­
ping f2-f4 while preparing . . . h5/ . . . g4.
21. Nfl Ne8 22. Ng3 Ng7 23. Qd2 f6 24. Bc2
Qf7! 25. Bdl Qg6 26. Be2 h5 27. Qdl g4
Black eyes a larger edge with 28 . . . . h4
29. Nfl f5.
28. f4! gxf3 29. Bxf3 h4 30. Nh5?
White's last try to stop Spassky from com­
pleting a positional gem was 30. NfS! Nxf5!
31. exf5 BxfS 32. Bxa8 Rxa8. Black would be
better after . . . Bxd3-e4 and perhaps . . . Nc2-
d4.
30. . . . Ra7! 31. Rfl f5 32. Nxg7 Rxg7 33. exf5
Bxf5 34. Qd2 Bxd3 35. Bh6 Bxfl 36. Rxfl
e4 37. Bxg7 Kxg7 38. Be2 Rxfl+ 39. Bxfl
Qf6 40. Qe2 Qf4 41. Qb5 Kh6! (see diagram)
After 41. ... Kh6
Black secures his king against harmful
checks. He would win after a trade of queens
or minor pieces (42. Qd7 Nd3 43. Bxd3 Qe3+!
44. Kfl Qxd3+ 45. Kel Qbl+)
42. Qe8 Qe3+ 43. Khl Qf2! 44. Qh8+ Kg5
45. Qg7+ Kf4
And now 46. Qh6+ Ke5 47. Qh8+ Qf6!
48. Qxf6+ Kxf6 and . . . d5-d4.
46. g3+ hxg3 47. hxg3+ Qxg3 48. Qh6+
Kf3 49. Qd2 Kg4 50. Bb5 Nd3 51. Bxd3
exd3 52. Qxa5 Qh3+ 53. Kgl Qe3+ 54. Khl
d2 White resigns
214 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

With two rounds left in the 31st Champi­ scored one draw in his first three games. At
onship, ten players had realistic chances of the midway point, Korchnoi and Spassky
advancing to the Zonal. "For the only time were in last place. Korchnoi blamed a lack of
in my life I collapsed at the finish, and lost fortune. "Here I had no luck;' he wrote. 62 But
both games;' Korchnoi wrote. 59 But as the you could also fault his over-optimism. Korch­
winner of the previous national champion­ noi had previously beaten Leonid Stein twice
ship he was an obvious choice to be awarded and drawn five times, never losing, before
one of the two special seeds in the Zonal. The they met in the tenth round.
other was expected to go to Vasily Smyslov,
since he was a former world champion and Leonid Stein-Korchnoi
because he was believed to be the instigator Zonal tournament, Moscow, 1964
of the Tournament of Eight. But a few days Sicilian Defense (B84)
before the Zonal began, it was announced l. e4 cS 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
that Smyslov would be seeded directly into 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. 0-0 Be7 8. f4 0-0
the 1964 Interzonal. Instead of a Tournament 9. Qel Qc7 l0. Qg3 Qb6
of Eight, with four Interzonal spots as the
prizes, there would be a Tournament of Seven Korchnoi felt 10. Qg3, rather than 10. Be3,
with three spots available. was Stein's way of daring him to try to win a
The abrupt change was made thanks to pawn.
Smyslov's powerful friends in the Commu­ 11. Be3! Qxb2 (see diagram)
nist Party hierarchy. On rare occasions the
Alexander Kotov had written, "Grand­
Party's Central Committee overruled chess
masters say 'Only Korchnoi would take
decisions by the government agencies, the
such a pawn' when speaking about accept­
Soviet Chess Federation and the Sports Com­
ing a sacrifice that is the equivalent of sui­
mittee. But Smyslov's appeal went higher up
cide:' 63
the Party food chain, to the Politburo, which
was just below first secretary Nikita Khrush­
chev. Smyslov wrote to a senior Politburo
member, Mikhail Suslov, according to Yuri
Averbakh, then vice chairman of the Feder­
ation. 60 Suslov, the Kremlin's chief ideologist,
was a friend of Smyslov's family. He passed
the order down to the Sports Committee. It,
in turn, forced the Federation to reverse itself
and exempt Smyslov from the Zonal. Korch­
noi said the other Zonal players were out­
raged by this. "It was decided to call a strike
and refuse to play:' All but one of the players After 11. ... Qxb2
agreed. But Spassky, "strongly influenced by Korchnoi wondered if Stein had mistak­
Bondarevsky;' refused, he said. 6 1 Without enly counted on 12. Na4 Qb4 13. Nb6 (13. . . .
unanimous support, the strike effort col­ Qxb6? 14. NfS). That would allow 13.
lapsed. Nxe4!.
The Zonal was still a super-strong event,
12. Bf2 Qb4!
with an average rating of roughly 2700. When
play began in February 1964, Spassky was White threatened 13. Rabl Qa3 14. Nd5
suffering from his usual winter cold. He (14 . . . . Qxg3 15. Nxe7+). ''.And if 12. . . . dS,
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games
then 13. a3! and White wins:• Korchnoi wrote,
because of 14. Rfbl, trapping the queen. 64
13. e5! dxe514. fxe5 Ne8
Korchnoi knew that a knight usually stands
badly on e8 after e4-e5 in a Scheveningen
Sicilian. But 14 . . . . Nfd7 "required very exact
play" because g7 would be more vulnerable,
he said. For instance, 15. NdS! exdS 16. NfS
g6 17. a3! looks strong. It would win after
17. . . . Qe4 18. Nxe7+ Kg7 19. Bd3!. But Black
can defend if he finds the amazing 17. . . .
Bh4!. White would keep an edge after 18. axb4
Bxg3 19. Ne7+ and 20. Bxg3.
15. Bd3 Qa5!
Black's queen can defend now. The supe­
rior 15. Nb3! would have threatened 16. a3
and favored White after 15. . . . Qa3 16. Ne4
Nd7 17. Bd4, with the idea of Nf6+.
16. Ne4 Nd717. Nf3! g6
Korchnoi called his last move the decisive
weakening and felt 17. . . . f5 had to be played.
White would have enough compensation for
a pawn with 18. exf6 Ndxf6 19. Rael NhS
20. QeS.
18. Bd4! Ng7 19. Nf6+ Bxf6 20. exf6 Nh5
21. Qh4 Qd8?
Korchnoi had planned to play 21. . . . eS but
now rejected it because of 22. QgS! (22 . . . .
h6 23. Qxh6 exd4 24. Nh4 or 24. Bc4). How­
ever, the "computer move" 22. . . . Qa4! saves
Black in long variations beginning with
23. BxeS NxeS 24. NxeS Qd4+ 25. Khl BfS!,
according to Garry Kasparov. 65
22. Rael! Ndxf6 23. Ng5 e5
And here 23. . . . Ng4 works after 24. Qxg4
eS! but not after 24. BcS!.
24. Bxe5 h6 25. Bxf6
White won in 22 more moves (25. . . . hxgS
26. QxgS Nxf6 27. Rxf6). But 25. Rxf6! would
have done it faster. This was clearly one of
215
Stein's greatest games. But when a Soviet col­
lection of Stein's games was published in 1980
there was no mention of it. By then Korchnoi
had defected and his name was all but barred
from Soviet publications.
The statistically best performances of
Spassky's career would come in Candidates
matches in 1965 and 1968. But his 4½-1½ in
the second half of the Zonal was more im­
pressive. He had changed from the player
who usually started well and finished badly
to a slow starter who gained strength by the
final rounds.
Spassky-Korchnoi
Zonal tournament, Moscow, 1964
Queen's Indian Defense (BIB)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2
Be7 6. 0-0 0-0 7. Nc3 d5
This last move, in place of the simplifying
7. . . . Ne4, is a sign that Korchnoi had not
given up on the tournament.
8. cxd5 exd5 9. Ne5 Qc8
The queen will stand well on e6. Black can
not push 9. . . . cS? because of 10. dxcS bxcS
11. Qb3!.
10. Bg5 Qe6 11. Rel c5? 12. Nd3!
This retreat is easily overlooked or under­
estimated. White threatens to win a pawn
with 12. Nf4. Black needed to prepare . . . cs
with 11. . . . Na6.
12. . . . cxd4 13. Bxf6
Not nearly as strong is 13. Nf4 Qd7 14. Bxf6
Bxf6 15. NcxdS Bes. But a good alternative
is 13. NbS, since the text allows Black to cut
his deficit a bit with 13. . . . dxc3! .
13. . . . Bxf614. Nxd5! (see diagram)
Now 14. . . . BeS 15. Nc7! wins the Exchange.
14. . . . Bxd515. Nf4 Qd616. Nxd5!
Better than relinquishing the initiative
(16. BxdS Nd7 17. Bxa8 Rxa8). Now White
216 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 14. Nxd5
would win a full rook win after 16. . . . Nd7
17. Rc6! Qb8 18. Nc7. Also lost is 17. . . . Qe5
18. f4 Qe8 19. e4! dxe3 20. Rel and 19. . . . Bd8
20. es.
16. . . . Bg517. f4 Bd8 18. Nc3!
This was a second powerful knight retreat
(after 12. Nd3!). There could have been a
third with 18 . . . . Qb4 19. Nbl! . Here Black
could have resigned in view of 18 . . . . Nc6
19. NbS.
18. . . . Na6 19. Bxa8 Qb8 20. Nd5 Qxa8
21. Qxd4 Nc5 22. b4 Ne6 23. Qd3 Re8 24. e4
Black resigns
Once again, the careers of Spassky and
Korchnoi were moving in opposite direc­
tions. Spassky won the Zonal. Korchnoi fin­
ished next to last.
Ida's Combin ation
Mikhail Tal did not have to worry about
Zonals. He was guaranteed an invitation to
the upcoming Interzonal in Amsterdam. But
to get there he needed to thwart the vlasti.
He did it thanks to his mother. His wife Sally
did not mind his devotion to chess. "I guess
she thinks that if it weren't for chess I might
be off doing worse things;' he told an inter­
viewer in 1960. 66 By 1964 his "worse things"
included cheating on her with the actress Ida
had told Sally about.
The scandal was no secret. "In the 1960s
chess fans talked to the utmost about the love
story of Mikhail Tal and the movie actress
Larisa Sobolevskaya;' journalist Yefim Laza­
rev recalled. Eight years older than Tal, Sobo­
levskaya seemed like a character out of one
of her films. She was a first-category chess
player as well as a KGB agent. In her spy
work, code named "Lora;' she had seduced
a French ambassador. 67 None too discreetly,
Tal was spending more and more time with
Sobolevskaya in Moscow while his wife re­
mained in Riga. Sally learned that he had
used his prize money from Havana 1963 to
buy a fur coat for Sobolevskaya. This was
particularly painful because Uncle Robert
was caught in a corruption scandal and the
Tal family had to sell items from their home
to make ends meet.
"We got really poor. It got to the point
where there wasn't even money for milk­
and we had a three-year-old son!" Sally
wrote. 68 "That was when I had to leave the
theatre, and join a singing group because it
paid almost three times as much:' The last
straw came when Sobolevskaya said in a tel­
evision interview that she considered herself
to be Tal's true wife and she intended to le­
galize the arrangement. Sally heard about
this in a phone call from Rona Petrosian. 69
Sally had rationalized earlier rumors about
his dalliances. "Better to have fifty percent
of a good thing than eighty percent of a
doubtful one;' she would say, according to
Mark Taimanov. But this scandal had be­
come public.
It embarrassed the Soviet Communist
Party, which took a strict view of "socialist
marital fidelity:' Tal was summoned before
the Party's Central Committee. "Mikhail
Nekhemyevich, you are a world-famous per­
son, but you live in the Soviet Union, so you
are a Soviet man;' he was told. "You have a
wife, a child, and there is gossip, including
in the West, gossip about the fact that you
have a mistress:' Tal was ordered to "sort it
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games
out:' The best option was to stay with his wife
and break off with his mistress, he was told.
Less desirable, but acceptable, was divorcing
Sally and marrying his girlfriend.70
Tal replied that it was none of the vlasti's
business. He would continue to live as he
wanted. Very well, he was told, you will be
declared nyevyezdny, not allowed to leave the
Soviet Union. The timing could not have
been worse: The next foreign trip on his cal­
endar was to the Amsterdam Interzonal,
beginning May 20. Tal's private life was
threatening his effort to regain his world
championship title.
In this time of crisis, Tal's mother took
over. She urged Sally to write the Central
Committee a demeaning letter that said the
love triangle was all her fault because she was
a "bad wife:' When that appeal failed, Ida
came up with what Sally called not just a bril­
liant move but "a whole combination:' First,
Sally would file divorce papers. That would
end the scandal, at least publicly, and free Tal
from being nyevyezdny. Once the Interzonal
was over, Sally would withdraw her divorce
papers and remain married.7 1 It worked. She
and Tal went to court and handed in the pa­
pers. "Misha embraced me and said: 'Thank
you, Saska . . . . Believe me, everything will be
fine . . . . But no matter what happens, I will
never in my life forget this:" 72 After the di­
vorce was reported in the Latvian press, Tal
was allowed to go to Amsterdam. He began
with five draws. One was simply astonishing.
Lajos Portisch-Tal
Interzonal, Amsterdam, 1964
Reti Opening (A04)
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d6 3. d4 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7
5. 0-0 0-0 6. c4 Bg4 7. Nc3 Qc8 8. Rel
White avoids a trade of bishops (8 . . . . Bh3
9. Bhl). Black often replies 8 . . . . cS but Tal
had a different center plan.
8. . . . Re8 9. Qb3 Nc6! 10. d5 Na5 11. Qa4
b6 12. Nd2 Bd7 13. Qc2 c6 14. b4
217
Now 14 . . . . Nb7 15. Bb2 leads to a moder­
ate White advantage after 15. . . . cxdS 16. NxdS
NxdS 17. BxdS or 15. . . . cS 16. bS.
14. . . . Nxc4? 15. Nxc4 cxd5
Black would be better after 16. Ne3 d4!
17. Bxa8 Qxa8 and 18. Ncdl dxe3 19. Nxe3
Ng4! or 19. Bxe3 NdS.
16. Na3! d4
Since Tal would not have enough compen­
sation after 16. . . . BfS 17. Qd2 Ne4 18. Nxe4,
he gets desperate. Portisch understood he
would have to endure considerable pressure
now. But a rook is a rook.
17. Bxa8! Qxa8 18. Ncb5 Rc8 19. Qdl Ne4
Computers have the courage to play
20. Nxd4! Nc3 21. Qd3 and 21. . . . es 22. Nb3
BfS 23. Qd2 Ne4 24. Qb2.
20. f3 a6! (see diagram)
After 20 . ... a6
Objectively, Tal's last move may be the
fourth best in the position-and his next two
moves are no better than third best. But he
was finding the only way to keep threats
coming, compared with 20. . . . d3 21. Rbl or
just 21. exd3.
21. Nxd4 Qd5 22. Be3 Rc3
Portisch's problem is that he has too many
winning alternatives. For example, 23. fxe4
Qxe4 24. Bf2 and 24 . . . . Bh3 25. Nf3 Rxa3
26. Qd2 Bxal 27. Rxal. But it seemed that all
218 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

he needed to do was to find another few ac­

curate moves and Tal would resign.
23. Ndc2! Qf5 24. g4
That moment would have been closer after
24. Bd4 because there is only one good reply
to the swindling 24 . . . . Qg5 25. Bxg7 Nxg3
and it is more than enough, 26. Bh6! . But
Portisch's move should still end the game
soon.
24. . . . Qe6 25. Bd4 h5! 26. Bxg7 hxg4
In time pressure, Portisch shot glances at
Black could even play for a win with 31. . . .
the clock. Tal calmly smoked a cigarette. Dr.
gxf3! 32. exf3 Kxg7 because of his passed
Victor Malkin believed Tal had an innate
pawns (33. Nc2 Bxf3+ 34. Rxf3 Qxf3+
sense of clock time. It was another form of
35. Qxf3 Rxf3). His move would favor White
intuition. Malkin tested his theory by having
after 31. . . . Rxa3? 32. Rel gxf3 33. exf3 Bxf3+
Tal play fast games with grandmasters at the
34. Rxf3 Qxf3+ 35. Qxf3 Rxf3 36. Bd4.
Central Chess Club. The clock was placed so
that Tal could not see it. Periodically during 32. Qcl gxf3 33. Qxc6 Qxe2!
the games, Malkin asked Tal how much time Losing was 33. . . . fxe2 34. Bb2 exfl(Q)+
he and his opponent had used. Tal's answers 35. Rxfl. Portisch now saw a way to repeat
were always accurate within 10-15 seconds. 73 the position and was in no mood to try
Here Portisch must have seen how 27. Bxc3 34. Qc8+ Kxg7 35. Qh3.
g3 28. hxg3? Qh3! saves Black. But he was
beginning to overlook simple wins such as 34. Rgl Kxg7 35. Rael Qd2 36. Rdl Qe2
28. Qd4 Nxc3 29. hxg3!. 37. Rdel Qd2 38. Rdl Qe2 39. Rdel Draw

27. Nd4 Qd5
He had to reject attractive ideas such as
28. Nbl? gxf3 29. Nxf3 Qf5 30. Rfl Qg4+
31. Khl Bc6! .
28. fxe4 Qxe4
Anyone else would have resigned, why
didn't Tal? Upset, Portisch missed more wins
such as 29. Bh6! and 29. e3!.
29. Nf3 Qe3+ 30. Khl Bc6! 31. Rfl?? (see di­
agram)
Suddenly Portisch saw nightmare ways to
lose, such as 31. Bxc3?? gxf3. But he could
have ended the game with 31. Qd4 exf3
32. Qxc3!. Or with 31. Nc2 Qf2 32. Bd4 gxf3
33. Bxf2 fxe2+ 34. Kgl.
31. . . . Rxa3?
Tal fans spread the story of how he told
Portisch after the game that he would have
resigned if he had enough time to realize
how lost he was. In his memoirs Tal said
only, "When the draw was agreed, Portisch
somewhat perplexedly asked me whether he
could have played better. I just waved my
hands:' 74
During their free time in Amsterdam,
Spassky, Tal and Stein relaxed together, play­
ing blitz games, even though they were com­
peting with one another for the four places
in the 1965 Candidates matches. Spassky's
qualification appeared certain until the next
to last day. He lost to Bent Larsen's 1. f4. It
brought flashbacks. He thought he was headed
for another late-round disaster, a repeat of
the 1958 and 1961 Zonals. "I decided it was
the finish for me;' Spassky recalled. 75
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games 219

But he was still tied for third place, with

Tai and Stein, when the final round began.
One of them would miss out. Within the first
two hours it was clear that Tai was winning
one of his trademark brilliancies, against
Georgi Tringov of Bulgaria, and would qual­
ify for the Candidates. Spassky quickly got
the kind of favorable position he could nurse
for hours.

Spassky-Oscar Quinones
Interzonal, Amsterdam, 1964
Ruy Lopez (C64)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Bc5
5. c3 0-0 6. d4 Bb6
The opening was a double-edged choice
by Quinones: Spassky was one of the world's
experts on how to play the Black side. But
Spassky had lost with it, to Stein, in the fate­
ful last round of the 28th USSR Champion­
ship finals.
7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 d6 9. a4 a5
The threat was 10. Bxc6 and 11. as. On
9. . . . a6 10. Bxc6 dxc6 11. as Ba7 12. dxeS
dxeS 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. NxeS White wins a
pawn.
10. Rel Qe7 11. Na3 Bg4
The threat of Nc4 followed by Bxc6/dxeS
forces concessions. White is also better after
11. . . . exd4 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Nxd4!.
12. Nc4 g513. Bg3 Nd7 14. Ne3! Bh5 15. Nd5
Qd8 16. Nxb6 cxb6
Black loses a pawn after 16. . . . Nxb6
17. Bxc6 and 18. dxeS.
17. Qd3 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Qe7 19. Radl Rad8
20. Qf5 Kg7 21. f3! Rfe8 22. Bf2 (see dia­
gram)
Stein had gotten nothing out of the White
side of a Ruy Lopez in his game and was
headed to a drawn endgame. That put Spas­
sky in the comfortable position of knowing
After 22. Bf2
the worst case: if he only drew, he would play
a match with Stein for the final Candidates
spot. It allowed him to become Spassky the
technician. He can afford to take his time, by
stopping regrouping ideas such as 22. . . . Nf8
in view of 23. dS and Bxb6. If allowed, he
could win by doubling rooks on the d-file
and playing dxeS.
22. . . . Qf6 23. Qxf6+ Kxf6 24. Rd2 Ke7
25. Redl Rg8 26. Kfl f6 27. Ke2 Rgf8
28. dxe5! dxe5 29. b4!
This prepares 30. Rd6/ 31. Bxc6 and is
more accurate than 29. Rd6 NcS.
29 . . . . Rh8 30. Rd6 axb4 31. cxb4 Nd4+
32. Bxd4 Kxd6 33. Bxb6+ Ke7 34. Bxd8+
Rxd8 35. Rxd7+ Rxd7 36. Bxd7 Kxd7
37. Kd3 Black resigns
And If You Los e?
As his wife pointed out, Tigran Petrosian
had no reason to play chess except when re­
quired. He expressed interest in entering the
Moscow Championship as he used to. Rona
vetoed the idea. "You're the world champion.
Who will praise you if you win?" she said.
''.And if you lose?"76
Petrosian's only obligations in 1964 were
to Soviet team events and to the national
team in the FIDE Olympiad. He was free to
accept one of the plum invitations of the year,
220 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
to an international tournament in Buenos
Aires, where he and Keres shared first prize.
Petrosian demonstrated his ability to find
"little;' disorienting moves like 19. Na6.
Petrosian-Rene Letelier Martner
Buenos Aires, 1964
Queen's Gambit Declined (D35)
I. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5
5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 0-0 7. Bd3 c6 8. Qc2 Nbd7
9. Nge2 ReS 10. 0-0 NfS 11. Rael Nh5
12. Bxe7 Rxe7
The usual move, 12. . . . Qxe7, slows White's
minority attack. This game is a fine example
of why the attack is successful. Black has to
make a choice between weak pawns at c6 and
dS or weaker pawns at b6 and dS.
13. b4! a614. Na4 g6 15. Nc5 Ng716. a4 Bf5
17. b5 axb518. axb5 b6 (see diagram)
After 18 • ... b6
Both sides have carried out their strategic
plans: Black is trading off his bad bishop.
White is executing the minority attack. Black's
coordinated rooks may offer some compen­
sation after 19. BxfS NxfS 20. Nd3 cxbS
21. Nc3 Rea7! 22. Nb4 Ne7 23. NxbS RaS. But
a tougher nut to crack is 19. . . . bxc5 20. Bg4
c4 21. bxc6 Ra6.
19. Na6! cxb5 20. Nb4 Qd6 21. Bxf5 Nxf5
Black b- and d-pawns are chronically weak
after 21. . . . Qxb4 22. Bd3 (22. . . . Ra3 23. Rbl
Qd6 24. Rxb5).
22. Qb3 Rd7 23. Nc3 Ne7 24. Nxb5 Qf6
25. Ral Ra5 26. Nd3 RdS 27. Rael h5
The pressure grows after, say, 27 . . . . Rda8
28. Ne5 Ra2 29. Nc7 R8a3 30. QbS and Qe8.
28. Ne5 Qe6 29. Rc7 f6? 30. Rxe7! Qxe7
31. Nc6 Qd7 32. Nxa5 bxa5 33. Nc3 Qf7
34. Ral Black resigns
Black is lost because the a- and d-pawn
are falling, e.g., 34 . . . . Ne6 35. Rxa5 Nc7
36. Ra7.
Bobby Fischer had become the highest
rated player in the world in February but
then went into hibernation. The highest rated
active players were Petrosian, Spassky and
Tal. But Tal was left off the Soviet Olympic
team that went to Tel Aviv in November
1964. The obvious reason was his marital
problems. Tal said he was angry with the
"whole world" when he learned of the snub.
Petrosian felt lonely at the Olympiad. "To
tell the truth I'm bored here without Tal and
Fischer. First of all there is no one I can play
blitz games with, and secondly the atmosphere
is different when they are playing;' he said. 77
In the finals he scored only two wins out of
nine games and drew the rest. Spassky's 81 per­
cent score as a reserve helped the Soviets win
by 4½ points. His easiest game was:
Ariel Boucchechter-Spas sky
Olympiad, Tel Aviv, 1964
Ruy Lopez ( C89)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d5!
9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 ll. Rxe5 c6
12. d4 Bd6 13. Rel Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3
Bg4 16. Qd3 Raes!
The Marshall Gambit was almost obsolete
in the 1950s. But with help from his trainer,
Spassky revived it with 16. . . . Rae8, in place
of 16. . . . fS, and it became a major weapon.
"Bondarevsky and I thought we should erect
a statue to Frank Marshall, a very sympa­
thetic player!" Spassky said. 78
 10. Priva te Lives, Public Games 22 1

17. Nd2 Re6 19. . . . Bxdl 20. Raxdl f5!

In the 31st USSR Championship finals Ar­
kady Novopashin played 18. a4 bxa4 19. Rxa4
against Spassky. After 19 . . . . f5 20. f4?? he
was suddenly lost because of 20. . . . Bxf4!. A
key line runs 21. gxf4 Rg6! 22. Bxd5+ cxd5
23. Rxa6 Be2+.
Stein improved with 20. Qfl in the 1964
Zonal and a spirited draw followed, 20. . . . f4
21. Qxh3! Bxh3 22. Rxa6! fxe3. Spassky later
found an earlier improvement for Black, 18 . . . .
Qh5.
18. Qfl Qh519. Bdl? (see diagram)
Since Bxd5 is no longer possible, White
cannot stop a powerful . . . f4. For example,
21. c4 f4! 22. cxd5 fxe3 23. dxe6 Rxf2! and
wins.
21. Qe2 Qg6 22. Khl?
Or 22. Qd3 f4! 23. Qxg6 Rxg6 and Black
wins a piece. But that was White's best.
22. . . . f4! 23. gxf4 Nxf4 24. Qfl Nd3 25. Qg2
On 25. Re2 Black has his choice of 25. . . .
Rxe3! (26. Rxe3? Nxf2+) and 25. . . . Qh5!
(26. f4 Nxf4).

■ � � ��� 25. . . . Qh5 26. Nfl Rxe3! 27. Nxe3 Rxf2

�������,�
%
%-f��� t
■
� 28. Rxd3 Rxg2 29. Kxg2 Qg6+ White re­

�t ■ -1) ■
signs
r r� r-�-- -j�

%•* Since they were juniors more than ten

� �1/,��-- --�r� �Y-� years before, the relationships of Spassky,
Petrosian, Korchnoi and Tal had been molded
¥.ili � ¥ill
ij]
by a wide range of powerful, often contra­
.ft iifil &J'. iifil
m,.·�"··· ··,..� ...,,� · · ·· �r-� �..... :,qir·½

§t- - - '�]l)��rir· - -
dictory, feelings: Envy and camaraderie,
admiration and suspicion, sympathy and
scorn. But as 1965 began, their ties were put
After 19. Bdl
to their greatest test. A new form of compe­
This logical move is a blunder. Later 19. a4 tition would pit them directly against one
f5 became a main line, and computers even another in an unfamiliar format, the Candi­
smile at 19. f3 Nxe3 20. Qf2. date matches.
 11. Candidacy
"Why should we decide by a match who
will play Petrosian? The system of competi­
tion is unfair," Boris Spassky said. 1 Many in
1965 agreed with him. Yes, they said, FIDE's
Candidates tournaments were often gruel­
ing. But a long tournament allowed a player
to catch his breath after a loss. A bad start in
a short match could be disastrous. "Matches
are like suicide, slow suicide," Leonid Stein
said. 2 Moreover, there was an element of luck
in match pairings. "One could meet an op­
ponent ill-matched for one's own style;' Max
Euwe observed. 3 "The classic example" of
that, he said, would be a Mikhail Tal-Viktor
Korchnoi matchup.
Paul Keres might have reached the 1965
Candidates finals if he had faced Tal and
Bent Larsen, two of his favorite opponents,
in the first two rounds. But when lots were
drawn at the end of the Amsterdam Inter­
zonal, Keres was paired with Spassky in the
first round, beginning April 7 in Riga. They
were very close in rating if nothing else. It
was the most clear-cut case of energy versus
experience in a Candidates match until the
Garry Kasparov-Vasily Smyslov finals of
1984. Spassky was 21 years younger than
Keres but had never played a match.
Experience won the first game. Spassky
sacrificed two pawns and was playing what
he believed was one of his greatest games.
But he botched the attack and lost. Never-
222
theless, he said "I like this game very much." 4
After a drawn second game, age began to
count more. Keres' energy gave out in the
third and fourth hour of the third game.
Spassky-Paul Keres
Candidates Match quarterfinals,
Third g ame, Riga, 1965
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E31)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. BgS
One of the first to analyze this, the Lenin-
grad Variation, was Spassky's first trainer.
Zak-Lilienthal, Baku 1951 went 4 . . . . h6
5. Bh4 cS 6. dS QaS 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8. Qc2 fS
9. g3 d6 10. Bg2 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qa6. Then
came 12. Nf3!? Qxc4 13. Nd2 Qa6 14. 0-0 Nd7
15. e4 fxe4? 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Qxe4 NeS 18. f4
Nfl 19. Qg6 dS 20. c4! Qd6 21. Radl es. White
could have won faster with 22. Qxf7 + Kxf7
23. fxeS+.
4. . . . h6 5. Bh4 cS 6. dS d6 7. e3 eS 8. Ne2
Nbd7 9. a3 BaS 10. Qc2 0-0 11. Ncl
What else was there to do with this piece?
Not 11. Ng3? gs.
11. . . . ReS 12. Na2! Qe7
White stands well in this variation if his
minor pieces control e4. For example, 13. Bd3
Nf8? 14. b4 Bb6 15. 0-0 favors him. But Black
can stop that with 13. . . . e4! and enjoy a good
game (14. Be2 gS 15. Bg3 NeS and . . . BfS).
 11. Candidacy
13. f3? e4!
Now 14. b4? is refuted by 14 . . . . exf3!
(15. bxa5 Qxe3+ 16. Kdl Qd4+ and wins).
14. f4 g5!
So that 15. fxg5 Ng4 16. Qd2 hxg5 17. Bg3
Nde5 with smooth Black development.
15. Bg3 Nh5 16. Be2 Ng??
Black had the more active pieces after
15. Bg3 and needed to follow up quickly. One
idea was 15. . . . b5! ? so that 16. cxb5 Nxd5.
But even here 16. . . . gxf4! would have favored
him (17. exf4 Ndf6 or 17. Bxf4 Nxf4 18. exf4
f5).
17. 0-0 Nf5 18. Qd2 Nf6
Black's idea is 19. . . . Nxg3 20. hxg3 g4
with somewhat superior chances.
19. fxg5 hxg5 20. Bel! Ng??
Keres gets too fancy with this knight
( . . . Nf6-h5-g7-f5-g7). He should prevent
21. b4 cxb4 22. axb4 Bb6 23. Na4! with 20. . . .
Bd7. Then he could attack on the queenside
with . . . b5 or on the h-file with . . . Kg7 /
. . . Rh8/ . . . Qe5.
21. b4! Bb6 22. Na4! Nd7 23. N2c3 Bd8
Black had to do something about Bg3/Nb5
and a capture on d6.
24. bxc5 Nxc5? 25. Nxc5 dxc5 (see dia­
gram)
After 25. ... dxc5
223
26. d6! Qe6 27. Rdl Bd7
White can enlarge his edge in various ways,
including 28. Nd5 or 28. Qb2.
28. Bg3 f5 29. Nb5! Rf8 30. Qcl Qf6 31. Nc7!
Rc8
Or 31. . . . Bxc7 32. dxc7 Be6 33. Bd6 and
34. g4!. Black's weak kingside dooms him.
32. Nd5 Qe6 33. Qb2 Ba4 34. Rel Rf7
35. Be5 Qg6 36. g4! Bc6 37. gxf5 Nxf5
38. Bg4
Now 38 . . . . Ra8 39. Qg2! and 40. Qh3
would be close to a win.
38 . . . . Bd7 39. Qxb7 Be6 40. Qbl Nxd6
41. Bxe6 Qxe6 42. Bxd6 Qxd6 43. Qxe4
Rb8
Or 43. . . . Rxfl+ 44. Rxfl Kg7 45. Qe8.
44. Rxf7 Kxf7 45. Qh7+ Ke8 46. Rfl Qe6
47. h3 Rc8 48. Qg7 Be7 49. Rf5 Bd6 50. Rf6
Black resigns
Spassky won the next two games and over­
came a late Keres comeback to take the match
by 6-4. He only had to wait five days to iden­
tify his next opponent. In the second quar­
terfinals Vasily Smyslov had no good answer
for Yefim Geller's L d4 and lost his first three
games as Black. They proved to be the only
decisive results of the 5½-2½ match.
That indicated the outcome of the Spas­
sky-Geller semifinals would depend on what
happened when Geller opened L d4. The an­
swer: Spassky equalized with the Nimzo­
Indian and Queen's Gambit Declined Tar­
rasch Defenses. But Geller had problems an­
swering Spassky's L e4. In the second game
he got a good position with his own version
of the Marshall Gambit but was ground down
in 55 moves. Geller switched to a closed Ruy
Lopez defense in the fourth game and drew.
He was crushed when he tried it again in the
sixth game. Trailing 4½-2½, he switched to
a Dragon Sicilian but had nothing new to say
224 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
about the attacking system that Bobby Fis­
cher had made famous. Final score: 5½-2½.
The other two quarterfinal matches had
not started yet, so Spassky had the summer
off. He won a Chigorin Memorial in Sochi
in August-September and relaxed in his free
time by playing bridge with other invitees,
Burkhard Malich, Mato Damjanovic and
Vlastimil Jansa. During the tournament he
drew with each of them. "I sometimes find
it difficult to play a close friend," he said.
Communist Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi joined the Communist
Party in 1965. This was harder to do than it
seems. Fewer than one out of ten USSR citi­
zens managed to pass through the approval
process to join the Party in the 1960s. Grand­
masters tended to be welcome but many re­
fused. Mikhail Botvinnik and his student
Garry Kasparov were proud to be Commu­
nists. But world champions Smyslov, Spassky
and Petrosian did not join, nor did Geller or
Lev Polugaevsky. The apolitical Tal was
elected to the central committee of the Lat­
vian Komsomol. But he did not take it seri­
ously. Asked what his Party responsibility
was, Tal said, "To win the world champi­
onship:•s
Korchnoi put an idealistic spin on his
Party membership. "I was under the naive
impression that, by my participation in party
work, I could correct much that I did not
like;' he said. But he also saw it as a shrewd
career move. "I also realized that it would
make it easier for me to travel abroad:' 6 It
gave him seniority and some authority over
other Soviet players at foreign events, even
over Petrosian when he was world cham­
pion. Korchnoi indicated he did not mind
writing up reports, for the Sports Committee
and the KGB, about the players he led abroad.
He later convinced Leonid Stein to overcome
his own reluctance and join the Party. 7
Korchnoi made this decision after his pa­
triotism was tested in West Germany. He
went to Hamburg as a member of the 12-man
Soviet team in the European Team Champi­
onship finals. Petrosian had the best score of
anyone on first board but it was just 6-4. He
was discovering that everyone wanted to
draw with the world champion. He was in
no mood to refuse them. Six of his eight
draws were over before move 24. The Soviets
won the tournament by 9 points, well below
the 16-point margin in the previous Euro­
pean Team Championship but still impres­
sive.
Afterwards, Korchnoi and his colleagues
gave simultaneous exhibitions in West Ger­
man cities. At one stop, he and Geller "were
guests of a German, who did not speak Rus­
sian badlY:' 8 After chatting awhile the Ger­
man "unexpectedly switched to English;'
Korchnoi said. Geller "was not strong in lan­
guages" and therefore the German could
speak to Korchnoi without Geller catching
on.
"Westerners were already able to detect in
my conduct that I was only a lodger in the
Soviet Union;' Korchnoi recalled. The Ger­
man suggested he defect and offered to help
him build a new life in the West. But Korch­
noi was not ready for that drastic step. "You
had to mature to certain things;' he recalled.
"I delicately and diplomatically declined the
offer;' he said. "I replied to him that chess­
players in the USSR were very privileged
people . . . :' 9 Decades later he said the inci­
dent still "gnaws at me. You know I lost 11
years of human life:' 10
Sputnik Tai
Immediately after losing the 1961 champi­
onship match, Tal said it was like being sen-
tenced to temporary exile. "I feel like Napo­
leon when they sent him to the island of
Elba:' But, he added, "I hope I am not on St.
 11. Candidacy
Helena:' 11 No, he was not, and he had reason
to expect he might make a triumphant return
to the top. After all, he had played many
more match games than the other young
Candidates in 1965.
Tal's personal life remained a mess. His
son Georgy saw him less and less. "He whirled
around like Sputnik in orbit. He left, arrived,
and showed up at home once or twice a year;'
Georgy said. 12 Tai was virtually living with
his actress fan Larisa Sobelavskaya in Mos­
cow, according to Mark Taimanov. "She wor­
shipped Misha;' he said. "He and Larisa lived
like Bohemians:' They used cheap dinner
forks at home "like in a school cafeteria. It
didn't bother Tai. For him it all seemed non­
existent;' he said. 13
Sally Landau was torn. She sent Tai "a
pretty tough letter" asking for a divorce. "I
wrote that I was bored with his prolonged
'simultaneous exhibition"' -that is, with her
and Sobelavskaya. 14 She was mollified by his
reply but also upset when Tai wanted to
know all about her boyfriends. Spassky com­
miserated with her. "Sally, in my opinion,
Misha just torments you;' he told her. 15 But
once again she excused Tai's behavior.
When he focused on chess, Tai was seri­
ous. He was concerned about the length of
his quarterfinals match with Lajos Portisch:
He had gotten used to the peaks and valleys
of a two-month battle during his bouts with
Botvinnik. Even his 1954 match with Vladi­
mir Saigin had gone 14 games. Because the
margin of error in a ten-game match would
be so little, "my trainer forbade me to play
the King's Indian Defense;' Tai wrote. 16 In­
stead, he would play solidly as Black. With
White he tested Portisch with 1. e4.
Tal-Lajos Portisch
Candidates Match quarterfinals,
Second game, Bled, 1965
Caro-Kann Defense (BIO)
l. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5
225
The opening surprised Tai. "Evidently for
the first time in his life" Portisch adopted the
Caro-Kann Defense. "To me such a blatant
copying of Botvinnik seemed somewhat
guileless;' he wrote in his memoirs. 17 But Por­
tisch had been playing the Caro- Kann since
1960, including in four games in tournaments
in which Tai took part.
3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3
Nd7 7. d4 Ngf6 8. Bd3 Nxe4 9. Qxe4
This looks like a generic Caro- Kann po­
sition but is actually rare.
9. . . . e6 l0. 0-0 Be711. c3 Nf612. Qh4 Nd5
13. Qg4 Bf6 14. Rel Qb6! (see diagram)
Portisch tried to deny Tai the kind of king
target he had in their crazy 1964 Interzonal
game. After 14 . . . . 0-0?! White could reor­
ganize his pieces nicely with 15. Bh6, threat­
ening 16. Qe4.
After 14• ... Qb6
Tal's15. c4!? astonished spectators, includ­
ing Petar Trifunovic, a prominent GM. "No
other master would have made such a move;'
he wrote in Chess Review.
It dooms the d4-pawn, which White had
spent a tempo to protect at move 11. Black
replied15. . . . Nb4 and Trifunovic wondered
about 15. . . . Ne7, which avoids the sacrifice
of the game.
Koblents said Tai intended 16. d5 cxd5
17. cxd5 Nxd5 (17. . . . exd5 18. Bg5!) 18. Qa4+
Kf8. Garry Kasparov and Mark Dvoretsky
226 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
seemed to agree that White would have
enough for a pawn then. But Trifunovic ex­
pressed the conventional (pre-Tal) wisdom
when he said: "This writer cannot believe in
this line." He said 16. Be3 was more likely,
and then 16. . . . Qxb2 17. Rahl Qc3 18. Bfl b6
with "a very unclear position:' 18
Computers have doubts about these moves.
But the main difference is that 16. dS! would
open lines and prevent castling, almost al­
ways a Tal goal. And his pieces would "come
alive:'
16. Rxe6+ fxe617. Qxe6+
Like Spassky, Tal usually let his intuition
tell him what moves deserved his calcula­
tion. But here he was upset to find he had
spent "so much time and effort" on positions
that did not arise, such as those after 17. . . .
Be7. He intended 18. Bg6+! because he saw
that 18 . . . . hxg6? 19. BgS Qc7 20. Rel Qd7
21. Qxg6+ is strong. But he quickly realized
that 18 . . . . Kd8! would be solid (19. Bf5 Qxd4!
20. Bf4 Re8).
Why then did he go for 16. Rxe6+? One
explanation is that if the 20. . . . Re8 position
arose he could bail out with 21. Bes Qd2
22. Bf4 and a draw by repetition. Another is
that he was tempted to try 21. Rel instead be­
cause it could lead to a pretty finish, 21. . . .
g6 22. Be3 Qd6 23. Bxa7 Qxe6? (23. . . . Kc7!)
24. Bb6+ Kd7?? 25. Bxe6+ Kd6 26. cS mate. 19
17. . . . Kf8?
But there is another mystery: Why did
Portisch not play 17. . . . Kd8? It is not hard
to see that White has nothing better than
perpetual check, 18. Qd6+ Ke8 19. Qe6+ Kd8.
Again there are two explanations. One is that
Portisch was influenced by the first match
game, which had been adjourned and ap­
peared lost. In a short match, this second
game seemed like Portisch's best chance to
get a point back.
And the other explanation? Portisch was
embarrassed by their Interzonal game. He
did not want to let Tal escape after making
another outrageous sacrifice.
18. Bf4 Rd8
Some computers look at 18 . . . . Be7 19. Rel
Qd8 and see only perpetual check (20. Qf5+
Kg8 21. Qe6+)-until you force them to look
at 20. Bbl followed by Re5-f5+.
19. c5 Nxd3! 20. cxb6
This looks like an obvious move, until you
realize that Tal could also have sought per­
petual check with 20. Bh6 Qxb2! 21. Qxf6+
Ke8 22. Qe6+ (not 20. . . . Qc7 21. Qxf6+ Kg8
22. Bxg7 with advantage).
20. . . . Nxf4 21. Qg4!
Only Black has winning chances after
21. Qf5? Ne2+ 22. Kfl Nxd4 23. QcS+ Be7.
21. . . . Nd5 22. bxa7 Ke7?
"Suicide?" Tal wondered to himself when
he saw Black's move. 2 0 He expected 22. . . .
g6!. Portisch considered it "but I decided to
remove my king from the danger zone:' How­
ever, the king was at greater risk after White
opened the queenside. Tal said Portisch was
surprised by his next move although it "would
have occurred to a player with an attacking
style."
23. b4! Ra8 24. Rel+ Kd6 25. b5 Rxa7?
Not yet lost is 25. . . . Rhd8 26. b6! Nxb6
27. Rbl. But it is getting there.
26. Re6+ Kc7 27. Rxf6 Black resigns
Fans, and more than one grandmaster,
concluded that Portisch lost because he over­
looked the rook sacrifice. No, he said after
the game. He just felt confident it would be
unsound. When Tal quickly played 16. Rxe6+
he was stunned. "Had I miscalculated? I in­
voluntarily remembered our Amsterdam
game, when with an extra rook it was a
drawn result. I began to get nervous, played
quicklY:' 2 1
 11. Candidacy
The fourth match game, a French Defense,
was crucial. During the postmortem, Por­
tisch asked Tal why he had not played the
move he feared, 14. Rd3. (It was later recom­
mended by computers.)
Tal replied that such a move never entered
his mind. "He looked at me in astonishment,
and said I had already played this move:' Tal
wrote. "Where? When?" he replied. ''At Cu­
rac;:ao, against Benko," was the correct an­
swer. 22 The game was close until Portisch
blundered at move 27. Tal also won the fifth
game and the match ended 5½-2½. His
spring successes returned him to number
one in the world rating first, after an absence
of four years. He remained on top for five
months.
Miracle in Bled
The Candidates schedule left less than two
weeks between Tal's quarterfinals and semi­
finals matches. Koblents anticipated this by
preparing him-before the Portisch match­
for Borislav Ivkov. But their work went up in
smoke when Bent Larsen beat Ivkov 5½-2½
in what was considered the biggest upset of
the 1965 matches.
The start of the Tai-Larsen match was de­
layed two days because of a foot blister Tal
was suffering from after marathon rounds of
table tennis. 23 To almost any other grand­
master, a blister was a minor concern. But it
was a serious handicap to Tal, who habitually
prowled the playing stage.
Larsen was in many ways the un-Portisch.
He liked the sharp positions that the Hun­
garian hated and played less well in the quiet
positions Portisch thrived on. These differ­
ences proved decisive in crucial moments of
the match. The first came in the first round.
Koblents disastrously gave Tal permission to
try the King's Indian Defense. Larsen sacri­
ficed a pawn to kill Tal's attacking chances
and forcefully outplayed him in an endgame.
227
But Larsen tried to change character by
adopting an old Steinitz Defense to the Ruy
Lopez in the second game. It was a bad fit for
him and he was ground down.
After the third game was drawn, Larsen
cleverly challenged Tal's "Hussar" image with
I. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 and now
4. . . . dxe5 5. Nxe5 Nd7!?. If this had hap­
pened in an exhibition game against an am­
ateur, Tal would have quickly replied 6. Nxf7
Kxf7 7. Qh5+ and obtained a strong, likely
winning, attack. But the great matches of the
1960s showed how powerful a weapon psy­
chology was. Obviously, Larsen must have
analyzed 6. Nxf7. Tal let his intuition wrestle
with his calculating power. After 50 minutes,
his intuition lost. "I found something resem­
bling a defense:' he wrote. He played 6. Bc4
and was soon worse. He drew but admitted,
"This was a betrayal of myself." 24
Tal loved playing in Yugoslavia again and
was his usual accommodating self, to fans
and journalists, during the match. Petrosian
considered that a character flaw: A Yugoslav
reporter reached Tal by phone at 3 a.m. one
night. "Tal described in detail the game
played that evening, gave the adjourned po­
sition, and even quoted some variations from
his analysis," Petrosian said. To Petrosian this
was crazy. 25
The match score was tied after six games.
Tal adjourned the seventh game the Ex­
change ahead and did not try hard in the
drawn eighth game so that he could study
the seventh game position. Both players con­
sulted the relevant endgame text and found
that the extra Exchange was not enough to
win. That made the score 4-4 and raised the
prospect of a 5-5 tie after the regulation ten
games.
There was no established tie-breaking rule.
Match arbiter Wilfried Dorazil talked it over
with the seconds. When they could not agree,
Dorazil joked about the Solomonic ruling he
would make: "I will stand Larsen and Tal side
by side, and give them each a sheep's bone,
228 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
and then bring in my dog. The one he goes
up to will go through to the final! " 26
No sheep bone was needed. Tal ended the
match 5½-4½ with one of his most famous
games. But it was decisive only because of
the series of mutual endgame blunders in the
ninth game. Tal had nursed a small advan­
tage into the third hour when he made a po­
sitional blunder. After the game Koblents
asked Larsen what he thought when Tal
played 24 . . . . gS?. "For several minutes I
thought that Tal had lost his mind;' Larsen
replied. "It seems he was right;' Tal agreed. 27
During the adjournment session his position
was critical.
Bent Larsen-Tai
Candidates Match semifinals,
Ninth game, Bled, 1965
After 45. ... Bd8
With two pawns fixed on the color of
White's bishop, Larsen could have won slowly
with, perhaps, 46. f3 and Bd2. That is the
procedure that a more skilled technician-a
Portisch-would likely have chosen.
But Larsen tended to play endgames ag­
gressively. Play went 46. Bd2? Be7! and he
saw 47. RxaS?? Rxd2+ 48. Kxd2 Bb4+. That
trap enabled Tal to get bishops off the board,
47. Ra4 Bb4!. Larsen had no choice then be­
cause 48. Be3 Kc6! would threaten 49 . . . .
KbS. But the battle was not over. He found
48. Bxb4 axb4 49. Kc4!, avoiding the dead
draw of 49. f3 b3 50. axb3 Rxb3+. After
49. . . . Rxf2 he set his own trap, 50. Kd5!
Rb2! 51. Ra7+.
It is natural to avoid 51. . . . Ke8 52. Ke6 be­
cause of the threat of Ra8 mate. But this would
draw, e.g., 52. . . . Kf8! 53. Ra8+ Kg7 54. KxeS
b3 55. axb3 Rxb3. However, Tal erred with
51. . . . Kc8? and then came 52. Kxe5 b3?
(52. . . . Re2) 53. axb3 Rxb3 54. Kd6 Rd3+.
(see diagram)
After 54. ... Rd3+
Few fans paid attention to the final 20-plus
moves of the game because most annotators
said it was a dead draw after 47. . . . Bb4! . But
Larsen could have won with 55. Ke7! , as
endgame tablebases later confirmed. Instead,
55. Ke6? Rh3! was played. Then 56. Ra4
would threaten to cut off the king with
57. Rd4! and advance the e-pawn to victory.
But that would fail to 56. . . . Kd8!. This de­
fense would have been denied by 55. Ke7! .
So Larsen allowed a book position to arise
after 56. Ra8+ Kc7 57. Rf8 Re3! 58. es Rel
59. Re8 Rhl!. He played another 17 moves
before agreeing to a draw. It was not discov­
ered until decades later that Tal had blun­
dered again at move 66 and should have lost.
But Larsen counter-blundered. "A miracle
happened;' Trifunovic wrote in Chess Review.
The Private Petrosian
Unlike Mikhail Botvinnik, whose personal
life was a closed book, the new champion
 11. Candidacy 229

gingerly welcomed publicity. For­

eign magazines began publishing
snapshots of the home life of the
Petrosian family. An American
magazine, Chess Review, ran 13
photos in one issue, March 1966.
They showed Petrosian and son
Vartan looking over his fan mail,
Petrosian in the kitchen kibitzing
about Rona's cooking and Rona
and Tigran playing nard y, the
backgammon-like game he grew
up on.
Petrosian also agreed to a
"blitz" interview with the maga­
zine Nedelya. He was allowed 20
seconds for each reply. Readers
learned from it that his favorite
dish was "Of course, shashlik:' 28
He very rarely drank alcohol. He
Petrosian's private life became better known in photographs
tried to learn to smoke "for so­ released by Soviet media. Here he is showing his wife Rona
lidity" but did not like it. His fa­ the finer points of billiards ( Chess Review, March 1966, used
vorite participant sports were by permission of the United States Chess Federation).
ping-pong, billiards and skiing.
Aside from chess, his favorite table game was When he saw Rona at the airport the first
nardy. thing he asked was whether she had bought
He and Rona regularly played nardy. "He tickets for the next Sp artak match.
often excoriated me for some dumb move, Once Petrosian became the chess king, he
from his point of view;' his wife said. "At began to live more regally. "Like almost all
those moments the man from the Caucasus the other Soviet celebrities, Tigran loved not
came out in him:' Rona, on the other hand, only comfort but comfort in the American
loved the card game preferance. "At that, way;' said Andrei Gavrilov, a pianist and fam-
she was the grandmaster. He was the first­ ily friend. "He had a huge American televi­
category player;' their son Mikhail said.29 sion set, an American washing machine, a
As a spectator, Petrosian said his favorite General Electric refrigerator, and a big Amer­
sports were hockey, chess and football, in ican automobile:' 31 When the Petrosians vis­
that order. His favorite day was Sunday be­ ited the United States in 1976 they were asked
cause "there's always football on Sunday:' 30 whether their record player and other elec­
He remained a passionate fan of Spartak, the tronic equipment was made in the USSR.
sports society that had given him shelter in They burst into laughter. "Most of my equip­
1949. He knew all the players on the Spartak ment was made in the USA!" Tigran said. 32
football team personally. During tourna­ In 1968 Petrosian bought a summer home, a
ments he would take breaks by asking the dacha, in the elite Barvikha section west of
wallboard boys what the latest Sp artak score Moscow. He furnished it well and spent more
was. "I remember how he hadjust flown home time there than at his Moscow apartment for
from Cura�ao;' his son Mikhail recalled. the rest of his life. "A palace:' said Gavrilov. 33
230 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Petrosian went to concerts but rarely to
stage plays. He loved to tend to the flower
garden in his dacha and liked to say, "If I had
such an opportunity in childhood I would
have become a gardener:' He prided himself
on his skill with a camera and showed friends
copies of major Soviet newspapers with his
credit line in tiny letters, "Photograph by
Tigran Petrosian:' To the 1963 Piatigorsky
Cup he brought a motion picture camera, a
rare possession for a Soviet citizen. He loved
dogs and for many years had a German shep­
herd and a Caucasian shepherd. But the Ger­
man shepherd was killed by an oncoming
train when Petrosian did not hear it coming
because of his poor hearing, his son Vartan
said. 34
His artistic tastes were widespread. In one
of his trips abroad in the early 1960s, "he
brought me a record of the Beatles:' Vartan
said. "I remember it was vinyl plastic, a 45.
Then in the Union no one had heard of the
Beatles. Papa said, 'Listen, son. This is good
music:" 35 Petrosian also enjoyed movies, es­
pecially comedies. Petrosian loved to watch
John Belushi in "The Blues Brothers:' "He
looked at this videocassette almost every
day," Gavrilov said. 36
Petrosian was given a green Oldsmobile
for winning the first Piatigorsky Cup and,
according to Gavrilov, even acquired a Cadil­
lac. But he rarely drove. Rona played chauf­
feur even though she was so short she needed
three pillows to reach the steering wheel. She
cracked up the car once when driving Tigran
home to the dacha. The crash left her uncon­
scious. Tigran rushed her to the hospital.
"The doctors diagnosed a concussion. The
next day he had to play Lev Polugaevsky,"
their son Mikhail said. But "Papa knew Polu­
gaevsky was a little afraid of him'' so he of­
fered a quick draw and went back to the hos­
pital. "Chess colleagues knew nothing of this;'
Mikhail Petrosian said. 37
The differences between the Petrosians
were evident when they went shopping, said
Iser Kuperman, a family friend and world
checker champion. Tigran had grown up poor
and was often kopeck-stingy, even when he
had money to spend. But Rona, who was al­
ways "elegantly dressed," shopped for hard­
to-get, high-end goods at the closed section,
open to Party favorites, of the GUM depart­
ment store off Red Square. And she wanted
the most for her rubles. "She was rather tight­
fisted and loved to bargain. Tigran stood
silently and listened. When she agreed on a
price and moved on, she left her husband to
pay;' Kuperman said. But if Petrosian were
shopping alone he would pay "the first price
mentioned:' 38
Petrosian's big event of 1965 was a Zagreb
international in April and May that com­
memorated the 20th anniversary of the oust­
ing of Nazi forces in World War II. He was
not particularly ambitious: eight of his 19
games were drawn in fewer than 26 moves.
He finished third but had the pleasure of
mating Bent Larsen in the seventh round.
Petrosian-Bent Larsen
Zagreb, 1965
English Opening (All)
1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. b3 g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3
0-0 6. Bg2 d6 7. 0-0 e5 8. d3 Re8 9. Qc2 cS?!
Black has an easier path to equality after
9. . . . as and 10. . . . Na6.
10. Nc3 Nc6 11. a3 Bg4 12. e3 h6 13. Nd2
Qd7?! 14. NdS Nxd515. cxd5! Nb8 16. f3
White forces a trade of Black's better bishop
and will attack eS with f2-f4 before Black can
defend it with . . . Nd7.
16 . . . . Bh3 17. Bxh3 Qxh3 18. Ne4 Qd7
19. f4 Na6
Both players must have considered 19. . . .
f5 but came to the conclusion that 20. fxeS!
would be strong. For example, e.g., 20 . . . .
fxe4? 21. e6 and wins, or 20. . . . dxeS 21. NxcS
Qxds 22. e4.
 11. Candidacy
20. fxe5 dxe5 21. Nc3?!
Black would be better after 21. Nxc5? Nxc5
22. Qxc5 Rec8. Instead, Petrosian wanted to
play 22. e4 and double rooks on the f-file. His
advantage would be slim after 21. . . . f5. He
had two ways to try for a more substantial
advantage. One is 21. Rf6, which stops . . . f5
and prepares Rd6 and Rafl (21. . . . Qxd5??
22. Rd6).
If Petrosian was uncertain about whether
21. . . . Rad8 was a good reply he could simply
have gone for 21. Nf6+! Bxf6 22. Rxf6 with
Rafl to come. For example, 22. . . . Qxd5
23. Rafl Re7 24. e4! Qd7 25. Qc4! threatens
Rxg6+ and wins after 25. . . . Kg7 26. Bxe5
Rxe5? 27. Rxt7+. Or 25. . . . b5 26. Qcl knight­
move 27. Qxh6.
21. . . . Ne??! 22. e4! Re7 23. Rf3 Rf8 24. Rafi
h5 25. a4
White's ideas include a4-a5 and Na4/Ba3.
But after 25. . . . b6 and . . . £5 Black has enough
counterplay.
25. . . . a5? 26. Ndl! (see diagram)
After 26. Ndl
Now that . . . a6/ . . . b5 is ruled out, the knight
can land on c4 and threaten both the a- and
e-pawns. White has a significant advantage.
26. . . . b6 27. Ne3 Ne8 28. Nc4 Qd8 29. Qg2!
Nd6 30. g4! hxg4 31. Qxg4
White has a winning plan of h2-h4-h5 or
Rh3/Qh4. For example, 31. . . . Nxc4 32. dxc4
Qd6 33. h4.
23 1
Black should reorganize with 32. . . . Rd7
and . . . Rd6/ . . . Qd7. In time pressure, Larsen
goes desperate.
31. . . . f5? 32. Qxg6 Rf6 33. Qg5 Nxc4
34. dxc4 f4 35. Khl Qd6 36. Rgl Kh7
37. Rh3+ Kg8 38. Rh5 f3 39. Bxe5 Rxe5
40. Qxg7 mate.
Dictator Ron a
The Petrosians had friends in high places,
including members, such as Anastas Mikoyan,
of the so-called Armenian lobby in the Krem­
lin. 39 The world champion also had confi­
dants among the cultural elite. The composer
Arno Babadzhanian visited the dacha regu­
larly to play nardy. "They were both passion­
ate people and often swore over nardy. The
score between them was about even but each
considered that he played better;' Mikhail
Petrosian remembered. Other VIPs who vis­
ited the dacha were violinist David Oistrakh,
movie director Sergei Bondarchuk, surgeon
Alexander Vishnevsky, electric engineer An­
dronik Iosifian and economist Alexander
Alkhimov. 40
Even in the presence of such celebrities,
Rona was often the center of attention, Iser
Kuperman said. He said her contacts and
personality gave her enormous influence in
Soviet chess. "In the chess federation at that
time she was a dictator;' Kuperman said. She
could arrange trips abroad for eager grand­
masters. "She had the widest and most varied
connections, a huge number of friends and
acquaintances. Like a fish in water, she bathed
in this world of acquaintances, intrigue and
connections:' 41
Her son Mikhail acknowledged "there were
many good acquaintances 'upstairs' who
helped us:' But he said it was an exaggeration
to say his mother influenced which Soviet
players would play abroad. "Everything was
decided by the Central Committee of the
USSR and the Sports Committee:' 42
232 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
However, Kuperman said Lev Abramov,
then vice chairman of the Soviet Chess Fed­
eration, "consulted with Rona about any im­
portant question. I was a witness to a tele­
phone conversation when Rona in Alushta
gave Abramov an order how to decide a series
of international questions-who to send to
tournaments that year. . . :' In short, Kuper­
man said, "Rona was known and feared by
all the major chessplayers:' 43
And she also had many friends in chess.
Sally Landau said Rona was an enormous
help to her after she and Tal split up. Leonid
Stein's widow Lilya said, "Rona helped me a
lot after my husband's death:' She used her
great connections "with the highest echelons
of vlasti:'
Korchnoi Abro ad
Foreign trips had become Viktor Korch­
noi's obsession. After all, that was a major
reason he claimed he joined the Party. But
after he was personally invited to the Zagreb
tournament he was told by the Soviet Chess
Federation that he had to play in Hungary
instead.
To manage the increasing demand for in­
vites, Soviet grandmasters were usually al­
lowed only two international tournaments a
year. Korchnoi feared he would miss a choice
assignment if he went to Hungary. When he
protested to the Sports Committee, he was
told it was a political priority. Hungary's Com­
munist leader Janos Kadar, an avid chess fan,
had asked the Soviets to send Korchnoi. In
addition, his visit would repair the lingering
damage from the 1956 invasion of Hungary.
Soviet tanks had "smashed holes in the houses
of Budapest" and he was selected to "plug up
these holes;' Korchnoi was told.
"I refused;' he said. 44 But he learned he
was temporarily nyevyezdny. When he was
again allowed to go abroad his assignment
was-to Hungary. 45 "I began to grow tired of
this kind of nagging. I began to feel like a bird
in a gilded cage, only to be fed if the master
wished, to sing only at his pleasure:'
He agreed to go to Hungary in August
1965 after the vlasti allowed him to bring his
wife Bella. It was a much weaker tournament
than Zagreb. After he won it by a score of
14½-½ he complained about allowing the
single draw. Retrospective ratings say his
performance made him the world's highest
rated player, a position he held for four
months-and never again.
Istvan Csom-Korchnoi
Gyula, 1965
A nti-Grunfeld D efense (E60)
l. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. d5!? Bg7 4. Nc3 0-0
5. e4 d6 6. Be2 c6 7. Be3 a6 8. a4 a5 9. g4?
White mistakenly thinks he has a free had
to overwhelm Black's castled position with
pawns.
9. . . . Na6! 10. f4 Nd7 11. h4 Ndc5
The threats include 12. . . . Qb6 (13. Qd2
Qb4 and . . . Nb3) and 12. . . . Bxc3+/13. . . .
Nxe4.
12. Bf3 Qb6! 13. Qe2? (see diagram)
After 13. Qe2
Korchnoi's 400 B est Games recommended
13. Ra2?. But that loses to 13. . . . Nb4. Not
much fun is 13. Rbl Qb4 14. Ne2 Qxc4 15. 0-0
but at least the game goes on.
 11. Candidacy
13. . . . Qxb2! 14. Qxb2 Nd3+ 15. Kd2 Nxb2
16. Be2 Bxg4! White resigns
In view of 17. Bxg4 Nxc4+ 18. Kd3 Nxe3
19. Kxe3 Bxc3. But if Korchnoi was only al­
lowed two internationals a year, what was his
other one in 1965? It was a round robin in
Yerevan, arranged to prepare Petrosian for
his 1966 title defense. The world champion
"invited his very best friends . . . including
Korchnoi;' Yuri Averbakh said. 46 Despite
Korchnoi's later claims of a personal war with
Petrosian since 1960, he had been on good
terms with the Petrosians, including being a
guest in their Moscow home, Averbakh said.
They usually played real games with one an-
other, but there also three draws of 18, 18 and
12 moves during 1967-69.
Korchnoi won the Yerevan tournament by
pressing advantages to the end:
Yuri Averbakh-Korchnoi
Yerevan 1965
� �� �� ,� t
t �� ,
'- ½
, �,
�� �� �� - . �
���� �� ��
- ��
�� ��
� ft
�f " ' " '},�� �% "�p... J�
ft 1i@ � ft i1W �
f: . J� ����
After 33. Kfl
Many of the fans in the packed 1,200-seat
Armenian National Academic Theater of
Opera and Ballet may have expected a draw
soon. Instead, 33. . . . gS! 34. Kel hS 35. Kd2
h4 came. The h3-pawn becomes a fatal weak­
ness after 36. g4 Nf4 37. Rb3 fS!. White had
to try 36. gxh4 Rxh4 37. Rb3. He was sur­
prised by 36. Nd3? g4! 37. hxg4 h3. His only
hope was 38. f3 h2 39. Nf2, when 39. . . . aS
and 40. . . . Nb4 may win. The game ended
with 38. Kc2? Rc4+ 39. Kd2 Rel! White re­
signs in view of 40. . . . h2.
233
The contrast between Korchnoi and Pet­
rosian was clear in games like this:
Petrosian-Reinhard Fuchs
Yerevan, 1965
Queen's Gambit Declined (D43)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Qb3
Be7 6. Bf4 0-0 7. e3 Nbd7 8. cxd5 exd5
9. Bd3 Re8 10. 0-0 Nf8 n. a4 as 12. Qc2
Ng6 13. Bg3 Bd6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Rfel
Bd716. Rahl Re717. Na2 Rae818. b4 axb4
19. Rxb4 Bg4 20. Nd2 Ne4 21. Nfl Nh4
22. Ng3 Qh6!
Black threatens 23. . . . Nxg2! 24. Kxg2?
Qh3+ 25. Kgl NgS! and wins. White would
have to struggle after 23. f4 Nf6 24. Rb3 Bh3,
for instance. But Black offered a draw, which
Petrosian quickly accepted.
"Why did you draw? You know your po­
sition was better;' Leonid Stein asked Fuchs
after the game.
"Yes:' replied Fuchs. "Against any other
player I would play for a win but not against
the world champion:'
"Your error lies in that;' Stein said. "It's not
every day that you get such a position against
the champion! " 47
In his later memoirs Korchnoi added
something that was not in the first version
of Chess Is My Life. He said his success in the
tournament embarrassed the hosts who in­
vited him. "Something, of course, could be
done to spoil the mood of the winner. Petro­
sian's wife phoned my wife and reported with
pleasure that during the tournament I had
had a mistress:' 48 He said for this reason he
"got even" with Petrosian in the annual Len­
ingrad-Moscow match by winning both
games.
Not On e Cat
Tal's fans knew he was a heavy underdog
in the Candidates finals. He had only beaten
234 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Spassky once-the miracle game of the 25th
USSR Championship-and lost five other
times to him. Their match was scheduled to
begin in November so there would be plenty
of time for the winner to prepare for a spring
1966 world championship match.
Agreeing on match conditions was easy.
"Not one cat ran between us;' Spassky said,
using an old Russian expression. 49 Part of
the reason, he said, was "Misha was perhaps
the only one of the great chessplayers who
knew no feeling of envy:' Tal offered Spassky
a choice of five cities. Spassky agreed to Tbil­
isi, despite Tal's vast following among Geor­
gians.
Tal said he did not get to prepare properly
because doctors again detected "something"
in his lungs. They virtually insisted he go to
a sanatorium in the Crimea. "Occupied with
all kinds of medical procedure, I did not
spend a lot of time at the board" he said, and
taking various kinds of medicine "did not ex­
actly assist the development of my creative
fantasY:' 5 0
Meanwhile, Spassky and Bondarevsky
devised an overall match strategy. What was
unique about Spassky's Candidate matches
of 1965 and 1968 is that he prepared a dif­
ferent approach-not just different open­
ings-for each. Against Geller, "I aimed above
all to secure the initiative because Geller
himself likes so much to have an active po­
sition:'
He wanted to play open games against Tal,
"But I decided to restrain myself and use
waiting tactics: draw, draw, and draw again,
reserving my final kick for the end of the
match when I was gaining in strength and
Tal was weaker:' 5 1 Tal said he was badly
thrown off in the first match game when
Spassky adopted the Marshall Gambit and
gave "up a pawn to avoid a sharp calculating
struggle:' 52 Spassky's goal was to deny Tal op­
portunities to force matters. "He played, of
course, best of all when he had the initiative;'
Spassky said. 53
�-
Tal-Spassky
�­
Candidates Match finals, First game,
Tbilisi, 1965
,�, ��
� m�, - - ,� TP,rr-J
. . J�T�l�t_ _
fJ
� -
j�
�� - 1 �ff '�"· · ··� ��
i� 1.
g
1/, .
�/t:f"�w;m
,� �
;_ -��
�i� B P-i�i�M
fm � fa@ ·i,G;
'· --·)� �� - - 3��- .
After 27. Ra7
After 27. . . . f6! Tal remembered "two
quite old games" in which a stunning com­
bination worked in similar positions. 54 Here
it was 28. Nxc6 so that 28 . . . . Rxc6 29. Ra8!
Rxa8 30. BxdS+ wins. Tal managed to carry
out this same tactic in a middlegame at
the 1966 Olympiad against Bj0rn Brinck­
Claussen. But Spassky coolly replied 28. . . .
Bxc6! 29. Ra6! Kf8 ! (not 29. . . . Rdd6?
30. Rcxc6! Rxc6 31. Rxc6 Rxc6 32. BxdS+).
This allowed Tal to win a pawn, 30. Raxc6
Rxc6 31. Rxc6 but after 31. . . . Nxe3 32. fxe3
Bd2! Black won it back and created bish­
ops of opposite color. A draw quickly fol­
lowed.
The match took a strange twist when Wolf
Messing showed up in the audience. Mes­
sing, then 66, was reputed to be a psychic
with telepathic and hyp notic powers, as well
as ties to the KGB. Westerners smiled at the
tales told of Messing. But Russians, even a
natural skeptic such as Viktor Korchnoi, be­
lieved in him. Messing was "a man who with
accuracy within a day predicted the end of
the war in 1945;' Korchnoi wrote. 55
Messing was a chess fan and a friend of
Tal. He was rumored to have helped him in
some mysterious way in the 1960 world cham­
pionship match. But Messing was also friendly
with Bondarevsky, a former pupil of his. Was
 11. Candidacy 235

he in Tbilisi to aid Spassky or Tal? "He sup­

ported Misha. They were both from Riga;'
Spassky later insisted. 56 He hinted at Mess­
ing's role when he said that at one point in
the match he could not concentrate. "I was
literally mesmerized;' he said: "I made a se­
rious mistake. Usually a grandmaster imme­
diately understands that something's wrong.
But I was almost paralyzed. This lasted for
several minutes. It's very long by chess meas­
ures. It's like a short circuit. You're only hit
After 18. ... Nx b2
by the electric current for fractions of a sec­
ond, but for you, it seems like an eternitY:' 57 19. d6? Qxd6!
Spassky did not say when this occurred. The
closest he came to a meltdown was in the So that 20. Bxf6 Qb6+! or 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
second game. 21. Qxb7 BxgS favors Black.
20. Nxd6 Bxf3 21. Rxf3 Bxd6 22. Bxf6
Spassky-Tal gxf6 23. Be4 Raes 24. as Bb8 25. g3 RfdS
Candidates Match finals,
26. Rel Ba7+ 27. Kg2 Rd6 28. Rffl Nc4
Second game, Tbilisi, 1965
29. Kh3 Ne3 30. Rf3 Nxc2 31. Rel Rc4!
Sicilian Defense (B82)
32. Rd3! Bd4
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 It was easy to go astray in the last few
5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. 0-0 b5 moves (32. Bxc2 Rdc6 33. Nal Bd4 or 32. Bd3
Tal played this position often and in his Rc3). Now 33. Nxd4 exd4 34. Rb3 Ne3
own signature way, such as by delaying . . . Bb7 35. Rxc4 Nxc4 36. Rxb4 Nxa5 37. Bd3 offers
or . . . d6. A Curas:ao game with Geller had slim chances of a draw.
gone 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. Radl Ne5 11. Bf4 and
33. Rxc2 Rxc2 34. Rxd4 exd4! 35. Bxc2 d3
now 11. . . . Bes 12. Nb3 Bb4 13. Nbl Bd6! 36. Bdl Rd5 37. Kg4 Re5! 38. Kf4? Re2!
14. Bg3 h5! 15. h3 h4 (15. . . . gS!) and an even­ 39. h4 h5!
tual draw.
White might have built a defense with
9. Nb3 Be7 I0. f4 d6 11. Qf3 0-0 12. a4 b4
38. Bf3 and Kf4. Now he runs out of moves
13. Ne2 e5! 14. f5 d5 15. Ng3 Na5 16. exd5 ( 40. Kf3 Rel! or 40. g4 hxg4 41. Kxg4 Rb2
Bb7?! 17. Ne4! Nc4? 42. Nc5 Rbl).
Now 18. Bxc4 Qxc4 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6
40. Nc5 Rel! Adjourned; White resigns.
20. Radl puts White in charge (20. . . . Qxc2?
21. NcS). (Spassky would have been a full rook down
after 41. Nxd3 Rxdl 42. Nxb4 Rd4+. He
18. Bg5 Nxb2 (see diagram)
sealed 41. Bxh5 but did not resume play in
When Spassky chose 18. Bg5 he must have light of 41. . . . d2 42. Nxa6 b3!.)
intended 19. Bxf6 since 19. . . . gxf6? allows Spassky said he did not notice Messing in
20. d6! Bxd6 21. Nxf6+ Kg7 22. Qg3+! Kxf6 the playing hall and learned of his presence
23. Qh4+ Kg7 24. f6+ and wins. He would later from Bondarevsky. "He told me noth­
have good play after 19. . . . Bxf6 20. a5. But ing-and only after the match, he stunned
he got his tactical ideas mixed up. me: 'Messing was here. But I didn't want to
236 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
disturb you . . . : That was the right thing to
do:•ss
Until Tai Is Sick of Them
Mikhail Botvinnik made his sympathies
clear before the match when he said it pitted
"a one-sided chessplayer with a player of a
universal style." 59 But Spassky seemed the
one-sided player this time. He followed Bon­
darevsky's orders to refuse early draws and
play out even positions "until Tai is sick of
them:' In the third game, he reached a very
even rook and bishop endgame. Tai lost a
pawn and the game was adjourned. Spassky
continued his grinding policy-"no forced
variations! " as Tai put it. 60
In his memoirs Tai said he had worked out
"a long study-like variation" in which he
would draw thanks to a pawn on f7. 61 But he
had lost his f-pawn around the time of ad­
journment. This was an apparent case of dic­
tating his memoirs from memory, without a
board. In any case, Spassky ended resistance
with a neat triangulation.
The match remained tied after eight games.
Tai was counting on "Spassky's former in­
ability to play decisive games" -that is, he
choked in big games. But Spassky won the
next three games and the match ended 7-4.
Korchnoi had an explanation: "Messing rooted
for Spassky. It was no secret. Under the guid­
ance of Wolf Messing himself! Tai the ama­
teur hypnotist had walked into a professionaI;'
he said, meaning Spassky. "We will pay trib­
ute to the tenth world champion. He was a
pioneer, a pioneer of new types of struggle:' 62
But psychology rather than hyp nosis was
more evident in the tenth game:
Spassky-Tal
Candidates Match finals, Tenth game,
Tbilisi, 1965
Sicilian Defense (B25)
I. e4 cS 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. Nc3
g6 6. 0-0 Bg7 7. d3 0-0 8. Bg5?! h6 9. Bd2
es 10. a3 Be6 11. Rbl as 12. a4 dS! 13. exdS
NxdS 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Be3
Annotators thought 15. . . . Nd4 would lead
to equal play after 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Nd2.
But after 17. . . . f5 Black could have played
for a win without risk. Tai looked instead at
15. . . . b6 and concluded he would have many
good continuations after 16. Nd2 Bxg2
17. Kxg2 fS. But he also began to see tactics.
15. . . . c4 16. dxc4 Bxc4 17. Qxd8 Rfxd8
18. Rfdl Nb4!? 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Bb6
(see diagram)
After 20. Bb6
If White had lost, annotators would have
blamed his passive opening and piece swap­
ping. But Spassky knew his opponent: Tai
would not abandon winning chances with
20. . . . Ra8 if he could set traps.
20. . . . Rd7?
So that 21. Bxa5? Nxc2 22. Rel Bd3, with
the idea of . . . e4, favors Black.
21. Nell e4 22. b3!
Another Tai trap was 22. Bxe4? Ba2 23. Ral
Bxb2. After 22. b3 he would have had some
compensation for a pawn with 22. . . . Bd5
23. Bxa5 Bc3. But he saw more traps.
22. . . . Ba6? 23. Bxe4 Na2 24. Bf3!
They were 24. Bxa5? b6! 25. Bxb6 Nc3 and
24. Bd3? Nc3 25. Rel Bxd3 and . . . Ne2+.
 11. Candidacy 237

24. . . . Nc3 25. Rel Bf8 26. Nd3 FIDE until 1970 but retrospective ratings
show that Petrosian was the eighth highest
Tal's last hope was that 26. . . . Ba3 would
rated player in the world on the eve of his
trap the rook. Spassky could also have won
title defense. Spassky was number one, after
with 26. Bxa5 Ba3 27. Ral Bb2 28. Bxc3.
winning the first major international tour­
26. . . . Bxd3 27. cxd3 Rxd3 28. Kg2 Bb4 nament of the year, at Hastings.
29. Bxb7 Kg7 30. Be3
Spassky-Peter Lee
With an extra pawn and the two bishops­ Hastings, 1965-66
and no more traps-the rest is a job for Spas­ Nimzo-Indian Defense (E30)
sky the technician.
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6
30. . . . h5 31. Ba6 Rd6 32. Bc4 f6 33. Rc2!
5. Bh4 cs 6. d5 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 es 8. d6! (see
Nbl 34. Bf4 Rd4 35. h4 Na3 36. Rel Nxc4
diagram)
37. bxc4 Kf7 38. c5! Ke8 39. c6 Kd8 40. c7+
Kc8 41. Rc6 g5 (sealed) Black resigns.
Tal did not resume play in view of 42. hxg5
fxg5 43. Be5! Rd5 44. Re6, threatening Re8+.
After the match, doctors in Tbilisi exam­
ined Tal and came to the conclusion that he
was "perfectly healthy:' The "something"
wrong with his lungs was "mythical;' he said.
But the damage was done. Tal indicated that
if he had gotten the correct diagnosis in Riga,
his nerves and kidneys would have been in
better shape for the match. But at least he After 8. d6
had freed himself from St. Helena.
Spassky said he got this idea from Vladi­
mir Zak. It stops . . . d6 but is virtually a gam­
bit because the d6-pawn is beyond natural
Numb er On e Versus defenses.
Numb er Eight
8. . . . gs 9. Bg3 Nc6 IO. Qc2! Qa5?
That Tigran Petrosian was a heavy under­ Black would have an easier time with
dog in the 1966 world championship match, 10. . . . Nh5 11. e3 Qf6 12. Rdl b6 followed by
there was no doubt. The Soviet newspaper . . . Bb7I . . . 0-0-0. Instead, he is playing for
Trud polled his colleagues and found virtu­ 11. e3 Ne4!, after which 12. Rel Nxd6 13. Nf3
ally everyone-including Tal, Keres, Larsen, f6 14. Qg6+ Ke7 is double-edged.
Svetozar Gligoric, Vasily Smyslov, Miguel
Najdorf and Samuel Reshevsky-predicting 11. Rel Qa3 12. Nf3 Ne4?
a Spassky victory. 63 Petrosian was running On 12. . . . e4 Spassky would likely have
against a historical trend. No defending cham­ gone for 13. h4!, e.g., 13. . . . exf3 14. hxg5 Ng8
pion had won a title match since the 1930s. 15. exf3 or 13. . . . g4 14. Nd2 with advantage.
In the seven world championship matches
13. Bxe5! Nxe5
from 1951 on, the challenger won five and
two were drawn. Not 13. . . . f6 14. Bxf6 Nxf6? 15. Qg6+ and
The Elo rating system was not accepted by 16. Qxf6+.
238 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
14. Nxe5 Nxd6
Black can not last long after 14 . . . . 0-0
15. h4 Re8 16. Ng4.
15. h4! gxh416. e3 b617. Rdl! Nb718. Nxf7
Faster than 18. Ng6 Rg8 19. Qe4+ Kd8
20. Qxh4+ Kc7. But 18. Be2 and Bf3 also
wins. Now 18 . . . . Rf8 19. Be2 Rxf7 20. BhS is
over.
18 . . . . Kxf7 19. Qf5+ Kg7 20. Qe5+ Kg8
21. Rxh4 d6 22. Qg3+ Kf7 23. Rf4+ Ke8
24. Qg7! Black resigns
While in Britain, Spassky took the extraor­
dinary step of giving a free-wheeling, six­
hour interview to a Western journalist. He
and chess columnist Leonard Barden agreed
it would not be published until he was world
champion. When it finally appeared more
than three years later, readers heard some of
the most candid words they would get from
a Soviet champion. Spassky said, for exam­
ple, that he trained as a journalist because it
was a "soft option'' in college. He agreed with
Bobby Fischer that "it is a bad idea for a chess
master to study hard at school or university"
and added "I lost five years" by attending col­
lege. "I don't even enjoy writing about chess:'
he admitted. His salary came from his sports
society, where he was listed as a trainer. But
he said his duties were slim.
He added that he "cannot work systemat­
ically" on chess when he is not playing in a
tournament. "Recently much of my time is
spent flat-hunting" because he wanted to
trade up to a better apartment. "Practical
matters" like that were taking up time he
could have spent on preparing for Petrosian.
"I have to wash my shirts and look after my­
self;' he said. "You need a woman:' Barden
said. Spassky agreed and laughed when Bar­
den asked, "Only to wash shirts?" 64
Spassky's rebound from the dark days of
1958-61 cheered his fans. Petrosian's support­
ers, on the other hand, had to be dismayed
by his loss of both games to Korchnoi in the
annual Moscow-Leningrad match in Novem­
ber 1965. As White he played 1. e4, a rarity
for him, and lost an Open Variation of the
Ruy Lopez when Korchnoi delivered a pow­
erful Exchange sacrifice. The other game:
Korchnoi-Petrosian
Moscow-Leningrad Match, Moscow,
1965
Nimzo-Indian Defense (ESO)
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0
5. Nf3 c5 6. Be2 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 b6 8. Nd2
Bb7 9. 0-0 d610. f3 Nc6 ll. Nb3 Ne712. e4
Ng6 13. g3 Rc8
Petrosian has avoided the thematic . . . e5
in favor of an attack against the c4-pawn.
14. Rf2 Ba6 15. d5 Re8 16. Nd2 Qd7
Black would be at least equal after 16. . . .
exdS! 17. cxdS Bxe2 18. Rxe2 c4!, with the
idea of . . . Ne5-d3. And not 18. Qxe2 NxdS.
17. a4 Re7 18. a5 b5?
This grants White open lines and too much
space. Better was 18 . . . . Rb8 19. Rbl Qd8 and
. . . Reb7.
19. cxb5 Bxb5 20. c4 Ba6 21. Bb2 Qe8
22. Bfl Rb8 23. Bc3 e5 24. Bd3! Bc8 25. Nfl
Reb7 26. Bc2 a6 27. Ne3 Nf8 28. Qfl
White's bishops neutralize Black's rooks
by stopping . . . Rb2 or . . . Rb3. This enables
White to slowly advance kingside pawns with­
out fear of queenside counterplay.
28 . . . . h6 29. Rel N8h7 30. f4! Ng4
Black is lost after 30 . . . . exf4 31. gxf4!
Nxe4? 32. Bxe4 Qxe4 33. Rg2 and Rxg7+ or
Ng4.
31. Nxg4 Bxg4 32. h3 Bd7 33. Qg2 f6 34. Refl
Qd8 35. Ral Qe7 36. Kfl Qe8 37. Ke2 Qc8
38. f5 Rb4! (see diagram)
If this game had a different outcome, it
would have joined the anthology of great
 11. Candidacy
After 38. ... Rb4
Petrosian Exchange sacrifices. It made sense
because Korchnoi was preparing to attack
with h3-h4, g3-g4, Rf3-g3, for g4-g5.
39. Bxb4 cxb4 40. Bb3 Qc5
Black threatens 41. . . . Qd4 42. Rbl Ng5
with real counterplay.
41. Kfl Ng5 42. Re2 Qd4 43. Rbl Qd3?
This is what doomed the sacrifice. It would
have been harder for White to untangle after
43. . . . Qc3! and then . . . Be8, . . . Nf3-d4 or
. . . Rc8. One difference between the queen
moves is that 43. . . . Qd3? 44. Rbb2 Nf3 fails
to 45. Kf2 Nd4? 46. Re3.
44. Rbb2 Be8
Greater resistance comes from 44 . . . . Qc3
although 45. Qf2 Nxh3 46. Qa7 is bad.
45. h4! Nf3 46. Kf2! Nd4 47. Re3 Qc3
48. Rxc3 bxc3
After a few tricks Black can resign.
49. Rbl Rxb3 50. Rxb3 Nxb3 51. Ke3 Nd4
52. Qa2 c2 53. Kd2 Bh5 54. c5 dxc5 55. d6+
Bf7 56. Qa4 Black resigns
The two losses to Korchnoi "rendered me
a great service;' Petrosian said. "They forced
me to give serious attention to my training,
to pull myself together for the forthcoming
title clash:' 65
Both players agreed the games did Korch­
noi a disservice. "It seemed to me that I was
239
now clearly stronger than anyone else, and
that I should easily come first wherever I
played;' Korchnoi wrote. 66 "Unfortunately,
these games had a bad effect on Korchnoi;'
Petrosian said. "They gave him a wrong im­
pression of his ability:'
Korchnoi came crashing down to earth in
the 33rd USSR Championship finals, which
began November 21, 1965, in Tallin. He lost
to four of the top five finishers and managed
only to tie for tenth place in a field of 20. It
was his worst result in the championship in
ten years.
Petrosian took his cues from the Korchnoi
losses. He helped arrange a six-man round
robin tournament in January 1966 to prepare
him for the Spassky match. He used it to try
experiments. For example, he met Isaac
Boleslavsky's I. e4 with I. . . . Nf6 2. e5 Ng8?!.
He soon had a passive position (3. d4 d6
4. Nf3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bc4 c6 7. h3 d5
8. Bb3 b6 9. 0-0 e6 10. Rel) and lost. But he
scored 8-1 in his other games and won the
tournament by two points.
Yefim Geller, now clearly Petrosian's
enemy, was not invited to it. But Korchnoi
was. He said he played in it because he was
"upset" with his play in Tallinn. He tied for
next-to-last place.
Isaac Boleslavsky-Korchnoi
Training Tournament, Moscow, 1966
Ruy Lop ez (C83)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 N xe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6
9. c3 Be710. Nbd2 Nc511. Bc2 Qd712. Rel
Five years later, when Korchnoi needed
his own training games, he played 12. . . . d4
against Anatoly Karpov and lost a double­
edged game after 13. Ne4 dxc3 14. bxc3
0-0-0.
12. . . . Bf5!13. Bxf5 Qxf514. Nfl Qd315. Be3
0-0-0 16. Qcl Kb717. Bxc5?! Bxc5 18. b4
Bb619. a4
240 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
With 20. Qa3 looming, Black was reluc­
tant to try 19. . . . bxa4 20. Rxa4 Rhe8.
19 . . . . d4 20. Ra3 Qg6 21. axbS axbS 22. c4!
Nxb4 23. cs Ba7 (see diagram)
After 23. . . . Ba7
24. e6?
With 24. Rb3! Black would be in trouble,
e.g., 24. . . . Nd3 25. Qc4! (25. . . . c6 26. Qxd3).
Worse is 25. . . . Nxel 26. Qxb5+ Kc8 27. Nxel.
Petrosian remembered his youth at the Tbilisi Pioneer Palace
and seemed to enjoy giving this simultaneous exhibition at the
Moscow Pioneer Palace. Shakhmaty v SSSR, July 1964.
Instead, Boleslavsky threatened 25. Ne5.
The game could have ended with 24 . . . . fxe6
25. c6+ Nxc6 26. Ne5 Nxe5 27. Rxa7+! Kxa7
28. Qxc7+ and mates. But Black can defend
better with 24 . . . . Qc2 25. Qal Bxc5.
24 . . . . RdS? 25. NeS RxeS 26. RxeS Nc6
27. Re2 QhS 28. Rb2 b4 29. Rxa7+! Nxa7
Worse is 29. . . . Kxa7 30. Ra2+ Kb8 31. Qc4!
and mates.
30. Rxb4+ Kc6 31. Qc2 Nb5 32. Qa4 Rb8
33. e7 Qe2 34. Rxd4 Qxe7 35. Ne3 Qe6
36. Re4 Qc8 37. Rb4 (37. Re5!) KxcS
38. Rc4+ Kd6 39. Qc2 h6 40. Qe4 Qb7
41. Qf4+ Ke7 42. Qe5+ Black resigns
Petrosian later said he was astonished that
Spassky had played in Hastings instead of
using the time to prepare for the champi­
onship match. 67 Yet Hastings ended nearly a
week before Petrosian's Moscow tournament
began.
Hunger and
the Locomotive
Towards the end of his life
Petrosian reminisced with
Spassky about how their
friendship survived two world
championship matches. "Do
you remember how we signed
our [match] contract on a
window-sill in Moscow's Sophia
restaurant?" he asked. 68 They
did not argue over its details.
Petrosian said this contrasted
with the "dirt" of the Garry
Kasparov-Anatoly Karpov era.
They readily agreed to start
play on April 9 at the Estrada
Theater, on the embankment
of the Moscow River, the site
of the 1963 Botvinnik-Petro­
sian match.
 11. Candidacy
Once again Spassky placed his fate in the
hands of Pater. Igor Bondarevsky was blunt,
demanding and, in the Russian expression,
"not sugar:' He believed Spassky was "a lo­
comotive" who needed to slowly rev up to
get to his peak form. He knew the new
Spassky rarely won in a first round and had
been sluggish at the start of the 1963 Soviet
championship, the 1964 Zonal and Inter­
zonal and two of his 1965 Candidates matches.
To get him into shape, Bondarevsky had him
play a blindfold simultaneous against ten
strong players.
Looking back on his career, Spassky felt
he reached his peak during 1965-70 and was
the better player in his first world cham­
pionship match. "But I was exhausted;'
he said, citing "98 difficult qualifying
games" since 1963. He felt he had run out
of original ideas, and not just in the open­
ing. In each of his Candidates matches he
tried a different approach. The Keres match
"turned into a street brawl. Geller was rela­
tively weak in defense and I only needed to
attack him at all costs. I didn't allow Tal to
seize the initiative. That approach brought
me success;' he said. "However, in order to
beat Petrosian I needed something new:' 69
And, he added, "I was poor" and could not
afford to properly prepare for a world cham­
pionship match.
Petrosian and his chief trainer, Isaac
Boleslavsky, began their preparation be­
fore the Tal-Spassky finals was over. They
studied Petrosian's own games, then turned
to Spassky games. They later claimed that
they guessed some of the surprises Spas­
sky would pull, including 1. d4 b5! ?. Un­
like Bondarevsky's "locomotive" regi­
men for Spassky, Petrosian wanted to
build up a hunger for chess, as he had be­
fore the Botvinnik match. He "quit all
chess training about a month before"
the 1966 match. 7 0 Nevertheless, it seemed
like the champion was not ready when it
began.
241
Spassky-Petrosian
World Championship Match,
First game, Moscow, 1966
Caro-Kann Defense (B19)
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5
5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Qc7 10. Bd2 e6 11. 0-0-0
0-0-0 12. c4 Ngf6 13. Kbl c5 14. Bc3 cxd4
15. Nxd4 a616. Nf3 BcS 17. Qe2 Bd618. Ne4
Be7 19. Nxf6 Bxf6 20. Bxf6 Nxf6
Spassky believed drawing the first game
of a match was actually better than winning.
A first round victory "always costs a lot of
strength;' as sports psychologist Rudolf Za­
gainov put it. He said Spassky felt that was
what happened when he won a difficult first
game in his 1974 Candidates semifinals with
Karpov and then lost the match. 71
21. Ne5 Rxdl+ 22. Rxdl Rd8 23. Rxd8+
Kxd8 24. Qd3+ Ke7 25. Qd4 h5 26. a3 Nd7!
27. Nxd7 Qxd7 28. Qc5+ Qd6 29. Qg5+?
Ke8! 30. Qe3 (see diagram)
After 30. Qe3
Spassky appreciated that taking either the
g- or h-pawns would favor Black after 30 . . . .
Qd3+!. And 30. Kc2 Qd4! is also bad, e.g.,
31. Kb3 Qxf2 32. Qxg7 Qxh4. After 30. Qe3
Petrosian could have won a pawn with 30. . . .
Qdl+ (31. Qcl Qd4).
Max Euwe believed White could draw
after 31. Ka2 Qg4 32. Qc5 Qxg2 33. Qc8+ Ke7
34. Qc7+ Kf6 35. Qf4+ Kg6 36. f3. But Black
would have winning chances with 36. . . . fS.
242 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Instead, Petrosian played 30. . . . Qc6? and
headed for a draw with 31. Qg3 g6 32. b3
Qe4+ 33. Kb2 e5. The gamed ended with a
handshake after 34. Qe3 Qxg2 35. Qxe5+
Kf8 36. Qh8+ Ke7 37. Qe5+.
Years later he blamed this game on his
nerves, as he had in the penultimate round at
Curaej:ao. "I took my pulse discreetly under the
table. It was up to 140 beats a minute:' he said. 72
He did not mention his pulse in a post-match
interview with Yuri Averbakh for the Novosti
news agency, but said, "I missed a wonderful
chance of gaining the lead in the very first
game and this upset me so much that I was
too nervous in the next two games:' 73
The first six games were drawn. A fine
Petrosian win with an Exchange sacrifice in
the seventh was followed by two more draws.
In the tenth round, Petrosian won an anthol­
ogy game culminating in a queen sacrifice.
It was evident Spassky was not familiar
with Petrosian's thought processes. He did
not know which Petrosian moves were based
primarily on intuition and which on calcu­
lation, or even what he was aiming at with
his moves. It is very difficult to play a grand­
master when you do not know what he
wants, he said. In the Candidates cycle Spas­
sky had only trailed once, by one point briefly
at the start of the Keres and Tal matches. But
he was down two points at the midway point
of the Petrosian match.
Petrosian Turns Hims elf Off
Petrosian's son Vartan said his father suf­
fered more after losses by his beloved Spartak
football team than after his chess defeats. 74
The most painful game of his father's career,
he said, was a draw:
Petrosian-Spassky
World Championship Match,
12th game, Moscow, 1966
Modern D efense (A04)
1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. e4
e6 6. Be2 b6 7. 0-0 Bb7 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Qc2
h6
Spassky seemed to be giving his opponent
"opening odds" in the match. To avoid posi­
tions he and his opponent had played before,
he adopted lines that no world class players
had, like this passive defense.
10. Radl 0-0 11. d5 e5 12. QcI Kh7 13. g3 f5
14. exf5!
Petrosian loved these positions. Black has
to concede pawn control of e4 or grant White
a target at fS, as with 14 . . . . gxfS 15. Nh4 and
f2-f4. Black's kingside is particularly weak­
ened when . . . h6 has been provoked.
14. . . . Nxf515. Bd3 Bc816. Kg2 Nf617. Ne4
Nh5 18. Bd2 Bd7 19. Khl
Not 19. g4? Nh4+ 20. Nxh4 Qxh4 21. gxh5
Qh3+ 22. Kgl Qxd3.
19. . . . Ne7 20. Nh4 Bh3 21. Rgl Bd7 22. Be3
Qe8 23. Rdel Qt'7 24. Qc2 Kh8 25. Nd2
White's plan since 14 . . . . NxfS was to
attack the g6-pawn three times. He would
win after 25. . . . g5? 26. Ng6+. Hidden below
the surface were tricks such as 25. . . . Kh7
26. f4! ? exf4? 27. Bxb6! , with a threat of
28. Rxe7 Qxe7 29. Nxg6 and wins.
25. . . . Nf5
Now 26. Nxg6+ Qxg6 27. g4 looks prom­
ising until you notice 27. . . . Nhg3+! 28. fxg3
Nxe3! 29. Rxe3 Qxg4 and 28. hxg3 Qxg4,
with mixed chances. Better is 26. Ndf3, which
makes 27. g4 a threat. White comes out ahead
after 26. . . . Nf6 27. NxfS gxfS 28. BxfS Nxd5
29. Be4!.
Mikhail Tal covered the match for the daily
newspaper Sovietsk y Sport and pointed out
tactics like that. He was delighted to receive
two letters. One accused him of being pro ­
Spassky in his reporting. The other said he
was pro-Petrosian. For a journalist, this is
high praise. When Botvinnik was later asked
 11. Candidacy
to name "the most objective journalist;' he
said, "Tal:' 75
26. Nxf5 gxf5 27. g4! e4?
This is what Black banked on, after seeing
27. . . . Nf4 28. Bxf4 gxf4 29. Bxf5 Bxf5
30. gxf5 QxfS 31. QxfS Rxf5 32. Re7. He also
rejected 27. . . . fxg4?? 28. Bg6 and 27. . . . f4
28. Bg6 Qe7 29. Bxh5 or 29. Bd4, which
analysts concluded was good for White.
But Black has chances after 29. Bd4 Nf6
30. f3 c6.
28. gxh5 f4 29. Rxg7! Qxg7 30. Rgl Qe5
Or 30 . . . . exd3 31. Qxd3 queen-move
32. Bd4( +). The queen and knight are supe­
rior to Black's rooks and bishop after 31. . . .
Qxgl+ 32. Kxgl fxe3 33. Qxe3.
31. Nf3!! exd3 (see diagram)
After 31. ... exd3
Black would be lost after 31. . . . exf3
32. Bd2! and Bc3. Both players were in time
pressure. The audience cheered as they real­
ized Petrosian was setting up a combina­
tional pattern known as the "windmill:'
Spassky admired the way his opponent could
switch from subtle positional play to explo­
sive shots. After the match, he told Svetozar
Gligoric, "You know, Gliga, Tigran is first
and foremost a stupendous tactician:' 76
32. Nxe5 dxc2 33. Bd4 dxe5 34. Bxe5+ Kh7
35. Rg7+ Kh8
This is the pattern. The rook can alternate
between discovered checks and Rg7+.
243
36. Rg6+ Kh7 37. Rg7+ Kh8
White could have swept the seventh rank,
38. Rxd7+ (or at move 36) Kg8 39. Rg7+ Kh8
40. Rxc7+ Kg8. Then White has to keep
checking until he had stopped the c2-pawn
from queening. But he could have adjourned
at move 41. Then he and Boleslavsky could
analyze positions such as 41. Rg7+ Kh8
42. Rxa7+ Kg8 43. Rg7+ Kh8 44. Rgl+ until
they decided whether to play for a win when
play resumed. Petrosian felt vindicated when
later analysis confirmed there was no win in
that line.
38. Rg6+ Kh7 39. Rg7+ draw
But he was deeply upset when he discov­
ered that he could have improved his com­
bination with 32. Qxd3! (instead of 32. Nxe5?).
Then on 32. . . . Bf5, the windmill works bet­
ter: 33. Nxe5 Bxd3 34. Bd4 because 34 . . . .
Be4+ allows 35. Nf3+. After 34 . . . . dxe5
35. Bxe5+ there is no Black pawn at c2 to
worry about. (Many years later it was pointed
out that the routine 32. Qxd3 Bf5 33. Qe2!
would have won without much difficulty. For
example, 33. . . . Be4 34. Bd2 and Bc3 or
33. . . . fxe3 34. Nxe5 exf2 35. Rg2 Rae8
36. Qxf2). In any case, the discovery of
32. Qxd3! had a devastating effect on the
champion. "Father 'turned himself off' for a
week, all the time remembering that game;'
his son Vartan said. 77
Viktor Malkin, who had friends in both
camps, said a fellow psychologist examined
Petrosian. He diagnosed depression and in­
sisted on Petrosian taking a time out. 78 Soviet
sportsmen were not supposed to be depressed.
So in his Novosti interview after the match
Petrosian claimed he got a five-day break
after this game because of a "sore throat:'
The next game was number 13. In an in­
terview later aired on Soviet television Petro­
sian was asked what he would do if a crucial
game were to be played on the 13th day of
the month "and on your way to the game you
244 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
see a black cat in your path:' He replied, "If
you have time, you know, it's best to cross to
the other side of the street:' 79
The 13th game proved unlucky. After the
match, Petrosian said he lost it twice: He
fought back from a bad position to a prob­
able draw at adjournment "but got into time
trouble" and erred again on move 72. He re­
signed 19 moves later. His match lead, which
could have been three points a week before,
was cut to one game.
Nib elung and Hon ey
Had this been a 21st century world cham­
pionship, it would have been over in three
weeks. But the best-of-24-game matches of
1951 to 1993 often lasted two months. The
players relied on strategically timed rest days
and prepared backup openings. They also
had ways to restore their emotional stamina.
Before a key game Petrosian liked to listen
to Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung to bring
out his fighting spirit. Spassky preferred
opera selections sung by Fyodor Chalyapin,
Enrico Caruso or the Russian mezzo-soprano
Nadezhda Obukhova. His mother had an­
other approach. Ekaterina Spasskaya, still
very much part of his life, prepared a mixture
of honey and lemon according to her family
recipe. ''A three-liter pot stood near his bed,
and he would eat two-three spoons a night;'
said Shura Koroleva, longtime hostess of the
Central Chess Club. 80
Koroleva was not the only woman who
loved to mother Spassky. During the match
he visited Vasily Smyslov's home for chess
advice as well as for home-cooked meals pre­
pared by Smyslov's wife Nadezhda. "By the
time I had lost the match I had gained six
kilos! " Spassky recalled. 81 But gaining weight
was not a good sign. Botvinnik often lost
weight during matches. Petrosian normally
weighed 165 pounds. In this match he lost the
same amount of weight that Spassky gained.
After Petrosian lost the 19th game the match
was tied. Spassky's fans remembered how he
had beaten Tal by waiting for his late-match
"final kick:' His opponent was eight years
older than him and clearly showing signs of
fatigue. After the match Spassky said his
greatest mistake was not taking a time-out
then. He had been fighting for four weeks to
equalize the score. ''A new moment had ar­
rived in the match and I should have con­
centrated;' he said. But he did not want to
give Petrosian time to rest. 82
Petrosian comforted Rona by saying that
life would go on when he eventually lost his
title. But he won the 20th game. The 21st was
drawn. He needed only a point in the sched­
uled remaining three games to guarantee at
least a drawn match and the retention of his
title.
Petrosian-Spassky
World Championship Match,
22nd game, Moscow, 1966
Polish Defense (A40)
1. d4 b5?! 2. e4 Bb7 3. f3 a6
White's best chances of punishing Black's
almost-insolent first move require him to
make moves that are more aggressive than
Petrosian was comfortable with.
4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 Nf6 6. c3 Be7 7. Bd3 d6
8. a4 c6 9. Ne2 Nbd7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. Ng3
Res
Spassky is playing as if this were a Ruy
Lopez, Breyer Variation, with a pawn on eS,
not e6. He would not fear, for example, 12. b4
Nb6 13. a5 Nbd7 14. f4 c5!.
12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 Qxa8 14. Qc2 Bf8
15. b4! QbS 16. Nb3 g617. Ral e518. Qf2 d5!
This is often an equalizing stroke in simi­
lar Breyer positions.
19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Bc2 Bg7 21. Ba7
The position favors White slightly. His
 11. Candidacy
bishop belongs on d4 but rather than go there
immediately he wants to see what Black will
do with his queen. The queen is well placed
on the b8-h2 diagonal because of tactical
possibilities such as 21. Na5 Bc8 22. Bd4
dxe4 23. Nxe4 Nxe4 24. fxe4? Ng4.
21. . . . Qc7 22. Bb6! Qb8! 23. Ba7 Qc7
24. Bb6 Qb8
Petrosian sank into deep thought. He
could have called over the match arbiter, Al­
beric O'Kelly, written down 25. Ba7 on his
scoresheet and say it would repeat the posi­
tion for the third time, with Black to move.
Instead of claiming a draw, he played 25. Ba7!
(see diagram) on the board.
After 25. Ba7
Now it was Spassky's turn to either claim
a draw or make a move. The best move was
probably 25. . . . Qc7. But that would admit
he was not trying to win. A draw would
mean he needed to win the final two games
of the match to take the championship title.
25 . . . . Qc8!? 26. Bd4 h5?! 27. h3! h4?
Spassky had to do something about the
threat of 28. f4 and 29. e5. He would have no
real winning chances after 27. . . . Ned7
28. exd5 Nxd5 29. Bxg7. But now the h­
pawn is permanently weak.
28. Nfl dxe4 29. fxe4 Ned7
Mikhail Botvinnik concluded Spassky did
not overlook Petrosian's moves in this match
245
so much as waste time worrying about moves
Petrosian did not play. It is likely Spassky
burned clock time on his last move wonder­
ing what he would do after 30. Qxh4. That
seems strongest but would lead to Black
counterplay after 30. . . . c5!? 31. Nxc5 Nxc5
and . . . Nxe4. Instead, Spassky should have
spent his precious seconds looking for the
most likely "Petrosian move;' and 30. Nfd2!
was a perfect example.
30. Nfd2! c5 31. Nxc5 Nxc5 32. bxc5 Bxe4
Black would have lost a piece after 32. . . .
Nxe4 33. Bxe4 Bxe4 34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Qd4+.
After 32. . . . Bxe4 Tal recommended 33. Bxf6
Bxc2 34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Nf3. Later analysis
suggested 35. . . . Be4! would muddy the wa­
ters.
33. Bb3!
The f6-knight is threatened and can not
move (33. . . . Nh5 34. Bxf7+).
33. . . . Bf5 34. Ra7
Around this point Petrosian rose from the
table and left the stage, swaying his shoulders
as he often did when winning. He knew the
match was over. "It was probably cruel to
leave Spassky alone;' wrote Viktor Vasiliev,
who was sitting in the first row of the audi­
ence. "But who thinks of the opponent in
such moments?" 83
Spassky's face betrayed nothing, as usual.
But he fidgeted in his chair and leaned on his
elbows. Then he shot an "agonizingly long
glance" at Bondarevsky in the audience. Was
he blaming him for the choice of 1. . . . b5?
Only after Bondarevsky got up and left did
Spassky make a move. Petrosian returned to
the board.
34 . . . . Nd7 35. Nf3
The knight can go to g5 with decisive ef­
fect. Black resigns.
This rendered the final two games almost
irrelevant: Petrosian would retain his title.
246 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
The only question was whether he would win
the match outright and earn the 2,000-ruble
winner's prize. (Of that, 200 rubles in taxes
were subtracted.) Spassky came back with a
win in the 23d game but was lost in the 24th
when Petrosian agreed to a draw. He had to
settle for the 1,200-ruble loser's share. It "was
not enough to pay for the work of seconds;'
he said. 84
In his postmortem analysis, Petrosian said
Spassky lost because of over-confidence­
believing "in his lucky star" after his Candi­
dates matches-and for playing at Hastings.85
On the other hand, Spassky said he lost be­
cause he was alone, with "no family;' living
in his apartment opposite the Butyrka Prison
near Moscow. He also said that to win the
championship a player needed to have the
conviction that his victory was inevitable. "I
didn't have this. Perhaps I was subconsciously
frightened of victory, knowing that I wasn't
ready to become king;' he said. 86
The match ended on the same note of ci­
vility with which it began. "I was invited to
a banquet at the i\.rmenia' restaurant, where
Tigran Vartanovich was honored;' Spassky
recalled. "Looking around the hall, I gave a
toast and in particular said, 'Earlier I thought
that the chess world was a republic but now
I understand that it is a monarchY:" 87
But, he said later, "I was a happy man . . . . I
lived like a free bird. No responsibilities:' He
was automatically seeded into the Candi­
dates matches leading to the 1969 champi­
onship match. No Zonals and Interzonals to
agonize about. He said he enjoyed "strength,
health and the carefree challenger's life for
three years! " 88
 12. Humors
The four great rivals seemed to go out
of their way to show that they were very dif­
ferent people. The choices Mikhail Tal
made, good or bad, were not the ones Tig­
ran Petrosian, Boris Spassky or Vik.tor Korch­
noi were likely to make. The steps Spassky
took, at the board and away from it, were
often inexplicable to Korchnoi, Tal and Pet­
rosian.
But William Shakespeare would under­
stand all four. They confirmed the ancient
theory of the "four humors;' which he often
used in drawing the personalities of his stage
characters. The theory held that a person's
disposition was determined by the balance
among four fluids ("humors") in his or her
body. It was widely appreciated, if only with
smiles. Shakespeare could portray a sad, de­
pressed character and the audience would
instantly recognize him as melancholic, hav­
ing too much "black bile:'
Spassky, who said his world championship
years were "the most unhappy" of his life,
was often melancholic. The easily provoked
Korchnoi regularly fit the choleric personal­
ity (too much "yellow bile"). Not always, but
often enough. When Petrosian was lethargic,
he could personify the phlegmatic (too much
phlegm).
The fourth humor, blood, gave us "san­
guine:' It describes buoyant enthusiasm and
a try-anything attitude. In other words, Mik-
247
hail Tal. He was at his most sanguine during
1966-7.
In July 1966 Tal began an international
tournament in Kislovodsk, formerly a Tsarist­
era spa destination in the northern Cauca­
sus. Once more his health failed. "Misha sud­
denly felt unwell, again suffering sharp
pains;' said Mark Taimanov, who also played
in the tournament. 'J\n ambulance was called
and they advised him to stop playing:' It
seemed like a replay of Curaej:ao 1962.
But Tal was certain he could play-and
play well-if he was allowed to make moves
from his hotel bathtub. "He lay in a warm
bath (and) dictated his moves without look­
ing at the board-and he won this game! "
Taimanov said. 1 All that Tal said in his mem­
oirs was, "For several days the question of
my leaving the tournament was debated:' 2
Earlier in the book he described how in the
32nd USSR Championship at the end of 1964
he played several games "under doctor's in­
structions" in his hotel room and still man-
aged to finish in third place. 3
Taimanov did not identify the "bathtub"
game but this is a likely candidate.
Tai-Svend Hamann
Kislovodsk, 1966
Sicilian Defense (B43)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6
5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. 0-0 Bb4
248 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Black threatens 8 . . . . Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nxe4.
Standard, balanced play runs 8. Qd3 Nc6
9. Nxc6.
8. Bg5!? Bxc3 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. bxc3 Qxc3!
ll. Rb1 Nc6
Black's king must live or die in the center
because 11. . . . 0-0? 12. Rb3 loses, e.g., 12. . . .
Qc5 13. Qd2 and Qh6.
12. Nxc6 dxc6
White can prompt another weakness after
12. . . . Qxc6 13. Qd4 but keeping the d-file
closed with 12. . . . bxc6 may be more of a test
of his gambit than 12 . . . . dxc6.
13. Rb3 Qc5 14. Qd2 (see diagram)
After 14. Qd2
White can get his pawn back after 14 . . . .
e5 15. Qh6 and can play for more (15. . . . Qe7
16. Rdl or 16. Rb6 rather than 16. Qg7).
14. . . . h5? 15. Rdl Ke7
Or 15. . . . Qe7? 16. Rd3 and Rd8+.
16. Rd3?
We can guess that Tal stopped looking at
candidate moves when he saw an apparent
win. But the right way was 16. Rc3! Qe5
17. Rd3 and 18. Rd8. For example, 17. . . . Qc7
18. e5! fxe5 19. Qg5+ mates.
16. . . . Qb6?
Tal overlooked 16. . . . e5!. Then 17. Bxh5!
Rxh5? 18. Rd8 would win because of the
threat of 19. Re8+!. But 17. . . . Be6! is unclear,
e.g., 18. Rd7+ Kf8 19. Qe2 Bxd7 20. Rxd7 Rh7.
17. e5! Black resigns
It's a massacre after 18. exf6+, or 17. . . .
fxe5 18. Qg5+.
Tal finished with an even score and a tie
for sixth place out of 12 and fell out of first
place as the world's top-rated player, after a
two-month reign. Spassky also lost ratings
ground right after his championship match
when he was pressed into emergency duty.
A Chigorin memorial international began
June 21 in Sochi. It was a strong event, with
Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky and Ratmir Khol­
mov among the invitees. But 30 minutes be­
fore the first round was scheduled to begin
"it was discovered" that Kholmov had re­
fused his invitation, according to Shakhmaty
v SSSR. "Therefore B. Spassky came to the
aid and was included in the tournament lit­
erally five minutes before the opening;' the
magazine added. "Of course, after the world
championship and before a major tourna­
ment in the USA he could not play at full
strength:' 4 Spassky tied for fifth after losing
to the tournament winner, Korchnoi.
Korchnoi-Spassky
Sochi l966
After 65. ... Kf5
There is more than one way to win. White
chose 66. Nh3!?. Then 66. . . . Kf6 67. Ngl!
Kf5 68. Ne2 and Kxb5 wins with the passed
a-pawn.
 12. Humors
Black liquidated pawns, 66. . . . g4 67. fxg4+
Kxg4 but after 68. Nf2+ Kf3 69. Ndl! Ke2
he could afford 70. Kxb5! Kxdl 71. Kb4!
and the a-pawn could not be stopped (71. . . .
Kc2 72. a4 Nxc3 73. aS). Also winning was
70. c4! .
Showtime for Sp assky
The American tournament the magazine
referred to was the second Piatigorsky Cup.
Once again Jacqueline and Gregor Piatigor­
sky sponsored an elite invitational and again
they wanted to make sure the world cham­
pion, whoever he was, took part. Their or­
ganizer, Isaac Kashdan, helped guarantee
that by inviting both Petrosian and Spassky
well before their title match. The prize fund
was $20,000-double that of the 1963 tour­
nament. Modest by today's standards, it was
the most generous prize of the era. All ten
invited players accepted the terms, even Bobby
Fischer. Spassky was eager to see Southern
California, especially after he learned that
the 1963 Hollywood movie It's a Mad, Mad,
Mad, Mad World was partly filmed in the
tournament's city, Santa Monica.
The pairings pitted Spassky against Petro­
sian in the first round on July 17. Spassky
apologized to fans for not trying hard. "The
present game demonstrates once again how
grandmasters play when they do not care to
win;' he wrote in the tournament book. 5 They
drew in 29 moves and again, in the double­
round tournament's second half, in 22 moves.
Petrosian got off to a bad start with his third­
round game:
Lajos Portisch-Petrosian
Piatigorsky Cup, Santa Monica, 1966
King's Indian Defense (E63)
1. c4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. g3
0-0 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. 0-0 a6 8. dS NaS 9. Nd2
cS 10. Qc2 Rb8
249
Petrosian knew both sides of this position.
Spassky had played 10. . . . eS in the title match
and allowed him to play one of his most fa­
mous games: 11. b3 Ng4 12. e4 f5 13. exfS gxfS
14. Ndl bS 15. f3 e4 16. Bb2 exf3 17. Bxf3
Bxb2 18. Qxb2 NeS 19. Be2 f4? 20. gxf4 Bh3
21. Ne3! Bxfl? 22. Rxfl Ng6 23. Bg4 Nxf4
24. Rxf4! Rxf4 25. Be6+ Rf7 26. Ne4 Qh4
27. Nxd6 QgS+ 28. Khl Ra7 29. Bxf7+ Rxf7
30. Qh8+!! Black resigns.
11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 bxc4 13. bxc4 Bh6 14. f4
es
Both Portisch and Petrosian had wit­
nessed how the trading policy of 14 . . . . Ng4
15. Ndl Rxb2 16. Qxb2! Bg7 17. Qcl Bxal
18. Qxal failed in Korchnoi-Bilek, Stock­
holm 1962. Black was left with awful knights
and lost after 18 . . . . Bd7 19. h3 Nf6 20. e4
Qb6 21. es.
15. Rael exf416. gxf4 NhS 17. e3 Re8?
The rook turns out to be misplaced on this
natural square because it may be needed to
protect f6 after . . . fS. Better was 17. . . . Bg7.
18. Nce4 BfS19. Bc3! Nb7 20. Qa4 a5 21. Rbl
(see diagram)
After 21. Rbl
"Black's position is already strategically
lost;' Petrosian wrote, because the b7-knight
is a chronic problem. 6 He could visualize fin­
ishes such as 21. . . . Bxe4 22. Nxe4 fS?
23. Rxb7! Rxb7 24. Nxd6 and wins. But
Black has resources. Once again Petrosian
250 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
was seeing more for his opponent than for
himself.
21. . . . Qe7 22. Rfel Bd7 23. Qc2 Bf5 24. Qa4
For example, 24. . . . Rf8 followed by
. . . Bxe4 and . . . fS.
24. . . . Kf8 25. Rb6 Rbd8 26. Qb3 Bes
27. Nfl!
White wants to trade this knight for the
one on hS. Black can still control f6 with
27. . . . f5 28. Neg3 Nf6 and defend.
21. . . . Rd7? 28. Nfg3! Nxg3 29. hxg3 Bg7
30. Qb2! f5 31. Bxg7+ Qxg7 32. Nf6 Black
resigns
Spassky was alone in first place after eight
rounds, after winning one of his finest games,
against Fischer. But Petrosian did not return
to an even score until the 14th of 18 rounds.
His only impact on the top prizes came on
the last day when he drew with Fischer, while
Spassky won and clinched first prize. All of
the players appeared in dark business suits
that day except for Spassky and Petrosian,
who unaccountably showed up in flowered
Hawaiian sports shirts, The New York Times
reported.
The Times noted that during the tourna­
ment "a woman who was knitting in the front
row" of the audience was "evicted:' 7 When
Shakhmaty v SSSR celebrated Spassky's per­
formance with a long interview, it quoted
him as denying that he was responsible for
her ejection. 8 But what actually happened?
It was not until 1997 that he explained: The
woman was Rona Petrosian. She regularly
sat in the first row of spectators and was talk­
ing with "two Armenian comrades:' Spassky
said. Fischer called over Kashdan and said,
"Miss Petrosian is talking and disturbing me.
I ask you to remove her from the hall:' Petro­
sian "was very annoyed at Fischer" and re­
mained upset with him "until the end of his
days:' Spassky said. 9
Gregor Piatigorsky was impressed by Spas-
sky's expressive personality. "Spassky's en­
thusiasm was as catching as his humor,
which he demonstrated in his hilarious pres­
entation at the awards banquet:' Piatigorsky
wrote. 1 0 What he referred to was Spassky's
skill as a mimic. He loved to portray other
grandmasters, such as Mikhail Botvinnik
and Fischer, with exaggerations of their ges­
tures and appearance at the board. A Holly­
wood producer was present at the dinner
and suggested to Spassky that he play a role
of a chess player in a film, according to Niko­
lai Krogius. 11 Nothing came of it. But after he
became world champion, Spassky agreed to
audition for a starring role in what turned
out to be an acclaimed 1971 Soviet film ver­
sion of The Twelve Chairs. "It could not work
out:' Spassky recalled. "I do not like [authors]
Ilf and Petrov. Just don't:' 12
Spassky's first prize at Santa Monica was
$5,000, the equivalent of about $40,000 in
2018. It meant that in his next bid for Petro­
sian's title he would not be short of money.
FIDE, Fidel and Ch e
For the first time all four of the rivals were
on an Olympiad team. The tournament,
which began October 23 in Havana, was an­
other easy Soviet victory. It is best remem­
bered for incidents before and after the tour­
nament.
The first occurred before the first round:
Tal was in a bar/nightclub when he tried his
charms on a Cuban woman. The woman's
boyfriend took offense and hit Tal over the
head with a bottle, sending him to the hos­
pital. He missed the first four rounds and
played the rest of the tournament with his
head bandaged near the left eye.
It was yet another crazy Tal story. Even his
friends joked about it. "Only because of his
iron-like health could Tal sustain such a blow:'
Petrosian said. 13 Tal assumed readers of his
memoirs knew the story because his only
 12. Humors
The six Soviet team members relax before the start of the 1966 Olympiad in Havana. Left to
right, Lev Polugaevsky, Spassky, Leonid Stein, Tai (before being injured in a bar fight), Petrosian
and Korchnoi. Shakhmaty v SSSR, February 1967.
comment was: "At the Olympiad in Havana
an unknown man 'caught' me with a 'tactical
blow' . . . a bottle to the head. As a result, the
'first game' of the Olympiad, Tal-N.N., ended
in my defeat, close to a rout:' 14
Korchnoi, who roomed with Tal, said
nothing about the incident in his 1977 mem­
oir. But he later described how he and Tal
left a pair of shoes outside their hotel door
so it would seem to their KGB minders that
they were in for the night. They went to a
dark bar, drank Bacardi rum and spent about
two hours there with two Cuban women.
Korchnoi danced with one of the women, sat
down and let Tal dance with her. Suddenly
there was a dull thud and "a hysterical woman's
cry;' Korchnoi said. Tal had been hit in the
forehead with a Coca-Cola bottle and he
crumpled to the floor. 15
Korchnoi added: "The bloodstained Tal
and I were taken to a hospital, where we
waited until morning for a translator. They
cleaned up Tal's wound under the eye and
stitches were inserted." A man with a gun
guarded Korchnoi "so I wouldn't be attacked
or escape:'
"Everyone who was in the bar-43 peo­
ple-was taken to the Cuban security com­
mittee. One youth confessed that he de­
livered the blow out of jealousy. In the hotel
25 1
in the morning there was a meeting of
the team. Tal, for his disobedience, received
a mighty blow, as the reader will under­
stand;' Korchnoi said. "But they criticized
me for weakening the team on the eve of a
decisive meeting: the evening match with
Monaco:' 16
Tal was back at the board for the fifth
round and, with dark glasses, scored 12-1,
the best score of anyone in the tournament.
But the KGB did not forgive Tal or Korchnoi,
Korchnoi said.
Mark Taimanov gave two less credible
accounts: Tal was not the intended target,
he said. "'Someone out of jealousy threw a
bottle at one of the patrons and it inex­
plicably hit the innocent Misha in the head;'
he said in a symposium at the Tal memorial
tournament in 2011. 17 In a 2009 interview,
Taimanov claimed Korchnoi was the of­
fender: "Korchnoi invited a Cuban girl to
dance;' he said. "When Korchnoi returned
to his chair, a bottle was thrown at him. Of
course, it didn't land on him but on Misha:'
Taimanov said this was typical of Tal's "ill
fate:' It was not just his perilous health. "If I
read in the newspaper that near Sochi a car
fell into a ravine with passengers, the first
thought that came to me was-Misha was
there:' 18
252 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
The Cubans published an impressive tour­
nament book with no mention of the Tal
incident. It included several photos of their
national hero Jose Capablanca and of Petro­
sian. In one snapshot Petrosian is shown ad­
miring the board and pieces used by Capa­
blanca to win the world title from Emanuel
Lasker in Havana in 1921. Petrosian did not
seem to notice that the board was set up
wrong. 19
The book also included four photos of
the titular head of the Olympiad organizing
committee, Fidel Castro. The chess-loving
E l Comandante wanted to meet the world
champion and got his wish when Petro­
sian arrived at the Havana Libre playing
site a few minutes after he did. Bobby
Fischer, the first board of the U.S. team, and
"a Mexican colleague;' apparently master
Filiberto Terrazas, were also in the playing
hall. The Soviet version of what happened
next is that Castro began a game with Ter­
razas and it quickly became a consultation
game: Fischer suggested moves to Terrazas,
while Castro was advised by Soviet players.
"Petrosian and Lev Polugaevsky helped
Fidel;' said Alexey Serov, the Soviet team
captain (and Communist Party Central Com­
mittee member). "The socialist collaboration
won:' 20
After the tournament was over, Castro
presented the gold, silver and bronze medals
to the winning Soviet, United States and
Hungarian teams. The next day he showed
up for a massive simultaneous exhibition.
Visiting grandmasters, including Petrosian,
played 6,840 amateurs in the vast Square of
the Revolution. Serov spoke to Petrosian
beforehand. "I advised him it was obligatory
to make a draw with Fidel;' he recalled. After
the game, a delighted Castro shook Petro­
sian's hand and said, "You didn't want to of­
fend me. I think you're not only a great chess
player but a great diplomat:' As soon as this
was announced on radio, people in the
square outside chanted, "Petrosian! Castro!
Petrosian! Castro! Viva Russia! " according
to Serov. 21
Spassky did not join in the Fidel-mania.
"I avoided him" even though "the delega­
tion leaders ordered me to go to a meeting
with him;' he said. "I just ran away. I had
been also running away from his public
speeches. I could not stand endless slogans
like Patria o mu erte! Venceremos! for five
hours:' 22
It was a minor diplomatic matter but it
was a rare case of Spassky refusing a direct
order from the vlasti. During the tournament
he and the rest of the Soviet team remained
silent when Igor Bondarevsky demanded that
they insist on forfeiting the U.S. team during
a brief crisis over scheduling.
In the same outdoor exhibition, Korchnoi
played Che Guevara, a much better player
than Castro. Korchnoi, too, was advised to
make a draw. He nodded his head in agree­
ment but, as Gennady Sosonko said, "When
Korchnoi plays chess he forgets about every­
thing:' Korchnoi returned to his hotel several
hours later and told Tal, "I beat everyone
without exception! " 23
"Well, what about Che Guevara?" Tal
asked.
"I beat Che Guevara too. He does not un­
derstand the Catalan Opening! " Korchnoi
replied.
He was asked in 2011 about the story. "I
will say this: it's very close to the truth;' he
said. "Generally I played simuls seriously, not
trying to end them quicklY:' 24
In th e Corrida
Korchnoi said the Olym piad left him ex­
hausted. But Tal, still sore from his bar inci­
dent, was allowed to skip the final round in
Havana so he could fly to Spain for an inter­
national tournament in Palma de Mallorca.
It was a moderately strong 16-player event.
 12. Humors
After Tai won his first six games, there seemed
little doubt that the 1,200-peseta first prize
would be his. He was enjoying himself so
much that he agreed when promoters of a
local bull ring asked him to become a tore­
ador for an afternoon.
"The debut of Miguel Tai in the corrida
went brilliantly:' one of the local newspapers
said. ''A second Cordobes!" -referring to the
legendary Spanish bullfighter Manuel Benitez
Perez. 25 Tal, who could read Spanish as well
as English, German and Serbian, downplayed
the account. "Firstly, it was really more like
a calf:' he answered. ''And secondly, I had
heard so much about the bull-fight-from
Bizet to Hemingway-that was I to decline
to take part in one in such convenient cir­
cumstances? Unthinkable! " 26
That he had never been to a bull ring be­
fore did not matter. Yuri Averbakh recalled
how he and Tai were in Yugoslavia when Sve­
tozar Gligoric took them to a swimming pool
with a diving board three meters high.
"Misha was watching. Someone challenged
him to dive off it himself:' he said. Tai "im­
mediately took up the challenge, even
though he had never been on a springboard
before:' 27
Fans might also have detected Tal's san­
guine confidence in the tournament's first
round:
Tai-Robert Wade
Palma de Mallorca, 1966
Sicilian Defense (B77)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 0-0
9. Bc4
Fischer popularized this attacking forma­
tion. But one of the first to play it interna­
tionally was Tai. In his 1956 student Olym­
piad game with Anthony Saidy he obtained
clear superiority after 9. . . . NaS 10. Bb3 a6
11. 0-0-0 bS 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Bxg7 Kxg7
253
14. h4 Nxb3+ 15. cxb3! ? Rh8? 16. hS Bd7
17. Kbl Qb6 18. NdS.
9. . . . Bd7 IO. h4 Rc8 II. Bb3 Qa5 12. h5
Nxh513. g4
The 11. . . . QaS variation was fairly new.
Tal's move order allows Black the option of
13. . . . Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Nf4! .
Whether White has compensation for a pawn
after 16. Qd2 QeS 17. 0-0-0 is unclear (17 . . . .
gS 18. Rh6 or 17. . . . Be6 18. Qh2).
13. . . . Nf6 14. 0-0-0 Ne5 15. Bh6
A mating attack plays itself after 15. . . .
Nc4?? 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qh6+
Kg8 and 19. NdS Re8 20. gS! NhS 21. RxhS!
gxhs 22. Nf6+.
15. . . . Bxh6 16. Rxh6!
Black intended a sacrifice on c3, and
16. Qxh6 Rxc3! 17. bxc3 Rc8 or 17. . . . Qxc3
would have improved it.
16. . . . Rxc3! 17. bxc3
Black has ample endgame compensation
after 17. Qxc3 Qxc3 18. bxc3. After 17. bxc3
the game's outcome depends on whose attack
is faster.
17. . . . Rc8 18. Kb2 b5
Black wants to recapture with a pawn on
c4. But 18 . . . . Nc4+ 19. Bxc4 Rxc4 has vir­
tues as well (20. Rdhl? Ra4). Chances would
be roughly balanced after 20. Nb3 QeS. More­
over, Black is not worse after 18 . . . . Bxg4!
19. fxg4 Nxe4. For example, 20. Qe3 (or
20. Qg2) Nxc3 21. Rdhl Nc4+ 22. Bxc4 Rxc4.
19. Rdhl Nc4+
On the previous move, another sacrifice,
18 . . . . Nxf3 19. Nxf3 Nxe4 would walk into
21. Qf4. But after 19. Rdhl that defense fails
(19. . . . Nxf3 20. Nxf3 Nxe4 21. Qf4? Qxc3+
22. Kbl Qxf3! 22. Qxf3 Nd2+). However,
254 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
there is another difference. Instead of 21. Qf4,
White could win with 21. Rxh7! because
21. . . . Nxd2 22. Rh8+ Kg7 23. Rlh7+ Kf6
24. Rxf7 is mate.
20. Bxc4 bxc4!
White's king is a factor after 21. Ne2 Rc6!,
when 22. Rbl Rb6+ 23. Kal Rxbl+ is even.
21. Rxh7! Nxh7 22. Qh6 (see diagram)
After 22. Qh6
Black loses outright after 22. . . . Rb8+??
23. Nb3. Best is 22. . . . Qe5! 23. Qxh7+ Kf8.
The endgame, 24. Qh8+ Qxh8 25. Rxh8+
Kg7 26. Rxc8 Bxc8, favors Black's bishop and
fast king (27. Nc6 Kf6 28. Nxa7 Bd7). Tai
could have kept chances equal after 24. f4
Qg7 25. Qh4.
22. . . . e6?? 23. f4!
Now 23. . . . Rb8+ 24. Nb3? cxb3 would
win for Black. But not after 24. Kcl! (24 . . . .
Qxc3 25. Qxh7+ Kf8 26. Qh8+ Ke7 27. NfS+!
and Qxc3).
23. . . . es 24. gS! Be8 25. Ne6! Black resigns
In view of 25. . . . Rb8+ 26. Kcl fxe6
27. Qxh7+ Kf8 28. fxe5 and Rfl+ (or 28. Qh8+
Ke7 29. Rh7+).
Also playing at Palma was Leonid Sham­
kovich, a grandmaster who had quietly
helped Tai in his 1965 Candidates match with
Spassky. Shamkovich, known as "The Prince;'
had an earnest, innocent demeanor. Before
their eighth round game they took a stroll
together and Shamkovich said: "Misha, I had
a terrible dream. We were to play and agreed
to a draw before the game. The round began,
an hour passed, then another but you con­
tinued to play. My position worsened with
each move and I was on the verge of defeat.
I said softly, Misha what are you doing? But
you just smiled and smoked a cigarette. And
then I woke up in a cold sweat:' 28 Tai laughed
as he later told the story to Gennady So­
sonko. When his game with Shamkovich
began, it was a quiet Queen's Gambit Ac­
cepted. He traded pieces quickly and drew
in 24 moves.
The Korchnoi Luck
Korchnoi said he was still fatigued when
he entered a new world championship cycle
on December 28, 1966. This was in another
Zonal, the 34th USSR Championship finals,
in Tbilisi. Without quite a bit of luck, the
drive that eventually brought him to the 1968
Candidates finals would have died in Tbil­
isi.
Four players were to advance from the
Zonal. With two rounds to go, three of those
spots seemed certain to go to Leonid Stein,
Yefim Geller and Aivars Gipslis. Korchnoi
was tied for fourth place with Nikolai Kro­
gius and Anatoly Lein, with Mark Taimanov
a half point back. His chances of being the
fourth qualifier for the 1967 Interzonal were
in serious doubt.
Korchnoi said he only played "fighting"
draws in the tournament. But he made an
eight-move draw in the penultimate round.
Then he watched as the best possible results
occurred: Gipslis, Krogius and Lein all lost.
Krogius lost again on the final day. So,
Korchnoi finished in a tie with Taimanov and
Gipslis for the final two Interzonal spots.
They resolved the tie in a match-tournament
in Tallinn two months later. Korchnoi's luck
was tested again in this game:
 12. Humors
Korchnoi-Aivars Gipslis
Zonal playoff, Tallinn, 1967
After 24. b4
With 24. . . . Na6 25. a3 Rc8 Black might
have equalized. But he tried 24. . . . Qa4??
and would have lost a piece after 25. Nel! .
This would nearly have guaranteed Korch­
noi's qualification for the Interzonal. Yet he
played 25. Nd4??.
Suddenly Black had the advantage, 25. . . .
Rd8! 26. Bf3 Qxc2 27. Nxc2 Rxdl+ 28. Bxdl
Nd3 29. f4 Bxb4.
But ten moves later, in a very favorable
endgame, Gipslis's flag fell before he could
play his 40th move, the time control. The
playoff ended in a three-way tie. Taimanov,
with inferior tie breaking points, was the odd
man out. For the first time since 1962, Korch­
noi was headed to an Interzonal.
Jubilees
In 1967 the Kremlin rolled out a red car­
pet, literally, for celebrations of the 50th an­
niversary of the "Great October Socialist
Revolution." In addition to a massive Red
Square military parade, Lenin retrospectives
and the issuing of silver commemorative
medals, the year was marked by two inter­
national "Jubiliee" chess tournaments. To ac­
commodate the Sports Committee's calendar
they were held in May 1967.
The committee wanted the best players in
255
the world-with one exception. By then
Bobby Fischer was far and away the highest
rated player in the world and the only non­
Soviet in the top ten. Korchnoi wrote that
"there was a rumor" that Fischer was eager to
play in one of the Jubilee tournaments, "even
without an extra appearance fee:' 29 It was
more than a rumor-and it posed a political
problem. "What the hell would happen if an
American citizen would win the tournament
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the
founding of the state?" Korchnoi said. 30
The Sports Committee wanted assurances
that that would not happen. It summoned
Petrosian, Spassky, Tal, Paul Keres and Vasily
Smyslov and demanded assurances. "Do you
guarantee that you' ll win the first place?"
they were asked. "We could answer only with
some vague nods;' Tal wrote. That was not
good enough. The vlasti used the excuse of
Fischer's religious strictures to exclude him.
He was told "we would be very glad to in­
clude him, but the tournament's schedule in­
cluded playing every Friday and Saturday, so
it'd be impossible;' Tal said. 31
Korchnoi was chosen to go to the first
tournament, in Leningrad, while his three
other rivals were invited to a much stronger
"Jubilee" in Moscow. Korchnoi was in splen­
did form and had his statistically best per­
formance of the 1965-1972 period.
Vlastimil Hort-Korchnoi
Jubilee tournament, Leningrad, 1967
Queen's Gambit Declined (D32)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 dS 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 cS 5. e3
Nc6 6. a3 Ne4 7. Bd3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 dxc4
9. Bxc4 Be7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. Qe2 Bd7 12. dS
The slow buildup of 12. Bb2 and 13. e4 is
more natural. White was trying to anchor his
bishop in the center, 12. . . . exd5 13. Bxd5 fol­
lowed by c3-c4 and e3-e4, as Petrosian did
against Hort in 1970.
12. . . . NaS 13. Ba2?!
256 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Black was willing to accept some pawn
damage (13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bxe6 fxe6) to get
bishops off the board. Now he can do it for
free.
13. . . . exdS 14. BxdS Bc6! 15. Bxc6 Nxc6
16. Rdl QcS 17. e4 Qe6 18. Rbl b6 19. Bf4
Rads
The weak White queenside pawns and c4
square make him worse.
20. Qc2 NaS 21. h3 Nc4 22. RxdS RxdS
23. Ral h6 24. a4 gS! (see diagram)
After 24. ... g5
Black's last was a prelude to a heavy piece
invasion at d2.
25. Bg3 h5 26. Rel g4 27. hxg4 hxg4 28. Nh4
Rd2 29. Qcl Qd7 30. NfS BgS 31. Qal a6
32. Kh2 Qd3 33. Qcl Kh7!
Now 34 . . . . Kg6 and 35. . . . Rxf2! is a win­
ning threat because the gS-bishop would be
protected.
34. Kgl Qc2 35. Qal Bf6 36. es BxeS 37. BxeS
QxfS 38. Bg3 Qc2 39. Kh2 Kg6 40. Rgl
KgS! 41. Qfl? Qh7+ White resigns
It was also lost after 41. Rel fS! and . . . f4.
The only player who had a chance of nos­
ing Korchnoi out of first prize was Ratmir
Kholmov. When he heard that Korchnoi
had praised his play, Kholmov had doubts.
He recalled how, after he won a lost ad­
journed game, "Korchnoi ran around crying,
look how lucky Kholmov is:' 32 In the end
Korchnoi finished first, a point ahead of
Kholmov.
The other Jubilee was the strongest inter­
national tournament of the year-in fact, one
of the greatest ever. Eighteen players com­
peted in the Red Banner Hall of the Central
House of the Soviet Army. Petrosian started
well, 3-1, but then ran into his latest nemesis.
He was betrayed by his defensive intuition.
Lajos Portis ch-Petrosian
Jubilee Tournament, Moscow, 1967
Slav Defense (DlO)
1. d4 dS 2. c4 c6 3. cxdS cxdS 4. Nc3 Nf6
5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6 7. e3 Bd6 8. Bg3 0-0
9. Bd3 ReS?! 10. NeS!
Petrosian likely trusted his defensive skill
in a 10. 0-0 Bxg3 11. hxg3 es 12. dxeS NxeS
middlegame. His opponent had played the
position with 9. Bd3 as much as anyone and
soon got attacking chances.
10. . . . BxeS 11. dxeS Nd7 12. f4 Qb6
Now 13. Qd2 NcS should equalize (14. Bbl
Nb4).
13. 0-0! Qxe3+ 14. Khl Qb6
The dangers to Black are illustrated by
14 . . . . a6, which stops Nb5-d6. Then 15. Rf3
Qb6 16. Bf2 QaS? 17. Bxh7+! Kxh7 18. QhS+
Kg8 19. Rh3. After 14 . . . . Qb6 White would
have compensation from 15. Bf2 (15. . . . Qd8
16. NbS or a possible queen trap after 15. . . .
Qxb2 16. NbS Rd8 17. a3).
15. Qh5 Nf8
Good defenders do not trust weakening
moves like 15. . . . g6. But this time it works
better than the knight move (16. Qh6 Qb4!
and . . . Qf8).
As the game goes, computers want White
to play NbS at move 16 or 17.
16. Rf3 Ng6 17. Bf2 QdS? (see diagram)
Petrosian doubted that 17. . . . Qxb2 18. Rbl
 12. Humors
After 17. ... Qd8
Qxc3 19. Rh3 was survivable. His move looked
like a good pawn offer to create drawing
chances-18. Rh3 h6 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Qxg6
Ne7 21. Qg4 NfS. But after White's next move
his advantage is manifest.
18. Nb5! Nee? 19. Nd6 Bd7
Black recognized how lost 19. . . . Rf8
20. Bh4 was, in view of 21. Rh3 h6 22. BgS
and 23. Bxh6!.
20. Bh4! Qb6 21. Rh3 h6 22. Bf6 Qxb2
23. Rfl Nf5 24. Bxf5 Black resigns
Not waiting for 24 . . . . exfS 25. Bxg7! .
The tournament was so strong that Por­
tisch managed to defeat the past, current and
future world champions (Tal, Petrosian and
Spassky) yet only earned a tie for sixth prize.
Petrosian finished with an even score and
tied for ninth place. Spassky settled for ten
short draws out of 17 games. But on occasion
he looked like the Tolush-cloned Spassky of
ten years before.
Spassky-Istvan Bilek
Jubilee Tournament, Moscow, 1967
Sicilian Defense (B61)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Qd2 a6 8. 0-0-0
Rc8 9. f4 h610. Bxf6 gxf6 ll. Be2 h512. Kbl
e6
Leonid Stein managed to handle these po­
sitions well as Black by trying to exploit the
257
weak dark squares. Here 15. . . . Nxd4 16. Qxd4
Qc7 and . . . QcS was the way.
13. Rhfl b5 14. Nxc6! Rxc6 15. Bf3 Rc5
16. f5!
This is a thematic idea in similar positions.
If White gets control of dS and e4, even at
the cost of a pawn (16. . . . exf5? 17. NdS fxe4
18. Bxe4), he is better. Spassky also prepared
a strong Ne2-f4 maneuver.
16. . . . Qa5? 17. fxe6! fxe6 (see diagram)
After 17. ... fxe6
Low-risk is 18. Qd4!, threatening 19. b4 as
well as 19. Qxf6. For example, 18 . . . . Res
19. Qa7! (19. . . . Res? 20. eS! and 21. Ne4 is
stronger than in the game).
18. e5!? Rxe5!
Black can resign after 18 . . . . fxeS? 19. Qg5
(and 20. Ne4). Also 19. Bxh5+ RxhS 20. Rxf8+
Kxf8 21. Qxd6+. Or 18 . . . . d5? 19. NxdS Qxd2
20. Nxf6+.
19. Qf4 Rf5
Here 20. Qe4 and Qb7 or Qa8+ keeps
White ahead.
20. Qg3?! Rg5?
After 20. . . . Kd8! White has nothing con­
crete, e.g., 21. Qh4 Rh6 22. Qg3! Rh8 23. Qh4
is a draw by repetition.
21. Qh4! d5
There was no defense in view of the 22. Ne4
threat.
258 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
22. Bxd5! exd5? 23. Rxf6 Rhg8 24. Nxd5
Bg4 25. RxfS+
Good enough (25. . . . Kxf8 26. Rfl+) be­
cause Black resigned. But 25. Rel+ is even
better (25. . . . Kd7 26. Nb6+ Kc7? 27. Qg3+
and mates).
The tournament turned out to be Leonid
Stein's greatest triumph, a half point ahead
of the star-packed field. Stein was an unlikely
chess superstar. He did not go to college but
worked in a metal-working factory, then
served in the army. He was already a strong
player at age 19 but his lack of discipline held
him back. He was briefly barred by Soviet
chess officials from major events because of
his addiction to card games. He would re­
main a challenge to the four rivals for the rest
of his tragically short life.
Sp assky and Maturity
As Spassky had told Leonard Barden, "a
bachelor's life is very bad" because "it is so
disorganized:' But he also found he had little
patience with dating. "I don't like to spend a
lot of time with girls;' he said before the
Petrosian match. "Just enough to say how­
do-you-do and good bye:' 33
Nevertheless, in 1966 Spassky married
Larisa Zakharovna Soloviev, who was de­
scribed as the daughter of a high-ranking of­
ficial of the Leningrad gas industry. They had
met in 1962 at a beach near Leningrad. Shortly
after the Moscow "Jubilee" he became a
father for the second time when Larisa gave
birth to a son, Vasily.
Family life seemed to instill a measure of
maturity in the now-30-year-old. His playing
style also seemed more seasoned. Three weeks
after his son was born he was playing in an­
other Spartakiad team tournament. He had
the best first-board score, 4-1, with wins over
Petrosian, Alexey Suetin and Stein. Spassky
had never beaten Stein before and had lost
three times, including the painful last round
game of the 28th USSR Championship finals.
Leonid Stein-Spassky
USSR Spartakiad Teams
Championship, Moscow, 1967
French Defense (C09)
I. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5
Spassky very rarely played the French De­
fense, although it was an Igor Bondarevsky
favorite. In one previous Tarrasch variation,
ten years before, Spassky tried 3. . . . Nf6 4. eS
Ng8!? and drew.
4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Bd6 7. 0-0
Ne7 8. c4
Virtually a new move. Now 8 . . . . 0-0
9. dxcS BxcS 10. Nb3 Bd6 ll. cS offers White
a small edge.
8. . . . a6 9. cxd5?
He would also be slightly better after
9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. dxcS and 11. Nb3.
9. . . . axb5! IO. dxc6 c4! 11. cxb7 Bxb7
12. Rel 0-0 13. Ne4 Res
It seemed that Black's only compensation
for the lost pawn is his two bishops and now
he is willing to allow Nxd6. But Spassky ap­
preciated that White had no good square for
his bishop and that mattered a lot, e.g., 14. Bd2
NfS or 14. Ng3 Qb6 15. Be3 NdS.
14. Bg5 f6
Black regains his pawn soon after 15. Bh4
NfS 16. Nxd6 Qxd6.
15. Bd2 Nf5
White can play for a draw with 16. Nxd6
Qxd6 17. Be3 so that 17 . . . . Bxf3 18. Qxf3
Nxd4 19. Bxd4 Qxd4 20. Qc6 liquidates ten­
sion. But Black could do better with 17. . . .
Re6 and 18 . . . . Rae8.
16. Qc2? Bf817. Re2 Nxd418. Nxd4 Qxd4
19. Rael f5! (see diagram)
 12. Humors
After 19. ... JS
Stein underestimated this move. He would
be close to losing after 20. Ng3 QdS 21. f3
Rxe2 22. Rxe2 and then 22. . . . Qd3 or
22. Bes+ 23. Kfl Rxa2.
20. Nf6+ Qxf6 21. Rxe8 Qg6! 22. Rxf8+
Rxf8 23. f3
Not 23. g3? Qc6! and Black wins.
23. . . . Bxf3 24. Bc3 Be4 25. Qf2 f4!?
Queen endgames, such as after 26. Bxg7
Bxg2 (26. . . . Kxg7 27. Qd4+) 28. Bxf8 Be4+
29. Kfl Bd3+, may be winning for him. But
the rook endgame after 28. Qxg2 Kxg7
29. Res offered some hope. Better was 25. . . .
Rd8.
26. Rdl? Bc6 27. h3 h6 28. Kh2 Rf5 29. Rd8+
Kh7 30. Qc2 Qg3+ 31. Kgl Qe3+ 32. Qf2
White can resign after 32. Kh2 Be4!. Black
wins a second pawn after 32. Kfl Be4 33. Qf2
RgS 34. Qxe3 Bxg2+.
32. . . . Rg5 33. Qxe3 Rxg2+ 34. Kfl fxe3
35. Rd6 Be4 36. Rd4? Bf3 37. Rf4 e2+ White
resigns
Souss e
When Bobby Fischer refused to play in the
1964 Interzonal, Bent Larsen said he would
not be missed. "I don't think Fischer would
have qualified" for the 1965 Candidates
259
matches, he said. "His play has deteriorated
over the past two years:' 34 But Fischer was
the pre-tournament favorite in the Interzonal
that began in Sousse, Tunisia, on October 16,
1967.
There would be eight Candidates in the
1968 matches. Spassky and Tal, the finalists
in 1965, were seeded, so the Sousse partici­
pants were vying for six other Candidates
spots. It was assumed that Fischer would
earn one of them. The other five appeared
up for grabs among Korchnoi, Stein, Yefim
Geller and four non-Soviets, Larsen, Glig­
oric, Portisch and Vlastimil Hort.
But Stein, the hero of Moscow, was unrec­
ognizable. He lost in rounds seven, eight and
nine to Fischer, Hort and Larsen. Korchnoi
was plagued by draws and blamed an ulcer.
But he soon amassed a plus-four score, with
a bit of luck.
Robert Byrne-Korchnoi
Interzonal, Sousse, 1967
Sicilian Defense (B77)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Qd2 0-0
9. Bc4 Qa5 10. 0-0-0 Bd7 11. Kbl Rfc8
12. Bb3 Ne513. h4 Nc414. Bxc4 Rxc415. Nb3
Qa616. e5!
This was briefly a main line of the Dragon
Variation. Now 16. . . . dxeS 17. NcS costs ma­
terial.
16. . . . Ne8 17. Nd5! Bxe5
Computers later pointed out 17. . . . Be6
18. Nxe7+ Kf8 19. exd6 and now 19. . . . Rd8
20. NdS Rxc2!. But White comes out on top
after 21. Qxc2 BfS 22. QxfS gxfS 23. d7.
18. Nxe7+ Kf8
White's attack is the faster one after 18 . . . .
Kh8 19. hS.
19. Nd5 Bf5 20. Bh6+ Ng7 21. Ne3!
Now 21. . . . Ra4 22. NxfS gxfS 23. f4! Bf6
24. Qxd6+ is over.
260 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
21. . . . Rac8!? 22. Nxc4 Rxc4
A Tai finish would be 23. Nal? Ra4 24. a3
Rxa3! and wins.
23. Rel Ra4
Here 24. Rhel! would threaten 25. Rxe5
dxe5? 26. Qd8 mate. It would end the game
soon after 24 . . . . Bf6 25. Bg5 Bxg5 26. hxg5
or 25. . . . Bxb2 26. Kxb2 Rxa2+ 27. Kbl Qa3
28. Qc3.
24. f4 Bf6 25. BgS BxgS 26. hxgS Rxa2 (see
diagram)
After 26. ... Rxa2
Black has only one trick and 27. Qc3 Be6
28. Reel, among others, would foil it. Robert
Byrne, who was suffering from a stomach
ailment like Korchnoi, self-destructs.
27. Rxh7?? Be6 28. Qc3? Ral+ White re­
signs
It is mate after 29. Nxal Qa2. White would
have been worse after 28. Rh8+ Ke7 29. c4
Bf5+.
During the tournament Korchnoi gave up
smoking, one more time. But he relapsed
after a loss to Milan Matulovic. With six
rounds left, Korchnoi needed steady nerves
or more luck. His nerves held and he won
his next five games. He finished a half point
behind Larsen, the tournament winner.
Korchnoi was satisfied with his play. But
at age 36, he felt his best years were be­
hind him. "I don't hope to become world
champion;' he said. "Earlier, I deserved it,
maybe . . . :' 35
Tai Prep ares
Tai prepared for the 1968 Candidates
matches with three quite different events­
a Swiss System tournament, a major inter­
national and a training match-and with a
new helper. Alexander Koblents had been
growing weary for years of trying to harness
Tal's talent. "Sometimes Koblents complained
that Misha was not very disciplined;' said his
friend, the Polish master Andrzej Filipowicz.
Tai would much rather play blitz than study.
Moreover, Koblents was no longer a trainer
for all ofTal's needs. Openings played an in­
creasingly important role in the Candidates
match era, and Koblents had not kept pace
with quickly evolving theory.
Gennady Sosonko, a 23-year-old Lenin­
grader, had drawn with Tai in a simul five
years before. He got to know him better in
autumn 1966 when they played hours and
hours of blitz chess over a few days and soon
became friends. 36 Soviet chess official Alex­
ander Bakh, a fellow graduate of the Riga Pi­
oneer Palace, later claimed credit for uniting
Tai with Sosonko. "He won't let me down;'
Bakh quoted Tai as saying about him. 37
The Swiss that Tai entered was the 130-
player 35th USSR Championship finals in
December 1967. It was not a top-tier event.
The bulletins were so haphazard that three
ofTal's 13 games are apparently lost. Tai and
Lev Polugaevsky tied for first prize.
Shortly afterwards there was a 20-player
round robin blitz tournament in which only
one grandmaster took part. Of course, it was
Tai. He won his first 18 games, then lost in
the final round to 17-year-old Evgeny Svesh­
nikov. Tai had been Sveshnikov's idol since
he won the final game of his 1965 Larsen
match with a knight sacrifice. 'Mer that game
I sacrificed probably tens of such knights . . .
 12. Humors 26 1

and tried to imitate my hero;' Sveshnikov re­

called. At a Tai memorial tournament in 2011
Sveshnikov added that Korchnoi was right
when he said Tai played by stereotype. But it
was one he invented. "Every major player has
his stereotype;' he said. "Tai had his program,
his scale of values:' 38
Two weeks after the championship finals
Tai was in Wijk aan Zee for the most presti­
gious European tournament of 1968. But he
played without energy, and although he tied
for second place, it was three points behind
After 17. Qg4
Korchnoi. Tal's training match was against He is playing for 17 . . . . Nxdl? 18. f6! Bxf6
Ratmir Kholmov. Here is how it began. 19. Rxdl, when he can keep his extra piece.
Ratmir Kholmov-Tal 17. . . . h5! 18. Qxh5 Qxd7!
Training Match, Riga, 1968 Black is roughly equal after 18 . . . . Nxb3+
Sicilian Defense (B89) 19. axb3 Nxdl.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 19. Nxa5!
5. Ne3 Ne6 6. Be4 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qe2 0-0
9. 0-0-0 Bd7 10. f4 ReS 11. f5? Na5!? He would have had more than that after
19. Rd3 Nxa2+ 20. Kb2 Nb4.
In Tai's training games, he wanted to be
the one giving a sacrifice, not the one accept­ 19. . . . Qa4 20. Nb3 Res 21. f6!
ing one, even if it were dubious (11. . . . Nxd4 To play for a win, White would have to try
12. Rxd4 ext:5 13. ex£5 Bxt:5 14. g4 Be6). How­ 21. Kd2!? or 21. Rd3.
ever, a better counterattacking idea is 11. . . .
NeS! (12. Bb3 Rxc3!). Black would be better 21. . . . Nxa2+ 22. Kd2 Qe4! 23. Rel Qxg2+
after 12. fxe6 Rxc4 13. exd7 Rxc3! 14. bxc3 24. Qe2 Qd5+ 25. Qd3 Qg2+ draw
Nxe4.
12. Bd3 e5 13. Nb3 b5
Try to Ask Tai
Tai was trying to improve the . . . Rxc3 sac­
rifice, which could have been played at move On the last Sunday of every August, Tai
12 or 13. tried to make sure he was in Moscow. That
is when an annual speed tournament was
14. Bxb5 Rxe3 15. bxc3
organized by the newspaper Vechernyaya
Not 15. Bxd7? Nxb3+ 16. axb3 Rxe3 Moskva in Sokolniki Park. The prize was an
17. Qxe3 Qxd7 when Black is much better. elegant samovar. Tai won 11 of them.
A healthy Tai rarely refused an opportu­
15. . . . Nxe416. Bxd7 Nxe317. Qg4! (see di­
nity to perform like that. An extreme exam­
agram)
ple occurred one day when he was home in
Kholmov stays in the spirit of a training Riga and the telephone rang. "Kiev studio of
game. It would have petered out to a likely scientific-documentary films speaking. We
draw after 17. Qa6 Nxb3+ 18. axb3 Nxdl need a grandmaster to give a blindfold exhi­
19. Rxdl Qxd7 20. Qxa7. bition;' said the caller. 39
262 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
The producers of a series, "Seven Steps Be­
yond the Horizon;' wanted a GM to give a
ten-board blindfold simul in a television stu­
dio for a segment about secrets of the human
mind. Blindfold play was rare in the Soviet
Union, but not banned, as often thought in
the West. Tal remembered that when the
producers approached the Soviet Chess Fed­
eration, they were told: "No one here engages
in such stupid things. Try to ask Tal:'
He readily agreed and the film was made
in 1968. In it he recalled how he was intro­
duced to blindfold play after his surgery in
1962, before the Curac;:ao Candidates tour­
nament. When he awoke from anesthesia,
several patients "gathered in my room'' and
wanted to play him. Tal could not stand up,
let alone walk from table to table as in a nor­
mal simul. So four boards and sets were
brought into his room. Tal made his moves
without looking at the boards. "It was very
intense. I managed to win three games but
my position in the fourth game was very
bad;' he said. After an hour he won that game
by default: his opponent was taken away for
his own surgery.
Tal finished the documentary simul with
four wins and six draws. At one point during
the filming he was asked by an announcer
about the positions remaining. He quickly
reeled off all the moves played so far, ranging
in 15 to 19 per board.
Playing a "Great G entleman"
Tal's opponent in the Candidates match
quarterfinals was an old friend, Svetozar
Gligoric. They had first played one another
at Portoroz ten years before. But this was a
different Gligoric. He had a new second, the
fiery attacking grandmaster Dragoljub Ve­
limirovic. Together they worked out a new
opening repertoire. Sosonko joined Tal in
Riga for their own opening preparation for
the match, often joined by Koblents.
Tal was willing to play in Belgrade, even
at a site across the street from Gligoric's
home. But Mikhail Beilin, vice chair of the
Soviet Chess Federation, asked for a neutral
location. The Yugoslavs replied that Tal
should not be concerned: He had more fans
in Belgrade than Gligoric did. Belgrade was
chosen.
Fans of both players were excited when
Tal, playing White, put a rook en prise with
his 22nd move of the first game. Gligoric
thought for 35 minutes and declined it. He
defended well and outplayed Tal in the game's
fifth hour. It was another first-round loss for
Tal.
In the second game, Tal had strong win­
ning chances by move 18. But Gligoric seized
the upper hand and was close to his second
win at move 31. The tension eased and when
they adjourned, Gligoric believed he was bet­
ter. Computers say it was roughly even. But
Gligoric could certainly have pressed Tal fur­
ther. However, on the day of the resumption,
there was an eagerly anticipated Yugoslavia­
France football (soccer) game. Knowing that
Tal was as big a fan as he was, Gligoric sug­
gested they agree to a draw and go to the sta­
dium instead. "I was called a great gentleman
after this;' Gligoric recalled in 2011. 4 0
The next three games were also drawn, so
at the half-way point Gligoric kept his one­
point lead. Tal was certain he would lose.
Gligoric later gave various reasons for why
he did not. "I was really unlucky: the tour­
nament hall was across the street from my
house;' he said. "Friends from all over Bel­
grade would drop in to talk to me, and I
couldn't say no:' 41 He said he began "to feel
exhaustion'' from "the expectations of my
fans and friends who were constantly visiting
me and calling me and encouraging me to
win:' 42
Another reason, he said, was making "a
terrible mistake" by reading newspaper ac­
counts of the match. Before the sixth game,
"a stupid journalist" complained in print that
 12. Humors 263

the same Nimzo-Indian Defense variation Bxf3 16. Nxf3. He could hold the heavy piece
arose in the second and fourth game and endgame of 16. . . . cxd4 17. Bxd4 dxeS
could occur again in the sixth. Upset, Glig­ 18. NxeS NxeS 19. BxeS Nd6 20. Bxd6! .
oric decided "to show that in chess there are
15. . . . cxd4 16. Bxd4 dxe5 17. fxe5 Nxe5!
other openings:' He made his point at the ex­
18. Bxb6
pense of abandoning the work he had done
with Velimirovic. With 18. cS! ? White threatens 19. BxeS
(compared with 18. BxeS? QcS+). The posi­
Svetozar Gligoric-Tai tion after 18 . . . . Nd7 19. cxb6 Nd6 20. Radl
Candidates Match quarterfinals, is tenable.
Sixth game, Belgrade, 1968
18. . . . Nd6 19. Bd4? (see diagram)
Bogo-Indian Defense (Ell)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
Gligoric and his second had not even
looked at this move when they prepared for
Tal. Gligoric was "shocked" when he realized
his hand had played 3. Nf3. 43
3. . . . Bb4+
Any hope that Tai would steer the opening
back into Gligoric's preparation (3. . . . cs or
3. . . . dS) was dashed. This may have been
the first time Tai ever played 3. . . . Bb4+ and After 19. Bd4
the first time Gligoric faced it. The critics could agree on one thing: This
was an error, rather than 19. Qc3! QgS 20. Nf3
4. Bd2 a5 5. Nc3 0-0 6. e3 d6 7. Qc2 Nbd7
or 19. . . . Nd7 20. Bf2.
8. a3 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Qe7 10. Be2 a4
19 . . . . Nf5! 20. Bxe5 Qc5+ 21. Rf2 Qxe5
Gligoric had to make several minor errors
22. Nf3 Qc5 23. Qc3 Rfd8 24. Qb4 Qa7
to lose. His failure to play 10. b4 allows Black
25. c5 Rab8 26. Qc3?
to unbalance the position, as Tai wanted. But
chances are still equal, if not a shade better Time pressure and match tension show.
for White. To be consistent White should play 26. Qb6
and pray for a draw in a pawn-down end­
11. 0-0 b6 12. Nd2 Bb7 13. e4
game.
Koblents believed Gligoric passed up the
26. . . . Rbc8 27. Rdl Rxdl+ 28. Bxdl Rxc5
draw-minded 13. Bf3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 because
29. Qb4 Bc6?
he was going for a knockout blow.
But he was losing the middlegame. Tai was
13. . . . c5! 14. e5
short of time, too, and missed 29. . . . Bxf3!
This gives him the double-edged situation 30. Bxf3 Rel+ or 30. gxf3 Ne3 and wins.
he wanted. But so would 14. Radl cxd4
30. Qf4 Rd5 31. Be2 h6 32. Ne5 Ba8 33. g4
15. Bxd4 eS 16. Bc3 NcS, for instance.
g5! 34. Qc4 Rxe5 White resigns
14. . . . Ne8! 15. f4
Gligoric also lost the seventh and ninth
This sharpens it further. If Gligoric belat­ games, ending the match 3½-5½ and, he said,
edly sought a draw he might have tried 15. Bf3 "feeling more relief than disappointment."
264 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Looking back after more than 40 years, he Bg7 6. f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 0-0 8. 0-0 Rb8 9. Nh4
gave another explanation of his defeat: He Nd410. t'5 b511. Bg5 b412. Nbl? Nd7!13. Nd2
never liked the "nervous struggle" of chess.
Geller searched for a reason why he was
"I love sports in the fresh air, but chess-this
not already better. He was. He could have
game is not for my nature:'
safely grabbed a pawn with 13. . . . h6 14. Be3
Korchnoi's first-round opponent was Sam­
g5! 15. Nhf3 Nxf3+ and . . . Bxb2.
uel Reshevsky, who had only played in one
Candidates round-back in 1953. He looked 13. . . . Ne5 14. Khl a5 15. Rbl a4 16. Nhf3
very rusty and was in time pressure in almost Nexf3 17. Nxf3 Nb5 18. Qd2 a3! 19. bxa3
every game. Korchnoi won the first three Nxa3
games he had White and drew the fourth to
Geller preferred a textbook attack on the
clinch the match, 5½-2½.
weakness spots in White's camp, at b2 and
The third quarterfinals was a rematch,
c3. Spassky's poker face showed no concern
Spassky versus Yefim Geller. Despite Geller's
about what seemed to be a clearly deterio­
one-sided loss three years before, Tal felt his
rating position. His next move left Geller
chances of winning were 50-50. Geller might
frowning in disbelief.
have won if he had more of Korchnoi's chol­
eric quality. But Geller could not motivate 20. Rbel!?! Bc3 21. Qf2 Bxel 22. Rxel f6
himself that way. "Boris was always so pleas­ 23. Bh6 Rf7 24. g4
ant to me, as a person and as a player, that I White's only evident bid for attack involves
could never feel in myself genuine sporting Nh4 or a prepared g4-g5. Geller prepares de­
malice . . . " he said after the match. 44 fensive measures like . . . Rbb7.
Geller was better prepared than in 1965.
But all four of his White games were drawn 24. . . . e6! 25. Nh4 g5
and only in his fourth did he get real winning After the game Spassky thought 25. . . .
chances. It was a different story when Spas­ Qe8 would have defended better, based on
sky had White: All four games were Closed 26. fxg6 hxg6 27. Nxg6 Rh7! .
Variations of the Sicilian Defense, an open­
ing in which theoretical novelties are rarely 26. Nf3 exf5?
significant. Spassky's plan was simply to out­ Opening part of the g-file does not spoil
play his opponent between moves 15 and 40. matters. But 26. . . . Kh8! was safe enough to
"I was the king of the middlegame;' he said win.
of his 1960s successes. "I knew well what was
the critical moment of a game . . . . In every 27. gxt'S Kh8 28. h4 g4 29. Nh2 (see diagram)
game a critical point arises. It is like two play­
ers rising up a mountain and meeting at the
summit. The one who finds the correct way
remains on top:' 45
Geller failed the test: He lost the first three
Sicilians, despite getting very good positions.

Spassky-Yefim Geller
Candidates Match quarterfinals,
Second game, Sukhumi, 1968
Sicilian Defense (B25)
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 After 29. Nh2
 12. Humors
Geller was addicted to time pressure. "I
look at masses of variations but spend time
and strength on this. It's hard to choose;' he
admitted. 46 After Eduard Gufeld became his
second, Gufeld tried to get Geller to follow
a guideline: Never think more than 25 min­
utes over any move. But Geller could not.
"He would calculate a long and compli­
cated variation exactly and then begin to
search for another;' Gufeld wrote. "Why? Be­
cause his understanding told him there was
a simpler and more rational way;' Gufeld
added. "He was always a fighter and remains
a fighter, but he can not play rationally. . . :' 47
Here 29. . . . Qg8 and then 30. Qg3 Nxc2
was still a superior position for Black.
29. . . . g3? 30. Qxg3 Nxc2 31. Rgl Bb7?
Even here 31. . . . Rbb7 would have left the
outcome uncertain, Garry Kasparov said
(32. Bf3 Nd4 33. Bh5 Rfc7).
32. Bf3! Qd7 33. Bh5 Re7 34. Ng4! Rg8
35. Qf2 Nd4 36. Nxf6 Rxgl+ 37. Qxgl Black
resigns
Gufeld's diagnosis seemed to describe
what happened in the fourth game. Geller
amassed a substantial advantage in the same
opening. At move 35, with about 40 minutes
left, he had a choice of rook moves. He had
earlier calculated one of them and concluded
it would win. But he thought and thought
and played the other rook move. Spassky's
attack was fatally revived.
"Geller had a glass jaw:' Spassky said many
years later. 48 When an opponent suddenly
made sharp threats, Geller would often play
poorly. Spassky won the fourth game in 48
moves and took the match by the same score
as three years before, 5½-2½.
64
As world champion, Petrosian was a mem­
ber of the ruling presidium of the Soviet
265
Chess Federation. Federation vice chair Mik­
hail Beilin discovered that Petrosian shared
his enthusiasm for a pet idea, reviving 64. It
was a popular weekly chess newspaper that
was forced to close after the Nazi invasion in
1941. Now seemed like a good time to bring
it back. Soviet readers were eager for chess
information. Three other publications­
Shakhmatny Bulletin, Shakhmatnaya Moskva
and the Bulletin of the Central Chess Club­
had been launched from 1955 to 1958 and
were thriving. Shakhmatnaya Moskva (Chess
Moscow), which appeared every two weeks,
was edited by Petrosian.
The idea to relaunch 64 arose at a presid­
ium meeting in 1968. After a long talk, a pro­
posal was pitched to the propaganda section
of the Communist Party Central Committee,
which kept a close eye on both chess and
publishing. But there were serious problems,
starting with the Soviet Union's chronic short­
age of paper and printing capacity. "With
paper, as always, there were known difficul­
ties;' said Alexey Serov, the Federation chair­
man. 49
But the propaganda section eventually
gave its approval. The newspaper was revived
on July 5, 1968, with Petrosian as editor. It
eventually had a circulation of 100,000, mak­
ing it the most widely read chess publication
in the world. Beilin said he was the one who
pushed the project through but "Tigran Pet­
rosian helped a lof' 50
Petrosian enjoyed his 64 role but few of
the other responsibilities of being world
champion. He constantly seemed to be trav­
eling at the request of the vlasti. Like Spassky
and Tal, he was a somewhat absentee father.
"It's true he was not home often, in general,
not more than four months a year:' his son
Vartan recalled of this era.51 Korchnoi was
estranged from his son Igor for years and
also had a son out of wedlock in the Ukraine,
according to Gennady Sosonko. 52
As champion, Petrosian could have repre­
sented the interests of the world's leading
266 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
players. But he did not like to make unpleas­
ant requests, particularly about money. "In
1968, one of the famous foreign grandmas­
ters literally begged, 'They do not pay us
honorariums because the world champion
does not get one;" Vartan Petrosian said. 53
But his father claimed chess would be dam­
aged by inflated fees. For example, he warned,
if Bobby Fischer ever became world cham­
pion he would ask for a sum like $10,000 to
play his next match. 54
At the board, Petrosian's title was a curse
and a blessing. It was a curse because many
of his opponents were looking for ways to
suck the life out of a position and draw with
him. It was a blessing because he got unde­
served draws. When he tied for second place
at Bamberg 1968 he drew ten out of 15 games
and got two extra half-points:
Petrosian-Jiirgen Teufel
Bamberg, 1968
English Opening (AOO)
I. g3 d5 2. Bg2 g6 3. c4 c6 4. Qc2 Nf6 5. b3
Bg7 6. Bb2 0-0 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. 0-0 Nbd7
9. d3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 e6 Il. Nd2 NeS 12. Bxg7
Nxg7 13. b4 Ne5 14. Bg2 Nf5 15. Qb2 Qf6
16. Rabi hS 17. e4! Ne718. b5 RfdS 19. bxc6
bxc6 20. exd5 cxd5 21. Qa3 Rahs 22. Rxb8
Rxb8 23. cxd5 exd5 24. Nb3 h4 25. Qxa7
Rc8 26. d4? Nf3+ 27. Khl Rc2 28. a4??
Nxh2! (see diagram)
After 28. ... Nxh2
A draw was agreed although White is quite
lost: 29. Kxh2 hxg3+ 30. fxg3 Qxfl or
30. Kxg3 Qd6+ 31. f4 NfS+ 32. Kh2 Ne3.
"The champion participating in a tourna­
ment is everyone's target, everybody wants
to draw with the world champion;' Petrosian
said. Thinking ahead to 1969 he added, "Let
Spassky become champion and you will see
that he, too, will win no tournaments:' 55
The Bamberg tournament director was
Grandmaster Lothar Schmid, who was also
playing in it. He offered a draw in a position
when Petrosian could have resigned.
Petrosian-Lothar Schmid
Bamberg, 1968
English Opening (A30)
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6
5. 0-0 e6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. d3 d5 8. Bd2 0-0
9. Qcl b6 10. Rdl Bb7 11. Rbl Qd7 12. a3
Nd413. Bh6 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Bxh6!15. Qxh6
Nf5 16. Qf4 Nd4 17. Bg2 dxc4 18. dxc4
Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qc6+ 20. f3 Rads
If White wants more than equality he
should at least try 21. Qf6.
21. Kf2 Kg7 22. e3 Nf5 23. g4 Nd6 24. Rd2
f6 25. Rbdl Nf7 26. h4 Rxd2+ 27. Rxd2
Rd8 28. Rxd8 Nxd8 29. Ke2 es 30. Qe4
Qxe4 31. Nxe4 f5 32. Nc3 Nc6 33. g5 h6
34. Kd2 hxg5 35. hxg5 Kf7 36. Nd5 Ke6
37. b4 Kd6 38. Kc3 cxb4+ 39. axb4 Nd8
40. f4 Ne6 41. Kb3?! exf4 42. exf4?? b5! (see
diagram)
After 42. .•. b5
 12. Humors
Here the players shook hands. But White
is lost due to Zugzwang, e.g., 43. Kc3 bxc4
44. Kxc4 a6! .
Much Ambition,
Little Ammunition
Bent Larsen had a difficult time overcom­
ing Lajos Portisch in their quarterfinals match.
Larsen said that when Boris Spassky looked
over those games he "could conclude I will
be an easy opponent for him:' But, he added,
"I can think of Spassky in the same way after
looking at his games with Geller:' 56
Malmo, Sweden, was chosen for the
Larsen-Spassky semifinals. Both men were
outraged at the meager prize fund, $500, for
a competition that was two steps away from
the world championship. Spassky acted in
the bold way that Petrosian could not. ''.At
the opening of the match I protested;' Spas­
sky recalled. The FIDE president Folke Rog­
ard replied, "Mr. Spassky I'm only following
your Federation's recommendation:' 57
This confirmed Spassky's suspicion that
the vlasti wanted to discourage big paydays
for their players. When they returned home
with hard currency or impossible-to-get con­
sumer products, it undermined the Marxist
doctrine that all workers were paid according
to their needs. "The Soviet Chess Federation,
of course, did not care about the players;'
Spassky concluded. "For the Communists,
chess was only an instrument:' 58 Larsen said
his prize was "a little more than $200:' 59 Spas­
sky put that in perspective: "We earned less
than skilled laborers in Sweden:'
Spassky was also annoyed by Larsen's boasts
that he would be the next world champion.
"Larsen plays like an amateur and is paid like
a professional;' Spassky said. "While I play
like a professional and get paid like an ama­
teur:' 60
The tone of the match was set when Spas­
sky again began games quietly, as if finding
267
the right opening moves did not matter. In
fact, the middlegame did not seem to either.
Spassky-Bent Larsen
Candidates Match semifinals,
First game, Malmo, 1968
Slav Defense (D14)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5!? cxd5
5. Bf4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7
9. 0-0
Spassky makes no attempt to force matters
in view of 9. Ne5 Ncxe5 10. Bxe5 a6! or
9. Qa4 Rc8 10. Bxc6 Rxc6 ll. Qxa7 Qc8 and
. . . Rxc3 or . . . Ra6.
9. . . . Be7 10. Rel 0-0 11. h3 Rc8 12. Bd3
Bxd313. Qxd3 Nb614. Qe2 a615. Nel Nc4
16. Nd3 Nb4 17. b3 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Nb6
19. f3 Bd6 20. Ne2 Qe7 21. Bxd6 Qxd6
22. Qd2
The game could plausibly end in a draw
after 22 . . . . Rxcl 23. Rxcl Rc8 24. Rxc8+
Nxc8.
22. . . . Qa3 23. Nf4 Rxcl 24. Rxcl Rc8
25. Rxc8+ Nxc8 26. Qc2!
But there are two factors that give White
tactical hopes. One is Black's vulnerable first
rank. Another is his somewhat clumsy knight.
For example, 26. . . . Nd6 27. Qc7 threatens
Qd8+. Then 27. . . . g6 28. Qd8+ Kg7 29. Qe7!
Kg8 30. Kh2! closes in on Zugzwang.
Black only has three pieces but can not
move any of them comfortably (30. . . . Qb4?
31. Nd3! Qa3 32. Ne5 and wins).
26. . . . Ne7 27. Qc7 g6?
Better Luft is 27. . . . h6. Black can also try
27 . . . . Ng6 to neutralize the White knight.
Larsen may have overestimated White's
chances in the queen ending (28. Nxg6 hxg6
29. Qc8+ Kh7 30. Qxb7 f6!).
28. Nd3!?
White may be close to winning after
28. Qxb7 NfS 29. Qc8+ Kg7 30. Qc7! . A key
268 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
continuation is 30. . . . Kg8 31. e4! dxe4 32. fxe4
Nxd4? 33. Qd8+.
28. . . . NfS 29. g4 Nh6?
Fear of Zugzwang scared Larsen away from
the natural 29 . . . . Nd6! . But after 30. NeS h6
he has plenty of pass-moves and there is no
obvious way for White to make decisive
progress.
30. NeS (see diagram)
After 30. Ne5
Spassky's idea is Nd7 followed by Qb8+.
Then on 30 . . . . Qxa2 31. Nd7 Qa3 32. Qb8+
Kg7 33. Qe5+ Kg8 and now there is nothing
much in 34. Nf6+. But a pass, 32. Kg2! , is
strong. If Black allows a trade of queens,
his knight is fatally offside, e.g., 32. . . . Qe7
33. Qxb7 a5 34. Qa8+ Kg7 35. Nc5 Qc7 36. Qb7.
One of the pretty finishes is 32. . . . bS
33. h4 as 34. gs NfS 35. Qb8+ Kg7 36. QeS+
Kg8 and now 37. b4! ! wins. For example,
37. . . . axb4 38. Qb8+ and mates. Or 37 . . . .
Qxb4 38. Nf6+ Kg7 39. Nxd5+.
30. . . . Qb4 31. Nd7! Qel+? 32. Kg2 Qe2+
33. Kg3 NfS+!? 34. gxfS Qel+ 35. Kf4 Qh4+
36. KeS Qg3+ 37. f4 Qxe3+ 38. Kf6 Qxd4+
39. NeS Black resigns
Spassky won three of the next four games
and might have won the fourth. "I could have
won by almost 6-0;' he said, but had to settle
for 5½-2½. Larsen "was never considered
a dangerous competitor to our best grand­
masters;' Mark Taimanov said. 61 Spassky put
it bluntly: "Much ambition, little ammuni­
tion:'
But he was rewarded because the vlasti had
seen the Dane as the biggest threat to a Soviet
world champion. "Apparently he frightened
the Kremlin;' Spassky said. 62 Spassky was
given the Order of the Badge of Honor, one
of the Soviet Union's highest civilian honors.
Towards the end of his career he noted that
it was "my only government award;' forget­
ting the medal for "Valorous Labor" he was
given in his breakout year of 1955.
Korchnoi Versus Dakhtari
Mikhail Tal was one of the few elite players
who got along with Viktor Korchnoi. "We
had very good relations;' Korchnoi said. 63
When they were abroad they often shared
hotel rooms and had meals together. Return­
ing from their Candidates quarterfinal
matches, they met by accident at Moscow's
Sheremetyevo Airport. In the taxi to their
hotel they quickly agreed on the terms of
their semifinals match.
Korchnoi was impressed by Tal's self­
confidence. He "really believed he had hyp­
notic power;' Korchnoi said. "For example,
in a restaurant he would say 'There's been no
waiter for a long time. I will order him to
come.' He would strain himself and order
him to come:' 64
Korchnoi did not believe Tal could hyp­
notize opponents. Yet he believed Tal was
one of three players in history-along with
Magnus Carlsen and Henrique Mecking­
who had the power to read the thoughts of
opponents. 65 His suspicions about Tal deep­
ened during the best-of-12-games semifinals
in Moscow.
Tal had scored only one point in six games
with Korchnoi since Cura�ao. So he took a
page out of Spassky's book and tried to vary
his overall strategy according to the nature
of his opponent: He would seek middlegames
 12. Humors 269

against Korchnoi that were safely within the in an empty hall;' Tal wrote. "We're actors! "
draw radius. After 25 moves of the first game Korchnoi did not feel quite that way but he
each side had only kings and seven pawns. had a habit of looking into the audience early
Tal set traps but agreed to a draw 15 moves in a game to find a friendly face. 'Tm pleased
later. Korchnoi claimed he was amazed Tal if I know that in a specific spot there sits a
failed to win it. The second game was drawn. man at whom I can look at any moment;' he
said. 66
Tal-Korchnoi But in this match he had not noticed a
Candidates match finals, Third game, man sitting in one of the front rows of the
Moscow 1968 audience until one of his seconds pointed
him out before the fourth game. The man
was constantly looking at the board. Korch­
noi learned this was Tal's doctor. What was
he doing there? Korchnoi suspected that Tal
was being given drug injections before the
games and that was influencing his moves.
Everyone knew of Tal's medications by
then. Petrosian joked, "If I lived such a life
I'd already be dead:' Sally Landau said, "He
took a myriad of pain medications. He strug­
gled to get used to it, he was afraid of becom­
After 31. ... Rxc2 ing a drug addict, and he did not:' 67
Mikhail Botvinnik was so concerned that
Korchnoi knew this kind of position for he wrote Sally on November 1, 1967, offering
both sides but said "Tal was too uncertain of confidential psychiatric help at a Moscow
his endgame technique."
After 32. a4! Tal would
have strong winning
chances. But he allowed
Korchnoi to put his pawns
on the right squares, 32. h4?
Kg6 33. a4 Ra2 34. as e5!
35. Ra7 e4! 36. a6 Ral+
37. Kg2 Ra2 38. Ras Kh5
39. Ra7 g5! 40. hxg5 hxg5.
Tal sealed 41. Rh7 + so
that he could study 41. . . .
Kg6 42. Ra7 Kh5 at home.
But there is no way to play
for a win and he agreed to
a draw without resumption.
Tal and Korchnoi, and
Spassky as well, were al­
Tai (left), one of the few players who had good relations with
ways conscious of their au­ Korchnoi, shares a moment with him before their Candidates
dience. "To Spassky and match in 1968. Chess Review, September 1968 (used by permission
me it's simply boring to play of the United States Chess Federation).
270 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
clinic to deal with Tal's dependency. She
showed the letter to Tal but he swept it aside
with his usual irony. "I understand! " he said.
"The Patriarch is in love with you and wants
to carry you off to Moscow. But is it worth
exchanging one ex-world champion for an­
other?" 68
Besides drugs, Korchnoi feared something
else-that Tal's doctor was "exerting a visual
influence on Tal" during play-that is, hyp ­
notic or telepathic help. 69 (After his 1978
World Championship match with Anatoly
Karpov, Korchnoi claimed his opponent made
use of "scientists, psychologists, magicians,
doctors" and so on.)
Vyacheslav Osnos, a Korchnoi second,
told the chief match arbiter, German Frid­
shtein, that Tal's "doctor-psychologist" was
interfering with "the normal course of the
game:' Fridshtein had the playing table moved
further back on the stage, several yards from
the audience. Then he talked to the doctor
"and asked him not to sit closer than the
tenth row" because his presence was making
one of the players nervous.
Korchnoi gave a slightly different version
in the first version of Chess Is My Life. He
said he wrote the arbiters "without expres­
sing my views" about the doctor but asking
that he be moved back to the eighth row.
"The Tal camp-his assistants and himself­
were unhappy about the action I had taken:' 70
After the match, Korchnoi approached Frid­
shtein to explain that the doctor did not
disturb him "but I felt that he influenced
Tal-he helped him maintain his emotional
equilibrium and confidence in his actions:•
Fridshtein said. 71
Valentin Kirillov, who had joined Kob­
lents and Sosonko on Tal's team, said the
doctor was Tal's family physician, Dr. Joseph
Gliekhman. Tal called him "Daktari;' from
the Swahili word for doctor. Kirillov felt the
Korchnoi suspicions of wrongdoing may have
disoriented Tal. "His focus and, more impor­
tantly, his game was off;' he said. 72 Sosonko
said that when his seconds tried to reason
with him Korchnoi sharply replied, "Why
should I remain silent if it's true?" And Tal
simply shrugged and said, "Well, if that's
what Viktor really wants. . . :' 73
In any case, the next three games were
crucial. In the fourth game Korchnoi blitzed
off his first 15 moves. To relieve pressure Tal
offered a pawn and Korchnoi had "a recur­
rence of his old illness"-grabbing any pawn
that was left hanging. 74 But Tal missed tacti­
cal chance and fell behind by one point.
Korchnoi's big plus score against Tal going
into the match stemmed partly from Tal's
thirst for revenge. After Tal lost a game he
would try too hard the next time he had
White. That cost him once more:
Tal-Korchnoi
Candidates Match semifinals,
Fifth game, Moscow, 1968
Ruy Lopez ( C98)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0
9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 ll. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2
Nc613. dxc5 dxcS 14. Nfl Be615. Ne3 Rads
16. Qe2 c417. Nt'S Bxt'S18. ext'S RfeS 19. Bg5
h6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6
This was the real starting point for several
GM games in the 1960s. The orthodox pro­
cedure is 21. Be4, to stop tactics involving
. . . e4, followed by a2-a4 on the queenside
and/or h3-h4 and g2-g4-g5 on the kingside.
21. Nd2 Ne7 22. Ne4 Nd5 23. b3!?
White would have nothing after 23. g3 (to
prevent . . . Nf4) Be7 and 24 . . . . Nf6. More
ambitious is 23. a4. Instead, Tal set a trap:
23. . . . cxb3 24. Bxb3 Nxc3 allows 25. Nxf6+
gxf6 26. Qh5. Then 26. . . . Kh7? allows
27. Bxt7 and 26. . . . Kg7 27. Re3 offers a dan­
gerous attack. In his memoirs he said that if
he had not lost the fourth game he would
have sought "quiet positions" but instead
made a fatal "nervous decision:' 75
 12. Humors
23. . . . Nxc3! 24. Nxf6+ gxf6 25. Qe3!
The difference is 24. Nxc3 cxb3 means
just a lost White pawn and 25. QhS can be
answered by 25. . . . Rd2 (26. Re3 Rxc2
27. Qxh6 Ne2+).
25. . . . cxb3 26. Bxb3 Kh7 27. Reel?? (see
diagram)
After 27. Reel
Tal made no mention of 27. Bxf7! which
would have led to a roughly equal position
(27. . . . Qxf7 28. Qxc3 Rg8 or 28 . . . . Qd7).
Instead, he set what Korchnoi called "a de­
vious trap:' If Black defended the knight with
27. . . . Rc8, then 28. Bxf7! favors White a bit.
Therefore, he intended 27. . . . b4. The trap
appears after 28. a3 as 29. axb4 axb4
30. Ra7! ? Ne2+! 31. Kh2! Qxcl 32. Qxe2.
Black seems to finish the game with 32. . . .
Qf4+ 33. g3 Rd2. But this loses to 34. gxf4
Rxe2 35. Bxf7!.
Korchnoi said there were other ways for
Black to play but they would give Tal "the
game he wanted:' But it is hard to see that in
32. . . . Kh8!. In any case, Korchnoi had a bet­
ter defense:
27. . . . b4 28. a3 e4! 29. axb4 Rd3 30. Qel
e3 31. Bc2 Rd2!
White might have built an impregnable
fortress after 31. . . . exf2+ 32. Qxf2 Ne2+
33. Qxe2 Rxe2 34. Bxd3 Qa7+ 35. Khl. Or
32. . . . Re2 33. Bxd3 Rxf2 34. Kxf2 Qf4+
35. Kgl Qe3+ 36. Khl Qxd3 37. Ra3.
271
32. fxe3 Ne2+ 33. Khl Ng3+ 34. Kgl Re2!
35. Qdl Qb7 36. e4 R8xe4! White resigns
Tal rallied to win game six but Korchnoi
drew the next three games. In a must-win
situation in the tenth game, Tal built up a
powerful edge after 31 moves (not a winning
one, as he wrote). But his nerves failed. "I
needed to stand up, leave the stage and do
some breathing exercises;' he said later. 76
But he made an impulsive pawn sacrifice in­
stead. His advantage vaporized and he was
nearly lost when Korchnoi proposed a draw
at move 61.
Korchnoi was not a particularly magnan­
imous winner. In a post-match article in 64
he called Tal "a highly routine player:' Thanks
to his tactical gift, Tal could win tourna­
ments but not matches. Korchnoi felt Spas­
sky, Paul Keres and Alexander Alekhine were
the genuine masters of attack, not Tal. 77
Petrosian responded in 64 and defended
his friend. But Tal shrugged off Korchnoi's
rant. "I knew Victor, and I knew that he was
capable of saying what he did not mean:' 78
Whether he meant it or not, Korchnoi had
been saying this about Tal since 1957. Spassky
knew it was just Korchnoi being Korchnoi.
"When he wins he usually insults his oppo­
nent: 'Why do you play chess, you know you
don't have any talent:"
Fin als
A grandmaster consensus felt Spassky
would have a tough time in the Candidates
finals against Korchnoi. "Spassky is playing
as if he doesn't enjoy it very much;' Bent
Larsen said. Spassky's style had "moved away
from the very enterprising chess he used to
play" and he had become "very much a wait­
ing player, which probably cost him the [1966]
match with Petrosian;' Larsen added. True,
Spassky did attack Geller when he had White.
"But he probably felt he could beat Geller in
many ways;' Larsen concluded. 79
272 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Korchnoi more or less agreed. In the pre­
vious Candidates matches Spassky did not
try to outplay his opponents. He "waited for
them to beat themselves:' he wrote. He later
acknowledged that Spassky was superior to
him in one-and only one-phase. "He is
very strong in the middlegame, where I am
weak;' he said. "But other than that he is a
quite ordinary grandmaster:•so
Korchnoi arrived in Kiev for the match in
full "evil Viktor" mode. On the eve of the first
game, journalist Viktor Lvovich Khenkin
was surprised to find Korchnoi sitting all
alone with a bowl of borshch in the city's
popular Moscow Restaurant. Khenkin sat
down next to him to get an exclusive inter­
view. Before he could say a word, Spassky ap­
peared. "Two Viktor Lvoviches is luck! " he
said and sat down. Korchnoi silently picked
up his bowl and moved to another table,
making clear he wanted nothing to do with
Spassky. 81
When play began in Kiev's October Palace
of Culture, Spassky seemed to fit the carica­
ture drawn by Larsen and Korchnoi. As
White he offered a draw shortly after a book
Ruy Lopez position was reached in the first
game. He was worse for most of the second
but won thanks to Korchnoi blunders.
Korchnoi blamed his loss on becoming "very
agitated" when he felt the building begin to
shake. He sensed it was an earthquake, like
one that had badly damaged Kiev in 1967.
Only after he resigned did he learn that the
building shook because of a massive artillery
salute involving hundreds of heavy army
guns. 82
After another draw, Spassky won the
fourth game with a Petrosian-like Exchange
sacrifice. He drew the fifth and could have
decided the match when he amassed a big
edge in the sixth. But he suffered another
mysterious blackout, he told the match ar­
biter Alberic O' Kelly. ''.All of a sudden he
was sitting at the board with an empty head,
unable to concentrate or think normally;'
O'Kelly wrote. When he finally moved, it was
a blunder. Oddly enough, "at that very mo­
ment Spassky's assistant, Bondarevsky, was
struck by a kind of heart attack;' he added. 83
The match seemed to be paralleling the
course of the Korchnoi-Tal semifinals, when
a 2-0 lead suddenly became a close match.
But after Spassky used a time-out to recover,
he won the seventh and eighth games con­
vincingly:
Korchnoi-Spassky
Candidates Match finals, Eighth game,
Kiev, 1968
English Opening (A14)
1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7
5. 0-0 0-0 6. b3 b6 7. Bb2 Bb7 8. e3 c5
9. Qe2 Nc6 10. Rdl Rc8 11. d3 Qc712. Nc3
Rfd8 13. Nh4 dxc4!?
This move reveals a sharp difference in
positional thinking. Spassky liked to resolve
the center tension this way. Korchnoi felt it
was a basic mistake because it grants White
a mobile center and rules out . . . d4.
After Nigel Short played 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d5
3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb2 e6 5. c4 dxc4!? and beat him
in a 1996 game, Korchnoi lectured him: "You
played a match for the world championship
so you should understand the position bet­
ter:' In any case, computers say 13. . . . d4! fa­
vors Black, e.g., 14. NbS Qd7 15. exd4 a6
16. Na3 cxd4.
14. bxc4 a6 15. Rabi Na7! 16. Bxb7 Qxb7
17. Nf3 b5!?
This was Spassky's aim when he played
13. . . . dxc4. He seeks an outside passed pawn.
But he granted Korchnoi a tactical trick,
18. cxb5 axb5 19. NxbS!, based on 19. . . .
Qxb5 20. Bxf6 and 19. . . . Nxb5 20. a4.
Spassky could have bailed out with 18 . . . .
NxbS 19. Ne5 Nd6, when he would be
slightly worse. More likely he would have
gone into the unclear 18 . . . . axbS 19. NxbS
Nxb5 20. a4 Nd4!?.
 12. Humors 273

18. Nd2? Qd7 19. Nde4 (see diagram) Both players missed 31. d4!. Black should
have prevented that with 30. . . . Re6 followed
by expanding on the wings with . . . g5 and
. . . as.
31• • . . as 32. Qf4 Qe6 33. Kf2 a4! 34. Ke2
g5!
Korchnoi later told Garry Kasparov that
Spassky's superiority at the time lay in his
ability to maintain tension in a position,
complicate matters in time pressure and
make "strong, unexpected moves at decisive
After 19. Nde4 moments . . . when I no longer had any time
left:' 85 Or as Spassky would say, they met at
Spassky did not think much of Korchnoi's the summit and only one remained on top.
early knight maneuvers in this-or in many
other games. "Viktor spends his time in the 35. Qf2 Kg7 36. h4 Qe5! 37. Qf3 Res 38. Kf2
opening with the White pieces putting them gxh4! 39. gxh4 Rg6 40. Rhl f4 41. exf4
all in the wrong places so that he can repo­ Qd4+ 42. Kfl h5 White resigns
sition them in the early middlegame;' he Simpler was 42. . . . Rf8 43. fS Rgf6 and
later told Robert Byrne. "He's done that all . . . Rxfs.
his life. It's his style:' 84 After this game, Spassky's ailing trainer,
Here Black's superiority would be clear Bondarevsky, bought a ticket to go home.
after 19. . . . Nxe4! in view of 20. Nxe4? fS But as White in the next round, Spassky was
21. Nc3? b4. soon worse and adjourned an Exchange down.
19. . . . b4!? 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
21. Ne4 Bxb2 22. Rxb2 f5
23. Ng5 Nc6 24. f4?
The trend is running
against White and it was
time for Korchnoi to look
for tactics. Here 24. d4!
would eliminate his main
weakness, the d-pawn. It
works because 24 . . . . cxd4
25. exd4 Nxd4? is refuted
by 26. Rxd4 Qxd4 27. Qxe6+
and mates.
The position would be
in rough balance after 24. . . .
h6 25. Nf3 es 26. Rbd2.
24. . . . e5! 25. Qh5 h6
Spassky (left) takes a break with his longtime trainer, Igor Bon­
26. Nf3 Qe6 27. Nxe5 Nxe5 darevsky, during the peak of their collaboration, 1968. Their brit­
28. fxe5 Qxe5 29. Re2 Rc6 tle relationship would suffer in the 1969 world championship
30. Qf3 Rcd6? 31. Red2? match and break in 1972. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1968.
274 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Bondarevsky had to cancel his trip back to
Leningrad. Korchnoi was heartened: With­
out Pater at his side, Spassky could not win
a won match, he felt. 86 But Spassky held the
draw and drew the final game to win the
match 6½-3½.
Korchnoi blamed his loss on external fac­
tors, including the inability of Semyon Fur­
man to serve as his second. Furman's boss,
the Central Army Sports Club, would not re­
lease him. Korchnoi concluded this was done
at the urging of Petrosian, who he claimed
had used his ties to a fellow Armenian, army
Marshal Ivan Bagramian. But Korchnoi con­
ceded that he had also lost Furman's services
during the Tai match and still won. 87
Spassky has given different explanations
of why he won, none particularly serious.
One is: "In Kiev where Viktor and I played
the final Candidates match in '68, I under­
stood the very first day that I would win. He
arrived with his wife, I had two blondes:'
Spassky had to choose between the two "and
this had a very good effect on me:' 88
He also said that before the match he took
one of his favorite vacations, a long-distance
trip to a remote part of Russia. This time it
was to Yeysk on the Sea of Asov. There he
studied several recent Korchnoi games and
saw the "low quality" of his moves. "Instead
of winning in 40 moves he took 140!" he said.
After he realized that he "calmed down;'
went fishing and returned home to prepare. 89
Lugano
Spassky and Korchnoi were pressed into
service three weeks after their match to play
second and third board below Petrosian on
the Olympic team in Lugano, Switzerland.
Tai should have been fourth board. But when
he arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Air­
port for the team flight he was abruptly told
to go home. Vasily Smyslov would replace
him. Korchnoi felt this was Tal's punishment
for the Havana bar incident. Tai did not play
on the Olympic team again until 1972.
Nevertheless, the Soviets won by 8½ points
in Lugano. Petrosian scored 10½-l½ and
might have done better. In the third round
of the finals, the Czech team wore black
mourning ribbons in their jacket button­
holes, to protest the August invasion of their
homeland by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact
forces. Petrosian "understood my condition"
and offered a draw after 18 moves, Vlastimil
Hort recalled. 9 0 Petrosian's games showed he
was still a student of Nimzowitsch:
Jacek Bednarski-Petrosian
Olympiad, Lugano, 1968
French Defense (COS)
I. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7
5. Bd3 b6 6. c3 c5 7. Ne2 Ba6 8. Bxa6 Nxa6
9. 0-0 Nc710. f4 f511. Nf3 Be712. Be3 c4!
Two months later, on December 27, Petro­
sian defended his dissertation on "Certain
Problems of the Logic of Chess Thought;' in
the Great Hall of Yerevan University. "I love
the games where I played in accordance with
the demands of the position;' he said. 9 1
After trading off his bad bishop, the de­
mands of this position called for building a
pawn structure on light squares and an
attack on the base of the chain at c3.
13. Khl bS14. Rgl Nb615. g4?! fxg416. Rxg4
g617. h4 Kd7! (see diagram)
After 17. ... Kd7
 12. Humors
One of Petrosian's trademarks was a king
march to the other wing. Earlier in this tour­
nament he beat Reshevsky after moving his
king from cl to g2 in a middlegame and
eventually won an endgame when it got to
h4.
18. Qc2 Qf8 19. Ragl Ne8!
White was preparing h4-h5 but that now
would favor Black, 20. h5 Ng7! 21. hxg6
hxg6+ 22. Nh2 NfS 23. Bel Rh3, for exam­
ple.
20. R4g2 Ng7 21. Ng3 Qf7 22. h5 Raf8
The inconsistent 23. h6 gets an inferior
endgame (23. . . . NfS 24. NxfS QxfS 25. QxfS
RxfS) in which the b2- and h6-pawns are
vulnerable. But the middlegame is lost.
23. hxg6? hxg6+ 24. Rh2 g5!
Based on 25. Nxg5 Bxg5 26. fxg5 Qf3+
and wins.
25. Rxh8 Rxh8+ 26. Nh2 gxf4 27. Rfl Bg5
28. Qf2 Nf5 29. Nxf5 fxe3 30. Qg2 e2 White
resigns
Tal's exclusion from the team was a major
financial blow to him. The Sports Committee
paid a bonus of 1,500 rubles to members of
winning Olympic teams, according to Korch­
noi. That sum was several times what top
scorers in the most prestigious Soviet tour­
nament, the national championship, earned.
275
Tal, chronically short of money, needed every
ruble he could get.
He disguised his dismay. "I found out that
a place had not been found for me" on the
Olympic team, he wrote, "and I went off to a
small tournament" in the Georgian town of
Gori. 92 He began with yet another first-round
loss, to a local player, Aleksandr Vokuchava.
He recovered, won an anthology game against
Eduard Gufeld and nosed out Yefim Geller
for first prize.
While in Georgia, Tal visited friends in
one of his favorite cities, Tbilisi. One night
at a chess club, he was talking to an old col­
league, Alexander Geller. ''A tall, handsome
Georgian'' walked by and suggested they go
to dinner. On the way out, Geller realized it
was Gia Nadareishvili, the famed endgame
composer. With him in tow they found a
restaurant. It normally closed at 11:30. But for
"Miho'' Tal, the staff agreed to stay open.
After much partying, Nadareishvili asked
Tal to solve one of his studies. He did it in
seconds. Nadareishvili gave him another and
then another. Tal solved each in five or six
seconds. Finally, one of the other players
said it was pointless to test Tal. He obvi­
ously knew all of Nadareishvili's studies from
memory.
"What do you mean he knows?" Nada­
reishvili exclaimed. "I thought them up this
evening! " 93
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?

Mikhail Tai managed to find the positives

in his setbacks and forget the negatives. He
suffered a devastating loss to Bent Larsen in
a supplementary Candidates match in 1969
but translated the experience into an expla­
nation of his chess philosophy.
Forgotten today, tiebreaking matches were
held by FIDE in the 1950s and 1960s to de­
termine the pecking order in Interzonal and
Candidates competitions in the next world
championship cycle. When Tai and Bent Lar­
sen were eliminated in the 1968 Candidates After 28. ... g5
semifinals, the FIDE rules stipulated that one
last move he saw a defense: Larsen could cas­
of them would be seeded into the 1970 In­
tle after 29. as Bg7 and control the queening
terzonal. To determine which, they played a
square with his rook. Tai playe d another move
best-of-ten-game match in March 1969.
and lost.
Once again Tai's health complicated mat­
After he resigned, a Dutch fan asked about
ters. He sought what he called the first post­
29. as. Tai began to explain why it failed. He
ponement in his career. But the Soviet Chess
suddenly realized that Larsen could not have
Federation claimed it could not locate Larsen
castled because he had previous played . . . Kf7
in time. Tai had little to say in his memoirs
and . . . Ke8. With 29. a5! he would likely have
about the match in Eersel, the Netherlands.
drawn. Tai said if this had been the decisive
Only the eighth game, "in which Bent played
game of the match he would have been near
splendidly, is worth singling out;' he wrote. 1
a heart attack when he discovered his hallu­
He lost after a mental lapse:
cination. He lost the match 5½-2½.
Nevertheless, the match inspired Tai to
Tai-Bent Larsen
write an article, "Knowledge? Intuition? Risk?"
Candidates Playoff Match,
that Tigran Petrosian ran in three issues of
Eighth game, Eersel, 1969
64 that autumn. 2 Tai cited examples from the
Tai sought this position believing he would Larsen match to explain his views on move
win by pushing his a-pawn. But after Black's selection:

276
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
Chess is often called a science, a sport and
an art. But how is it a science? Tal said there
is a scientific approach to choosing a move
and it relies on knowledge and calculation.
This is emphasized when a master annotates
a game: He typically justifies his move choices
with analysis of variations and an explana­
tion of the principles that guided him.
But this is not the only way to choose a
move. "It is hard to admit even to oneself,
but very often, the main argument for mak­
ing a move is 'It's good. I can just feel it:" Tal
wrote in the 64 series. This is intuition and
it is part of the artistic aspect of chess.
Moreover, there are different kinds of in-
tuition. "One player has a very strong sense
of initiative, another can't always find the
best and quickest way to attack, but he can,
amazingly, predict and prevent even the
smallest symptoms of impending danger; yet
another player just knows where to place his
pieces and pawns best:' (It is not hard to
imagine he was thinking of himself, Tigran
Petrosian and Boris Spassky as these types
of players.)
The third aspect of chess-sport-involves
risk, Tal wrote. Risk is common in sports.
"The hockey team that leaves its goal empty
in the last minute; a gymnast who decides,
in a crucial moment of competition, to try a
difficult element that he can not always exe­
cute perfectly; a boxer who wants to knock
out his opponent in the last round and
'drops' his defense-it's all risk. Deliberate
risk, probably even dangerous, but it is dic­
tated with one single desire: to win. Win at
all costs! "
How does this apply to chess? Tal contin­
ued: ''A chess player sacrifices a piece for at­
tack, even though he could choose a different
plan. Does he risk? Of course, because the
attack can be repelled, and the opponent's
extra piece will unleash its negative (for the
risk-taker, of course) power:'
"Good, let's proceed. A chess player accepts
the sacrifice (even though he could decline),
277
hoping he can repel that attack. Does he risk?
Of course, because the attack can be irre­
sistible. Whose risk is riskier?"
Tal concluded there is no metric to eval­
uate risk and answer this crucial question.
Moreover, each aspect of move selection has
its plusses and minuses. Even knowledge is
risky. For example, in the sixth game with
Larsen, Tal tried to rely on his knowledge,
that is, memory, of an opening recommen­
dation by Isaac Boleslavsky. He agonized
over the decision and got a bad position. "This
game shows how risky 'knowledge' is;' he
concluded.
Risk Korchnoi Style
Viktor Korchnoi surpassed Tal in August
1967 to become the second-highest rated
player in the world, behind Bobby Fischer.
He would remain there for three years. It
took consistently good, if not great, results
to hold his place and Korchnoi did it with
first prizes at the international tournaments
of Palma de Mallorca 1968, Sarajevo 1969,
Havana 1969 and Luhacovice 1969. He re­
sented Spassky's being awarded a "Chess
Oscar" for 1969 based on a vote of chess jour­
nalists. He told Dimitrije Bjelica such awards
undermined respect for the world champi­
onship title. "Why are Candidates matches
played if journalists choose their Oscar?" he
asked.
Korchnoi grumbled about being chroni­
cally shortchanged when foreign invitations
were doled out by the Sports Committee. But
he was playing abroad as much as any Soviet
player, and much more than some elite inter­
national grandmasters. Yefim Geller, still an
enemy of world champion Petrosian, played
in only one Western invitational during 1968-
69. Korchnoi said his invitation to Palma de
Mallorca was arranged by Petrosian: "He was
planning to have me as his trainer:' 3
Korchnoi's ability to gauge his own accept-
278 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
able risk and beat draw-minded players was
impressive.
Jesus Diez del Corral-Korchnoi
Palma de Mallorca, 1968
Sicilian Defense (B44)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6
5. Nxc6?! bxc6 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. 0-0 d6 8. b3
Be7 9. Bb2 eS 10. Nd2 0-0 11. Nc4 Be6
12. Qe2 Nd7! 13. Radl Re8 14. Qd2 NcS
15. Rfel f6
By protecting his e-pawn, Black threatens
to get the upper hand with 16. . . . d5.
16. NaS! Qc717. Bc4 Bxc4 18. Nxc4 Nxe4!
19. Rxe4 dS 20. Rg4 dxc4 21. Qh6 (see dia­
gram)
After 21. Qh6
White would be a little worse after 21. Rxc4
Rad8 22. Qe2 Rxdl+ 23. Qxdl Rd8 and 24. . . .
Rd5 because his bishop bites on granite and
Black controls the d-file. That is not much
but enough for Korchnoi to play to win.
After 21. Qh6 he must have examined
21. . . . Bd8, so that g7 and f6 are defended.
But would he have any real winning chances
after 22. Qh5 Rf8? And what if 22. . . . g6? To
go into that line Korchnoi would have to cal­
culate 23. Rxg6+ hxg6 24. Qxg6+ Kf8 25. Bel
and be sure he has more than perpetual
check-and not getting mated.
21. . . . BcS! 22. Qxf6 cxb3 23. axb3 Re7!
This maximizes his winning chances by
making a target of f2 and an immediate threat
of 24. . . . Rf8. For instance, 24. Rd2 Rf8
25. Qh4 Rxf2! 26. Rxf2 and now not 26. . . .
Rf7? because of 27. Bd4! Bxd4 28. Rxd4.
Rather, 26. . . . Qd6!!, threatening 27. . . . Qdl
mate and 27. . . . Rf7. For example, 27. Bd4
Bxd4 28. Rxd4 exd4 or 27. h3 Rf7 offers
solid winning chances.
24. QgS?
It is psychologically hard for White to seek
equality (24. Qf3! Rf7 25. Qe2) when he
seemed to be better a move or two ago.
24. . . . Rf8 25. Rfl Qd7 26. Rc4? Bxf2+
27. Khl Ref7!
White is lost (28. Qxe5 Bb6, 28. Bxe5 Be3
or 28. h3 Bh4!).
28. Qh5 Qd2 29. Rxc6 Bb6 White resigns
In this busy period of his career Korchnoi
also played a match of training games with
Petrosian at a fast time control, according to
grandmaster Vladimir Bagirov.4 The result
is not known.
R ematch
During the Palma tournament, journalist
Dmitrije Bjelica asked the world champion-
ship contestants, what would be the deciding
factor in their upcoming match. "Nerves and
physical condition will decide;' Petrosian
said. "The greater number of points;' Spassky
deadpanned. 5
When he was serious, Spassky explained
what this match meant to him. "If I lose to
Petrosian I will never play again for the world
championship until the Candidates is again
played as a tournament and not by a system
of matches;' he said. "I do not have the nerves
to endure the matches:' 6 Vasily Smyslov pre­
dicted that if Spassky lost again he would
never become champion, even if he tried.
"The third time is impossible, believe me. I
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
also won the Candidates tournament twice
but I had no strength left," he said.
But Spassky had something he did not
have before the 1966 championship match:
money. Thanks to prizes from his foreign
victories, especially the second Piatigorsky
Cup, he had a veritable war chest. By the end
of 1968 he had enlisted Nikolai Krogius and
Igor Bondarevsky to prepare him at a train­
ing camp in Dubna, not far from Moscow. "I
remember the evening when Spassky pulled
out of his wallet a thick pack of money and
said 'Pater, here are the match expenses;"
Krogius recalled. Spassky ended up paying
for all sorts of luxuries, even a chauffeur to
drive his Volga car. 7
Team Spassky usually worked five or six
hours a day, followed by long walks or some
sports activity, Krogius said. "Studying with
Spassky was simultaneously easy and hard:'
Krogius said. It was easy because of the chal­
lenger's good nature, modesty and huge tal­
ent. It was difficult because Spassky could
still be the self-described lazy Russian bear.
"Boris was never a workaholic:' Krogius said,
"but in preparation for the 1969 match he
worked diligently and conscientiously:'
Unlike the run-up to his previous cham­
pionship match, Spassky played no public
chess in the months beforehand. The best
clues to his latest thinking came from Palma
de Mallorca 1968.
Ricardo Calvo-Spassky
Palma de Mallorca, 1968
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E47)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0
5. Bd3 b6 6. Ne2 d5
Spassky's repertoire was designed by Bon­
darevsky, who knew his reluctance to mem­
orize main line continuations such as 5. . . .
c5, 5. . . . d5 and 5. . . . b6 6. Ne2 Bb7. Viktor
Malkin, who was close to the Spassky team,
said that his longterm memory was "weak:'
"Boris quickly forgets games, even those he
279
played recently:' But Spassky had a very good
associative memory. "He remembers ideas,
not moves," Malkin said. 8
But this move order is suspect, as Isaac
Boleslavsky realized when he went over the
game with Petrosian in their training camp.
7. cxd5 exd5 8. 0-0 Bb7 9. a3 Bd6 10. f3?!
The position is fairly even after 10. b4,
since 10. . . . c5?! 11. bxc5 bxc5 12. Rbl favors
White.
10. . . . c5! 11. Bc2 Nc6 12. Qd3 Re8 13. Rdl
g6!?
Many grandmasters would jump at the
opportunity to create a queenside majority
with 13. . . . c4. Spassky tended to keep center
tension longer than other elite players.
14. dxc5 bxc5 15. b4?
He set a trap, 15. Nxd5? Nxd5 16. Qxd5
Nd4!. Then 16. Qxb7? Nxc2 loses. Or 16. Qc4
Bxh2+! (17. Kxh2? Qh4+ 18. Kgl Nxf3+ ).
15. . . . Ne5!
White's idea was that 15. . . . cxb4 16. Nxd5
is safer now. Spassky would have good win­
ning chances after 16. . . . Bes or even 16. . . .
Bxh2+ 17. Kxh2 Ne5. But in such a favorable
position he could minimize risk. Now 16. Qd2
Nc4 17. Qd3 a5! (18. b5 Qc7) would leave him
with an unchallenged initiative.
16. Qb5 a6! 17. Qa4
The queen is trapped after 17. Qxb7? Re7.
17. . . . cxb418. axb4 Nc419. Rd3 Qb6
Tal might have gone for 19. . . . NhS!, to
prepare 20. . . . Qh4.
20. Nd4 Nxe3
So that 21. Bxe3 Rxe3! 22. Rxe3 Qxd4. But
20. . . . Qc7! is even stronger because of the
threat of 21. . . . Ne5 22. Rdl Qxc3.
21. Rxe3 Qxd4 22. Ne2 Qb6 23. Kf2 Re6
24. Bd2 Rae8 25. Ra3 (see diagram)
280 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 25. Ra3
Black can win a second pawn (25. . . . Rxe3)
but there was no reason to play an endgame.
25. . . . Bb8! 26. b5 Ba7 27. Qf4 Ne4+!
28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. bxa6 Bxa6 30. Nc3 Qd8
31. Nxe4 Rxe4 White resigns
How They Prep ared
Igor Bondarevsky's training program for
Spassky was based on three elements. First,
the team would analyze all of the losses of
the two players. Losses tend to be more re­
vealing than victories, Bondarevsky said.
Second, they would do a "chronometric"
study: How often did Petrosian think 30-plus
minutes about a move and what kind of move
did he make? The same was done for 20-30
minute moves, 15-20 minute moves, and so
on. 9 The goal was to detect when the cham­
pion was confident and played quickly and
when he was not and did not. "The expen­
diture of time is very important;' Spassky
said. "There are positions in which the op­
ponent 'swims: And there are positions in
which he calms down:' 10
The third focus of Team Spassky was on
pawn structures. They concluded that Petro­
sian did not play his best when his opponent
had an isolated cl-pawn. For that reason,
Spassky chose the Tarrasch Variation as his
main defense to the Queen's Gambit. "Petro­
sian likes sometimes to wait a little bit and
to maneuver and to make some prophylactic
moves;' he explained. "But this is not good
for such positions. This is the knife in his
heart, the Tarrasch:' 11
Spassky also felt Petrosian was vulnera­
ble when facing hanging pawns. He wanted
to prepare the Tartakower-Makogonov­
Bondarevsky Variation. But Bondarevsky
thought the variation that bore his name was
too risky. He did not permit debate.
"Enough!" he said, thumping his hand on the
table. "No Tartakowers, Makogonovs and
Bondarevskys. Suicide is not needed:' 12
Petrosian's inner circle was led once
again by Boleslavsky, with Alexey Suetin as
his "consultant:' The world championship
rules at the time stipulated that a player
could only have one "official" second, who
alone was permitted to help analyze adjourn­
ments.
The two contestants had played one an-
other some 40 times so it would be hard to
prepare a surprise. The match was like "a
husband and wife who live together 25 years:'
Spassky said. "They know each other well:' 13
To add something new, Petrosian recruited
Semyon Furman, formerly a Korchnoi trainer.
Petrosian later regretted not bringing in one
or two additional advisers. They would have
taken a different point of view and "intro­
duced an argumentative fervor in our prepa­
rations:' he said. 14
Petrosian's team focused on Spassky's
predilections. "We basically studied such
positions as . . . Spassky liked;' Suetin said. 15
They noticed that Spassky was often aggres­
sive in the Kan Variation of the Sicilian De­
fense and had lost to Tal's Kan in the second
game of their 1965 Candidates match. With
the help of Furman, a Kan expert, Petrosian
used it in the first match game. As per
Bondarevsky's "locomotive" analogy, Spassky
never seemed to get his wheels turning and
lost.
He equalized the match by winning the
fourth game with a Tarrasch Variation and
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
took the lead in the fifth game. He stretched
his lead further with another isolani game:
Petrosian-Spassky
World Championship Match,
Eighth game, Moscow, 1969
Queen's Gambit Declined (D37)
I. c4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6
5. Bf4 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 7. e3 Nxc5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Be2 0-0 10. 0-0 Be6 11. Be5 Rc8
12. Rel a613. h3 b5 (see diagram)
After 13. ... b5
Petrosian was 14 years old when he learned
Aron Nimzowitsch's rule that an isolated
d-pawn should be blockaded (14. Nd4): "A
passed pawn is a criminal who should be
kept under lock and keY:' White controls d4
three times but, as Nimzowitsch might say,
mild measures, such as police surveillance,
are not enough.
This must have come back to Petrosian
after he spent ten minutes on 14. Bd3? and
was surprised by14. . . . d4!. However White
takes on d4, 15. . . . Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Bc4 will
win the Exchange. After the match Spassky
said he felt stronger than three years before
but Petrosian had become weaker. The ab­
sence of blunders like 14. Bd3? in the 1966
match attests to that.
But this game also led to another shift in
momentum. Petrosian was calm and relaxed
when he showed up to resign at the adjourn­
ment session. But Spassky appeared depressed,
TASS reported. It was a hint that his melan-
28 1
cholia was resurfacing. He later described
the first nine games as "my sprint" followed
by "fatigue:'
Punching B ag
Spectators at the 1,500-seat Estrada The­
ater looked for clues in the stage demeanor
of the players. Whoever had the better posi­
tion would walk around the dais. Petrosian
strolled with his arms folded on his chest,
slightly swaying his shoulders. 16 The player
who was worse often sat for almost the full
five hours.
In the audience, Rona Petrosian made each
move on her pocket set and then asked Bole­
slavsky, sitting beside her, what it meant. But
she knew her husband's behavior better than
other spectators. "Let the experts maintain
that Petrosian had a bad game. If I see that
Tigran, having made a move, gets up, buttons
the upper button of his coat and puts his
hand in his pocket, then I know everything
is in order. He has a good position;' she had
said. "But if before making a move he
touches his upper lip with his hand, that sig­
nifies his position is in a bad way, the experts
to the contrarY:' 17 Spassky's wife Larisa came
to every other game, and often sat with Yefim
Geller's wife Oksana. This was the clearest
tipoff that Geller was helping Team Spassky.
After he lost the Candidate finals, Korch­
noi said Spassky was "of course" the world's
strongest player. "I am absolutely convinced
that Spassky will win" the championship
match, he said publicly. 18 He also said it pri­
vately to the champion. "I told him directly
that he would lose;' Korchnoi recalled. "Well,
that's the way I felt and turned out to be right:' 19
But after Petrosian won the 10th and 11th
games, Korchnoi walked back his prediction.
"I don't know what's happening here. It seems
to come in waves, first one wins and then the
other;' he said. 20 Spassky said of this period
of the match that "I am a punching bag:' 2 1
282 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Petrosian-Spassky 14. Be2 Qc7 15. e4 Rfd8 16. Qel Qc5+

World Championship Match,
Better was 16. . . . Nd3 17. Bxd3 Rxd3 fol­
Tenth game, Moscow, 1969
lowed by the repositioning of Black's other
Nimzo-Indian Defense (E47)
knight. White could eventually double rooks
I. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0 on the a-file and tie Black to the defense of
5. Bd3 b6 his a7-pawn. Is that lost for Black? Larsen
may have provided an answer before the
This is the same move order as in the
match. "Spassky is a little afraid of Petrosian,
Calvo game but it was inaccurate. If Black
and if it were not for that, I would not give
had played 4 . . . . b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 White could
Petrosian any chances;' he said. 23
not allow 6. . . . Bxg2 and should avoid 6. f3
c5! . That means he would be denied the 17. Qf2! Qe718. Ra3 Ne8?
harmonious setup with Nge2 that Petrosian
adopts. It is not too late for 18 . . . . Nd3 19. Bxd3
Rxd3. Even Bondarevsky thought Spassky
6. Ne2! d5 7. 0-0 dxc4 was lost after 18 . . . . Ne8.
Korchnoi agreed to annotate this game for 19. Bf4 Ng6
Petrosian's periodical 64. He said Black would
have equalized after the more popular 7. . . . Or 19. . . . Nd3 20. Bxd3 Rxd3 21. Rfal Bc8?
Bb7 and 8 . cxds exds 9. a3 Bd6 10. b4, citing 22. Nd5! exds 23. Rxd3.
"long . . . established theorY:' But Boleslavsky 20. Be3 Nd6 21. Rfal Nc8 22. Bfl f5
said Korchnoi was confusing that position
with one with 6. Nf3 instead of 6. Ne2, which Spassky gives his bishop more scope and
he said favored White a bit. hopes to play . . . f4 before Ne2-d4! kills him.
But 22. . . . es served better.
8. Bxc4 Bb7 9. f3! c5 10. a3 cxd4 11. axb4!
dxc312. Nxc3 Nc6 23. exf5 exf5 24. Ra4! Re8 25. Bd2!? (see
diagram)
"Black is probably already lost:' Boleslav­
sky wrote. 22 He felt Spassky's a-pawn had
become a sick man, his knights lack good
squares and the White bishops grow in
punch. Better was 12. . . . Qc7, 12. . . . Nd5 to
swap one knight or 12. . . . a6 and, if allowed,
13. . . . bS! . Bondarevsky believed Spassky
overestimated his lead in development but
still had chances to equalize.
13. b5 Ne5
Black can solve the knight problem with
After 25. Bd2
13. . . . Na5 14. Be2 Qxdl 15. Rxdl Nb3 16. Ra3
Nxcl. But the a-pawn is lost after 17. Rxcl Many grandmasters would have played
and 18. Rfal. However, if Black plays as in the 25. Bd4 without much thought. But Petro­
game, 14 . . . . Qc7! 15. e4 Rfd8, then 16. Qel al­ sian apparently did not want to deal with
lows an improved 16. . . . Nb3! . Instead . . . Qg5 followed by . . . f4/ . . . Nh4 and perhaps
16. Qa4 would keep a small edge, 16. . . . Qc5+ . . . Nf5-g3!?. Deprived of an active plan,
17. Khl Rd4 18. Qa3. Spassky now goes into a lost endgame.
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier? 283

Petrosian takes his usual stroll across the stage of the Estrada Theater in Moscow as Spassky
ponders his next move. Shakhmaty v SSSR, July 1969.

25. . . . Qc5? 26. Qxc5 bxc5 27. Rc4 Res
28. Na4!
Many international grandmasters would
play 28. f4 fairly quickly, even though Black's
minor pieces become more active (28 . . . . Re7
29. RxcS Nd6). Petrosian took 14 of his re­
maining 40 minutes in the first time control
to choose 28. Na4!. Spassky spent ten min­
utes on his reply. Boleslavsky felt Spassky just
wanted the game over. However, 28 . . . . Nb6
29. RxcS Nxa4 30. RxeS NxeS 31. Rxa4 and
Be3 is another way of resigning.
28. . . . a6? 29. Nxc5 axb5 30. Nxb7! Rxal
31. Rxc8+ Kti 32. Nd8+ Ke7 33. Nc6+ Kd7
34. Nxe5+ Kxc8 35. Nxg6 hxg6 36. Bc3
Rbl 37. Kf2 b4 38. Bxg7 Black resigns
Petrosian felt Spassky was "groggy" after
this game and vulnerable. But he did not
know how to deliver a knockout blow. "If
only I had something of the character of
Korchnoi;' Petrosian said. "He would have
found in himself the strength to put pressure
on a cowed opponent:' 24
Spassky agreed afterwards that Petro­
sian missed his best chance to win the
match at this point. "He apparently thought
I was broken and could not recover;' Spas­
sky said. Instead of going for the kill, Petro­
sian's play became "drier:' 25 But to outsiders,
the trend seemed obvious. Bent Larsen now
predicted Petrosian would win by two
points.
Depression
Spassky was vulnerable because he was
undergoing an emotional crisis. It severely
284 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
tested his relationship with Bondarevsky.
Spassky had told Leonard Barden that one
of the reasons he liked Pater was that unlike
his predecessors, Vladimir Zak and Alexan­
der Tolush, Bondarevsky did not reprimand
him. "When I make a mistake Bondarevsky
keeps his silence, and this is much stronger
than advice;' he said. 26
But that led to a breakdown in communi­
cation in mid-match. Spassky and Bonda­
revsky were not talking to one another. Vik­
tor Malkin attended the games regularly with
a prominent scientist, Alexander Sergeevich
Pavlov, and they both knew Bondarevsky well
''.At the time of the 11th game which Spassky
again lost, Igor Zakharievich suddenly turned
to us with a request-to find a doctor for
Boris! " Malkin said. "He said he was in an
uncontrollable condition and their working
contact had taken a bad turn:' This was the
kind of bout of melancholia that Spassky al­
luded to in later years. Malkin recalled in
1997 how, when Paul Keres died, Spassky said
of him, "Unlike us, he was a mentally healthy
person:'
Pavlov found an experienced psychother­
apist for Spassky. But before the 12th game
"Bondarevsky happily reported that his re­
lationship with Boris had gotten better and
a doctor was not needed. Fighting spirit re­
turned to Spassky;' Malkin said. He and Bon­
darevsky were talking again. 27
But Spassky had not fully recovered. The
midway point in a best-of-24-game match
was usually when backup openings ap­
peared. Petrosian sprung one in the 13th
game when he met 1. e4 with the Petroff
Defense, an opening he may never have
played before in a serious game. Spassky
responded feebly and drew in 25 moves.
When Petrosian repeated the Petroff in the
15th game, Spassky had nothing new to say
and they drew in 19 moves. Short draws with
White were very costly since Spassky only
had four more Whites in the match. "The de­
pression that began with Spassky after the
ninth game had not passed;' Bondarevsky
wrote.
The match was still tied after 16 games.
But more changes were coming. Petrosian
abandoned the Petroff. Boleslavsky later ex­
plained that it was "not one of those reliable
openings that should be employed regularly"
and that Spassky was bound to improve on
his play in games 13 and 15. 28
Meanwhile, Pater took a bold step. "Bon­
darevsky decided to have a serious chat with
me, which was a rare event;' Spassky recalled.
"Either you listen to me or I leave you:' Bon­
darevsky told him. "I argued that I needed
to prepare for the game on my own . . . to be
one on one with myself. I can concentrate
better this waY:' Spassky said. "He disliked
that very much:' He left the Spassky team­
and "was rooting for Petrosian . . . to punish
me for my disobedience:' 29
As he left, Bondarevsky suggested that
Geller take his place. "Geller's help was in­
valuable;' Spassky said. "Yefim Petrovich just
told me, 'Forget about everything, think only
about chess, play chess! ' This was his most
valuable advice." So in a strange twist, Petro­
sian's former best friend was helping Spassky
while Spassky's longtime father figure was
cheering on Petrosian.
A Fateful Draw Offer
In the 17th game Petrosian returned to the
Kan Sicilian, quickly equalized and appeared
to have the upper hand when he offered a
draw at move 21. Boleslavsky felt this was a
"psychological mistake" because it told Spas­
sky that Petrosian was not up to a five-hour
battle. As Korchnoi put it, Petrosian "has only
one significant weakness: he can not play
equally well every day." 30
Spassky understood that. He refused the
draw offer because he felt it showed Petro­
sian was "very nervous:'
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
Spassky-Petrosian
World Championship Match,
17th game, Moscow, 1969
But Petrosian later claimed that he did not
really want a draw. He said he made the offer
to get Spassky to refuse it and then "over­
reach himself:' 31 This is what happened when
Spassky declined a three-time repetition in
the 22nd game in the 1966 match.
This psychology worked again, as Spassky
refused the draw and also rejected a solid
move such as 23. Qf3. He chose 23. Qc7?.
Petrosian saw the refutation, 23. . . . Nd5! .
Then 24. Rxd5 exd5 25. Rxe7 would allow
25. . . . dxc4 (26. Rxf7 Rxg2+! and wins). Bet­
ter is 25. h4 but White would be fighting for
a draw after 25. . . . dxc4 26. hxg5 Bxg5 or
25. . . . RfS.
But Petrosian inexplicably played 23 . . . .
ReS?. Spassky obtained a slightly better end­
game and Petrosian, "angry with myself;'
botched it. 32 Petrosian resigned on the 58th
move. After the match he said that the mo­
ment he lost his title was when he offered the
draw in this game.
Spassky called games 14 to 17 the turning
point of the match. Petrosian's fans began to
sense this. One day "there was a terrible
knocking on the door" of Spassky's apart­
ment. He heard "an unknown voice with an
accent" say "Listen, Boris, don't you dare beat
our Tigran! " He replied, "I'll be sure to beat
him" and that seemed to calm the fan down. 33
285
Spassky said "my final offensive" followed
the drawn 18th game. The strain got to Petro­
sian and severely strained his relations with
Boleslavsky and Suetin. In the 19th game he
took two major risks. First he switched open­
ings again, meeting 1. e4 with a highly double­
edged line of the Najdorf Sicilian. Then he
castled kingside.
That was a challenge to Spassky. He had
avoided a direct attack on Petrosian's king all
match long. But Spassky understood what
Tai said about the two faces of risk. If he
failed to sacrifice and play for mate, he would
be taking a greater risk than Petrosian had
by inviting an attack. He would have wasted
a golden opportunity.
Spassky had only one long "think;' spend­
ing 19 minutes on a pawn sacrifice at move
15. Petrosian was about to be mated when he
resigned after 24 moves. Boleslavsky said
Petrosian lost the game when he decided to
castle.
Tai had covered the last two world cham­
pionship matches from ringside for Sovietsk y
Sport. But because of another health setback,
he analyzed this match in a Riga hospital
bed. The moves of this game were relayed to
him by telephone. To the amazement of his
doctor, he guessed each of Spassky's moves
in the 19th game. "Ah, Misha, if you play this
well sick, what would you be able to do if you
played healthy! " the doctor said. 34
L ast Turning Point
That game might have decided the match.
But Spassky also made another critical
decision. He switched to the Tartakower­
Makogonov-Bondarevsky Variation of the
Queen's Gambit Declined in the 20th game.
This was likely at the urging of Geller, one
of the world's experts in the line. Spassky lost.
His lead was cut to one point with four games
to go. But then:
286 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Spassky-Petrosian Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Nxc8 the endgame recalls

World Championship Match, one in which Vasily Smyslov squeezed Max
21st game, Moscow, 1969 Euwe in the 1948 world championship match­
Ruy Lopez (C92) tournament. For example, 25. a4 Bd8 26. axbS
axbS 27. Bd3 b4 28. BbS, or 25. . . . bxa4
I. e4 es 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
26. bxa4 Bd8 27. g4 Bb6 28. Bxb6 and 29. as.
5. 0-0 Be7 6. Rel b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d6
9. h3 Nd7 21. a4!
In his Shakhmaty v SSSR notes, Boleslav­ Once again 21. . . . bxa4 22. bxa4 is difficult
sky said, "This variation does not have a for Black in view of Rbl, a4-a5 and Nc4. But
good reputation but Petrosian, apparently, at least he could swap one of his knights with
does not intend to follow the recommenda­ 22. . . . Nc4. This was a pivotal point because
tions of chess authorities." 35 Petrosian was White also has good kingside prospects from
more blunt: Playing this line and choosing Nfl-g3 and Nh2-g4. Spassky might have
the Najdorf in the previous Black game was been thinking about this game when he told
"stupid:' 36 Databases indicated he used this an interviewer, "In the first match I flung my­
stolid line only two other times in his career, self at Petrosian like a kitten at a tiger, and it
in 1947 and to draw in 14 moves in the last was easy for him to parry my blows. But by
round of the 1962 Interzonal. the second match I'd matured and turned
into a bear that was always putting the tiger
10. d4 Bf6 11. Be3 Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bel
under pressure, by which I mean I held him
Bb7 14. b3 Ncb6
in a grip that even if it was loose was con­
Petrosian looks for an opportunity to liq­ stant, and he didn't like that:' 37
uidate in the center. But unlike in the Breyer He put it more crudely when Garry Kas­
Variation, here Black is stuck with at least parov asked for advice in the 1980s about
one poorly placed knight. how to play against Petrosian. Spassky told
Kasparov to apply pressure: "Squeeze his
15. Be3 Res 16. d5!?
balls:' he said. 38
Black was ready for 16. Nbd2 dS or 16. . . .
21. . . . Nc5 22. axb5 axb5 23. Ral b4 24. Qe2
exd4 17. cxd4 cs. But 16. dS gives Black other
Nbd7 25. Bd3? (see diagram)
ways to free his pieces, with . . . c6 and . . . fS.
After 16. . . . Be7! he may equalize, e.g., 17. Nbd2
fS or 17. . . . c6 18. c4 cxdS 19. cxdS fS!
16. . . . RcS?! 17. Nbd2 c618. c4! cxd519. cxd5
Now 19 . . . . Be7 is answered by the the­
matic 20. a4!. Black is worse if the b-file is
opened and a4-a5 is played. The liquidating
20. . . . fS 21. aS Na8 22. exfS BxdS 23. Ne4 is
poor. But 21. . . . fxe4 was better than what
happens.
19. . . . Qc7?! 20. Rel QbS
The eyes in the match press room focused
on 20. . . . Qc3. Boleslavsky looked at 21. Bbl
Qxcl 22. Qxcl Rxcl 23. Rxcl. Then on 23. . . .
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
seemed preferable to 25. Nc4 Ba6 26. Nfd2
Bd8 27. Ra2 Bb5.
Fans of the two players tended to sit sep­
arately and quietly in the audience. But when
Spassky played 25. Bd3, "tension grew in the
half of the hall where fans of Petrosian sat:'
Boleslavsky wrote.39 The reason was 25. . . .
Bxd5! . The key line is 26. exd5 e4 27. Nxe4
and now not 27. . . . Bxal? 28. Nxc5 but 27. . . .
Nxe4!.
Analysts later tried to find an advantage
for White in 28. Nd4 Nc3! or 28. Ba7 Qb7
but failed. "The move 25. . . . Bxd5 passed
from mouth to mouth. It was evident as Spas­
sky suddenly and quickly went to the table,
sat down and began to think:' Boleslavsky
wrote. ''.After several minutes he calmed
down:' 40 Neither Bondarevsky nor Boleslav­
sky gave Petrosian's next move a question
mark but it turned out to be the last turning
point in the match.
25. . . . Nxd3? 26. Qxd3 Bas 27. Nc4 Nc5
28. Bxc5 Rxc5
The b4-pawn is secure after 28 . . . . dxc5
but White can bring decisive pressure in var­
ious ways. For example, 29. Ra4 Bb7 30. Real
Qc7 31. Nh2 and Ng4.
29. Ra4 h6 30. Qd2
The b4-pawn is doomed, 30. . . . Rb5?
31. Rxa8 Qxa8 32. Nxd6. Spassky occasion­
ally shot glances at his opponent during this
phase as he appreciated how his position was
improving. As he said at a Petrosian memo­
rial tournament, "It's like in Canada. A 2-year­
old boy is put on skates and told: You shouldn't
look at the ice or the puck, but at the oppo­
nenf' 41
30. . . . Be7 31. Real! Bb7 32. Qxb4 f5?
33. Ra7! Rc7 34. ext'S QcS 35. Ne3 e4 36. Nd4
Bf6 37. Rfl
Spassky might have won faster with
35. Qb6, 35. Nxd6 or here with 37. Ne6 Bxal
38. Nxc7. But he had reached his risk limit.
287
Having been disappointed so many times in
pursuit of the championship title his caution
is understandable. He had thought the match
was decided when he won the 19th game.
When he played the decisive 24th move in
that game he went to a spot behind the play­
ing stage, where no one would see, and burst
into tears of relief, according to Gennady
Sosonko. "Emotional stress," Spassky ex­
plained. 42
37. . . . Ba6 38. Rxc7 Qxc7 39. Qa4 Ra8
40. Rdl Qb8 41. Nc6 Qb7 42. Qxe4 Qxb3
43. Rel Bc3 44. Rbl Qa2 45. Nb4 Qa4
46. Qe6+ Kh8 47. Qxd6 Be2 48. Nc6 Qa2
49. Rb8+ Rxb8 50. Qxb8+ Kh7 51. Qg3?!
Bh5 52. Kh2 Bel 53. f6! Black resigns
Another champion, a Kasparov or a Fis­
cher, might not have passed up the prettier
finishes, 51. Ne7! Qal+ 52. Ndl! Qxdl+
53. Kh2 or 52. Nfl! Qxfl+ 53. Kh2.
After drawing the next game, Spassky
needed only a half point to become cham-
pion. He adjourned the 23rd game with an
extra pawn. Petrosian wanted to resign. But
Spassky offered a draw through the match
arbiter. "Well, if Spassky wants to have 12½
points rather than 13, that's his business:'
Petrosian replied. "I am not so proud to
decline." 43 The match ended 12½-10½ on
June 17. It was Petrosian's 40th birthday.
Postmortem
Petrosian's fans and friends thought he
would be devastated by losing his title. "But
for me that moment, as strange as it seems,
passed rather painlessly," he said. When Spas­
sky and his seconds celebrated victory at
Moscow's Hotel Metropol restaurant, Tigran
and Rona showed up to congratulate them. 44
The Petrosians had their own party at home.
Among the guests were former world cham­
pion Max Euwe and the match arbiter Al­
beric O' Kelly. They believed Petrosian was
288 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

numb from shock. "No;' Petrosian told them. I'm watching ice hockey or football matches
"I know what has happened, but now at least because iron nerves are needed to play chess.
I can breathe freely! " 45 'Don't get too excited! ' It's easy to say. But
Years later Vladimir Kramnik recalled what's the point of life then? What do I get
what he had been told about Petrosian's out if it? What does life give me then?" 50
mood that night: "He was terribly happy, Nevertheless, Petrosian soon realized how
held a party, danced with his wife and re­ much influence he had lost. A semifinals for
peated 'What joy! Finally I'm rid of it:" 46 the 37th USSR Championship was held in
Petrosian's son Mikhail recalled how every­ the Siberian city of Barnaul. Yefim Geller was
one present agreed "that finally he was rid of expected to play but did not show up. In­
the suffering:' 47 stead, the Soviet Chess Federation seeded
What suffering? Petrosian felt burdened him directly into the championship finals, a
with having to prove over and over that he Zonal. Petrosian complained in the pages of
was the world's best player. "The title requires 64 that Geller was granted special "privi­
regularly winning;' Yuri Averbakh said.48 But leges" because of his aid to Spassky during
that was not possible if you are only a first the just-completed match. Spassky defended
among equals. "It seemed to me that Petro­ Geller in print and the Geller decision stood.
sian was mentally tired of being the cham­
pion;' Spassky recalled. "After all, he held the
crown for six years without being the strong­ Three Champions
est player. That was evident from his tour­
nament results:' 49 Three former world champions played in
Gennady Sosonko quoted Petrosian about that Soviet championship: Vasily Smyslov,
the pressure he had felt: "In my six years as Petrosian and Tai. The last two were a sur­
world champion I didn't smoke a single cig­ prise. Petrosian did not need a Zonal because
arette and didn't drink a drop of alcohol. My he was guaranteed a place in the 1971 Candi­
doctor says I shouldn't get too excited when dates matches. He just wanted to play chess.
Tai decided to play despite
his diseased kidney. His doc­
tors wanted to remove it. But
Tai realized that he would be
confined to a bed for six to
eight weeks after the surgery.
Besides, this championship fi­
nals would mean returning to
the same playing hall where
his career took off, in winning
the 1957 championship.
His decision was disastrous,
as anyone could see in Tai's
agony at the board. Leonid
Zorin, a prominent playwright
and passionate chess fan, reg­
ularly attended rounds. He
Soviet media featured this photo of Spassky after defeating told Shakhmaty v SSSR read­
Petrosian. Shakhmaty v SSSR, September 1969. ers how Tai, "hollow-cheeked,
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
thin, with an unhealthy yellow face, a ciga­
rette in his mouth, hunched over . . . sat at
the board trying to create a miracle out of
the position." 51
Tal was fortunate to tie for 14th place out
of 23 players. His most memorable game was
a loss: He walked into a devastating opening
preparation by Lev Polugaevsky in the sec­
ond round. Polugaevsky had never beaten
Tal before but this was the first of eight vic­
tories and one defeat in their remaining ca­
reers. "He is a genius:' Polugaevsky said of
Tal. "But, psychologically, he always tried too
hard against me:' 52
The big surprise of the tournament was
Petrosian. He alternated strategic gems with
short draws. Which would it be when he faced
Geller? By then their feud was well known.
An overflow audience showed up for their
game. But it ended in a 13-move draw.
In other games Petrosian looked like a
man freed from the burden of being judged
as a world champion. Mark Taimanov called
this victory "a purely Petrosianesque game:' 53
Petrosian-Vladimir Savon
37th USSR Championship finals,
Moscow, 1969
Grunfeld Defense (D31)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7
5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e3
This is a modest alternative to 6. e4 cS
7. dS!.
6. . . . Be6 7. Nd2 c5 8. dxc5 Nd5! 9. Bxc4
Nxc310. bxc3 Bxc4
Vladimir Savon had his own sense of ac­
ceptable risk and he rejected 10 . . . . Bxc3?
11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Rel. After 10. . . . Bxc4
Petrosian said he considered 11. Nxc4 Bxc3+
12. Ke2 because 12. . . . Bxal 13. Qxal is prom­
ising. But he noticed that 12. . . . Qc8! would
favor Black. (And he did not see that 12. . . .
Bxal?? 13. Nd6+! Kf8 14. QdS would be
crushing when he annotated the game.)
289
11. Qa4+ Nc6 12. Qxc4 0-0!
More adventurous was 12. . . . NeS 13. QbS+
Qd7 14. Rbl 0-0-0!?.
13. Nb3 Ne5 14. Qe2
Where Korchnoi often wrote with sarcasm
and Tal with irony, Petrosian preferred un­
derstatement. ''.After the game Mark Tai­
manov advocated 14. Qe4;' he said, "but it
has long been known that his chess optimism
is much greater than the author of these
lines:' 54 Taimanov's idea was that after 14. Qe4
Nd3+? 15. Ke2 Black has nothing better than
15. . . . NeS and is a bit worse than in the
game.
14. . . . Nd3+ 15. Kfl Ne5! 16. e4 Nc617. Rel
Qd7
Chances are roughly equal and Black can
get good play in various ways including . . . a5-
a4 and . . . Rad8. Petrosian finds the best way
to activate his king's rook.
18. h4! Qe6 19. h5 a5 20. Rh3 a4?!
Black's king is secure after 20. . . . h6! and
he has good play, e.g., 21. Bd2 gS 22. Rbl (else
22. . . . a4!) Rads 23. a4 fS.
21. Nd4! Qe5?
Petrosian believed 21. . . . Nxd4 22. cxd4
Bxd4 was necessary, although 22. Rd3 would
favor him.
22. Qg4! Qxc5?
The belated 22. . . . Nxd4 23. cxd4 Qxd4
24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Qe6+ gets to a bad end­
game after 25. . . . Kh8 26. Be3 Qf6 27. Qxf6.
23. Qh4! h6? (see diagram)
Petrosian thought 23. . . . f6 24. hxg6 hxg6
25. Qh7+ Kf7 was necessary. He would have
a very good endgame after 26. Qxg7+ Kxg7
27. Ne6+ Kg8 28. NxcS fxgS 29. Rbl or
29. Rg3. But 26. Bh6 Rg8 27. Rel! is a strong
bid for a quick kill.
290 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
After 23. ... h6
24. Bxh6! Nxd4
The game could end 24 . . . . Bxh6 25. hxg6
QgS 26. gxt7+ Kg7? 27. Ne6+ or 26. . . . Kxt7?
27. Rf3+ Ke8? 28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Ne6+.
25. cxd4 Qxd4 26. hxg6 fxg6 27. Be3 Qf6
28. Qh7+ Kt7 29. e5!
And not 29. Rf3? Qxf3 30. gxf3 Rh8 when
White's advantage is slim.
29. . . . Qxe5 30. Rf3+ Ke6 31. Qxg6+ Bf6
32. Qg4+
Faster was 32. Rel! (32. . . . Kd7 33. Bf4 and
wins).
32. . . . Kt7 33. Rf5 Qb2 34. Qh5+ Ke6
35. Rel! Kd7 36. Rd5+ Kc7 37. Rel+ forfeits
Polugaevsky led the tournament going
into the final rounds but Petrosian beat him
and they tied for first. Petrosian won a play­
off by 3½-1½ and earned his third national
championship. Taimanov played the game of
his life, beating Anatoly Lutikov in the last
round to qualify for the Interzonal. Tal ad­
mired his rook sacrifice. "Misha, today I am
your student;' Taimanov told him. 55
Tal's R ebirth
At the end of 1969 Tal came to a realiza­
tion: "It was not possible for me to continue
living and playing chess:' 56 He went to Thi-
lisi, where surgeons at last removed the dis­
eased kidney. It was an operation, he said,
that should have been performed two or three
years earlier.
Doctors forbade him from smoking, drink­
ing or eating spicy foods after the operation.
It was in vain. His son Georgy said Tal knew
what he was doing with his health. Tal saw
life as a chess game that usually ended with
"a boring, technical endgame:' He wanted to
avoid it: "If he had deprived himself of ciga­
rettes, brandy, parties and his female fans­
who were willing to do anything for him­
all the passions that spice things up in life's
middlegame, he would have ended up in the
endgame, when he was supposed to be tak­
ing the last few drags on the cigarettes of life;'
Georgy Tal said.57
Tal recovered from the operation quickly.
Just three weeks after the surgery and days
after leaving the hospital, he entered a Gog­
lidze memorial international on December
17. His appearance surprised some fans, who
had heard rumors that Tal had died on the
operating table. After he won the following
spectacular game in the tournament's 11th
round, his opponent said, "Really not bad for
a semi-moribund! " 58
Tal-Alexey Suetin
Tbilisi, 1969-70
Sicilian Defense (B42)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6
5. Bd3 Ne7 6. Nc3 Nbc6 7. Nb3 Ng6?! 8. 0-0
b5 9. Be3 d6 10. f4 Be7 11. Qh5! Bf6
Castling looks risky but after . . . Bf6 the
king is in greater trouble on e8 because of
BxbS sacrifices.
12. Radl Bxc3?
White threatened 13. eS. He would win
after 12. . . . Qc7 13. BxbS! axbS? 14. NxbS and
have the better of 13. . . . Bxc3 14. Bxc6+ Qxc6
15. bxc3 Qxe4 16. Qe2 followed by Rxd6
and/or Na5-c4.
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
13. bxc3 Qc7
Or 13. . . . Nce7 14. BcS! dxcS 15. BxbS+.
14. Rd2 Nce715. Nd4! (see diagram)
After 15. Nd4
This renews the BxbS+ idea. For example,
15. . . . es 16. fxeS NxeS 17. BxbS+! (17 . . . .
axbs 18. Nxbs and Nxd6+ or 17. . . . Kf8
18. Rdf2!). Or 15. . . . Qxc3 16. fS exfS 17. exfS
NeS 18. QgS! Rg8 19. BxbS+!.
15. . . . Bd716. f5 exf5 17. exf5 Ne518. Ne6!
Bxe6 19. fxe6 g6
The sacrifices keep coming: 19. . . . N7g6
20. ext7+ Nxt7 21. Bxg6 hxg6 22. Rxt7! wins
(22 . . . . Kxt7 23. Rf2+ Kg8 24. QdS+ Kh7
25. Rf3). But 19. . . . 0-0-0 20. ext7 g6 would
have lasted longer.
20. Qxe5! dxe5 21. ext7+ Black resigns
White mates with 21. . . . Kf8 22. Bh6 and
would sweep the board after 21. . . . Kd7 22.
BfS+ Kc6 23. Be4+.
Tal won the tournament in a tie with his
old friend Bukhuti Gurgenidze and followed
this by winning a Georgia Open Champion­
ship. He was feeling more and more like a
Georgian and was planning to move to Tbi­
lisi with the rest of the Tal family. A major
reason is that he had become romantically
involved with a Georgian woman. She is not
mentioned in most accounts of Tal's life but
was well known to Tal associates. 59 Accord­
ing to Taimanov, the relationship had been
29 1
encouraged by Tal's mother because the
woman was descended from Georgian roy­
alty. "Imagine, her grandmother was a former
Georgian princess;' Ida said. Tal replied, that
princesses "couldn't be 'former' just as there
couldn't be a former St. Bernard:' 60
Tal was still married to Sally. At Uncle
Robert's request she granted a divorce. The
Georgian news media gave a lot of attention
to Tal's lavish wedding. But the marriage
lasted a matter of days. Family members said
Tal was crushed. His mother tried to get Sally
to return once more to him. But she was done
with "self-sacrifice;' she said.
King Sp assky
Boris Spassky reigned but did not rule. Like
his predecessor, he did not want the leader­
ship role that came with the job of world
champion. He and Bondarevsky were back
on speaking terms when Pater advised him:
"Now you can arrange your own life: enter
the Party, become the editor-in-chief of 64,
travel to the Damansky Peninsula;' the kind
of a remote Russian locale Spassky loved
to visit. "No, Pater, that's not for me;' he re­
plied. 61
Later he denied that he ever wanted to be
world champion: "If you look at the photos
of l969 when I overcame Petrosian, you'll see
a sour face:' Why? "I understood a difficult
time was coming. The responsibility is colos­
sal and there's no one to help:' 62
He specifically did not want the assistance
of a new force in Soviet chess, Viktor Davi­
dovich Baturinsky. The former Stalinist pros­
ecutor and KGB colonel became director of
the Central Chess Club in 1970, then vice
chairman of the Soviet Chess Federation and
head of the chess section of the Sports Com­
mittee a year later. Spassky called him "our
chess Fuehrer:'
Baturinsky tried to cultivate a friendship
with Spassky. He invited him to his home,
292 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
calling him "Borya" and addressing him with
the informal Russian form of "you" ty (pro­
nounced t'ee), used by friends. But Spassky
refused the overture. "Viktor Davidovich, I
will have one request for you;' he said. Ba­
turinsky beamed until Spassky added, "Don't
deal with me, please, as ty:' 63
With the title came the perks of a cham­
pion. Spassky's monthly stipend was raised
from 250 rubles to 300. He said he received
800 more rubles for beating Petrosian than
for losing the 1966 match. "A little progress;'
he said. 64 He got one of the best foreign in­
vitations of l969, to an international tourna­
ment in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he
soaked up the sun and easily took first place.
Spassky stopped in New York to give a simul­
taneous exhibition at the United Nations be­
fore flying home.
But as Petrosian predicted, Spassky had a
very hard time winning major tournaments.
He was only fifth at Palma de Mallorca 1969
and would be third at Goteborg 1971, then
sixth at the Alekhine Memorial in 1971. "I re­
member those poor champions, Petrosian
and Spassky;' Korchnoi later said. 65 "They
disliked me so much because I would win
every tournament when they were present.
Because of that, they chose me as the enemy
of their lives:' (In reality, Korchnoi never
won a tournament in which Spassky took
part as champion.)
At Palma, Korchnoi and Petrosian drew
in 12 moves, an indication that they were still
not yet the bitter enemies Korchnoi later
claimed they had been for years. Korchnoi's
most dominating win from the tournament
was:
Korchnoi-Jonathan Penrose
Palma de Mallorca, 1969
King's Indian Defense (E67)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 0-0
5. Bg2 d6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. h3 e5 8. e4 c6
9. Be3 b5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Nd2
There is little in 11. cxb5 cxb5 12. Nxb5
Qa5+ 13. Nc3 Nxe4 (14. Qd5? Ndc5! 15. Qxa8?
Bxh3).
11. . . . a6 12. 0-0 Qe7 13. Qc2 Bb7 14. Nb3
RabS 15. c5! RfdS 16. a4
The pawns at a6 and c6 are chronic, but
not necessarily fatal, liabilities.
16. . . . NfS 17. Na2 Ne618. Nb4 Qc719. Nd3
For instance, 19. . . . Ne8 offers counterplay
(20. axb5 axb5 21. Na5 Nd4!).
19. . . . Nd7 20. Bd2 ReS 21. Ba5 QcS 22. Rfdl
Ras 23. h4
A new idea: White's finds a good bishop
diagonal, rules out . . . f5 counterplay and
considers his own kingside play with h4-h5
or a prepared f2-f4.
23. . . . BfS 24. Bh3 QbS 25. Kh2 Bes 26. Bd2
Bb7 27. Be3 Qc7 28. Qc3
Black's passive defense has been sufficient.
But before Qa5 pinches him he could have
considered 28 . . . . a5! ? and then 29. axb5
cxb5 30. Rxa5 Bxe4.
28. . . . Rads 29. f3 Ras 30. Rd2 Rads 31. Kg2
Ras 32. Rddl Rads 33. Qa5! (see diagram)
After 33. Qa5
Now 33. . . . Qc8 34. axb5 axb5 35. Qa7
and Na5 is positionally lost.
33• • . . Qxa5 34. Nxa5 Bas 35. Bxe6! Rxe6
36. Nb4!
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier? 293

Training before the USSR-Rest of the World match. Left to right: Petrosian, Korchnoi, Leonid
Stein, Semyon Furman and Mark Taimanov study a position. Shakhmaty v SSSR, June 1970.

Crowning the strategy he began with 15. cS.
Since 36. . . . bxa4 37. Nxa6 would threaten
Nc7, the game ended with 36. . . . Kg7
37. Nxa6 Black resigns
Captain Sp assky
Among the new champion's roles was be­
ing the public face of Soviet teams when they
competed abroad. Spassky should have been
happy when the USSR edged the Hungarians
in the Olympiad, held in September 1970, in
Siegen, West Germany. Instead, he was em­
barrassed by his teammates. He called them
"patzers" because they drew so often-27
times out of 40 games in the finals. Usually
in an Olympiad, he said, "you feel this elec-
tricity. . . . But now it is like impotence. Patzers.
Remi. . . . It is awful:' 66
With a crucial win against Bobby Fischer
he saved the USSR-U.S. match and finished
with 9½-2½, the best result on first board,
and the best on his team. He also made a
point of shaking hands with each member of
the Czech team to underline his sympathies
for their country, two years after the Warsaw
Pact invasion.
According to Baturinsky, the U.S. Chess
Federation was prodding FIDE to call for a
Fischer-Spassky match outside of the nor­
mal world championship cycle. The Ameri­
can Chess Foundation, a separate fundrais­
ing organization, proposed a winner-take-all
$30,000 prize match in April 1970. But the
idea died after Spassky beat Fischer at Siegen,
Baturinsky said. 67 After that game, the jubi­
lant Soviet ambassador to West Germany
kissed Spassky.
The big team event of 1970-in fact, of the
294 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
era-pitted the ten best Soviet players against
the ten best non-Soviets. The Sports Com­
mittee was wary of making the USSR seem
isolated. It insisted that "in no way would the
other side be called 'the world team;" re­
called Mikhail Beilin. 68 So journalists called
it the "Match of the Century:' But it was re­
membered as "USSR-vs.-Rest-of-the-World:'
Perhaps no Soviet team was better pre­
pared. The players were presented with ex­
tensive paper files-in some cases weighing
more than a pound-of games and other
data concerning their likely opponent. Team
members skied and played ping pong to get
in shape.
It was a must-win event in the eyes of the
vlasti, and the Sports Committee determined
the board order with little consultation with
the players. The committee sought the most
favorable matchups. Vasily Smyslov found
himself on sixth board because his opponent
would be Samuel Reshevsky. "I was a dan­
gerous opponent for him according to his
style, and I had the experience of victories
over him;' he said. 69 Mikhail Botvinnik was
outraged when he learned he had been placed
on eighth board solely because he had a 2-0
score against his opponent, Milan Matulovic.
He refused to appear in the traditional team
photo before departing Moscow. Tal calmly
accepted his diminished stature. "I was al­
lotted a fairly high board;' he wrote. 70 It was
only ninth board.
"The USSR didn't have a team:' Spassky
said. "We had only a collection of stars:' 71 He
proposed determining board order by secret
ballot of the team members. The Sports Com­
mittee would not hear of such an outlandish
idea. 72 "I decided not to engage in an argu­
ment with such authority;' Spassky said. But
the board order diktat destroyed team morale.
"We should have been at least about six points
better. But we almost lost:' 73 He blamed
"scandals, intrigues, squabbles . . . . Half of our
players did not say hello to one another. The
atmosphere was terrible:' 74 Korchnoi agreed.
The World team "was more united and har­
monious than the Soviets:• he said. 75
One irony is that on first board Spassky
was supposed to play Fischer, with whom he
had a plus-three score. But when Bent Larsen
insisted on playing first board instead of
Fischer, Spassky got an even better pairing:
Spassky led Larsen 10-2 in previous decisive
games. They drew in the first round of the
match but Spassky added another win, one
of the greatest short games of all time, in the
second. His team won by one and two points
in those rounds.
But Spassky lost in round three as his team
was upset 4-6. He blamed ill health. "I was
not feeling well even before the second game:•
he said, and then felt tired throughout the
third. He was replaced in the fourth round
by reserve Leonid Stein, who also lost to
Larsen. Petrosian, who ended up playing Fis­
cher, had the worst score on his team, 1-3.
Before the final round, World captain Max
Euwe called a team meeting "to instruct them
to play for a draw on every board;' George
Koltanowski wrote. Euwe's thinking was that
since the Soviets had the slimmest of leads
they "must play to win the last round and may
overreach themselves:• Koltanowski said. 76
Tal said the Soviet thinking was the oppo­
site. They wanted to avoid risk and played
"very cautiously" to ensure an overall match
victory. Tal was Black against Najdorf and
offered a draw after 24 moves. Najdorf thought
for 45 minutes, during which he twice con­
sulted Euwe. Then he agreed to the offer and
said, "But the position is completely won for
White! " 77 (Computers say it is only slightly
favorable.)
The Soviets won the overall match 20½-
19½ with the help of this game:
Lajos Portisch-Korchnoi
USSR-vs.-Rest-of-the-World,
Belgrade, 1970
English Opening (A33)
1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
5. Nxd4 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Nb3 Ne5 8. e4 Bb4
9. Qe2 0-0 10. f4 Nc6 11. es Ne8 12. Bd2 f6
13. c5! Qd8 14. a3 Bxc3 15. Bxc3 fxe5
16. Bxe5 b6?! 17. Bg2 Nxe5? 18. Bxa8 Nf7
19. Bg2 bxc5 20. Nxc5 Qb6
White should win without much trouble
after 21. Rel or 21. b4.
21. Qf2 Qb5! 22. Bfl?! Qc6 23. Bg2 Qb5
24. Bfl?! Qc6 25. Bg2 (see diagram)
After 25. Bg2
White should still get a full point after
25. . . . QbS 26. 0-0-0, for example. Portisch
asked Euwe whether to take a draw. He
pointed out that he and Korchnoi had about
20 minutes left to reach move 40 and that
Korchnoi was better in time trouble than he
was. Euwe allowed him to draw. Korchnoi
believed Portisch "felt sorry for me:' 78
This outraged Fischer, who had been on
very good terms with Portisch. "Lajos, you
made the draw on orders of Kadar;' he said,
referring to Hungary's Communist leader.
"Bobby, you're absolutely crazy;' Portisch
replied. But he could not change Fischer's
mind. 79
Busy Spring
After Belgrade, Spassky and Larsen were
committed to a tournament in Leiden, the
Netherlands, which was won by Spassky. The
World match hosts took advantage of the
295
presence of so many other elite players to
convince many of them to play in a double­
round, five-minute tournament in Herceg­
novi, a resort town on the Montenegro coast.
This was Fischer's best chance to show the
Soviets his speed skill since his visit to the
Central Chess Club in 1958. He was over­
whelming. Petrosian, still regarded as the
best Soviet five-minute player, lost both games
to him.
Petrosian-Bobby Fischer
Speed Tournament, Hercegnovi, 1970
King's Indian Defense (E77)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 d6 4. e4 Bg7
5. Bd3!? cs 6. d5 0-0 7. Nge2 e6 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bd2 Nbd7
Black readies 10. . . . Ne5 (11. Bc2? Nxc4).
Fischer intended to meet 10. f4 with 10. . . .
es, e.g., 11. f5 gxfs 12. exfS e4! with the better
game. Similar is 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. f4 eS! 12. fS
gxfs 13. exfs e4!.
10. b3 exds 11. cxd5 a6 12. 0-0 b5
Computers recommend passive policies
like 13. a3 and f2-f3.
13. f4? c4!
Better than 13. . . . b4 14. Na4 Nb6, e.g.,
15. Nxb6 Qxb6 16. Khl Bg4. But 13. . . . Re8!
and 14. Ng3 c4! 15. bxc4 NcS was a good al­
ternative.
14. bxc4 Nc5
Even better is 14. . . . Ng4 and 15. . . . Qb6(+).
Fischer thought White should meet 14 . . . .
Nc5 with 15. Qc2 but 15. Be3 Nxd3 16. Qxd3
is more efficient.
15. Bc2 b4 16. e5!
White would be even worse and without
counterplay after 16. Na4 Nxa4 17. Bxa4
Qb6+ and . . . Nxe4.
16. . . . dxe5 17. fxe5 Ng4 18. Na4 Nxa4
19. Bxa4 Bxe5 20. Bf4 Qb6+ 21. Khl Bxal?
296 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Fischer underestimates his dark-square
weaknesses. After 21. . . . Bxf4 and . . . Nf2+
his extra Exchange should win.
22. Qxal Nf2+
And he later thought 22. . . . g5 was supe­
rior. But 23. Bg3 fS 24. Bc6 remains complex
(24 . . . . Bb7 25. Bd7 and 26. Be6+). His easy
win is gone.
23. Rxf2 Qxf2 24. Bxh6 f6 25. Bxf8 Kxf8
(see diagram)
Neither player realized the strength of
25. . . . Bfs, e.g., 26. Bxb4 Be4 27. Qgl Qxe2
and wins. Better is 26. Ng3 Rxf8 27. NxfS
when White can still fight.
39. Kh2 Qe5+ 40. g3 Rb2+ 41. Bg2 Qe4
42. Qd5 Rxg2+ White resigns
"Bobby plays blitz the way I did ten years
ago;' Petrosian said. 8 ° Fischer won the tour­
nament with 19-3. Tal was second, four a half
points back. He was a half point ahead of
Korchnoi and one point ahead of Petrosian.
Tal lost twice to Fischer, split with Petrosian
and won both games against Korchnoi.
Tal-Korchnoi
Speed Tournament, Hercegnovi, 1970
French Defense (C07)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 a6 5. exd5
exd5 6. Be2 c4 7. 0-0 Bd6 8. Rel Ne7 9. b3
bS 10. a4 c3
Black accepts a challenge. The more fluid
way of meeting 11. axb5 is 10. . . . Bb7.
11. Nfl b4 12. Ne5 0-0 13. Bf4 f6! 14. Nd3
Bxf415. Nxf4 Qd6! 16. Bf3! (see diagram)

.1 •.1.� ��� j
� .. . . .,� �P!J t· · t�;
'¾

1/,
,.�� ,, ,, . , . t'tt· · '·
�� t� ''""�� �V/21
ft ri� ijp3 fJ, �
After 25. ... Kx/8 �1r·� �%"���-"'1:,��

�
�� .. Bii-
,,,� �
And neither appreciated 26. Qd4!. It would
draw by perpetual check (26. . . . Qxe2 ft�J� �% "� �%'-�
27. Qxf6+) or lead to an endgame with real ' �,ft � �� ft ��
survival chances for White (26. . . . Qxd4
27. Nxd4 Ra7 28. d6 Bd7 29. Bc2 Kf7? 30. c5).
� � . ¥m4JW
After 16. B/3
26. Ngl Bg4? 27. Qbl! Kg7 28. h3 Bf5
If White releases pressure on dS, Black's
29. Qxb4 Ra7! 30. Bdl! Qxa2 31. Bf3 as
advantage in space matters (16. Nd3 Nbc6
32. Qc5 Rb7? 33. d6! Rbl 34. d7 Bxd7
with advantage). Tal may have seen that
35. Qe7+ Kh6 36. Qxd7??
16. Bf3 Qxf4? 17. Rxe7 Qd6 could be an­
The final error. White could have drawn swered by 18. Ne3! (18 . . . . Qxe7 19. BxdS+
with 36. Qf8+ because 36. . . . Kg5? 37. h4+! or 18 . . . . Be6 19. Rxe6). However, 16. . . . Ra7!
loses (37. . . . Kxh4 38. Qh6+ Kg3 39. Qh2+ is fine (17. g3 gS). After his next move, Black
Kf2 40. g3+! and 37. . . . Kf4 38. Qd6+). In is close to lost.
fact 36. Qxf6 also draws, and White would
16. . . . Nbc6? 17. Ne3! Qxf418. Nxd5 Nxd5
likely have drawn earlier with 34. Qa7+.
19. Bxd5+ Kh8 20. Bxc6 Ra7 21. Qe2 Qxd4
36. . . . Qf2! 37. Kh2 Qxgl+ 38. Kg3 Qel+ 22. Radl Qc5?
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
The 22. . . . Qe5 23. Qxe5 endgame is slow
death.
23. Qe8! Raf7 24. Rd5
So that 24. . . . Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Qf8
26. Rdd8.
24. . . . Qb6 25. Qxf7 Black resigns
Less than a week later, Fischer, Korchnoi
and Petrosian moved on to another interna­
tional in Yugoslavia. This was at Rovinj­
Zagreb, where Fischer again won, two points
in front of Korchnoi and two and a half more
than Petrosian. Korchnoi told this story:
During Fischer's game with Vladimir Ko­
vacevic, an international master from Croa­
tia, Korchnoi and the Petrosians were watch­
ing. Korchnoi told them, "Fischer is allowing
him to win the queen but if Kovacevic ac­
cepts the 'gift' he may even lose!" Chess Is My
Life added: "Great was my astonishment
when Petrosian's wife announced that she
was going to tell Kovacevic about this trap:' 81
Kovacevic avoided it and won. He later con­
firmed that Rona did approach him. But he
did not understand her Russian and found
Fischer's trap on his own. 82
As the busy spring continued, Petrosian
(first board), Korchnoi (second) and Tal (sev­
enth) went to Kapfenburg, Austria, for the
finals of the fourth European Team Cham­
pionship. It was one more example of over­
kill: The Soviets finished ahead of Hungary
by a stunning 11½ points.
And again there was a Tal problem. He
lost his airplane ticket home. A search of his
room found nothing. But teammate Paul
Keres was a veteran of Tal crises. "You have
to look under the writing table in the waste­
paper basket;' he said. Sure enough, there,
along with the other pieces of discarded paper,
was the missing ticket. 83
Tal was always losing valuables. On an­
other occasion, the team members were al­
ready aboard a plane when their leader, Alex­
ander Kotov, asked for passports. Tal was the
297
only one who could not find his. "Why is
there always a problem with you?" Kotov ex­
claimed. "Look, my passport is always in its
place:' Then he reached into his pocket and
pulled out a passport. But it was Tal's. Kotov's
passport was found in the lining of Tal's rain­
coat. And no one could figure out how that
happened. 84
Midlife Rivals
Spassky was the youngest of the four men
who burst onto the scene in the early 1950s
and had come to dominate Soviet chess. But
at 33 he was no longer young. Predecessors
such as David Bronstein, Yuri Averbakh and
Isaac Boleslavsky were past their prime at 33.
Spassky did manage to tie for first place in
August 1970 at Amsterdam, in another of the
strong invitationals that had begun under
IBM sponsorship in 1961. He got some sus­
picious help from Lev Polugaevsky, who was
leading with two rounds to go. Spassky and
"Polu" made a 17-move draw in the next-to­
last round that looked like it was prear­
ranged. In the last round, Polugaevsky, with
White, drew in eight moves with a Dutch op­
ponent he outrated by more than 200 points.
That allowed Spassky a chance to tie him
with a win, which he did. His best game was
in the fifth round.
Spassky-Dragoljub Ciric
Amsterdam, 1970
Catalan Opening (E06)
I. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3
The Catalan was a new weapon for Spas­
sky. He all but abandoned it after this game.
Black adopts the most solid defense.
4. . . . Be7 5. Bg2 0-0 6. 0-0 c6 7. b3 Nbd7
8. Bb2 b6 9. Nbd2 Bb710. Rel RcS 11. e3 c5
12. Qe2
This position had been known since a
Keres-Kotov, Candidates tournament 1953,
298 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

game that favored White after 12. . . . cxd4
13. Nxd4 Nc5 14. Rfdl Qd7 15. N2f3 Rfd8
16. Ne5 Qe8 and now 17. cxd5 Bxd5?!
18. Ndc6.
12. . . . Rc7 13. cxd5 Bxd5
White also gets a small plus after 13. . . .
exd5 14. Rfdl and 13. . . . Nxd5 14. dxc5.
14. e4 Bb7 15. es
White would have very little after a stan­
dard policy of 15. Rfdl cxd4 16. Nxd4 Rxcl
17. Rxcl Nc5.
15. . . . Nd5 16. Nc4 Qa8
Black would be approximately equal after
16. . . . Ba6. Instead, he was preparing to get
the upper hand after 17. . . . cxd4 because
18. Nxd4? would allow 18 . . . . Nf4!.
17. Nd6! Bxd618. exd6 Rc6
Spassky was not taking any risk when he
played 17. Nd6 because he could get his pawn
back with 19. Ne5 Rxd6 20. Nxd7 Rxd7
21. dxc5.
19. dxc5
Now the Ne5 idea is improved (19. . . . Rxc5
20. Ne5! Nxe5 21. Rxc5 bxc5 22. Qxe5 costs
a pawn, for instance). On 19. . . . Nxc5 20. Ng5!
White has a strong attack, e.g., 20 . . . . h6
21. Bxd5 exd5 22. Qe5 and 20. . . . Ba6 21. Qg4
Bxfl 22. Nxh7! .
19. . . . bxc5 20. Ng5! Rxd6 21. Rfdl
White has full compensation for a pawn.
It was too early for a combination like
21. Nxh7? Kxh7 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxg7 Kxg7
24. Qg5+ Kh8 25. Rc4 because of 25. . . . Nf4!
26. Rxf4 Rd4.
21. . . . Ra6? 22. Qe4!
So that 22. . . . N7f6 23. Bxf6 Nxf6 24. Qxb7
costs a piece. Also lost is 22. . . . g6 23. Nxh7!
(23. . . . Kxh7?? 24. Qh4+).
22. . . • f5 23. Qc4
All three natural queen moves, to e2, d3
and c4, would maintain his superiority and
likely regain a pawn. Spassky may have felt
he had better chances with queens on the
board after 23. Qc4 h6 24. Nxe6 Rxe6
25. Bxd5 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 than after 23. Qd3
h6 24. Nxe6 Rxe6 25. Bxd5 Bxd5 26. Qxd5
Qxd5. Another difference is that 23. Qc4
Re8! is playable, compared with 23. Qd3 Re8?
24. Bxd5! exd5 25. Qxf5.
23. • . . Qe8? 24. Rel!
This is much stronger than after 23. Qe2
Qe8 because 25. Rxe6 is threatened. Now
24 . . . . Qg6 25. Qb5! and White wins on the
queenside (25. . . . N7b6 26. Nxe6).
24. . . . Rxa2 25. Rxe6 Qa8 26. Bxds Bxds
27. Qh4 h6 (see diagram)
After 27. ... h6
28. Qxh6! Nf6 29. Rxf6! Black resigns
It was mate after 28 . . . . gxh6 29. Rg6. Black
resigned in view of 29. . . . Rxf6 30. Qh7+ Kf8
31. Qh8+ Bg8 32. Bxf6 and wins.
At 39, Korchnoi decided to take some ad­
vice from one of his elders. Bronstein wanted
to correct what he called Korchnoi's imprac­
tical use of the clock. Korchnoi often burned
so many minutes in the opening or early
middlegame that he had nothing left by move
30. In contrast, Spassky often followed a rule
of never taking as much as 15 minutes on a
move and then only twice in a game.
In September Korchnoi and Bronstein
 13. Whose Risk Is Riskier?
played six training games with unique time
controls-30 minutes for the first 12 moves,
an hour for the next 16, another hour for the
next 16, another hour for the next 16 and
then 30 minutes for the rest of the game.
Bronstein won 4-2 but believed he helped
cure Korchnoi's clock disease.
David Bronstein-Korchnoi
Training Match, Leningrad, 1970
English Opening (A34)
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5
5. e3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. Qa4+ Nd7 8. Ba3
Qc7 9. Rel!? Bg710. d4 0-011. Be2 b612. 0-0
Bb7 13. Rfdl e6 14. c4 Rfe8 15. Qc2 Rad8
16. Bb2 cxd4! 17. Nxd4
The use of d4 is temporary because Black
can play . . . es.The weakening of the pawn
structure is permanent.
17. . . . Nc5 18. Nb5 Qe7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7
20. Qb2+ Kg8 21. Qe5 Bc6 22. Nd4 Ba4
23. Rel Rd7 24. Nf3 Red8 25. h4 f6! 26. Qg3
es 27. h5 Ne4 28. Qh3 f5 29. hxg6 hxg6
30. Qh6 Qf6 31. Nh4 Rg7
Black is OK after 31. . . . Kt7 but just barely:
32. cs Qg7 33. Bc4+ Kf6 34. Nxf:5! Qh7!. Black
could have killed the attack with 31. . . . Rh7
32. Qxg6+ Qxg6 33. Nxg6 Rd6. For exam­
ple, 34. Nxe5?? Rdh6 and 34. f3 Rxg6 35. fxe4
Bc6.
32. c5! Nxc5? (see diagram)
After 32. .•. Nxc5
299
But this was his real mistake. After 32. . . .
Nd2 or 32. . . . bS he would be happy.
33. Rxc5! bxc5 34. Bc4+ Rf7
What Korchnoi overlooked was 34 . . . . Kf8
35. NxfS! and wins (35. . . . QxfS 36. Qh8+).
35. Nxg6 Bb5! 36. Bxf7+ Kxf7 37. Qh7+
Ke6 38. Qc7 Rd6?
Shortening matters, compared with 38 . . . .
Rd7 39. QxcS Qxg6 40. QxbS.
39. Nf4+! exf4 40. exf4+ Kd5 41. Rdl+ Qd4
42. Qb7+ Kc4 43. Rel+! Kb4 44. Rbl+
Black resigns
Tal showed signs of aging when he was
eliminated in the quarterfinals of a new event,
the USSR Cup. Another innovation, a match­
tournament pitting veteran grandmasters
against young masters, allowed Tal to turn
in the best score of anyone, 10½-3½. Korch­
noi finished with a dismal 6-8. But his new
clock discipline paid off when he won the
38th USSR Championship finals by a point
and a half. Gennady Sosonko recalled an in­
cident during the tournament, held in Riga
during the start of winter. One day the sewer
pipes froze in the tournament building. 'J\t
first this was felt by the spectators, who
quietly began to leave the tournament hall,
but soon the chief arbiter had to announce
a break; the participants, exchanging jokes,
began to leave the stage:' he said. "The lone
figure of Korchnoi remained at a table. 'What's
the matter? ' he said, raising his head to the
arbiter who stopped the clocks in his game.
'Did something happen ? "' 85
Tal had been looking forward, "with great
impatience;' to the 38th Championship be­
cause it would be held in his hometown,
Riga, for the first time since his miraculous
last-round finish in 1958. "But for formal rea­
sons I was not allowed in;' Tal wrote crypti­
cally. "Much as it pained me, I had to make
do with the role of a correspondent:' 86
Mark Taimanov and Bernard Cafferty
300 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
suggested in The Soviet Championships that
he was not invited because the organizers
"doubted, on his recent history, whether he
would last out the 21-rounder:' 87 Evgeny Gik
offered another theory: Latvian authorities
wanted to bar him from the finals because
he tried to switch citizenship to Georgia at
the time of his second marriage. 88 A third
version was that Tal was snubbed "in revenge
for not moving to Moscow" as the vlasti
wanted. 89
That version comes from Angelina Petuk­
hov, who had met Tal when she played in an
outdoor simultaneous exhibition he gave in
Riga years before. "I remember that so many
people tried to give me advice that my posi­
tion was lost after just three moves;' she said.
The game went on for many moves and
when it started to rain, her scoresheet was
soaked.
"Misha, what should I do?" she asked Tal.
"Take a clean scoresheet and I will dictate
the moves of your game;' he said. Tal even­
tually offered her a diplomatic draw. ''.After
the simul, we went to play table tennis, but
Misha had no chance there;' she said. 90 She
was a first-category player at that "and he was
an amateur. We had a long talk after that:'
Angelina, known as Gelya, later worked
in the postal chess department of Tal's Sahs
magazine and when he dropped in to see how
things were going, she would ask his help in
answering a reader's question. "I asked, 'Mik­
hail Nekhemyevich, could you . . . ? ' And, of
course, Misha couldn't refuse the request of
a pretty girl:' 91
They got to know each other more during
the 38th Championship finals because he
had to file daily newspaper reports on it. He
dictated his thoughts to a typist, who "didn't
know a thing about chess and made a lot of
mistakes;' Gelya said. "I could type and knew
something about chess, so I was asked to
help. And it gradually became something
more than just dictating and typing. . . :•
They began dating, often dining at restau-
rants in nearby Yurmala. If it was hard to get
a reservation and Tal did not want to use his
popularity, his brother Yasha, the head doc­
tor of Yurmala's sanitary inspection office,
would use his influence, she said.
"I didn't want to marry Misha. He already
had two unhappy marriages, and there al­
ways were many women around him. I said,
'Misha, we shouldn't rush: But when we came
to tournaments, we couldn't rent a hotel
room together because we weren't married,
so we ultimately registered our marriage;'
she said. "Then we had a great honeymoon.
Misha was on tour with lectures and simul­
taneous displays, and we visited almost the
whole country: Central Asia, Siberia, Kuril
Islands . . . :•92
 14. The Fischer Factor
Bobby Fischer was having dinner with
David Bronstein during the Hercegnovi speed
tournament in April 1970 when he abruptly
brought up the new world championship
cycle. "Do you think I should play?" he "mut­
tered:' Bronstein replied "Yes:• Fischer sank
into thought and dropped the subject, Bron­
stein said. 1
But after numerous obstacles, most cre­
ated by Fischer, were swept away, Fischer
agreed to enter the Interzonal at Palma de
Mallorca beginning November 9. The Soviet
reaction to his victory in that 24-player
round robin was sharply divided. Yevgeny
Vasiukov, who was in Palma as a second, said
Fischer's play had significantly declined. Mik­
hail Tal said it could not have been much of
a decline since Fischer won the tournament
by three and a half points. 2
Other Soviet grandmasters felt Fischer
had been able to demand big appearance fees
and prize money because he undeservedly
was called a genius. "In order to rightly be
considered a genius, you have to defeat equal
opponents by a big margin:' Mikhail Botvin­
nik said. ''.As yet he has not done this:' 3 Tig­
ran Petrosian claimed Fischer withdrew from
the Sousse 1967 Interzonal "because he was
afraid of losing" a Candidates match and
thereby forfeiting his claim to being a ge­
nius. 4
While Fischer was running away with the
301
Interzonal, Viktor Korchnoi was dominating
a USSR Championship finals. He earned his
fourth national title, by a point and a half.
Few would have guessed that it would be his
last.
Igor Platonov-Korchnoi
38th USSR Championship finals,
Riga, 1970
Grunfeld Defense (D83)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3
0-0 6. Qb3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Nc6
Quiet development with 8. Be2 yields a
minor advantage.
8. Nf3?! Na5 9. Qb4 Nxc410. Qxc4 c6
Because of his two bishops, 11. 0-0 NhS
12. Bes Be6 (13. queen-move f6) is fine for
Black.
11. Bes Bg412. Nd2 Be6 13. Qe2 Rc8 14. e4?
Bh6!
The positional threat is 15. . . . Ng4 and
16. . . . NxeS (16. Bg3? Qxd4). White would
be worse after 15. Nb3 Nd7 16. Bg3 Bg7
17. Rdl Bxb3 18. axb3 Qb6.
15. Nf3 b516. Qc2 Bg417. 0-0 Nh5!
Safe and solid was 17. . . . Bxf3 18. gxf3 e6.
Korchnoi prefers to shoot for . . . fS.
18. Ne2 Qd7 19. Qd3? c5 20. Radl? c4
302 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

21. Qc3 f5! 22. exf5 Rxf5 23. Ng3 Rti! (see This is an extreme way of avoiding the
diagram) Griinfeld (3. Nc3 dS). One drawback is con­
ceding control of c5. Compare this with
Petrosian-Geller, Moscow 1961, which went
2. . . . Bg7 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. dS
and now 6. . . . Na6 7. BgS NcS 8. f3 c6 9. Qd2
cxd5 10. cxd5 Bd7 11. h4 Rc8 12. Nh3 b5
13. Ndl NhS! 14. g4 Ng3 15. Rgl Nxe2 16. Kxe2
b4 with advantage to Black.
3. . . . Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. g3 es 6. Bg2 0-0
7. Nf3 c5 8. 0-0 Nbd7 9. e4 h610. Bd2 Ne8
11. Qe2 Kh7 12. a4 b6 13. a5!
After 23. ... Rj7 On 13. . . . bxaS White can favorably regain
the pawn with 14. Ra3 or 14. Ra2, followed
Now 24 . . . . Nf4 and/or . . . Bxf3 are threat­
eventually by BxaS.
ened. After 24. d5 Bx£3 25. gxf3 Qh3 26. Nxh5
Qxh5 his advantage is obvious. 13. . . . Rb8 14. axb6 Qxb6 15. Rfbl a6
16. Bh3
24. Nxh5 Bxh5 25. d5 Rcf8
Petrosian could have followed his favorite
Black could also win with 25. . . . b4! and
recipe after 16. . . . fS? 17. exfS gxfS 18. Nh4!,
26. . . . c3, since 26. Qxb4 allows 26. . . . Rxf3!
with advantage. He also prepared to open the
27. gxf3 Bxf3 and . . . Qh3-g2 mate. In fact,
queenside further (16. . . . Nc7 17. b4 cxb4
25. . . . Rxf3! is immediately good.
18. Na4 and Bxb4).
26. Qd4? Rxf3 27. gxf3 Qh3 White resigns
16. . . . Qb7 17. Ndl Nb6 18. Bxc8 Qxc8
Clearly, Korchnoi would be a Candidates 19. Nh4 Nc7 20. Ne3 Qh3 21. b4! Nd7 22. b5!
contender in 1971. So would Fischer. But
Now 22. . . . Rb7! 23. Bas! axbs 24. cxbs
when Boris Spassky was asked to predict
Rfb8 25. Bxc7 and Nc4-a5-c6.
his 1972 challenger, he named Tigran Petro­
sian. 22. . . . axbs 23. Ra7 Rfc8 24. Bas Nb6
Petrosian needed practice before the Can­ 25. cxb5 Qd7 26. Kg2! (see diagram)
didates. He had played only one short match
in 20 years. He got a chance to size up his
quarterfinals opponent, Robert Hubner, in
January 1971 when he and Korchnoi went to
the annual invitational at Wijk aan Zee, the
Netherlands. As Black, he squeezed the young
German until a draw was evident at move
95.
Petrosian's best game in the tournament:

Petrosian-Vlastimil Hort
Wijk aan Zee, 1971
Anti-Grii.nfeld Defense (E60)
1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. d5!?
 14. The Fischer Factor
mediate 26. Bxb6 Rxb6 27. Nc4? fails to
27. . . . RxbS 28. Nb6? Rxbl+.
26. . . . c4 27. Bxb6 Rxb6 28. Nxc4 Rxb5
29. Nb6 Rxb6 30. Rxb6 Bf6 31. Nf3 Be7
32. Rc6 Bd8 33. Nd2! Qe8 34. Nc4 Black re­
signs
Blitz
Two months later, Korchnoi and Petro­
sian, along with Tal, 19-year-old Anatoly
Karpov and 12 others, took part in a five­
minute tournament held to honor the 24th
Congress of the Soviet Communist Party.
Janos Kadar, Communist leader of Hungary
and avid chess fan, came to the Central Chess
Club to watch the games. He witnessed a
stunning performance by Petrosian: 14 wins
and one draw. "The better the chess intu­
ition, the stronger you play blitz;' Petrosian
had said. 5 His intuition was impeccable that
day.
Tal-Petrosian
Blitz tournament, Moscow, 1971
Queen's Indian Defense (E14)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Bd3
c5 6. Nc3 Be7 7. 0-0 cxd4 8. exd4 d5 9. b3
0-0 10. Bb2 Nc6 11. Qe2 Re8 12. Radl Rc8
13. Rfel Bf8 14. Bbl g6 15. Ne5 Bg7 16. h3
a617. cxd5
In a dead-even position Tal tries for a mi­
croscopic edge (17. . . . NxdS 18. NxdS exdS?!
19. Nxc6 Rxe2 20. Nxd8 Rxel+ 21. Rxel
Rxd8 22. Re7!).
17. . . . exd5 18. Qf3 b5 19. Ne2? Nxe5!
20. dxe5 Nd7
Shakhmatnaya Moskva said speed chess
reflected the true style of a player: "Petrosian
looks to see where he can better place a piece.
Tal looks to see where he can sacrifice if' 6
But here Tal was just losing a pawn.
303
21. e6 Rxe6! 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Nd4 Rxel+
24. Rxel Qf6 25. Qg4 Ne5
Now 26. Qg3 Re8 27. f4 fails to 27. . . . Qb6!.
26. Nf5+ Kh8 27. Qd4 Re8 28. Re3?
Panic. Tal realized that a knight move
would allow 28 . . . . Nf3+ and 29. . . . Qxd4.
But he overlooked 28. Kfl! gxf5 29. f4!, which
would regain the lost knight and force Black
to work hard for a win.
28 . . . . gxf5 29. Qf4 d4! 30. Rg3 d3 and
Black soon won.
Korchnoi finished second, three points be­
hind Petrosian. Since 64 was awarding a
prize to the winner, it meant editor Petrosian
was presenting it to player Petrosian. Korch­
noi smiled at the way it would be handed
over: "Tiger, here is Tiger! " 7
Tal tied for fourth in the blitz event. He said
he was "recompensed" for being left out of
the 38th USSR Championship finals with "an
abundance of tournaments" in 1971. 8 They
began with a Tallin international in February
and another in Piarnu in June. He tied with
local hero Keres in the first and finished sec­
ond in the latter behind Leonid Stein, who
had become a dose friend. But Tal did not
get to play in a foreign (individual) tourna­
ment until 1973. He was nyevyezdny, barred
from travel, because of his, according to
Korchnoi, "frequent marital changes" -and
two divorces. 9
Pre-Candidates
Thanks to a last-round win at the Inter­
zonal-which he allegedly bought from his
opponent-Mark Taimanov had qualified to
play his first Candidates match. His reward
was having Bobby Fischer as his opponent.
Taimanov turned to Tal for help. They agreed
to play five training games. Tal's new wife
Gelya recalled how they discussed condi­
tions. "Mark, should I play with you at full
304 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
strength or somewhat experimentally?" Tal
asked. "Why the question? Of course, the
strongest possible;' answered Taimanov. 10
Gelya said Tal won all five games. The moves
have remained confidential.
Tal offered to be Taimanov's second dur­
ing the Fischer match in Vancouver. But
when Taimanov asked Mikhail Botvinnik for
advice, he said Tal would be a bad choice.
"You know, you and Misha love life too much.
Both of you are given to Bohemianism;' he
said, and a match requires an "ascetic" regi­
men. 11 "You'll be hanging out at night, drink­
ing vodka . . . no, and again no! " 12 Taimanov
had to turn Tal down. "Was Tal offended?"
he was asked in a 2009 interview. "Tal didn't
know how to be offended;' Taimanov re­
plied. 13
Korchnoi, too, wanted to play a training
match before his quarterfinals match with
Yefim Geller. He said Anatoly Karpov "of­
fered me his services:' 14 This may seem
strange because of their infamous later hos­
tility. Karpov claimed their relations got off
to a rocky start in 1969 when he sought
Korchnoi's help before the World Junior
Championship. Korchnoi treated him with
"contempt;' he said. 15
But during 1971-2-before they saw each
other as world championship rivals-Karpov
and Korchnoi got along. ''I'll never forget the
scorching hot summer of 1972 we spent to­
gether in Dubna, outside Moscow, examin­
ing the games of the match between Spassky
and Fischer;' Karpov wrote. "Only after mid­
night we would walk down to the river and
skinny-dip in the still-hot water:' 16 He said
he, Korchnoi and Paul Keres analyzed all of
the Fischer-Spassky games during that match
"and sometimes Petrosian joined us. It was
a good schooI:' 17
Korchnoi dictated the terms of their train­
ing match: He would play Black in all six
games and would choose the opening of each
game. Korchnoi said this was because Kar­
pov was not strong in the opening and needed
to prepare the variations in advance. "I wanted
the games to be of full value from start to fin­
ish;' Korchnoi said. 18 He changed the terms
for the final game and played White. The
match result was two wins, two draws and
two losses apiece. Korchnoi said the games
were to be "completely secret" but the moves
eventually became known.
Anatoly Karpov-Korchnoi
Training match, Leningrad, 1971
Sicilian Defense (B83)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2
Karpov liked 6. g4, the Keres Attack. But
6. Be2 was the favorite move of Geller, Korch­
noi's quarterfinals opponent.
6. • . . Be7 7. Be3 a6 8. f4 Qc7 9. g4 d5
This is the principled response. Now
10. exds NxdS 11. Nxds Bh4+ and . . . exds
would be fine for Black.
10. e5! Ne4!?11. Nxe4 dxe412. h4 0-013. g5
Black's tenth move was almost a gambit
because the e4-pawn will be very weak. But
Karpov wants the center semi-closed as he
goes for kingside expansion.
13. . . . Rd8 14. c3 Nc6 15. Qd2 Bc5 16. h5
Bd717. Bg4 Bes
Black would have ample counterplay after
17. . . . Bxd4! 18. Bxd4? Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Bc6
or 19. cxd4 Bb5. But 18. cxd4! Ne7 19. Rel
Bc6 is more complex after 20. g6! (20 . . . .
hxg6 21. hxg6 Nxg6 22. Qh2).
18. g6! Qa519. gxf7+
Karpov had a remarkable resource, 19. h6.
It could have led to perpetual check after
19. . . . Nxd4 20. gxh7+ Kxh7 21. hxg7+ Kxg7
22. f5 ! . The reason is Black has nothing better
than 20. . . . Nf3+ 21. Bxf3 Rxd2 22. f6+ Kg8
23. Rgl+ Kh8 24. Rhl+ Kg8.
19 • . . • Bxf7 20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Qf2 Bxe3
22. Qxe3 Rab8! 23. b4! (see diagram)
 14. The Fischer Factor
After 23. b4
This looks risky but Karpov can keep con­
trol of the tactics this way, unlike 23. Rh2?
Rd3 24. Qxe4 Qc5!.
23. . . . Qa3 24. Qcl Qa4
With four isolated pawns, Black would lose
a 21. . . . Qxcl+ endgame.
25. Be2 c5 26. bxc5
A bit safer is 26. a3 followed by getting his
king to safety, perhaps with Kf2-g3.
26. . . . Qc6 27. Qe3 Rb2
And here 28. 0-0! is surprisingly safe
(28 . . . . Rdd2 29. Rf2).
28. Rgl?? Bxh5!
Karpov overlooked this (29. Bxh5 Rd3
30. Qcl Qxc5 and wins).
29. Bc4 Qa4 30. Bxe6+ Kh8 31. Bg4 Bxg4
32. Rxg4 Rxa2 White resigns
Qu arter.finals
The tone of the Korchnoi-Geller match
was set by the first game. Geller forfeited on
time with five moves to make. He was con­
stantly, often fatally behind on the clock dur­
ing the match, held in Moscow's October Hall
of the House of Unions.
Korchnoi came better prepared than Gel­
ler. In the second game, he reeled off his first
305
19 moves of a Dragon Sicilian in ten minutes.
He had been playing the Dragon since his
Leningrad Pioneer Palace days and had
beaten Karpov with it in their training match.
But it was a daring opening choice, since
Geller's second, Eduard Gufeld, had written
the best-selling Russian book on the Dragon.
Gufeld was annoyed to find out that Geller
had not read the book. 19 But Korchnoi missed
a win at move 25 and the tide turned. Geller
had a winning position at move 35, with five
minutes to reach the move 40 control. But
he was so rattled by Korchnoi's draw offer
that he accepted.
Gufeld proceeded to give Geller a crash
course in the Dragon. When Korchnoi re­
peated the opening moves in the fourth game,
Geller tied the score. But then:
Korchnoi-Yefim Geller
Candidates quarterfinal match,
Fifth game, Moscow, 1971
Queen's Gambit Declined (D58)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6
5. Bg5 0-0 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. Be2 Bb7
9. Bxf6!?
This capture was usually made at move
seven but Korchnoi wanted Geller to commit
his c8-bishop first. After 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bd3 Black has an easier time with
9. . . . c6 followed by . . . Bg4 or . . . Be6.
9. . . . Bxf610. cxd5 exdS11. 0-0 Qe712. Qb3
RdS 13. Radl
Black has to make a decision about this
c-pawn. The solid 13. . . . c6 would give White
time to prepare e3-e4 with Bd3 and Rfel.
Geller thought 73 minutes here. The vet­
eran trainer Vladimir Alatortsev concluded
that this showed he was poorly prepared for
the match in either openings or psychology. 20
13. . . . c5 14. dxc5 Bxc3 15. Qxc3 bxc5
16. Rel Nd717. Rc2 Rab8
A better way to handle Black's heavy pieces
306 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Korchnoi (right) could not kick the smoking habit, as he showed in his quarterfinal Candidates
match with Yefim Geller in May-June 1971. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1971.

would be shifting the other rook to c8 and
the queen to b6. Then if b2-b3, Black obtains
play with . . . a5-a4.
18. b3 Qe6 19. Rdl Qb6 20. Nel! Rbc8
21. Bg4 Qg6 22. Bh3 (see diagram)
After 22. Bh3
Postmortems indicated Black would be
fine after pass-moves such as 22. . . . Qb6, e.g.,
23. Nd3 c4 24. bxc4 Rxc4.
22. . . . Rc7? 23. Nd3! Nf6?
It appeared that Black had no good answer
to 24. Nf4 or 24. Bxd7. But 23. . . . Qd6
24. Bxd7 d4! 25. exd4 Qxd7 offered coun­
terchances on the long b7-hl diagonal.
24. Qa5! Ne8 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Nxc5 Black
resigns (Some web sites wrongly say Black
resigned after 26. Qxc5?!.)
After a drawn fifth game, Korchnoi ad­
journed a favorable position in the sixth. He
and his seconds, Gennady Sosonko and Vy­
acheslav Osnos, could not find a convincing
continuation. Osnos recommended a piece
sacrifice that, at worst, would draw by per­
petual check. Korchnoi tried it, Geller quickly
went wrong and lost. The match ended 5½-
2½ when Geller forfeited on time in a lost
position. Never a particularly gracious win­
ner, the first thing Korchnoi said to his sec­
onds when they celebrated the victory was
"No matter what you say, guys, I won a match
against a jerk:' 21
 14. The Fischer Factor
Petrosian's quarterfinals match with Hilb­
ner began in Seville on May 13, the same day
as Korchnoi's. But it lasted only nine days.
The players' energy seemed to slowly dissi­
pate. The first two games were fighting draws
of 41 and 42 moves. The next two were drawn
in 28 and 24 moves. The fifth and sixth were
drawn in 14 and 15 moves.
The seventh might also have been drawn
early, but Hilbner refused Petrosian's offer at
move 19. Petrosian refused Hilbner's offer six
moves later. Hilbner blundered on the 39th
move and resigned one move later. He then
withdrew from the match, saying the noise
level was intolerable. As a result, Petrosian
advanced to the semifinals to meet Korchnoi
five weeks later. Korchnoi felt the short break
favored Petrosian. Petrosian had had an easy
time with Hilbner but "I was exhausted and
could not recover" in time, he said.
Sp assky Versus Vlasti
After he left the Soviet Union, Boris Spas­
sky described a lifelong opposition to the So­
viet authorities. "In my relations with the
vlasti there was always an ideological aspect
because I was a dedicated White Guard;' he
said in 2001. 22 He did clash with the powers
that be, but usually not in Moscow and not
over matters of policy. Instead: "In '65 I spoke
in Novosibirsk, and I was asked why Keres
never became world champion. I said 'Imag­
ine a man of 24, who is already an eminent
chess player, and has unbounded love for his
little Estonia, which quickly fell into the
hands of Stalin, then Hitler, then Stalin again.
What does he feel when this is happening? '
After the lecture some Komsomol leaders
asked me why I was so anti-Soviet. 'Did I tell
you a lie? ' I reiterated. But it was too late. My
dossier at the KGB swelled a bif' 23
In a 2007 interview he was asked if an offi­
cial donos, or denunciation, had ever been
lodged against him. "Once in a lecture in the
307
Rostov oblast I said that if chess were not my
profession, then most likely I would have
been a priest;' he said. A high-ranking local
Communist Party official demanded to know
how a Soviet world champion could say such
things. "What will our ideological opponents
in the West say?" Spassky was asked. He was
advised by the vlasti to "follow the example
of Botvinnik:' 24 That is, to hew to the Party
line.
But Spassky claimed he could joke with
the vlasti. Called before a Party commission
after a trip to the West, Spassky said he judged
what he saw there with his own eyes, rather
than what he read at home. "Don't you read
newspapers?" he was asked. Spassky fell back
on his phantom career: "Excuse me, I am a
journalist by profession and who, if not me,
knows the value of our newspapers. Unfor­
tunately most of them lie:'
''And Pravda?" he was asked.
"Pravda even more so:' he answered. 25
In 2016 an interviewer asked about an offi­
cial meeting Spassky had when "you came
on a pink Volvo and in a yellow neckerchief
and said 'I've never read our Pravda newslet­
ter and will never read if" Spassky said that
was not quite accurate: "I remember how I
came to a meeting with the vlasti in yellow
velvet pants. They eyed me suspiciously:' But,
he added, "there was no yellow neckerchief
[and] I had a dark blue Volvo:' 26
It was a familiar Spassky tactic. "From the
very beginning, he pretended to play the
fool, pretended not to know anything;' said
a former high-ranking chess official, Yevgeny
Bebchuk. "I would often be called to official
meetings in my administrative role, and col­
leagues on the committee would say, 'Well,
he's a talented chess player, but he's a little
strange in the head; and I would say 'Well,
yes:" 21
Bebchuk felt Spassky was playing the role
of the yurodivy, the holy fool. "He protected
himself. It's a kind of survival technique
because in Russian culture they take well to
308 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

fools, they forgive them for a great many the period. That changed when he scored
things;' Bebchuk said. 3½-½ in another USSR team championship
"Spassky without doubt did things no one in August.
else was allowed to do;' Mikhail Beilin said.
"Others would never have been permitted to Spassky-Leonid Stein
go abroad if they acted in the same way as USSR teams Cup, Rostov-on-Don,
SpasskY:' 28 1971
One of the sore points with the vlasti was Benoni Defense (A57)
that by mid-1971 Spassky had not played a 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 cs 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4
serious game in the Soviet Union since de­ Bg7 6. Nf3 0-0 7. Be2 e6 8. Bg5 exd5
throning Petrosian two years before. This 9. cxd5 h610. Bh4 g5! 11. Bg3 NhS 12. Nd2!
was more than an accident, since he had Nxg313. hxg3 a6
played more than 50 games abroad during
Svetozar Gligoric, the recog­
nized expert in this line, pre­
ferred a quick . . . Nd7 and . . . Qe7/
. . . Ne5. Black needs quick coun­
terplay because he has virtually
invited a White knight to land on
f5.
14. a4 Re8 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. Ne3
Nd7!17. Nf5 Nf618. Nxh6+ Kf8
No King's Indian/Benoni player
likes to trade off his King's bishop,
and Stein was more ambitious
than 18 . . . . Bxh6 19. Rxh6 Kg7
and . . . Nxe4.
19. f3 g4! 20. Qc2 Qa5
Now 21. fxg4 Nxe4? 22. 0-0!
is good because of the Rxt7 mate
threat. But 21. . . . Re5! muddies
the water.
21. 0-0-0! b5!
For better or worse, Black must
try to open the queenside. Now
22. fxg4 Re5 was again unclear
and better than 22. . . . b4 23. g5!
bxc3 24. gxf6 Bxf6 25. Rdft Bg5+
26. Kdl! Bxh6 27. Rxh6 cxb2
Anatoly Karpov (standing center) watches Spassky analyze
one of his games from the 1971 USSR Teams Cup with 28. Qxb2 with advantage. Spas­
Yevgeny Vasiukov (right). Karpov helped both Korchnoi sky opts for a safer edge.
and Spassky in the 1970-72 world championship cycle and
later studied the Fischer-Spassky match games with Korch­ 22. axb5 axb5 23. Bxb5 Res
noi and Paul Keres. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1971. 24. Qa4?!
 14. The Fischer Factor
Black would have been happy to play 24. f4
Rxe4! 25. Nxe4 Nxe4 (26. Qxe4? Qxb5 and
wins). However 24. Bc6 Rb8 25. Qa4 or
25. Rdel was more of a test.
24. . . . Nh5?
Black could get back into the game with
the unlikely 24. . . . Rh5! (25. Nf'5 Bxf'5 26. exf'5
Qxa4).
25. Qxa5 Rxa5 26. f4!
This gets material back with interest, e.g.,
26. . . . Ral+ 27. Kc2 Rxdl 28. Nxdl Nxg3
29. fxe5 Nxhl 30. exd6 Bxh6 31. d7.
26. . . . Bxh6? 27. Kc2! (see diagram)
After 27. Kc2
White's center pawns finally matter after
27. . . . Re7 28. Rxh5 Bg7 29. e5! dxe5 30. d6!.
27. . . . Rxe4 28. Nxe4 Bg7 29. Nxd6 Rxb5
30. Nxb5 Nxg3 31. Nd6 Bd7 32. Rhel Ba4+
33. b3 Bd7 34. Re5!?
There are many ways to win and Spassky
finds the most flashy.
34. . . . Bh6 35. Nb7! Bxf4 36. Nxc5 Bf5+
37. Rxf5 Nxf5 38. Kd3 Ne3 39. Rgl Nxd5
40. Ke4 Nc3+ 41. Kxf4 Black resigns
But when he encountered strong resis­
tance from Viktor Baturinsky or the higher
authorities on a policy matter, Spassky usu­
ally backed down. Instead, he joked to West­
erners about his troubles. After tying for first
place in the Canadian Open in Vancouver in
309
September 1971, he changed his travel plans,
something likely to irritate his security han­
dlers. "The KGB has one hundred files on
me;' Spassky said. "One hundred and one
will make no difference:' 29
His biggest break with the vlasti came in
January 1971 when he was asked to sign a
joint letter demanding clemency for jailed
American Communist Angela Davis. Similar
letters had been signed by leading Soviet
scientists and cultural stars like Dmitri
Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Maya
Plisetskaya. It was considered an honor to be
asked to sign. Botvinnik signed. Spassky re­
fused.
This all took a toll on Spassky, he said. In
1971 "my nervous system collapsed" and ul­
timately left him vulnerable to Fischer. He
could not be "the king of the critical mo­
ment;' as he styled himself, "if my nervous
system is a mess:' 30
Neither of Us Wanted to Win
Before Korchnoi's defection, he described
his 1971 semifinals match as a battle of play­
ing styles, not feuding personalities. "Well,
for me, it's not easy to play Petrosian. He's
not a pleasant partner for me. He doesn't go
forward when he plays chess. He waits for
his opponents' mistake-no more, no other
tactic. Well, I don't like to play such an op­
ponent;' he said in a 1974 lecture. 31
After his defection, Korchnoi gave a more
sinister account. The match was the culmi­
nation of 11 years of hostility instilled by
Petrosian, he said. He charged that Petro­
sian used his political pull to have it held in
Moscow, his power base. "I was under Petro­
sian's thumb, and accepted the conditions;'
he said. "It was some handicap. I got the
feeling every day that I was spotting him a
pawn, you know! " 32 The handicap, he felt,
was that Petrosian had a nice home in Mos­
cow and a dacha outside it. That alone made
310 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
it impossible for Petrosian to lose the match,
Korchnoi claimed. "Without having made
the first move on the board, he had already
won the battle;' he wrote in his 2004 memoir.
Yet he conceded that he was not forced to
play in Moscow: "I should never have agreed
to play in Moscow:'
If there was bitter antagonism between
them, the first eight match games did not
show it. When Petrosian was White he con­
ceded shorter and shorter draws: in 35 moves,
then 27, then 15 and 13. Korchnoi said this
was because Petrosian had not prepared his
openings and was "lazy:'
Korchnoi and Spassky said the fourth
game was the turning point, and Petrosian
seemed to agree when he wrote a long article
about it for Shakhmaty v SSSR. Korchnoi had
a rook, bishop and four pawns against rook,
knight and four pawns. Petrosian described
how he and Yuri Averbakh burned the mid­
night oil: They saw that waiting tactics would
probably fail, that a trade of rooks or of rooks
and minor pieces would also be fatal. But
Korchnoi (left) weighs his options in the first game of the semi­
final 1971 Candidates match with Petrosian (right). Former world
champion Max Euwe (center) predicted a close match. Shakhmaty
v SSSR, September 1971.
there were also drawing tricks, including
stalemate traps.
"When such beautiful variations are found
it is natural that the mood improves even if
the hands on the clock show that it's five in
the morning;' Petrosian wrote. 33 He came to
the board confident that there was no forced
win. Korchnoi found ingenious winning at­
tempts but conceded the draw at move 66.
This invigorated Petrosian and, after an­
other draw, he nearly won the sixth game as
Black. But the match remained tied. "People
joked that neither of us wanted to win the
match;' Korchnoi said. It was more than a
joke. "When I lost the match, everybody in
my country or outside was sure I lost that
match deliberately, because I did not want to
play Fischer, because I was sure Fischer plays
better than anybody now and I was sure I
would lose! " 34
But there was a darker theory. Rumors
spread in Moscow and in the West that the
eight straight draws were ordered by Soviet
officials, who were waiting for the outcome
of the other semifinals
match, in Denver. That
match ended June 20 in a
stunning 6-0 victory by
Fischer over Bent Larsen.
This meant that whoever
won in Moscow would have
to face Fischer in the finals.
Fueling the conspiracy
theory was the timing: The
next Korchnoi-Petrosian
game, on June 22, turned
out to be decisive. Anatoly
Karpov concluded that the
Sports Committee had been
waiting until Fischer's vic­
tory was certain before it
chose his next opponent.
Karpov gave this sce­
nario: Korchnoi and Petro­
sian were summoned to a
Sports Committee meeting
 14. The Fischer Factor 31 1

and asked who would have a better chance The pawn structure after 11. exd4 cxd4!
of beating Bobby. Korchnoi said neither of would resemble a reversed Modern Benoni
them could do it. But Petrosian said he Defense. Then White's bishop on b2 and
could. The Sports Committee then made a knight on d2 are somewhat misplaced. For
deal. Korchnoi would lose the match and get example, 12. a3 aS 13. Ne4 Be7 14. Rel Nd7
three major foreign invitations as compen­ and Black is ready for 15. . . . fS 16. Ned2 Qb6
sation.35 or even . . . Ra6-b6/ . . . NcS.
Korchnoi did lose the match and did get 11. . . . Nd7 12. Nh4 g6 13. Bf3 Bc7
three desirable invitations in the next year­
to Hastings, Amsterdam and Palma de Mal­ Spassky could not hide his feelings when
lorca. But there is no other evidence to sup­ he annotated this game. "While Korchnoi
port the account of Karpov, which was written has no plan, Petrosian steadfastly improves
when he had become Korchnoi's archenemy the position of his pieces;' he wrote in the
and was in deteriorating relations with Pet­ November 1971 Chess Life & Review.
rosian. Besides, the Fischer-Larsen match 14. a3 Ba5 15. Bel Qe7 16. Bg4 f5!
was already a 4-0 blowout after Korchnoi
Black would be slightly more comfortable
and Petrosian drew their fifth game on July
after 16. . . . Bxg4 17. Qxg4 Nf6 but White
13. There was no reason to wait more than a
would have greater chances of opening the
week with three phony draws.
position favorably.
Korchnoi, who had his own conspiracy
theories, was compelled to deny this one. 17. exf5 gxf518. Bf3 Nf6 19. Bg2 Rad8
"Only those who knew me well realized that This rook could have gone to c8 on this or
I was trying very hard, but that my play was the previous move so that it could recapture
not coming off;' he added.36 on c6. But Bxc6 looks so anti-positional at
this stage that Black could ignore it.
Petrosian-Korchnoi
Candidates semifinal match, 20. Ra2 Bc8 21. Rel Kh8? (see diagram)
Moscow, 1971
English Opening (A20)
I. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. b3!?
Usual is 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4, since Black
has denied himself . . . Nc6.
3. . . . d5 4. Bb2 d4 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. d3 c5 7. Bg2
Ne7 8. 0-0 Nec6
The Black knights work well on c6 and d7
compared with on c6 and g6 or fS. The mid­
dlegame will resemble the sixth game of the After 21. ... Kh8
Petrosian-Fischer match four months later.
However, here Black should take precau­
It began L Nf3 cS 2. b3 dS 3. Bb2 f6! 4. c4
tion, such as with 21. . . . Qc7. For example,
d4 5. d3 eS 6. e3 Ne7 7. Be2 Nec6! 8. Nbd2
21. . . . Qc7 22. b4 cxb4 23. Nb3 is a double­
Be7 9. 0-0 0-0 10. e4 a6 11. Nel bS 12. Bg4
edged sacrifice (23. . . . bxa3 24. NxaS QxaS
Bxg4 13. Qxg4 Qc8, when Black was at least
25. Rxa3 Qc7). This game has been hailed as
equal and went on to win.
a strategic masterpiece but it is more a matter
9. e3 0-0 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. e4!? of Black's overlooking tactics.
312 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
22. b4! cxb4 23. Nb3 Bb6
Now 23. . . . bxa3? 24. NxaS NxaS 25. Bxa3
costs the Exchange. Black's move protects his
a-pawn (compared with 23. . . . Bc7 24. axb4
Nxb4 25. Rxa7).
24. Bxc6!? bxc6 25. axb4 a6
Black can not defend the e-pawn with
25. . . . Qc7 or 25. . . . Qd6 because of 26. cS.
But he had to meet the threat of 26. cS Bc7
27. Rxa7. He might have tried to muddy the
water with 25. . . . Ng4 and if 26. h3, then
26. . . . Ne3?! 27. fxe3 Rg8 28. Ng2 Rxg3. But
his attack would be halted after 29. exd4 Qg7
30. Qe2.
26. Nf3 e4 27. c5 Bc7 28. Nfxd4 Qf7 29. Rd2
White's long-range threats are based on
Bb2 and getting the queen to c3.
29 . . . . Bd7 30. Bb2 Kg8 31. Na5! Bxa5
32. bxa5 Rb8 33. Bal Rfe8 34. Rde2 Qh5
35. Qd2 Kt7 36. h4
Petrosian anticipates threatening moves
such as . . . Ng4. Korchnoi, in time pressure,
played the rest of the game poorly but his po­
sition has been in steady decline since the
diagram.
36. . . . exd3 37. Qxd3 f4 38. Nf3! Rxe2
39. Qxe2 Qxc5?
Shortening the loss, compared with 39. . . .
Re8 40. NeS+ and 41. Qxa6.
40. Ne5+ Kf8 41. Nxd7+ Nxd7. And Black
resigned before 42. Qe6! forced mate.
Korchnoi had the White pieces in the tenth
game. He was in the same must-win situa­
tion as David Bronstein in the 1951 World
Championship match and Paul Keres in his
1965 candidates match with Spassky. Never­
theless, he wrote, "It was not difficult to guess
that the last game of our match would finish
in a draw:' 37
He tried hard but adjourned in a lost po­
sition. "Well, draw-or I' ll resign;' he told
Petrosian. 38 It must have reminded Petrosian
of Spassky's offer in their final match game
two years before. He accepted. He had be­
come the last line of defense to avert a Fis­
cher-Spassky world championship match.
Breaking Point
After their match, "Petrosian persuaded
me to take part in his preparations for Fis­
cher;' Korchnoi said. 39 He went to Petrosian's
dacha outside Moscow and visited him "for
two weeks:' Karpov said this was the most
telling evidence that Korchnoi had thrown
the semifinals match. It was "staggering" that
Korchnoi, so notoriously hostile after a loss,
was suddenly "on good terms" with Petro­
sian, he wrote.
But Yuri Averbakh said they had been on
good terms for years. The breaking point
came when Korchnoi arrived at the dacha one
day and discovered that Petrosian was about
to leave: There was a Spartak soccer match at
Luzhniki Stadium and he was not going to
miss it. Korchnoi could analyze openings with
Averbakh instead. "This infuriated Korchnoi;'
Averbakh said. "He refused to help Petrosian
and returned to Leningrad:' 40
These were the kind of social blunders
that even great players made: Despite years
of analyzing and occasional socializing to­
gether, Petrosian and Korchnoi did not un­
derstand one another. Petrosian could not
imagine how Korchnoi would feel slighted
by his preferring to watch football rather
than analyze with the man who had come to
help him. And Korchnoi did not realize how
this was a normal way for Petrosian to pre­
pare. "He often left for football or hockey,
having asked us to look at some position;'
Alexey Suetin said. "Then he actively took
part in the checking of our work, agreeing,
disputing:' 41
But there was still a chance to repair the
damage. Just before the Fischer match, Pet-
 14. The Fischer Factor
rosian tried to get Korchnoi to go with him
as his second. Spassky did not believe Petro­
sian was sincere and had been pressured to
ask Korchnoi. In one of his last interviews,
Korchnoi said he was tempted: "Imagine, I
go to Argentina for free in order to show
Petrosian one or two moves. Well, who in the
Soviet Union would not grab such a possi­
bility?" 42 But "I said decisively no:' 43 He did
not mention the dacha slight but gave an eth­
ical explanation: "Because we were in the
same competition, it would be unfair to help
one another. So to go to Buenos Aires I
should have needed Fischer's permission. He
should have appreciated that:'
Korchnoi later laughed when he recalled
his refusal: "This was a strong blow. After
our conversation, Petrosian knew that the
[Fischer] match was losf' 44 However, he
added, "If the Soviet authorities had insisted
on my working with Petrosian, it would have
been quite difficult for me:' The matter was
passed up to the Sports Committee, which
summoned both players to make their cases.
According to Karpov, Korchnoi said, "How
can I be Petrosian's second, if he makes me
sick to watch how he plays?" 45
Spassky, who heard Petrosian's version of
the confrontation, said Korchnoi's words
were, "When I see what disgusting, vile moves
Petrosian makes, I do not want to be his sec­
ond!" Petrosian laughed at this, and Spassky
said that was proof that the former champion
had a good sense of humor. 46
In any case, Korchnoi was allowed to stay
more than 8,000 miles away from the Can­
didates finals match. He could not be blamed
if Petrosian lost.
Six Bottles of Cogn ac
Some Soviet officials had been worried
about Fischer for at least seven years. In
March 1964 a "chess laboratory" of the All­
Union Scientific Research Institute of Phys-
313
ical Training sent letters to leading grand­
masters asking them to evaluate the Ameri­
can's strengths and weaknesses and report
back within a month. The assumption was
that Fischer would play in the upcoming
Amsterdam Interzonal. His world champi­
onship ambitions might be stymied there if
the Soviet entrants were prepared.
Yefim Geller did not take the task very se­
riously. He looked at 20 Fischer games, all of
them ending in the middlegame. Fischer's
ideas are "transparent;' Geller wrote back.
Korchnoi gave the most detailed response.
He noticed that the most common Fischer
endgames were those with rook-and-minor
piece against rook-and-minor piece. Fischer
rarely miscalculates and when he does it's
usually because of "excessive self-confidence
and haste;' Korchnoi added. Fischer was
broadening his opening repertoire, he warned.
But he is weaker in strategic battles than tac­
tical ones, and "lengthy positional maneu­
vering tires or bores him:' 47
Seven years later, Fischer was again the
topic at a June 7, 1971, meeting of the USSR
Chess Federation trainers' council. It tried
to explain Taimanov's 0-6 loss to the Amer­
ican. Taimanov seemed in awe of his oppo­
nent. "Fischer knows everything;' he told
Nikolai Krogius. "He's an Achilles without
an Achilles heel:' 48 Alexander Kotov, a voice
of the Soviet chess establishment, was not
buying that. Taimanov's defeat was "the big­
gest setback in the entire history of Soviet
chess;' he said during the council meeting.
After further criticism, the meeting declared
the results of the Fischer match were "totally
unsatisfactory! " 49
Then came the Fischer-Larsen match.
Izvestia, the official Soviet government news­
paper, said its sports department was deluged
with so many calls that by the end of the
match whoever picked up the phone would
automatically say "6-0:' There was no reason
to wait for the caller to ask for the final result
of the chess match.50
314 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Spassky was grudgingly beginning to be­
lieve in Fischer. Journalist Vik.tor Khenkin
recalled how he often visited the world cham­
pion's Moscow apartment and dined there
one night after the quarterfinals matches.
Spassky did his Taimanov impression. He
"puffed his cheeks" in self-importance. Over
cognac he and Khenkin discussed the up­
coming Larsen-Fischer semifinals. Spassky
repeated his "much ambition, little ammu­
nition'' quip. But, he added, "Bobby won't
overcome him so easily:'
Yes, he will, Khenkin said, Larsen will not
win a single game. Spassky said that wasn't
possible. Khenkin offered to bet on it: He
would give Spassky two bottles of cognac if
Larsen won a game. Spassky would give
Khenkin six bottles if Larsen did not. Spas­
sky took the bet.
Khenkin did not hear anything further
about it until September, well after the semi­
finals, when he was in the editorial office of
the newspaper Komsomolsk aya Pravda. A
telephone rang and "a familiar voice" asked
for him. "Viktor Lvovich, what kind of co­
gnac do you prefer?" Khenkin replied in­
stantly, "Napoleon;' the top-shelf brand that
cost a small fortune in a hard-currency store.
Spassky was silent. "I took my move back;'
Khenkin recalled, and told him that Armen­
ian cognac would satisfy the bet. "Wait half
an hour;' Spassky said. Exactly 30 minutes
later he showed up with a heavy bundle to
pay off the debt. 51
Fin als
Despite official confidence, Fischer fear
was growing among Soviet grandmasters.
Even Petrosian expected that he would lose
the Candidates finals match, according to
Alexey Suetin, his new chief trainer. Before
the Candidate matches began, "I told Petro­
sian that Fischer could hardly be beaten;' re­
called Suetin. Petrosian replied that he would
be happy if he just won his first two Candi­
dates matches. "He agreed with me and said
it was fully satisfactory to reach the finals;'
Suetin said.52
Petrosian arrived in Buenos Aires well
prepared, with advice from various Soviet
sources. Botvinnik had studied Fischer's
strong and weak points in anticipation of a
1970 match with him. "When he encounters
a surprise in the opening (especially in the­
oretical positions) he nearly always responds
badly! " Botvinnik wrote. 53 Petrosian got a
chance to verify this in the first game when
he uncorked an innovation in one of Fischer's
favorite Sicilian Defense lines.
It was not Petrosian's innovation, nor that
of his seconds. As soon as the Korchnoi match
was over, Petrosian was handed an envelope,
addressed "Honorable Grandmaster! " and
filled with the analysis from a Moldovian
master, Vyacheslav Chebanenko. Cheba­
nenko sent it to the semifinals match officials
with instructions to turn it over to the match
winner, for use against Fischer. 54
When Petrosian played the Chebanenko
moves quickly in the first game, Fischer re­
alized he was walking into a minefield. But,
he told Robert Byrne after game, "I wanted
to see what he had:' 55 Quickly he found him­
self in trouble. The game followed Cheba­
nenko's analysis until Black's 16th move. Pet­
rosian inexplicably passed up a powerful
pawn capture that might have won. Fischer
went on to win.
Korchnoi's comments about the match in
Chess Is My Life are strange: "Petrosian did
manage to extract one colorless draw out of
Fischer, but that was all:' 56 In fact, Petrosian
crushed Fischer in the second game.
Petrosian-Bobby Fischer
Candidates finals match,
Second game, Buenos Aires, 1971
Griinfeld Defense (D82)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4
 14. The Fischer Factor
This was a warning that Petrosian had
prepared something deep. He had varied his
anti-Griinfeld weapons over the years to in­
clude 4. g3, 4. e3 Bg7 5. b4, 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. BgS
and 5. Bf4.
4. . . . Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rel Ne4
8. cxd5 Nxc3 9. Qd2 Qxa210. bxc3
It is worth noting the sacrifices Petrosian
did not play in this game. For example, he
considered 10. Rxc3 but rated 10. . . . 0-0! as
equal. Later experience found 10 . . . . Bxc3
11. Qxc3 f6 12. Nf3 gave White sufficient
compensation.
10. . . . Qa5 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. Ne2 Ne5
Black later scored better with 12. . . . NxcS
and . . . O-O/ . . . Bd7/ . . . Rfc8.
13. Ba2 Bf5?! 14. Bxe5!
Another Exchange sacrifice would have
been 14. 0-0 Nd3 15. c6. Then 15. . . . Nxcl
16. cxb7! Nxe2+ 17. Qxe2 Rd8 18. e4 favors
him (18 . . . . Bd7 19. Rbl). But 15. . . . bxc6! is
fairly balanced (16. Ral Nxf4 17. exf4 Rd8).
14. . . . Bxe5 15. Nd4 Qxc5
Otherwise Black would be down a pawn
(15. . . . Bd7 16. c6!).
16. Nxf5 gxfS 17. 0-0 Qa5?
Critics said Fischer should have tried to
set up a defensive wall with 17. . . . f4 18. exf4
Bd6 19. Rfel 0-0-0. But he never played that
brand of chess. Better is the repositioning of
the bishop to cs (17. . . . Qc7 18. f4 Bd6 fol­
lowed by . . . BcS) but Black would still be
worse.
18. Qc2 f4 19. c4!
In bishops of opposite color middlegames,
the stronger bishop is the one with more tar­
gets. Petrosian's move seems strange at first,
considering that he would have an evident
edge after, say, 19. exf4 Bxf4 20. Rbl.
19. . . . fxe3 20. c5!
315
Also favorable is 20. fxe3. Black's position
would be difficult because he can not castle
(20. . . . 0-0? 21. Bbl makes h7 an untenable
target). But 20. cS! is stronger since d5-d6
would expose f7, e.g., 20. . . . exf2+ 21. Qxf2
Bf6 22. d6 or 21. . . . 0-0 22. Rc4.
20. . . . Qd2 21. Qa4+ Kf8 22. Rcdl!
To play this move Petrosian had to foresee
positions in which . . . e2 forks his rooks.
22. . . . Qe2 23. d6! (see diagram)
After 23. d6
Petrosian second-guessed himself after the
game and said 23. g3 was better. His sense of
danger seemed to be confirmed when a can­
didate master from Moscow pointed out
23. d6 Bxh2+ 24. Kxh2 QhS+ 25. Kgl e2 and
then 26. dxe7+ Kg7 27. RdS exft(Q)+ 28. Kxft
Qg6! . However, computers later found
27. Rd4! would win. Once again, Petrosian's
instinct was right.
23. • . . Qh5 24. f4 e2?
The best practical chance was 24 . . . . Bf6
25. RdS Qg4. In a key line, 26. dxe7+ Bxe7
27. Rel Rg8 28. Qe4 Rc8 29. Rxe3, Black can
trade into a piece-down endgame with some
survival chances, 29. . . . BxcS 30. RxcS Qxg2+
31. Qxg2 Rxg2+ 32. Kxg2 RxcS.
25. fxe5! exdl(Q) 26. Rxdl Qxe5 27. Rfl!
The key f7 square is fatally exposed. White
would mate soon after 27 . . . . e6 28. Qd7! ,
e.g., 28 . . . . QxcS+ 29. Khl QhS 30. Qxe6.
316 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
27. . . . f6 28. Qb3 Kg7 29. Qf7+ Kh6
30. dxe7 f5 31. Rxf5 Qd4+ 32. Khl Black
resigns
Petrosian said the ovation he received
when Fischer resigned was his greatest ever. 57
The game seemed to have a powerful effect
on Fischer, who was lucky to draw the third
game. But in the fourth, Petrosian, with White,
offered a draw after 20 moves. He gave a
flimsy explanation after the match: "After
Fischer's statements that Korchnoi and I had
made ridiculously short draws in our match,
I wanted to confront him with something of
a psychological problem, to prove to him
that if I wanted to make a draw with White,
I could always achieve this, and without great
difficultY:' 58 Petrosian gave other excuses to
his seconds, including a "stomach ache:' But
it was a missed opportunity to exploit his
momentum, just as in the middle of the 1969
championship match.
After the match, Fischer conceded that he
could have lost all of the first four match
games. When the fifth game was drawn, Bot­
vinnik concluded that Petrosian had "dom­
inated" Fischer. Among the few who dis­
agreed was Korchnoi. Petrosian "held his own
for the first five games;' he wrote. 59
Substitute Petrosian
Yuri Averbakh, who also served as a Petro­
sian second, said Petrosian's team had worked
out an overall match strategy. A tie score late
in the match was acceptable, just as it had
been in the semifinals. "Like no one else, Tig­
ran knew how to wait! " Averbakh said.
Before the sixth game Petrosian was in
good spirits. "Fischer beat Taimanov and
Larsen 6-0 and I am already two and a half
points ahead of them;' he joked to journalist
Dimitrije Bjelica. "I could calmly go home.
But Rona likes Buenos Aires and that's why
I'm staying:' 60
But Averbakh noticed warnings signs in
Petrosian's behavior, the kind that appeared
towards the end of the 1969 match with Spas­
sky. "He became easily excited and very ag­
itated;' Averbakh recalled. 61 The sixth game
was crucial. After five hours of play:
Petrosian-Bobby Fischer
Candidates finals match, Sixth game,
Buenos Aires, 1971
After 40. ... Kc5
Petrosian's 41. Ngl? was a blunder for two
reasons. First, the more energetic 41. h4!
would have traded pawns or set up a target
at h6 after 41. . . . h6 42. hS. The second rea­
son is that Petrosian could have sealed his
41st move and turned the position over to
his seconds to analyze overnight.
Fischer quickly replied 41. . . . Kb5. After
studying the position, Petrosian sealed the
consistent but bad 42. Ne2?. He returned to
his hotel and after a brief look, told his sec­
onds 'Tm going to have a sleep. If you want
to have another look at it, go ahead:' 62 This
followed his view since the Botvinnik match:
"The best preparation for a game is ten hours
of sleep:'
But before he could nod off he visualized
a strong idea for Fischer. Without telling his
seconds, he got up and analyzed during the
night. In the morning he still had not found
a way to save the position and was in a bad
nervous state when Fischer replied 42. . . .
Ba5!.
 14. The Fischer Factor
The a6-pawn was doomed and Petrosian
missed opportunities to resist better: 43. Rb2+
Kxa6 44. Rbl Rc7 45. Rb2 Bel 46. f3 Ka5
47. Rc2 Rb7 48. Ra2+ Kb5 49. Rb2+ Bb4
50. Ra2 Rc7 51. Ral Rc8 52. Ra7? Ba5!
53. Rd7 Bb6 54. Rd5+ Bc5 55. Ncl Ka4
56. Rd7 Bb4 57. Ne2 Kb3 58. Rb7 Ra8
59. Rxh7 Ral 60. Nxd4+ exd4 61. Kxd4
Rdl+ 62. Ke3 Bc5+ 63. Ke2 Rhl 64. h4 Kc4
65. h5 Rh2+ 66. Kel Kd3 White resigns
After he resigned Petrosian said, "If I had
been playing Tal everyone would say that he
had hyp notized me . . . . But as my opponent
was Fischer they say he is a genius:' Actually,
he was the one who might have been called
a genius if he had played the magical 42. f4!!.
That move has been analyzed for more than
40 years, with the conclusion that White
would have an impregnable fortress in vari­
ations such as 42. . . . gxf4! 43. gS! fxgS
44. Nf3 Rxa6 45. Rxa6 Kxa6 46. NxgS Bas
47. Nxh7 Bd8 48. Nf8.
Fischer had needed time to recover from
his disastrous loss in the second game. Petro­
sian was in the same condition after the sixth.
"It was as though a substitute Petrosian ap­
peared:' Averbakh wrote. "He lost his calm,
stopped preparing and stopped relaxing be­
fore a game:' 63 Petrosian acted like he just
wanted to end the match quickly.
When he returned home, Petrosian blamed
his seconds. He said he was upset on the
morning of the sixth game resumption be­
cause Averbakh and Suetin were wearing
sports jackets and neckties, as if they were
ready to go out and enjoy Buenos Aires. "Tig­
ran forgot that he had breakfast in his hotel
room but we had breakfast in the restaurant,
where this dress was required:' Averbakh
317
said.64 Petrosian badly needed the emotional
support of seconds, as the end of the 1969
world championship match showed. Fischer
sensed the change in his opponent. "I felt
Petrosian's ego crumbling after the sixth
game:' he said. 65
In a pre-match joint press conference, Fis­
cher was asked if he still cried after losing.
"Well, if l cry, the Russians get sick after los­
ing:' he replied angrily. He was alluding to
how Taimanov took a medical time-out dur­
ing their quarterfinals match when his blood
pressure hit 165 over 95. 6 6 After losing the
sixth game, Petrosian should have taken a
time-out and rested for two days. He didn't
because he didn't want to confirm Fischer's
wisecrack, according to Viktor Baturinsky. 67
The seventh game was played on schedule
and became famous for Fischer's surprising
exchange of a great knight for a "bad" bishop,
22. Nxd7+. He won. The eighth game was
scheduled for two days later. Petrosian waited
until the last minute to request a sick day. He
gave the arbiters a certificate saying he was
suffering from low blood pressure, then spent
the day "wandering through the city and lis­
tening to Tchaikovsky records in a music
store:' 68 The match ended 6½-2½. "In those
last games it was no longer chess:' Petrosian
said. 69
After the match, Botvinnik refused to rec­
ognize Fischer's achievement. "If we want to
fight successfully against Fischer, we must
acknowledge that he is not a genius, and
study his strong and weak sides. . . :' he said. 70
But Spassky conceded "Fischer played simply
splendidly:' The world championship match
of 1972, he said, would be "a very interesting
one:' 71
 15. Countdown to Calamity

As 1971 was ending, Soviet domination of wins over Spassky since the time they were
chess seemed, if anything, to be solidifying. Young Pioneers.
Players from the USSR occupied nine of the
top ten places on the world rating list. That Korchnoi-Spassky
was likely to continue as new players, such Alekhine Memorial, Moscow, 1971
as 20-year-old Anatoly Karpov, joined the Catalan Opening (E09)
elite.
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7
Five world champions, past, present and
5. 0-0 0-0 6. d4 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. b3 b6
future, and two world championship chal­
9. Rdl Bb710. Nc3
lengers-all of them USSR citizens-com­
peted in an Alekhine memorial tournament Routine now is 10. . . . Rc8, which prepares
in Moscow in November and December. So­ to complicate with 11. e4 cS.
viet players took the top seven places. None
10. . . . b5!?
of the seven foreign invitees got more than
a plus-one score. This discourages 11. e4? in view of 11. . . .
Yet looming over the tournament was the b4 (12. eS bxc3 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Qxc3 cS !
player who was not there, Bobby Fischer. His with at least equality).
threat to Boris Spassky's world championship
11. cxb5 cxb512. Nxb5 QaS 13. a4
title would be the big event of 1972, arguably
the most widely watched chess event ever. Best, since 13. Nc3 Rfc8 14. Bb2 Bb4 favors
Behind the scenes Soviet officials prepared Black. After 13. a4 he would lack compensa­
to mobilize a small elite army, led by Spas­ tion following 13. . . . a6 14. Bd2!. Spassky later
sky's longtime rivals, to help him avoid what showed the benefits of 13. . . . Rfc8 14. Qa2 Ba6
they increasingly feared would be a history­ 15. Bd2 Qb6.
making disaster.
13. . . . Ne4 14. Nd2 Rac8?
In the Alekhine memorial, the four rivals
seemed to be playing the roles they had This looks as good as 14 . . . . Rfc8 but has
adopted. Mikhail Tal continued his remark­ a flaw.
able comeback. Tigran Petrosian lost interest
15. Qa2! a6 16. Bxe4
after winning won one of his greatest games,
from Spassky. Vik.tor Korchnoi was again the If Black had played 14. . . . Rfc8 Black would
hardest worker. He scored one of his easiest have good chances with 16. . . . axbS 17. Bd3

318
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity 319

Bc6! . But without the rook at a8 White can Tal-Spassky

reply 18. axbS!. Alekhine Memorial, Moscow 1971
16. . . . dxe417. Nc4! Rxc4 Sicilian Defense (B82)

Desperation, since 17. . . . Qd8 18. Nbd6 1. e4 cS 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
would doom Black to a losing middlegame. 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 Be7 7. Bd3
18. bxc4 axbS 19. axbS Qc7 20. cS! (see Tai chooses a quiet system, compared with
diagram) 7. Be3 followed by 8. Qf3 and perhaps 0-0-0.
7. . . . Nc6 8. Nf3 0-0 9. 0-0 Nb410. Khl b6
11. Be3 Bb712. a3 Nxd313. cxd3
He eliminates counterplay on the c-file and
can continue modestly with Nd4 and Rel.
13. . . . dS 14. es d4!
The computer-recommended 14 . . . . Ng4
15. Bgl Nh6 would not fit in with Spassky's
DNA. His pawn sacrifice gives him excellent
play on the b 7-g2 diagonal and along the d­
After 20. c5 file.
Among the pretty finishes is 20. . . . Ra8 15. Nxd4 NdS 16. Bgl!
21. Qxa8+ Bxa8 22. Rxa8+ Bf8 23. c6 Nb6
Black's compensation is more evident after
24. Bf4 Qe7 25. Rb8 NdS 26. b6! and the
16. NxdS QxdS 17. Qe2 Rfd8 18. Rfdl Rac8
passed pawns win.
and . . . Bes.
20. . . . BdS 21. Qa7 Qd8 22. c6 Nf6
16. . . . Nxc317. bxc3 Rc818. c4 Rc7!
The position is lost but at least the knight
remains in play after 22. . . . Nb6 23. c7 Qa8 Spassky had played 14 . . . . d4 quickly but
(although 24. Qxa8 Nxa8 25. Bf4 gs 26. Rdcl! invested ten minutes on this move, which
wins). threatens . . . Rd7. He took another 15 minutes
on his next move and 40 on the move after
23. Ba3! Bxa3 24. Rxa3 Bc4 25. b6 e3
that.
26. Rxe3 Nd5 27. b7
19. fS Rd7 (see diagram)
The pawns are so strong that 27. Rbl and
27. c7 also win.
27. . . . Nxe3 28. fxe3 QgS 29. dS Bxe2 Black
resigns
Spassky had played so infrequently in his
homeland since becoming champion that the
tournament was almost a reintroduction to
the players he used to face every few months.
He had not played Korchnoi or Petrosian in
two years or Tai in four. In fact, he had not
played a real game with Tai since the end of
their 1965 Candidates match. That changed: After 19. ... Rd7
320 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
This is the game's crisis. Tal must have
looked at 20. fxe6 Rxd4 21. ext7+ and felt
intrigued when he saw that 21. . . . Rxf7?
22. Rxf7 Kxt7 23. Qh5+ is at least a draw
after 23. . . . Ke6 and a win after 23. . . . Kg8
24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. Qe8+.
The problem is 21. . . . Kh8!. Tal may not
have trusted 22. Bxd4 Qxd4 23. Qe2 in view
of 23. . . . Rxf7 24. Rxf7 Qxal+. Then 25. Rfl
Qc3 is double-edged at best, and 25. Qfl!
Qxa3 is unclear.
20. Qg4 h5!
Now 21. Qf4 Bg5 or 21. Qg3 h4 22. Qg4 h3!
23. Qxh3 Rxd4.
21. Qxh5 Rxd4! 22. f6
There is little in 22. Bxd4 Qxd4 23. fxe6
fxe6 24. Rxf8+ Bxf8 25. Rfl Qd7.
22. . . . gxf6 23. Ra2! fxe5
The threat was 24. Rf3 Bxf3 25. gxf3 and
Rg2+. Now 24. Rf3 Bxf3 25. gxf3 Re8 26. Rg2+
Bg5 27. Rxg5+ Kf8.
24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. Rf3 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Bf6
27. Rg2+ Bg7 28. Rxg7+! Kxg7 29. Qg5+
draw
L azy Russian B ear
Boris Spassky tied for sixth place, fueling
suspicions that he was one of those world
champions-like Petrosian and Vasily Smy­
slov-who felt his goal in life was achieved
when he won the title: He had nothing left
to prove. "I gained the impression that after
winning the crown Spassky stopped studying
chess seriously:' Yuri Averbakh said. 1 Spas­
sky later acknowledged he ceased to be the
world's best player "in the beginning of ' 71.
Problems, which perhaps I created, played a
role:' 2
Tal tied with Spassky at Moscow and
excused his play. "Spassky was pulling his
punches in that tournament:' Tal said. In
light of the Fischer challenge it "would have
been silly to reveal even the slightest part of
his way of playing or ideas in the opening:'
Spassky rarely played the Scheveningen Vari­
ation that he had used against Tal, for exam­
ple.3
But by the time Tal spoke, he, Korchnoi,
Petrosian and other elite GMs had been
pressed into service by an alarmed Sports
Committee. It was an extraordinary effort.
Nothing similar was mounted on the Amer­
ican side to aid Fischer, nor had there been
comparable efforts made by the vlasti on be­
half of previous Soviet world champions.
Petrosian and Korchnoi approached the
task with mixed emotions. Petrosian had
begun to resent Spassky for his many fans,
frequent foreign travels and carefree, un ­
Soviet-if not anti-Soviet-attitude. If Spas­
sky lost to Fischer it would not reflect badly
on Petrosian. Rather, it would show that
Petrosian had lost to the best player in the
world in the Candidates finals.
There was no love lost between Korchnoi
and Spassky after their 1968 match. Korchnoi
wondered if Spassky was a hopeless cause be­
cause he had burned himself out in his 1965-
69 drive to the championship. "Every player
has some kind of reserve of energy for the
rest of his life:' Korchnoi said. 4 Spassky had
demonstrated little of it in 1970 and 1971, he
felt. Did he have any left?
Spassky predicted to Leonard Barden in
their 1966 interview that if he won the cham­
pionship he would be in decline by 1970.
"Chess is an abnormal way of life, and to
remain at the top you need to be very self­
disciplined:' he said. "Botvinnik is a very dis­
ciplined man and has this discipline. But it
is a quality you need to be born with. I am
quite the opposite, very impractical and com­
pletely disorganized:'
Those closest to Spassky were worried
about his work ethic. "Boris just couldn't
study alone. He needed a constant everyday
opponent and helper at the chessboard:' one
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity
of his seconds, Nikolai Krogius, wrote. 5 The
good news was that Spassky had reconciled
with Igor Bondarevsky and was speaking
regularly by phone with Krogius. But Spassky
needed someone sitting next to him in Mos­
cow to force him to work, Krogius said. Bon­
darevsky was comfortable in Piatigorsk, more
than 800 miles to the south and he resisted
offers by the Lokomotiv sports society to find
him an apartment in Moscow. Krogius wanted
to continue studying psychology at Saratov
University. 6
Concern about "the lazy Russian bear"
reached the Sports Committee's chairman,
Sergei Pavlov. He told the Communist Party
Central Committee on July 31, 1971, that the
world champion's personality flaws were to
blame. Spassky, "as a result of a difficult child­
hood and gaps in his upbringing, makes im­
mature statements, violates sporting regi­
men, and is not sufficiently industrious:' he
wrote. 7
Instead of sitting at a chess board, Spassky
preferred physical conditioning and vaca­
tions to distant destinations. In autumn 1971
he and Krogius spent a month at a remote
mountain camp. Spassky skied down Cheget
peak, which even veterans of the slopes found
hard. Viktor Baturinsky, now head of the
Sports Committee chess section-in effect,
the boss of Soviet chess-expressed concern
about Spassky's "unplanned trips across the
USSR:'
But by then Spassky had had enough of
Baturinsky and the Sports Committee as well.
He tried to byp ass the government agencies
by going above their heads to the Commu­
nist Party hierarchy. In a letter dated Novem­
ber 17 Spassky gave a senior Central Com­
mittee member, Pyotr Demichev, his match
plans, including a request to negotiate the
Fischer match terms himself. He got as far
as talking with Alexander Yakovlev, head of
the Central Committee's propaganda depart­
ment-and later credited as the architect of
Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms of
32 1
the 1980s. "I asked to be included in the
talks-how and where to play, on which con­
ditions:' Spassky said. And Yakovlev even
supported me. But nobody included me in
any talks:•s
Nevertheless, the Sports Committee felt
that a more comfortable Spassky would be a
stronger Spassky. His stipend was raised to
500 rubles a month, Demichev was told on
January 4, 1972. That was about the same
salary as a government minister, like Pavlov.
No Soviet sportsman had ever been paid more.
Spassky's trainers also got raises. The Mos­
cow city council was given an "urgent" order
to find Spassky better housing. He soon had
a four-room flat on Vesenin Street, the kind
many Soviets could only dream of.
R esurgent Tai
In addition, an eight-grandmaster "con­
sultative council" that included Tal, Petrosian
and Korchnoi was created to provide Spassky
with their experience and advice. While they
tried to find flaws in Fischer, they kept busy.
Tal played more than 80 games at slow time
controls and in speed competitions in 1972.
He was still plagued by ill health and had to
withdraw from the Wijk aan Zee invitational
in January shortly before it was to begin. Yet
Tal was undergoing a remarkable resurgence.
He had fallen to the world's 20th ranked
player in October 1970 but reached number
two in just over two years. When he got a
chance to play like Tal, he did.
Tai-Vladimir Antoshin
National blitz tournament, Moscow,
1972
Philidor's Defense (C41)
I. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Be7
His opponent played this line enough
for it to be considered the ''Antoshin Varia­
tion:'
322 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

Vladimir Tukmakov (left) and Tai battle in a national five-minute tournament in Moscow in
May 1972. The previous month, Tai and Korchnoi had offered advice to Spassky for his world
championship match with Bobby Fischer. Shakhmaty v SSSR, July 1972.

6. g3 d5! 7. e5! 21. Rxe6 Rxe6 22. Bh3 Raes 23. Nxe6 Rxe6
24. Qb4! (see diagram)
White gets nothing from 7. exds Nxds,
e.g., 8. NdbS Nxc3 9. Qxd8+ Bxd8 10. Nxc3
BfS.

7. . . • Ng4 8. e6 Nf6 9. exfl+ Kxfl 10. Bg2

c6 ll. 0-0 Re8
Black is quite solid because the g2-bishop
bites on dS-granite.

12. b3 Na6 13. Bb2 Nc5 14. Rel Bg4 15. Qd2
Qd7 16. f3! Bh5 17. Nce2
White eliminated the possibility of . . . Nce4. After 24. Qb4
He could exploit the hole at e6 with 17. Ndl
The threats of 25. Qf8 mate and 25. Bxe6+
and Nf2/Bh3. But more Tal-like was 17. g4!
win.
Bg6 18. h4 and then 18 . . . . Kg8 19. hS Bf7
20. NfS, with advantage. 24. . . . Bxc2 25. Bxe6+ Qxe6 26. Rel Qc8

17. . . . Bd6 18. Nf4 Bxf4 19. Qxf4 Bg6
20. Ba3 Ne6?
Antoshin was a top-SO player for more
than a decade (and also regarded by col­
leagues as a KGB informer). Here he walks
into a somewhat obvious pin.
A slower death is 26. . . . cS 27. Qxb7+ Qd7
28. Qa6.
27. Re7+ Kg6
Or 27. . . . Kg8 28. Rxb7, threatening Rb8.
White's next move leaves the c2-bishop no
escape.
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity
28. g4! b6 29. Qd2! Bbl 30. Qdl! Black re­
signs
In view of 30. . . . Bxa2 31. Qc2+. Also win­
ning is 30. h4 h6 31. Qb2!.
Tai even seemed to be adjusting to a nor­
mal married life. Unlike Sally Landau, Gelya
Tai devoted herself exclusively to taking care
of him, their home and soon, their daughter
Zhanna. Gelya got used to his frenetic life­
style, such as living on four or five hours of
sleep a day. "He was up every morning at six
oclock and sat at the board:' 9 He went over
"all the games played recently in the world:' 10
He was also a voracious reader and a televi­
sion addict. When he was home, "the televi­
sion was on from 6 in the morning until 2 at
night:' Zhanna recalled. "He ate, talked on
the telephone, read, played chess and looked
at television simultaneously. He looked at
football, all the news, all the detective stories
and even dramatic series . . . :' she said. 11 He
had six chess sets in the home, including one
in the bathroom.
Tal still smoked, two packs of Kents a day.
But Gelya said his habit was to smoke a quar­
ter of each cigarette and then start a new one.
So in fact, he only smoked a half a pack a day,
she said. He also drank vodka and whiskey
and managed to get brands like Kristal and
Stolichnaya vodka that were earmarked for
export. Several doctors warned him to take
better care of his health. "But father only re­
sponded with an ironic smile:' his son Georgy
said. 1 2
Korchnoi began 1972 by sharing first prize
at Hastings with Karpov. A minus score in
the USSR team championship finals included
a ten-move draw as White with Petrosian.
Few in the West were aware that Korchnoi
was about to become a movie star, Soviet
style. Leonid Zorin, who reported on Tal's
miserable experience in the 1969 Soviet Cham­
pionship, had written a screenplay for Gross­
meister, based on the life of Vladimir Sima­
gin. Zorin wanted Tai to perform the key role
323
of a grandmaster's trainer. But Tal's audition
with a Soviet film star, Natalya Fateeva, turned
out poorly, Tal said. 13 Instead, he played a
minor role in the move, as did Mark Taima­
nov. The juicy role went to Korchnoi instead.
The film was released in 1973. "It was not by
accident that I was praised as being the best
actor in the film:' Korchnoi wrote. 14 But he
added in an interview, "That's not such a
compliment for the film itself' 15
Since losing the final Candidates match,
Petrosian kept a relatively low profile. Korch­
noi said Petrosian managed to avoid punish­
ment from the vlasti for his loss to Fischer
because of "his political dexteritY:' 16 But
Petrosian went to only one highly desirable
foreign tournament in 1972, in San Antonio,
Texas. His other big events of the year were
the Olympiad and a Sarajevo invitational in
March and April, where he finished second
to Laszlo Szabo. On the days when he wanted
to play chess, no one could make winning
seem easier.
Petrosian-Milan Matulovic
Sarajevo, 1972
Dutch D efense (A87)
I. c4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. d4 f5 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2
0-0 6. 0-0 d6 7. d5
This avoids popular lines such as 7. Nc3
Nc6 8. dS NeS and 8 . . . . NaS.
7. . . . c5 8. Nc3 Na6 9. Rbl Bd710. b3 Nc7
11. a4 a612. b4! cxb413. Rxb4 Rb814. Qb3
Now 14 . . . . Bc8 allows White to expand
his edge slowly with 15. aS Nd7 16. Na4. A
devious defense is 14 . . . . Na8 with the idea
of 15. Rxb7? Qc7! with advantage. Instead,
15. Bd2 b6 would force White to come up
with a new plan.
14. . . . Ne4?15. Nxe4 fxe416. Ng5 a517. Rb6!
(see diagram)
There was nothing wrong with 17. Rxb7
Bxa4 18. Qb6. But the endgame after 18 . . . .
324 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Rxb7 19. Qxb7 Qb8 20. Qxb8 is not as prom­
ising as what happens now.
After 17. Rb6
The e4-pawn is doomed and White can
also get a sizable advantage from Ne6. If
17. . . . Bd4, he might have opted for 18. Rxb7
Bxa4 19. Qbl. But more Petrosianesque would
be 18. Be3! Bxb6 19. Bxb6 followed by 20. cs
or 20. BxaS. Note that 17. . . . Qc8 prepares to
trap the rook with 18 . . . . Na8. But White
would have more than enough compensa­
tion after, say, 18. Be3 Na8 19. Rb5 Bxb5
20. cxbs, e.g., 20. . . . b6 21. Ne6 Rt7 22. Rel.
17. . . . Na6? 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Bxc5 dxc5
20. Ne6 Bxe6 21. Rxe6 Rf6 22. Bxe4 Qc7
23. f4
Black's bishop may look better than White's
but it is easily shut out of play (23. . . . Rxe6
24. dxe6 Qd6 25. BdS and e2-e4-e5).
23. . . . Qd7 24. Bf3 Rxe6 25. dxe6 Qd4+
26. Kg2 Qc3
Another lost endgame is 25. . . . b6 26. Rdl
Qb2 27. Qxb2 Bxb2 28. Rd7 Kf8 29. Be4 fol­
lowed by h2-h4-h5.
27. Qxc3 Bxc3 28. Rdl Kf8 29. Rd7 b6
30. Bd5 Ke8 31. e4 h6 32. Kf3 Kf8 33. e5 g5
Matulovic was notorious for playing lost
positions until a game was resumed after ad­
journment. In that way his resignation would
not be reported in the next day's newspaper.
He didn't make it that far today.
34. Ke4 gxf4 35. gxf4 Ke8 36. f5 Rc8 37. Rb7
Rd8 38. f6 exf6 39. Bc6+ Kf8 40. e7+ Black
resigns
Running on Empty
Spassky told the Sports Committee that
he began preparing in the beginning of 1971
for a Fischer match-before Fischer had
played his first Candidates match. But one
year later Spassky's seconds conceded he had
done little. Igor Bondarevsky admitted that
the world champion was "empty" and out of
creative weapons. 17 The Sports Committee
learned Spassky, Bondarevsky and Krogius
had finally had gotten down to work, in a six­
room cottage at Krasnaya Pakhra, southwest
of Moscow as of December 21, 1971. They
were joined by livo Nei, an Estonian grand­
master who was a friend of Spassky's. Spas­
sky wanted him included for physical con­
ditioning, which meant being his tennis
partner.
Spassky needed stronger backup than in
1969 but it was soon clear that his team did
not gel. Krogius said Nei was a yes-man who
regularly told Spassky, "You are absolutely
right." 18 The Sports Committee expressed
"bewilderment about Spassky's rash and in­
sufficiently considered [Nei] decision, but it
was too late;' Krogius said.
Nei contrasted sharply with Bondarevsky,
who tried to resume his role of demanding
taskmaster. But Pater found himself in a sit­
uation similar to Koblents' in 1961. His great
influence over his protege diminished once
Spassky became world champion. Bonda­
revsky "spoke sharply (perhaps excessively
so)" to Spassky, Krogius said. "If you don't
work, you'll lose the match;' he warned. This
only irritated Spassky. For years after the
Fischer match he stiffened whenever it was
suggested he had not prepared diligently.
"Before Reykjavik I worked for half a year
like I was cursed!" he said in 2007. 19
 15. Countdown to Calamity
According to Krogius, Yefim Geller joined
Nei in a lengthy campaign to ease Bonda­
revsky out, "constantly talking about Bon­
darevsky's lack of knowledge of opening
theory and his detachment from practical
plaY:' 20 The campaign succeeded and by Feb­
ruary 1, 1972, Bondarevsky had cut ties with
Spassky for good. He was replaced as chief
trainer by Geller.
Spassky made no excuses for the palace
coup. Bondarevsky was "one of the cleverest
persons I have ever met in my life" he said.
But he was also "a terrible coward . . . . [H] e
would offer second-rate, substandard deci­
sions:' Years later he said, "I've never once
regretted not including Bondarevsky in my
team-neither during the Fischer match nor
after it:' 21 As with Spassky's break with Alex­
ander Tolush, there were sharply differing
accounts of how Bondarevsky left the inner
circle. Spassky said he forced Bondarevsky
out. Bondarevsky said he left on his own ac­
cord, indicating that he did not want to be
blamed for the train wreck he could see com­
ing.
Whatever the truth, his departure was "a
deeply mistaken decision:' Krogius said. "The
world champion separated from his mentor,
friend and the constant trainer with whom
he worked for more than ten years:' Yuri
Averbakh agreed: Bondarevsky "was the only
one who could force Spassky to work at full
efficiency:'
Advice R ebuffed
On February 27, the Sports Committee
became more alarmed. It asked members of
the grandmaster "consultative council" to
evaluate the strong and weak points of Spas­
sky and Fischer so they could be passed on
to Spassky. No one was willing to admit the
subtext: Fischer was the strongest player in
the world but with proper preparation he
might be beaten.
325
Petrosian sent back a short, vague sum­
mary on March 17. He made a veiled criti­
cism of Spassky, saying he had played so little
since 1969 that it was hard to say much about
him. Fischer plays well when he has an ob­
vious plan, particularly in open and semi­
open centers, Petrosian added. But he can
not defend passively and underestimates the
value of a pawn center. 22
Korchnoi's analysis was more useful. Fis­
cher is practical and never gets into time
trouble, he wrote. But his technique is sus­
pect and he often tries to win too quickly.
Also, Fischer does not know how to bluff
when he is defending: "Many will consider
this last factor to be a virtue, but I consider
it to be a defecf' Korchnoi was more critical
of Spassky than of Fischer. His refusal to
study opening theory, overestimation of his
defensive skill and deficient calculating abil­
ity can be a problem, he said. 23
Tal wrote an extensive letter dated April 1.
Unlike Korchnoi he found Fischer's tech­
nique to be good and called it his "most
salient feature:' He should never be allowed
an "uncompensated advantage" or he will get
the most of it. On the hopeful side, "Fischer's
opening repertoire has not changed substan­
tially since Portoroz" and in the middlegame
he "cannot do without a concrete plan:' 24
Tal twice offered to work directly with
Spassky. "I repeat that I will gladly help Spas­
sky as soon as he and his team ask me to:' he
wrote. There were other suggestions, from
Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres and Vasily
Smyslov. Keres apologized for keeping his
remarks brief but "if Boris Vasileyevich would
like me to elaborate on some of these ideas I
would be glad to be of service:'
Spassky revered Keres and respected Bot­
vinnik and Smyslov. But in 1972 he had little
use for them. "We don't need general advice
from old men;' he told the deputy Sports
Committee head Viktor Ivonin. 25
He also dismissed the warnings of his ri­
vals. Korchnoi had predicted in 1971 that
326 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Spassky's laziness would cost him his title.
"Yes, I am lazy:• Spassky replied. "But I think
I have chances of remaining champion for
more than three years-because what Korch­
noi says is usually wrong:'26
Spassky believed Petrosian had turned
against him. He was right: Petrosian was
rooting for Fischer. "If Spassky wins, he'll be
the monarch and everything will revolve
around Spassky:' Gennady Sosonko quoted
Petrosian as saying. "If Fischer wins, though,
a chess republic will be created, and everyone
will be in equal conditions:• Some of Petro­
sian's feeling may have been tinged with jeal­
ousy. When he heard how much Spassky
earned for the 1972 match he said, "Usually
after winning a tournament abroad we could
buy a car. But to buy the whole showroom,
that's something:' 27
Spassky refused to discuss the recommen­
dations with Petrosian, Korchnoi and the
other "consultative" advisers in part because
he feared a leak of information. One of the
unusual provisions in the match preparation
plan he gave to Demichev in November was
that "everything concerning preparation for
the match must be secret" and anyone in­
volved in it must sign a document promising
not to disclose "official secrets:• In other
words, he did not trust his old rivals.
In April team Spassky moved to Sochi
where he played training games against a
consulting team of Geller, Krogius and Nei.
Spassky preferred tennis with Nei and told
his seconds he would get into serious prepa­
ration in June, just before the match.
Waiting for Bobby
Spassky left for the match site, Reykjavik,
on June 22, four days before Fischer was ex­
pected to arrive. He expected a warm reunion
with the former teenager he first met at the
Central Chess Club 14 years before. "I brought
four kilograms of black caviar to Iceland to
please the American grandmaster:• Spassky
recalled. 28 While he waited, he played two
training games with Geller to get the "loco­
motive" running. Their score was 1-1 and
Krogius said the champion's play "wasn't par­
ticularly great:'
Fischer remained in New York, demand­
ing more money. When he finally arrived on
July 4, he failed to show up for the cere­
monial drawing of lots to see who would play
White in the first game. The Soviets were in­
censed. "Spassky should have left!" Averbakh
later wrote. The delay and snub had placed
the world champion in a "humiliating posi­
tion:• he said. 29
Moscow felt Western public opinion would
support Spassky if he walked out and aborted
the match. FIDE President Max Euwe indi­
cated FIDE would continue to recognize
Spassky as world champion. "Dear Boris, you
can leave the match at any moment. Take as
much time as you want, go to Moscow or
wherever" Spassky quoted Euwe as telling
him. He replied, "Thanks for the good advice
Max but I will act in my own waY:' 30
If someone from the Sports Committee or
Bondarevsky, a political hardliner, had been
in Iceland, Spassky would have been under
greater pressure to leave. But they were 2,000
miles away. Spassky had even barred KGB
agents from his entourage. 31 Instead he relied
on Geller. Geller was "a withdrawn man, in­
troverted:' not suited for the role of delega-
tion leader during a crisis, Krogius said. 32
Spassky got a second chance to walk away
after Fischer inexplicably blundered in the
match's first round and then refused to show
up for the second game in a dispute over TV
cameras. American chess officials heard that
Spassky had been ordered home. "If he had
left he would have been world champion.
There is no really plausible argument we
could think of to have avoided that outcome:•
USCF president Leroy Dubeck recalled. 33
Anatoly Karpov said if Petrosian had been
in Spassky's situation "he would have merely
 15. Countdown to Calamity
licked his lips and regaled himself with the
gift points:' But "Spassky the philosopher . . .
lost his equilibrium:'3 4
With the score 2-0 in Spassky's favor,
Fischer said he was willing to continue but
only in a small separate room away from the
audience and cameras. Geller told Spassky
to refuse. "He felt that under no conditions
should you grant a Fischer request:' Spassky
recalled.35 So did the Sports Committee chair­
man Sergei Pavlov, in a half-hour telephone
conversation with the champion. "He de­
manded that I should declare an ultimatum''
that Fischer would reject "so the match would
be broken off;' he said. "The whole conver­
sation was just a never-ending exchange of
two phrases: 'Boris Vasileyevich, you must
declare an ultimatum! ' to which I responded,
'Sergei Pavlovich, I shall play the match! '
After this conversation I spent three hours
in bed shivering with nervousness:'36
After the match Spassky convinced him­
self that what really cost him his title was
what happened when the third game was
about to begin. Fischer continued to com­
plain to arbiter Lothar Schmid. "Bobby be­
haved quite badlY:' Spassky remembered. He
felt he should have simply stood up and left
the room. ''I'd have resigned that game and
got a zero, but at the same time I'd have pre­
served my nerves. In that case Bobby would
have got an empty point and nothing more,
and my moral conviction would have grown:'
he said in 1997. 37
In another interview, in 2007, he added,
"It seems to me that if I had refused to play
the third game and received a zero . . . he
would have been in a difficult psychological
situation, like a blind boxer, not seeing his
goal:'38
Why did Spassky remain? "I was the chess
king:' he said later, and felt "I could not go
back on my word" to play the round. Besides,
he wanted to win the match and, leading by
two points, had reason to expect he would.
If the match were aborted, no prize money
327
would be dispensed. "Well, if you feel you're
going to win anyway, why would you give up
[the winner's share of] $250,000:' Dubeck
said.39
Averbakh agreed. 'J\.fter all, even if he lost
he would receive significantly more than
Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian put
together for all their wins in similar matches:•
Averbakh wrote. 40
But Spassky did play the third game. Fis­
cher made an unusual knight move, 11. . . .
NhS, that stunned fans and many a grand­
master. It was dubious but Krogius said their
team had anticipated it in their preparation.
They had shown Spassky a solid response but
he had simply forgotten it, Krogius said. 4 1
Spassky quickly got the worst of the position,
lost a pawn and resigned after adjournment.
USCF executive director Ed Edmondson
later said 11. . . . NhS?! was the deciding move
of the match. In a way he was right: If Spas­
sky was not using his team's preparation­
presumably based on the vast resources of
the Soviet Chess School-it meant some­
thing was very wrong.
Loss of Faith
The first week got the biggest headlines.
But the decisive period of the match was the
second and third weeks. That is when Spas­
sky and his seconds lost faith in one another.
The breakdown began on Tuesday, July 18
when Spassky's preparation finally seemed
to be working.
Bobby Fischer-Spassky
World Championship match,
Fourth game, Reykjavik, 1972
Sicilian Defense (BBB)
I. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nc6
There was no consensus outside Team
Spassky about how to answer 1. e4. Petrosian
328 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
said "practically any opening can be used
against Fischer, with the exception of 1. . . .
es:' Korchnoi suggested he try the Najdorf
Sicilian. But Petrosian said it was "currently
undergoing a serious crisis:'
6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. Be3 0-0 9. 0-0 a6
10. f4 Nxd4! ll. Bxd4 bS 12. a3? Bb713. Qd3
a5!
Spassky's seconds had found several anti-
1. e4 weapons, including improvements for
Black in the Ruy Lopez's Exchange Variation
and Marshall Gambit. But the most signifi­
cant was this answer to Fischer's favorite
Sozin Variation.
14. es dxe5 15. fxe5 Nd7 16. Nxb5 Nc5
17. Bxc5 Bxc5+
All this fit in with Tal's advice in April­
to exploit Fischer's predilection for "occa­
sional pawn grabbing" -as well as Petrosian
and Tal's advice to seize the initiative.
Spassky played his first 17 moves quickly,
taking only 12 minutes compared to Fischer's
44 minutes. But Spassky felt that Fischer had
moved relatively quickly. He began to
suspect that members of his team had leaked
his preparation secrets.
18. Khl QgS 19. Qe2?! Rad8 20. Radl Rxdl
21. Rxdl (see diagram)
After 21. Rxdl
Team Spassky had analyzed this far and
much further. Contemporary reports are in
dispute about when he really began to think
at the board. Some say it was at move 19 and
others say he spent 45 minutes here. 42 But
what was he thinking about? His seconds
had shown him how strong 21. . . . Rd8 was.
Then White cannot easily get his knight back
into the game because 22. Nd6? Bxg2+ !
23. Qxg2 QxeS is lost.
Their analysis went 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. c3
QgS 24. Nd4 Qcl+ 25. Bdl BdS, when "Black
has more than sufficient compensation for
the pawn;' Nei wrote. He threatens 26. . . .
Bxd4 27. cxd4 Bb3 and would have all the
winning chances after 26. Qc2 Qe3 27. Qe2
Bxd4 28. cxd4 Qxd4, for example. Less clear
is 23. Bc4 QgS 24. Nd6 although Black would
have the better chances after 24 . . . . BdS!.
But when Geller began to review this
analysis with Spassky before the game, Spas­
sky stopped him. "Oh, this is not so impor­
tant, because I will find the moves over the
board;' he said.
21. . . . h5 22. Nd6! Ba8 23. Bc4 h4 24. h3
Be3 25. Qg4! Qxe5!
Annotators said 25. . . . Qxg4 26. hxg4 Bf4
27. Rel h3 28. Bfl f6 would be drawish.
26. Qxh4 gs 27. Qg4 Bes 28. Nb5 Kg7
29. Nd4 Rh8?
Both 29. . . . Rb8 and 29. . . . Rd8 offered
better winning chances. There are few in the
impending endgame. Krogius, the psychol­
ogist, felt Fischer had suffered for years from
an "uncertainty complex with regard to Spas­
sky:' By outplaying Spassky in this middle­
game, his strength, Fischer finally overcame
the complex.
30. Nf3! Bxf3 31. Qxf3 Bd6 32. Qc3! Qxc3
33. bxc3 Be5 34. Rd7 Kf6 35. Kgl Bxc3
36. Be2 Bes 37. Kfl Rc8 38. Bh5 Rc7 39. Rxc7
Bxc7 40. a4 Ke7 41. Ke2 f5 42. Kd3 Bes
43. c4 Kd6 44. Bf7 Bg3 45. c5+ draw
Did you forget about 21. . . . Rd8, his seconds
demanded after the game? No, Spassky
replied. He just felt 21. . . . hS was better. In the
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity
Soviet training regimen, this bordered on dis­
respect-similar to what triggered his break
with Alexander Tolush a dozen years before.
Rejecting 21. . . . Rd8 "signified a mistrust
of us, of our entire preparation;' Geller told
Spassky, and this time he had the support of
Krogius and Nei. Anatoly Karpov revived the
debate in a 2015 interview. He said 21. . . . Rd8
"was winning by force." 43 Computers deny
that and some recommend a third move,
21. . . . Be3 with the idea of 22. Nd4 Bf4.
Karpov had gotten a chance to study Spas­
sky firsthand after the champion asked the
Sports Committee to arrange for them to
play a training match in June. Krogius said
Karpov was paid 150 rubles, "big money for
that time, a whole month's salary." When
Karpov showed up, Spassky asked him to
open with the Ruy Lopez as White. Karpov
said he soon gained a winning position but
went too far and lost. Spassky decided that
he was in excellent shape, thank you, and did
not need any further training games.
Karpov came away with quite a different
conclusion. He was struck by Spassky's belief
in "the 'theory' of the clear head:' 44 This was
the idea that if you memorize a lot of prepared
opening moves it clutters your mind and pre­
vents you from being creative at the board.
Spassky explained his theory at the 1970
Olympiad: "During tournaments and team
competitions I never use preparation. I do not
have a chess set in my room. Just to have a
fresh head-that I think is more important:'
Preparation was the practical American ap­
proach, he said with emphasis. Fischer "stud­
ies everything. It means that during the game,
in the fight, he is not very creative. This is the
weakness of Bobby. He plays too stereotyped,
too practical, too American style:' 45
S eeking R evenge
Two days after the Sozio setback, Spassky
and Fischer landed in an opening variation,
329
the Hubner system in the Nimzo-Indian De­
fense, that neither had played before in a
public game. Spassky badly misunderstood
the variation and was considerably worse
when he blundered on the 27th move and re­
signed. In Moscow, the "consultative" team
reacted in horror when they examined the
moves in Pavlov's office. "Why on earth did
Spassky permit the Nimzo-Indian in game
five?" Petrosian demanded. 46 He remembered
how Spassky botched the Nimzo in their
1966 and 1969 matches.
All three of Spassky's seconds urged him
to take a time out after the loss. That would
have given him five days to recover. But he
refused. "He wanted revenge;' Krogius said. 47
The sixth game began on schedule with a
huge surprise: Fischer playe d 1. c4!. Korchnoi
had warned the Sports Committee that
Fischer might play 1. d4. But in his training
camp Spassky ridiculed the idea of preparing
something special for either move. "Let's not
bother with such nonsense;' he said. "I'll play
the Makogonov-Bondarevsky defense. What
can he achieve?"48
The answer came after I. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5
3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 0-0 6. e3 h6
7. Bh4 b6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7
IO. Nxd5 exd511. Rel Be612. Qa4 c513. Qa3
Rc814. Bb5 (see diagram).
After 14. Bb5
Geller was perhaps the world's expert on
this position. Two years before he lost a
game to Semyon Furman that went 14 . . . . a6
330 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
15. dxcS bxcS 16. 0-0 Ra7 17. Be2 aS 18. Rc3
Nd7 19. Rfcl Re8 20. BbS! and White's pres­
sure steadily increased. Afterwards Geller
said he found 14 . . . . Qb7! . He showed it to
Spassky during their preparation for Fischer.
But when this position arose in Iceland, Spas­
sky played 14. . . . a6?! 15. dxc5 bxc516. 0-0
Ra7 17. Be2. Geller "couldn't believe his
eyes:' 49
Spassky did come up with a new move,
17. . . . Nd7, but was steadily outplayed after
18. Nd4! Qf819. Nxe6 fxe6 20. e4!. Whether
Spassky forgot about 14 . . . . Qb7! or just
wanted to go his own way, the rapport be­
tween player and trainers was strained fur­
ther. It got worse in the seventh game. For
the first time in the match Spassky played
1. e4.
Spassky-Bobby Fischer
World Championship match,
Seventh game, Reykjavik, 1972
Sicilian Defense (B97)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6
Everyone knew this might be coming.
"When playing Black, Fischer is happy to
join in the theoretical debates over the board
in the most complex variations (for example,
. . . Qxb2 in the Sicilian Defense):' wrote an­
other Soviet task force of Fischer analysts in
August 1971. This group, which included
Isaac Boleslavsky, Lev Polugaevsky, Leonid
Shamkovich and Yevgeny Vasiukov, said the
American should be "boldly" challenged "on
his own ground . . . seeking to lay bare the
faults in his favorite variations:•so
But the more senior consultative panel
came to a different conclusion in spring 1972.
"If it were possible to divert Fischer from his
favorite variation in the Sicilian Defense,
Spassky's task would be greatly facilitated:'
Tal said. 51 He suggested 3. Nc3 by White, for
example. Paul Keres said 6. BgS, a move he
pioneered, should be avoided "unless the
match situation is desperate:' Korchnoi said
if the 7. . . . Qb6 position occurs Spassky
should not go into the hyp er-analyzed 8. Qd2
and consider 8. Nb3 or 8. Qd3 instead.
8. Qd2 Qxb2
Spassky and Geller decided to reject that
advice and work intensely on refuting Fis­
cher's strongest weapon. "Every morning in
the Crimea where we prepared for the Fis­
cher match I saw Geller at this very position:'
Spassky recalled. 52
9. Nb3 Qa3 10. Bd3?!
The Soviets wanted to detonate their the­
oretical bomb early in the match, as with the
Chebanenko analysis in the Fischer-Petro­
sian match. But as Keres had warned in
March, "Fischer is a very conscientious
worker" and the chances of finding a flaw in
his analysis of "his favorite variations are
slim:'
10. . . . Be7 11. 0-0 h6!
White's compensation would be vanishing
after 12. Bxf6 Bxf6.
12. Bh4? Nxe413. Nxe4 Bxh414. f5
This is what Geller et al. came up with. Nei
wrote, "White has achieved a great advantage
in development and plays now for line open­
ing in the good old style of the previous cen­
turY:' 53
14. . . . exf515. Bb5+! axb516. Nxd6+ Kf8!
Not 16. . . . Ke?? 17. NxbS Qa6 18. Qb4+
with advantage. Krogius believed that Fischer
may have found this defense in home prepa­
ration. He did not say if Spassky's team had.
17. Nxc8 Nc6 (see diagram)
"White's idea has not justified itself:' Kro­
gius admitted to readers of Shakhmaty v
SSSR in November. "The initiative is not
worth two pawns:' 54
Spassky must have realized that trusting
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity
After 1 7. ... Nc6
his trainers this time had gotten him a lost
position, and with White. Black is ready to
secure his king with . . . g6/ . . . Kg7 and win
routinely. A likely continuation is 18. Qd7 g6
19. Nd6. But then 19. . . . NeS! is powerful, e.g.,
20. Qxb7 Qxd6! 21. Qxa8+ Kg7. Black wins
after 22. QaS Ng4 23. g3 Bxg3 and 22. Qa7
Bd8!. And, as Tal sadly noted in 64, also after
22. Qb7 Rb8 23. Radl Bf2+! 24. Khl Qxdl! .
18. Nd6 Rd819. Nxb5 Qe7 20. Qf4 g6 21. a4
Bg5
Black has numerous favorable alternatives
along the way, such as . . . Kg7 on this or the
next move.
22. Qc4 Be3+ 23. Khl f4 24. g3!? g5 25. Rael
Qb4 26. Qxb4+ Nxb4 27. Re2 Kg7 28. Na5!
b6 29. Nc4 Nd5 30. Ncd6? Bc5 31. Nb7 Rc8?
Annotators criticized Fischer for avoiding
31. . . . Ne3 so that 32. Rfel f3! (33. Rf2 Ng2
and wins). Or 30 . . . . Kg6 with the idea of
31. . . . Bes and . . . Rhe8. Now White can dis­
solve the f4-pawn and create real tactical
chances.
32. c4 Ne3 33. Rf3! Nxc4 34. gxf4 g4 35. Rd3
h5 36. h3! Na5 37. N7d6 Bxd6 38. Nxd6
Rel+ 39. Kg2 Nc4 40. Ne8+!
Suddenly Black has to take threats to his
king seriously, such as after 40. . . . Kf8 41. Rd8.
Computers later pointed out how 40. NfS+
Kf6 41. Ng3 also draws, e.g., 41. . . . gxh3+
42. Kxh3 h4 43. Ne4+ Kg6 44. RdS!.
331
40. . . . Kg6 41. h4!
Spassky thought for 45 minutes over this
sealed move. He threatened to win with
42. RdS followed by 43. RgS+ Kh6 44. Ng7!
and NfS+. If Black tries 41. . . . fS he has a
trick, 42. Rd7 Rc2! 43. Rxc2 Ne3+-although
even then White would likely draw. How­
ever, 42. Kf2! allows White to force a draw
more directly. What does 41. h4 have to do
with this? One answer is that the immediate
41. RdS fails to 41. . . . gxh3+ 42. Kxh3 f6 when
White's threats are calmed.
41. . . . f6! 42. Re6 Rc2+ 43. Kgl Kt5 44. Ng7+
Kxf4
Now it is a perpetual check for one player
or the other. After the game 44 . . . . Kg6 was
considered bad because of 45. fS+ Kxg7
46. Rd7+. However, 45. . . . Kh6 is safe enough.
45. Rd4+ Kg3 46. Nf5+ Kf3 47. Ree4! Rel+
48. Kh2 Rc2+ 49. Kgl draw
This left Spassky trailing by one point and
having wasted what his seconds assured him
was a powerful challenge to Fischer's favorite
opening. The eighth game was worse. Spas­
sky has never explained whether he blun­
dered or misevaluated when he lost the
Exchange at move 15. Nei said it was an over­
sight and it depressed Spassky, leading to a
pawn-losing blunder four moves later. He re­
signed at move 37.
Two games later he was neatly outplayed
when he adopted the Black side of a Ruy
Lopez-ignoring Petrosian's warning: "prac­
tically any opening can be used against Fis­
cher, with the exception of l. . . . es:• In a two­
week span Spassky had scored l½-6½ and
turned a two-point lead into a three-point
deficit. He never recovered.
Month Two
A popular view of the match's second half
is that Spassky played better than Fischer but
332 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
Fischer played well enough so that it did not
matter. Spassky claimed he had "four win­
ning positions in a row but I didn't win a sin­
gle one:•ss There is little to support this. He
did have advantages in the drawn 14th and
15th games but they were far short of deci­
sive. Spassky held an insignificant extra pawn
early in the endgame of the 16th outing and
played out a dead drawn position for more
than 25 moves. The biggest advantage either
player held during the seven-game drawing
streak in August came in round 15 when Fis­
cher amassed a winning position after 32
moves and missed at least two forced wins.
What would have happened if Spassky had
paid more attention to the analyses made by
Petrosian, Korchnoi and Tal in the spring?
This is one of the mysteries of 1972. The So­
viet press gave his rivals opportunities to an­
notate some of the second-half games but
they were mild in their criticism. Here is
what they said about Spassky's last good
chance to save the match.
Spassky-Bobby Fischer
World Championship match,
19th game, Reykjavik, 1972
Alekhine's Defense (BOS)
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4
"Such opening diversity was never demon­
strated before in one world championship
match;' wrote Korchnoi. "In 18 games I
counted 14 opening schemes:' Most of this
was due to Fischer, who was doing what
Spassky's high-Elo colleagues had advised
Spassky to do-vary the opening as much as
possible. 56 Tal called this Fischer's "tactics of
'one shot: constantly varying Black opening
systems:'
5. Be2 e6 6. 0-0 Be7 7. h3 Bh5 8. c4 Nb6
9. Nc3
"Usually in this position there is an ex­
change on d6. Spassky offers a pawn sacri­
fice;' Tal said. 'J\fter 9. . . . dxeS 10. NxeS Bxe2
11. Qxe2 Qxd4 12. NbS White has a strong
initiative, therefore Fischer refuses the gift:'
9. . . . 0-0 10. Be3
"On 10. . . . Nc6 White can play 11. exd6
cxd6 12. dS with advantage;' Korchnoi wrote.
(A key point is that with the insertion 7. h3
BhS, the bishop is attacked after 12. . . . cxdS
13. NxdS NxdS 14. QxdS.)
10. . . . d5
"Black closed the center, giving the play a
new character;' Tal said.
11. c5 Bxf3 12. Bxf3
"Deserving attention is 12. gxf3;' Korchnoi
said. In fact, that became the main line in the
1970s. "Then 12. . . . Nc4 13. Bxc4 leads to the
win of a pawn, and after 12. . . . Nc8 13. f4
White has a very big advantage in space:'
12. . . . Nc4 13. b3
"A very original and correct decision;' Tal
said. "White doesn't want to lose time with
a retreat and agrees to this exchange:' Korch­
noi believed Spassky was following a line
prepared by Geller.
13. . . . Nxe314. fxe3 b6
Correct was "14 . . . . Nc6! " said Petrosian.
For example, 15. Rbl f6 offers equal chances,
computers say.
15. e4!
"The logical follow-up of White's thought.
Black cannot allow the 'rebirth' of the bishop;'
Tal wrote. For example, 15. . . . bxcS 16. exdS
cxd4 17. dxe6! .
15. . . . c6! 16. b4! bxc5
Spassky felt he would have equalized by
liquidating material, 16. . . . aS 17. a3 axb4
18. axb4 Rxal 19. Qxal BgS and . . . Bd2. But
later analysis said 20. Khl or 20. Rel retains
a White edge.
17. bxc5 Qa5
 15. Coun tdown to Calamity
Black must play actively, for 17. . . . Nd7
and 17. . . . Qc7 can be answered strongly by
18. Qa4.
18. Nxd5
"The sacrifice of the knight is based on the
superiority of White's development and has
the goal of strengthening a powerful center;'
Korchnoi said. "Quiet continuations do not
give White anything real." Later analysis
showed that 18. Qel! would have made
19. Nxd5 a serious threat. White retains an
advantage after 18 . . . . Bh4 19. Qxh4 Qxc3
20. Qf2 or 18 . . . . Qb4 19. Rdl.
18. . . . Bg5 (see diagram)
Tal pointed out: "Taking the piece imme­
diately is very dangerous, after 18 . . . . cxd5
19. exd5 exd5 20. Bxd5 with an attack on as:'
Fischer played 18 . . . . Bg5 "instantly;' eyewit­
ness Robert Byrne said, so "Bobby must have
been expecting the piece sacrifice:'
After 18. . . . Bg5
19. Bh5
Korchnoi wanted to see 19. h4 so 19. . . .
Bxh4 20. Ne3 "and White retains a positional
advantage:' But 20 . . . . Qc3! is an adequate
defense. Tal had a better idea in "the quiet
move 19. Qd3:' Computer analysis likes
White's position after 19. . . . Na6 20. h4 Bxh4
21. Ne3 Rad8 22. Nc4 Qxc5 23. Nd6.
19. . . . cxd5
Korchnoi noted that 19. . . . g6 would be
333
met by 20. Nf6+ since 20. . . . Bxf6 21. exf6
sets up a Qcl-h6 mate threat. Black can also
lose quickly after 20. . . . Kg7 21. Qg4 Be3+
22. Khl in view of 23. Nxh7! Kxh7 24. Bxg6+.
20. Bxf7+!
lf 20. exd5 exd5 is inserted, then 21. Bxf7+!
Rxd7 22. Rxf7 Qd2 can be met by 23. Qg4!
and the d4-pawn is protected, unlike the
game. However, Spassky said 22. . . . Qc3!
would equalize, and Stockfish confirms this
with 23. Khl Nc6 24. Rd7 Bf4 25. Rxd5 Qg3.
20 . . . . Rxf7 21. Rxf7 Qd2!
"Many in the press room thought Fischer's
position was hopeless" before this move,
Krogius said. For example, 21. . . . Kxf7?
22. Qh5+ wins. Korchnoi noted that 21. . . .
Be3+ 22. Khl Kxf7 23. Qh5+ Ke7 is also bad
after 24. Rfl Nd7 25. Qf7+ Kd8 26. c6. He
said 21. . . . Nc6 was possible but would lead
to a complex position. "And Fischer in the
last third of the match tried only for draws;'
he wrote.
22. Qxd2 Bxd2 23. Rafl Nc6
"The connected White pawns are a strength
and a weakness;' Tal said, "because they can
be an easy target of attack for Black:' A key
line is 24. Rc7 when 24 . . . . Nxd4? 25. Rlf7
Bh6 26. exd5 exd5 27. Rxa7 with winning
chances for White. Spassky endorsed lengthy
analysis that said 24 . . . . dxe4 25. Rxc6 e3
was good enough to hold.
24. exd5 exd5 25. Rd7
"At first it seemed to me that White could
have played stronger with 25. e6;' Korchoi
said. "However then I saw that Black has suf­
ficient defense, 25 . . . . Re8 26. Rc7 Nxd4
27. e7 Nc6:'
25. . . . Be3+ 26. Khl Bxd4 27. e6 Be5
"Still another exact defensive move;' Korch­
noi wrote, noting that 27 . . . . Bxc5 28. Rel
was bad and 27. . . . Re8 28. Rd6 was risky.
334 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
28. Rxd5 Re8 29. Rel Rxe6 30. Rd6! (see
diagram)
After 30. Rd6
"Otherwise the advantage could transfer
to Black;' Tal said.
30. . . . Kt7! 31. Rxc6 Rxc6 32. Rxe5
"Another rook endgame;' noted Tal. "The
extra pawn is weak:' The rest was fairly rou­
tine:
32. . . . Kf6 33. Rd5 Ke6 34. Rh5 h6 35. Kh2
Ra6 36. c6 Rxc6 37. Ra5 a6 38. Kg3 Kf6
39. Kf3 Rc3+ 40. Kf2 Rc2+ draw
Bondarevsky thought Fischer's play was
unique in the last weeks. "I am sure that any
other grandmaster with a three-point lead
and six games to go would have opted for
sure-fire systems;' he wrote. Instead, Fischer
continued to surprise the world with his
opening choices including a Sicilian Defense
line that won him the 21st game. The match
ended 12½-8½ in his favor. "There was no
Spassky in the match;' Tal summed up. 57
Finger Pointing
Spassky returned home to be grilled by the
Sports Committee and Soviet chess officials.
Each of his old rivals gave a brutal assess­
ment of his play. Korchnoi said Spassky's
opening preparation was "terrible" and he
had not studied chess seriously in three
years. 58 Petrosian said Spassky went to Reyk­
javik badly prepared in his openings and
mental attitude. "Can you really go along to
a match with Fischer as if it's a holiday?" he
asked. 59 Even Tal told Spassky and the meet­
ing that his play was "simply unrecogniz­
able:' 60 "I think he was learning as he went
along:'
Spassky insisted he had "never worked so
hard on chess before:' Yes, he did make mis­
takes, he said, such as bringing Nei with him
instead of his wife Larisa and allowing Fis­
cher "to get on my nerves:' Later he claimed
Nei was "an American spy" and that Krogius
had not helped him at all. He also claimed
he had secret information that would expose
why he really lost. "Unfortunately, in the
match there were many events which I can­
not discuss. I intend to write about this;' he
said in 2007. 6 1
 Epilo gue: Four A gin g Men
The era of Soviet hegemony in chess lasted
well after the 21st game in Reykjavik. The
USSR team won all but one of the Olym piads
it entered until the 1990s. The regained world
championship remained in Soviet/Russian
hands until the 21st century.
Nevertheless, the Fischer-Spassky match
and the period leading up to it marked the
end of a golden age. It was a time that seems
remote now-when USSR-versus-U.S. bat­
tles over the board drew universal attention
and when world championship matches were
major historical events. The age that began
with Mikhail Botvinnik lasted until his heirs,
Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korch­
noi and Boris Spassky, had reached superstar
status. "I think the golden age ended at the
end of the 1960s:' Spassky said.1
The rivalry of these four men continued
but the collaborative synergy was over. They
tried to find new roles in chess, with widely
varying success:
Mikhail Tai not only survived but pros­
pered. "Doctors had already said for a long
time that he hadn't long to live. But a miracle
happened:' said Dr. Victor Malkin. "His sav­
ing medicine was chess! " 2 Tal was allowed
back into the good graces of the Sports Com­
mittee by becoming the senior trainer of
Anatoly Karpov. "I think that Misha would
have worked with Karpov on his own accord:'
Tal's wife Gelya said. "But the Party's Central
335
Committee gave an ultimatum to him: 'You
help Karpov or we forbid you to travel abroad.
We' ll take away everything: the 300 rubles
stipend, country tours:" 3 But unlike other
great predecessors who could not be both a
trainer and a player, the reinvigorated Tal re­
mained in the world's top ten to the end of
1980.
In contrast, Tigran Petrosian began a slow
decline. He had amassed a solid career plus­
score against Korchnoi but then badly lost
three Candidates matches to him. Korchnoi
believed Petrosian was plagued by remorse
over the latter's treatment of him in the 1970s,
by helping to drive him out of the Soviet
Union. "Why couldn't Petrosian play me? It
turns out this person had a conscience:' he
said.4 Petrosian acted increasingly as if his
career ended when he lost to Fischer in 1971.
In the 11th game of his 1977 Candidates match
with Korchnoi he was trailing by one point
but had a positional and time advantage.
Korchnoi unexpectedly offered a draw. Pet­
rosian thought for half an hour and inexpli­
cably accepted. "I was beside myself:' said his
second, Yuri Averbakh. 5 He demanded an
explanation. "It is all so well with you, four
years from a pension:' Petrosian replied. "But
for me it is 12 years:' 6
Boris Spassky was in disgrace after Reyk­
javik and, at 35, far from retirement. He was
declared nyevyzedny for the fourth time. 7 "I
336 Tai, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi
was invited to many, many tournaments then
and I really needed to play then from a psy­
chological point of view. If you are beaten
you need revenge and I was eager to have this
revenge and I also had the strength:' he said.
"But they blocked me for nine months. Even­
tually this made me ill. I sank into a depres­
sion which lasted more than one year. As a
result of this attitude towards me I started to
fight against the Sports Committee. I started
to fight against the political system:•s Spassky
had boycotted the Soviet championship since
1963 because of the paltry prizes. But the
Sports Committee forced him to play in the
all-star 1973 tournament. Korchnoi called
Spassky's victory in it his greatest achieve­
ment in chess. But in 1974 Spassky was elim­
inated by Karpov in the Candidates semi­
finals, his first-ever Candidates match loss.
And by 1976 he had spent all of the $93,000
he earned from the Fischer match and had
to start all over. "Money always parted easily
from me:' he said. 9
Viktor Korchnoi jumped into the vacuum
left by Spassky and Petrosian. He eventually
won 12 Candidates matches, a record that
still stands. His last was in 1991 when he was
60. After losing to Karpov in the 1974 Can­
didates finals-a de facto world champion­
ship match-Korchnoi did what he had often
done before. He belittled his opponent's play.
But this was not permitted in the post-Reyk­
javik era. Petrosian mounted a campaign to
punish Korchnoi. "Making use of his con­
nections, he slandered him in the press and
choked him through official channels:' Kar­
pov said, and even tried to strip him of the
grandmaster title. 10 Two years later Korchnoi
defected to the West. The Sports Committee
demanded that all leading Soviet players de­
nounce him in a joint letter. Spassky was one
of the few who refused. "Spassky is a real
friend, in trouble himself;' Korchnoi said. 11
Spassky was in trouble because he divorced
Larisa and married for the third time in 1975.
Korchnoi came to celebrate Spassky's mar-
riage, to a French woman whose family fled
Russia after the Revolution. Spassky moved
to France when he could not get the tourna­
ment invitations he wanted. After his Soviet
stipend ended in 1983, he no longer played
under the hammer-and-sickle flag. He seemed
to lose all ambition. In 1984 he said one of
his favorite pastimes was to play tennis-by
himself, against a wall. "I am not competi­
tive:' he explained. 12
Tal remained friends with Korchnoi for
more than 25 years despite Korchnoi's acid
comments about him. But when Tal criti­
cized Korchnoi in Sovietsk y Sport before the
1978 world championship match, it was the
end of their relationship: "With Mikhail Tal,
I was friends for decades and suddenly these
things . . . :• Korchnoi said. 13
Korchnoi had already severed his ties with
Spassky in the 1977 Candidates finals. "We
began our 1977 match as friends but ended
it as enemies:' Korchnoi wrote. 14 Spassky re­
fused to speak to him for years. When asked
if Korchnoi's failure to become world cham­
pion was merited, he replied, "100 percent:'
"Spassky and I were never friends:' Korchnoi
said in his late years. 15 He listed five reasons
why they could not have been on good terms.
First, he said, he was older than Spassky
by six years. Second, Spassky was poorer
when they were young and then became
"rich:' Third, they advanced at different
rates. When Korchnoi became an interna­
tional grandmaster, Spassky had already
been a Candidate. Fourth, they had "different
views on life:' Spassky had a "cynical" out­
look, he said. And fifth, they had different
playing styles and "one did not respect the
style of the other:' 16
Yet when Tal was near the end of his life
and had, once again, too much to drink at a
banquet in Reykjavik, Korchnoi and Spassky
looked at one another. "What about it, shall
we carry him?" one said. "Yes, let's carry him:'
And together they toted their rival of four
decades back to his hotel. 17
 Epilogue: Four Aging Men
Fin al Moves
As a result of his defection "members of
my family suffered:' Korchnoi said. 'J\nd who
else? Petrosian!" Korchnoi felt God punished
Petrosian for driving him out of the USSR. 18
"Sometimes I even think that his illness was
the result of our verbal conflict:' 19 Near the
beginning of 1984, doctors determined that
Petrosian had inoperable pancreatic cancer.
But he was told it was a kidney stone. Three
futile operations were performed on him.
"Everyone but Petrosian himself knew that
he was dying:' said his friend Andrei Gavri­
lov. "Everyone lied to his face, and he did not
suspect anything:' 2° Korchnoi said that shortly
before he died, Petrosian approached a mu­
tual friend at a tournament in Tallinn and
"apologized for all that he had done to me:' 21
When a Petrosian memorial tournament was
organized in 2007, Korchnoi intended to play.
But he said he was "suddenly" barred after
objections from a Petrosian relative. 22
Mikhail Tal and Sally Landau remained
close for the rest of his life. "Misha had many
women, as Sally had many men:' Mark Tai­
manov said. "But I firmly know that the only
337
one for Misha always remained Sally, and for
Sally the only one remained Misha:' 23 Tal was
plagued by illness and multiple operations
in his last years. He died in 1992 of what was
called a hemorrhage in the esophagus. His
widow Gelya said it was hepatitis C. "In re­
ality, his entire organism ceased to function:'
Gennady Sosonko said. 24 Rakhmaninoff's
music was played at Tal's funeral. His daugh­
ter said Tal had modest goals in life. "He just
wanted to play chess and live. That is, to live,
not to exist, to enjoy the process itself:' she
said in 2017. 25
Viktor Korchnoi remained an active tour­
nament player until his final days. He won
the Swiss national championship at age 80.
But a stroke in 2012 all but ended his playing
career and he died at age 85 in his adopted
Swiss home of Wahlen in 2015.
Boris Spassky, also hobbled by strokes, re­
turned to Russia in 2012 and said he was di­
vorcing his third wife. ''I'm losing all my
property:' he said. 26 In his last interviews he
said he had "a huge and very dear archive" 27
and was working on his autobiography. ''I'm
writing about my chess career. I hope I man­
age to finish it:' he said. 28
This page intentionally left blank
 Appendix A:
Chronolo gy, 1929-2016
1929-JuNE 17-Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian is
born in Tbilisi.
1931-MARCH 23-Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi is
born in Leningrad.
1936-NovEMBER 9-Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal
is born in Riga.
1937-Korchnoi's father teaches him how to play
chess.
JANUARY 30-Boris Vasilyevich Spassky is born
in Leningrad.
APRIL-Tal falls seriously ill with apparent menin-
gitis and gradually recovers.
1940-SuMMER-Petrosian learns how to play
chess at a Young Pioneer camp.
1941-JuNE 22-Nazi invasion of the Soviet
Union begins.
SuMMER-Spassky and his brother are evacuated
from Leningrad to the Urals after their train
narrowly escapes bombing. Tal's family flees
Riga and reaches the Urals town of Yurla.
Korchnoi's mother pulls him off an evacuation
train and he spends the rest of the Nazi block­
ade in Leningrad.
AuausT-Petrosian joins the Tbilisi Pioneer
Palace. After both of his parents die he be­
comes the family breadwinner.
NovEMBER-Korchnoi's father dies when his
barge is bombed at Lake Ladoga.
1942-JuNE-Petrosian defeats Salo Flohr in a
simultaneous exhibition game.
339
SuMMER-Petrosian reaches second-category sta­
tus. Korchnoi is hospitalized with "dystrophy"
(clinical starvation).
Spassky learns to play chess in a children's home
in the Kirov region.
1943-JANUARY-FEBRUARY-Petrosian wins his
first tournament, in Tbilisi.
SuMMER-Spassky, rescued by his parents from
near starvation, arrives with his family in the
Moscow area.
AuTUMN-Tal enters school in Riga and is quickly
promoted from first grade to third.
DECEMBER-Leningrad Pioneer Palace reopens.
Abram Model begins a chess circle on January
16, 1944.
1944-Tal's father teaches him how to play chess.
Spassky's parents separate and soon divorce.
NovEMBER-Tal's family returns to Riga.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER-In the Georgian Cham-
pionship, Petrosian ties for ninth place with an
8-9 score.
1945-APRIL-Korchnoi serves as a wallboard
boy in the 14th USSR Championship semifinals.
MAY-JUNE-Petrosian finishes a half point behind
winner Genrikh Kasparian in the Tbilisi city
championship. He beats his teacher Archile
Ebralidze.
AuausT-Petrosian ties for first in the Soviet Jun­
ior Championship, in Leningrad.
DECEMBER 1945-JANUARY 1946-Petrosian easily
wins the Georgian Championship.
340 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
1946-First-category player Korchnoi becomes
Leningrad junior champion for the second time.
Spassky, his mother, brother and sister return to
Leningrad and endure severe poverty.
Tal falls into a "Scholar's mate" against a visiting
cousin and soon joins a Riga Pioneer Palace
chess circle.
APRIL-Petrosian's first retroactive rating places
him 69th best in the world.
JUNE-Vladimir Zak, demobilized from the Soviet
armed forces, returns to conduct chess lessons
at the Leningrad Pioneer Palace.
SuMMER-Petrosian moves to Armenia. Spassky
discovers a chess pavilion in a Leningrad park
and becomes fascinated.
JuLY-AUGUST-Petrosian wins the Soviet Junior
Championship again. He easily beats Korchnoi
in their first game. Korchnoi ties for 11th place
out of 16.
SEPTEMBER-OCT0BER-Petrosian defeats Kas­
parian in a match for the Armenian Champi­
onship.
OcTOBER-Spassky finds the Leningrad Pioneer
Palace where Zak soon becomes his trainer and
father figure.
1947-Earliest published photo of Spassky, win -
ning a game from world champion Mikhail Bot­
vinnik in a simultaneous exhibition.
JuNE-Petrosian ties for second in the Armenian
Championship behind visiting grandmaster
Igor Bondarevsky.
Korchnoi wins the Soviet Junior Championship
in Leningrad.
OcT0BER-N0VEMBER-Petrosian earns the mas-
ter title in a USSR Championship semifinals.
1948-Spassky reaches first-category status and
soon gives his first simultaneous exhibition. He
is awarded a government stipend.
Korchnoi enrolls in Leningrad State University
but becomes disenchanted with studies. He re­
peats as Soviet junior champion.
Tal becomes a student of Yanis Kruskops at the
Riga Pioneer Palace and achieves second­
category status. He defeats Paul Keres in a si­
multaneous exhibition.
OcT0BER-N0VEMBER-Petrosian and Kasparian
tie for first in the Armenian Championship.
1949-Tal beats Ratmir Kholmov in a simulta-
neous exhibition. His first published game, a win
in the semifinals of the USSR youth team cham­
pionship, appears. Alexander Koblents, Latvia's
premier player, takes notice of Tal's talent and
soon becomes his trainer.
Spassky, a candidate master, ties for first in the
Leningrad Junior Championship.
APRIL-MAY-Petrosian places second in the 17th
USSR Championship semifinals in Tbilisi and
qualifies for his first national championship fi­
nals. He and Yefim Geller become friends and
close collaborators.
Photographs of Korchnoi and Spassky are fea­
tured in a Shakhmaty v SSSR report on the All­
Union Youth Team Championship. Korchnoi
becomes a candidate master.
OcTOBER-Korchnoi ties for eighth of16 players
in an 18th USSR Championship quarterfinals
in Lvov. He soon begins physical training to
improve his stamina.
OCTOBER 16-NovEMBER 20-After a disastrous
start, Petrosian finishes 16th out of 20 players
in the 17th USSR Championship finals.
Late 1949-Petrosian moves to Moscow.
1950-Veteran master Alexander Tolush offers
to be Korchnoi's trainer but he refuses. Andre
Lilienthal agrees to become Petrosian's trainer.
Korchnoi finishes second in the Leningrad Cham-
pionship.
AuausT-Petrosian places third in the Moscow
Championship.
SEPTEMBER-OCT0BER-Petrosian ties for second
in an 18th USSR Championship semifinals in
Gorky.
NovEMBER-DECEMBER-Petrosian shares 12th
and 13th place out of18 in the 18th USSR Cham­
pionship finals in Moscow. He meets Rona
Avinezer, his future wife, on the final day.
DECEMBER-Korchnoi fails to advance to the 19th
USSR Championship finals.
End 1950-early 1951: Tal scores 12½-½ in a semi­
finals of the Riga Championship and makes a
first-category norm.
1951-JANUARY-FEBRUARY-Korchnoi ties for
fifth place in a strong Chigorin Memorial finals
in Leningrad. Spassky just misses qualifying for
the tournament.
JANUARY 14-FEBRUARY 18-Tal ties for tenth place
out of 20 in the Riga Championship.
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
MARCH 3-APRIL 1-In a Latvian Championship,
Tal ties for 12th place of 20.
MARCH 2-24-Petrosian, hors concours, ties for
second in the Lithuanian Championship in Vil­
nius.
APRIL-MAY-Petrosian crushes Mamadzhan
Mukhitdinov in a match in Tashkent.
MAY 25-JuNE 25-Petrosian tops a 19th USSR
Championship semifinals in Sverdlovsk. Korch­
noi ties for fourth place in a semifinals in Len­
ingrad.
AuausT-Petrosian captures both the Moscow
Championship and Moscow blitz champion­
ship.
SEPTEMBER-Korchnoi's photo appears on the
cover of Shakhmaty v SSSR and he qualifies for
the master title.
SEPTEMBER 5-OCTOBER 8-Tal wins a candidate
masters tournament in Riga.
SEPTEMBER 6-14-Petrosian has an even score
on third board in a USSR republics champi­
onship.
SEPTEMBER 16-OCTOBER 11-Petrosian ties for
second in a Tbilisi masters tournament.
NovEMBER-Spassky ties for seventh place in a
quarterfinals of the 20th USSR Championship
in Riga. He and Tal postmortem some of Spas­
sky's games.
NOVEMBER 11-DECEMBER 14-In major success,
Petrosian ties for second in the 20th USSR
Championship finals in Moscow. He qualifies
for the 1952 Interzonal and earns the interna­
tional master title.
1952-JANUARY-Petrosian is the 22nd highest
rated player in the world. Korchnoi is 97th.
In secret training games at Gagra and Voronovo
for national team players, Petrosian scores 3-5.
Spassky switches trainers, from Vladimir Zak to
Alexander Tolush, amid anti-Semitic "Doctors'
Plot" campaign.
FEBRUARY 20-MARCH 20-In a Latvian Champi­
onship, Tal places seventh of 18 players.
MARCH-APRIL-Spassky finishes second in a
Leningrad Championship, two points ahead of
Korchnoi.
SPRING-Tal finishes secondary school at age
15½. He applies for university law courses but
because of his age he begins philological studies
instead.
341
MARCH 3-APRIL 2-In his first foreign event,
Petrosian ties for seventh at a Mar6czy memo­
rial international in Budapest.
MAY 5-JuNE 13-Korchnoi ties for second in a
Minsk semifinals of the 20th USSR Champi­
onship and is seeded into his first national
championship finals.
SEPTEMBER-At a USSR clubs championship in
Odessa, Korchnoi scores 4½-3½ on Lenin­
grad's fourth board.
SEPTEMBER IS-OCTOBER 20-Petrosian ties for
second in an Interzonal at Saltsjobaden and be­
comes the world's youngest international grand­
master.
NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 29-Korchnoi finishes
an impressive sixth in the 20th USSR Cham­
pionship finals in Moscow.
1953-JANUARY-FEBRUARY-Korchnoi scores 4½-
5½ in the USSR clubs championship in Minsk.
JANUARY 25-FEBRUARY 26-Spasskyties for fourth
place and earns the international master title
at a Bucharest international with the help of
prearranged draws. Petrosian finishes second.
FEBRUARY 20-MARCH 24-Tal becomes Latvian
champion.
MARCH-APRIL-Korchnoi is second in a Lenin­
grad Championship.
MAY-Spassky's first retroactive rating makes
him the 61st best player in the world. Petrosian
finishes second in another secret training tour­
nament in Gagra.
MAY-JUNE-Korchnoi ties for third at a 21st USSR
Championship semifinals in Vilnius and qual­
ifies for his first championship finals.
SuMMER-Korchnoi wins his first-ever game with
Tal.
AUGUST 30-OcTOBER 24-Petrosian is fifth in a
Candidates tournament in Neuhausen-Ziirich.
OcTOBER-Tal's 4½-3½ on second board in a
USSR republic teams championship is worthy
of the Soviet master title but he is told he has
to earn it in a match with Vladimir Saigin.
OCTOBER 29-31-Petrosian wins both games on
first board in a USSR-Austria match in Vienna.
1954-JANUARY-Tal scores ½-1½ against Paul
Keres on first board in a Riga-Tallinn match.
JANUARY 8-FEBRUARY 7-Korchnoi ties for sec-
ond in the 21st USSR Championship finals in
Kiev, a major success. Petrosian ties for fourth.
342 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
FEBRUARY 12-MARCH 14-Tal ties for second in
the Latvian Championship.
FEBRUARY 24-MARCH 26-In his foreign debut,
Korchnoi wins a Bucharest international.
MARCH 16-25-Petrosian starts a foreign team
tour with one win and three draws on sixth
board in a USSR-Argentina match in Buenos
Aires.
APRIL 1-3-Petrosian scores 2-0 on fifth board
in a USSR-Uruguay match in Montevideo.
APRIL 17-19-Petrosian is again 2-0 on fifth board,
in a USSR-France match in Paris.
APRIL 11-19-At the World Student Team Cham­
pionship in Oslo, Korchnoi has a mediocre
4½-2½ on first board for the silver medal So­
viet team.
JuNE-Tal enters the rating list at 183rd in the
world.
JUNE 16-23-Petrosian scores 3-1 on seventh
board in a USSR-U.S. match in New York.
SuMMER-Tal becomes a master by beating Saigin
8-6 in a match.
JULY 3-5-Petrosian wins 2-0 on sixth board in
a USSR-England match in London.
JULY 9-13-Petrosian scores 1½-½ on sixth board
in a USSR-Sweden match in Stockholm.
JULY IO-AUGUST 2-Spassky wins a masters/can­
didate masters tournament in Leningrad.
AuGUST-Korchnoi is awarded the international
master title.
AUGUST 7-23-Spassky wins his first-ever game
with Tal, in a USSR youth team Championship
in Riga. Spassky scores 7½-1½ and Tal 7-2.
SEPTEMBER 3-17-At a USSR teams champion­
ship in Riga, Petrosian has the best first-board
score, 7-3. Korchnoi registers 5½-4½ and Tal
is 4-6. The first Tal-Petrosian game is drawn.
In semifinals tournaments for the 22nd USSR
Championship, Korchnoi ties for third in Yere­
van and Spassky is fourth in Leningrad.
OCTOBER 20-NovEMBER 13-Petrosian shares
fourth place in a strong Belgrade international.
1955-Korchnoi wins a Leningrad blitz champi­
onship.
JANUARY 12-FEBRUARY 12-Tal is second in the
Latvian Championship.
FEBRUARY 11-MARCH 15-Debutant Spassky ties
with Petrosian for third place in the 22nd USSR
Championship finals in Moscow and they earn
spots in the 1955 Interzonal. Korchnoi finishes
19th of 20 players.
MARCH-Spassky's rating tops Korchnoi's for the
first time.
MAY 6-15th-Spassky has the best second-board
score at the World Student Team Champion­
ship in Lyon.
MAY 5-JuNE 3-Tal ties for third in a 23d USSR
Championship quarterfinals in Vilnius.
MAY 23-JuNE 5-Petrosian's 5½-1½ is the best
score in a USSR-Hungary match-tournament
in Budapest.
JuNE-Korchnoi becomes Leningrad champion
by three points.
JUNE 29-JuLY 7-Petrosian scores 4-0 on sixth
board of a USSR-U.S. return match in Moscow.
JULY 21-AuGUST 9-In Antwerp, Spassky be­
comes the first Soviet player to win the World
Junior Championship.
AUGUST 14-SEPTEMBER 22-Petrosian places
fourth and Spassky ties for seventh in an In­
terzonal at Goteburg. Spassky earns the inter­
national grandmaster title.
SEPTEMBER 3-27-Korchnoi scores 8-1 on sec­
ond board at a USSR teams championship in
Lugansk. Tal is 5½-3½.
NOVEMBER 11-DECEMBER 10-Tal is the surprise
winner of a 23rd USSR Championship semifi­
nals in Riga. Korchnoi ties for fourth place.
DECEMBER 28-JANUARY 6, 1956-Korchnoi shares
first prize at a Hastings international.
Spassky is awarded a Soviet government medal
for "Valorous Labor:'
1956-JANUARY IO-FEBRUARY 15-In the finals
of the 23rd USSR Championship, Spassky ties for
first, Korchnoi is fourth and Tal ties for fifth.
MARCH 27-APRIL 30-Petrosian and Spassky
share third place in a Candidates tournament
in Amsterdam.
APRIL 5-15-Tal plays abroad for first time, at the
World Student Team Championship in Upp­
sala, and gets the best score on third board. Ko­
rchnoi is 6-1 on first board.
MAY-JUNE-Korchnoi wins a 24th USSR Cham­
pionship quarterfinals in Frunze by 4½ points.
JUNE 17-28-In the first USSR-Yugoslavia match­
tournament, in Belgrade, Korchnoi scores 4½-
3½ and Petrosian is 4-4.
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
SEPTEMBER-Korchnoi is awarded the interna­
tional grandmaster title.
OcTOBER-Petrosian wins a Moscow Champi­
onship playoff match from Vladimir Simagin.
NOVEMBER 18-DECEMBER 18-At a 24th USSR
Championship semifinals in Tbilisi Petrosian
is first, Korchnoi ties for third and Tal ties for
fifth.
Spassky also advances by winning a champion-
ship semifinals in Leningrad.
1957-JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 22-In a big sur­
prise. Tal captures the 24th USSR Championship
finals in Moscow. Spassky ties for fourth, Korch­
noi and Petrosian tie for seventh. This is the first
time all four play in same individual event.
MARCH-APRIL-Korchnoi, hors concours, wins
the Uzbekistan Championship in Tashkent with
12-3 score.
Tal's father dies. Tal goes into a deep depression
that ends after winning a Riga blitz tournament
on May Day.
JuNE-Korchnoi shares first in a Leningrad Cham­
pionship.
JULY 1-16-In another USSR-Yugoslavia match­
tournament, in Leningrad, Korchnoi scores
5½-1½ and Petrosian is 5-3.
JULY 11-26-Tal and Spassky have the best scores
on the first two boards, as the Soviet team wins
the World Student Team Championship in
Reykjavik.
AUGUST 22-28-In the inaugural European Team
Championship, in Vienna, Tal scores 3-2 on
fourth board, Spassky is 3½-1½ on fifth, Pet­
rosian is 4-1 on sixth and Korchnoi is 5½-½
on eighth. During a FIDE Congress, Tal is
granted the international grandmaster title in
a negotiated deal.
OcTOBER-Korchnoi vacations at Gagra and
meets his future wife Bella.
OCTOBER 24-26-ln a Leningrad-Hungary match
in Leningrad, Spassky has a win and a draw on
first board and Korchnoi draws twice on third
board.
OCTOBER 25-NovEMBER 9-Tal leads a Riga
team in a match tour ofltaly, scoring eight wins
and two draws.
NOVEMBER 11-DECEMBER 10-Spassky shares
first place in a 25th USSR Championship semi­
finals in Leningrad.
343
NOVEMBER 11-DECEMBER 11-Petrosian wins an­
other championship semifinals, in Kiev, while
Korchnoi triumphs in a third, in Sverdlovsk.
DECEMBER 31-Tal meets actress/singer Sally
Landau and they soon begin dating.
1958-Petrosian undergoes a nasal operation that
improves his ability to deal with tournament time
tension.
JANUARY 12-FEBRUARY 14-Tal's dramatic last­
round win over Spassky decides the 25th USSR
Championship finals in Riga. Petrosian finishes
second. Spassky loss to Tal costs him an Inter­
zonal invitation. Korchnoi ties for ninth. He
marries Bella after the tournament.
APRIL 12-MAY 12-Tal finishes third in a Latvian
Championship.
JuNE-Korchnoi ties for second in a Russian Fed­
eration Championship in Sochi.
JUNE 22-27-In Zagreb for a USSR-Yugoslavia
match, Korchnoi is 2-2 on third board.
JULY 5-20-Tal and Spassky are the top boards
on a gold-medal Soviet team in the World Stu­
dent Team Championship at Varna.
JULY 3-16-At a USSR Republic Teams Champi­
onship in Vilnius, Korchnoi has the second
best score on first board and Petrosian is sec­
ond best on board two.
AUGUST 5-SEPTEMBER 12-In another surprise,
Tal wins the Interzonal at Portoroz. Petrosian
ties for third and qualifies for his third Candi­
dates tournament.
SEPTEMBER 30-OcTOBER 23-Tal and Petrosian
have the best scores of reserves at the Olympiad
in Munich.
OcTOBER-Tal tops the world rating list and re­
mains there until April 1961.
DECEMBER-Korchnoi ties for second at a 26th
USSR Championship semifinal in Tashkent
while Spassky ties for first in a semifinals in
Rostov.
DECEMBER 5-7-Spassky and Korchnoi draw two
games each on the first two boards of a Mos­
cow-Leningrad match in Moscow.
1959-Spassky marries Nadezhda Konstantinovna
Latyntseva but the marriage quickly falls apart.
Petrosian, setting his sights on the world cham-
pionship, replaces his trainer, Andre Lilienthal,
with Isaac Boleslavsky.
344 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
JANUARY 9-FEBRUARY 11-Petrosian finally be­
comes national champion. Spassky and Tal
share second place at the 26th USSR Champi­
onship finals at Tbilisi. Korchnoi is ninth.
MARCH 9-17-Spassky scores 2-2 and Korchnoi
is 2½-1½ in a Leningrad-Budapest match in
Budapest.
MAY 13-JuNE 2-Spassky wins the Leningrad
Championship by three and a half points.
APRIL-Korchnoi, hors concours, wins the Ar­
menian Championship by two points.
APRIL 6-20-Spassky ties for first in a Chigorin
Memorial international in Moscow.
MAY 18-20-Petrosian scores 1-1 on second board
of a Moscow-Belarus match in Moscow.
MAY-Tal threatens suicide during a bitter row
with Sally Landau and then becomes bedrid­
den in a lethargic "stupor:'
MAY 19-JuNE 8-Tal wins a Zurich international
tournament. His first "attack of kidney trouble''
follows.
JULY 1-19-In a USSR-Yugoslavia match in Kiev,
Petrosian scores 3-1 on second board while
Korchnoi is 3½-½ on seventh board.
JULY 27-AuGUST 5-Tal is 7½-½ and Petrosian
in 6½-½ in a USSR-West Germany match in
Hamburg.
AUGUST 6-14-At a USSR teams championship
finals in Moscow, Spassky's 3½-1½ is the best
first-board score and Tal's 1½-3½ is the worst.
On third board, Petrosian has the best result,
ahead of Korchnoi. Mikhail Botvinnik avoids
playing Tal.
LATE AUGUST-After a misdiagnosis, surgeons
remove Tal's appendix.
SEPTEMBER 6-OCTOBER 31-Tal heads for a world
championship match after a stunning victory
in the Candidates tournament at Bled-Zagreb­
Belgrade. Petrosian is third.
SEPTEMBER 10-26-Korchnoi wins a Krakow in­
ternational.
DECEMBER-Ta! marries Sally Landau.
DECEMBER-Korchnoi wins a 27th USSR Cham­
pionship semifinals in Chelyabinsk.
Spassky shares first place in a championship semi­
finals in Tallinn.
DECEMBER 4-22-Spassky wins a Riga interna­
tional, ahead of fourth-place Tal.
1960-"This was the critical year of my life;'
Spassky recalled. His first child, Tatiana, is born
but his marriage heads towards divorce and his
relations with his trainer Alexander Tolush worsen.
Tal becomes editor of new bimonthly magazine,
Sahs. He edits it until 1970.
JANUARY 7-17-Petrosian shares first prize at a
Beverwijk international.
JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 26-It is Korchnoi's turn
to become national champion, at the 27th USSR
Championship finals in Leningrad. Petrosian
is second and Spassky ties for ninth.
MARCH 15-MAY 7-Tal defeats Botvinnik, 12½-
8½, in a match in Moscow and becomes eighth
official world champion. He is soon in agony
from a hard-to-diagnose kidney ailment.
MARCH 29-APRIL 15-Spassky shares first place
with Bobby Fischer at a Mar del Plata interna­
tional.
MAY 24-JuNE 7-Korchnoi is third at a Central
Chess Club international in Moscow.
JUNE 23-JuLY 21-Korchnoi ties for first in a
Buenos Aires international.
JULY 15-AuGUST 2-A Spassky-led Soviet team
finishes an embarrassing second to the United
States in the World Student Team Champion­
ship after he loses to American William Lom­
bardy in a key match. He is temporarily banned
from foreign travel for the first time.
JULY 26-AuGUST 1-Korchnoi finishes fourth in
a Santa Fe, Argentina, international.
JULY 27-AuGUST 5-At a USSR-West Germany
match, Tal scores 7½-½ on first board and Pet­
rosian is 6½-½ on second.
AuGUST-Petrosian captures a Copenhagen in­
ternational.
AUGUST 4-6-At a Leningrad-Budapest match
in Leningrad, first board Spassky scores 3-1.
AUGUST 20-SEPTEMBER 16-Spassky wins a 28th
USSR Championship semifinals in Rostov.
OCTOBER 1-15-In another USSR teams cham­
pionship finals, in Moscow, Korchnoi scores
3½-2½ on first board, Petrosian has 4-1 on
second board, and Spassky gets 5 ½ -2½ on
third.
OCTOBER 12-Tal's son Georgy is born.
OCTOBER 16-NovEMBER 9-At a FIDE Olym­
piad in Leipzig, Tal earns the silver medal on
first board, Korchnoi gets a bronze medal on
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
fourth board, and Petrosian earns a gold medal
on sixth board.
DECEMBER 3-5-Korchnoi beats Botvinnik 1 ½­
½ in a Moscow-Leningrad match in Moscow.
Spassky has a draw and a loss on second and
Petrosian has a win and a draw on third.
Both Tal and Botvinnik ask Korchnoi to be their
second in the upcoming championship rematch
but he refuses.
DECEMBER 29-JANUARY 8, 1961-Tal wins the
only foreign individual tournament he entered
as champion, at Stockholm. He soon suffers a
recurrence of "kidney colic:'
1961-Match Botvinnik-Tal, the new world cham­
pion's book on his 1960 match is published in Riga
to high praise.
Spassky switches trainers, leaving Tolush for Igor
Bondarevsky.
JANUARY 11-FEBRUARY 11-Petrosian is again na­
tional champion, ahead of Korchnoi, in the
28th USSR Championship finals in Moscow.
Spassky ties for fifth and another last-round
loss costs him a place in the 1962 Interzonal.
MARCH 15-MAY 12-Botvinnik regains his title
from Tal, 13-8, in a world championship re­
match in Moscow.
APRIL 5-10-Korchnoi and Spassky each score
3½ out of 4 on the first two boards of a Bu­
dapest-Leningrad match in Budapest.
MAY-Petrosian begins 33 months as the world's
number one rated player.
MAY 10-21-In a Yugoslavia-USSR match in Bel­
grade, Petrosian scores 4-1 and Korchnoi is 4-
2.
MAY 27-JuNE 12-Petrosian takes second place
in a Zurich International.
JUNE 21-JuLY 3-At the European Team Cham­
pionship in Oberhausen, Tal finishes 5½-3½
on second board, Petrosian is 6-2 on fourth and
Korchnoi has 8½-½ on sixth.
JuLY-Korchnoi ties for the top score, 5½-1½, in
a master-versus-candidate master tournament
in Svetlogorsk.
AuausT-SEPTEMBER-Spassky shares first in a
Leningrad Championship, which is also a
semifinals of the 29th USSR Championship.
SEPTEMBER 3-OCTOBER 3-Tal wins the strong­
est international of the year, at Bled. Petrosian
ties for third.
345
OCTOBER 14-NovEMBER 5-Korchnoi wins a Bu­
dapest international by two points.
NOVEMBER 16-DECEMBER 20-Spassky gains his
first national title at the 29th Soviet Champi­
onship finals in Baku. Tal ties for fourth but
suffers a new kidney attack afterwards and has
to be rushed by ambulance to a hospital.
DECEMBER-For the first time the four rivals
(plus Botvinnik) occupy the five highest places
in world ratings. This continues until May 1962.
DECEMBER 22-29-In the USSR clubs champion­
ship finals, Petrosian has the worst score on first
board, 1½-3½. Korchnoi is 3-2 and Tal 2-3.
1962-Spassky meets his future second wife, Lar­
isa Soloviev, at a Leningrad-area beach.
JANUARY 27-MARCH 6-Soviets begin to see Fis-
cher as a threat to the world championship title
after he wins an Interzonal at Stockholm. Both
Petrosian and Korchnoi also advance to the
Candidates tournament.
APRIL 29-MAY 20-Spassky is second at a Havana
international.
SPRING-Tal is rushed to a hospital and under­
goes emergency surgery.
MAY 2-JuNE 26-Petrosian wins the Candidates
tournament at Cura�ao amid suspicions of an
agreement among him, Keres and Yefim Geller
to draw their mutual games. Korchnoi, the
early leader, finishes with an even score. Tal is
forced to withdraw because of illness.
JULY 3-4-In a USSR-Netherlands match at the
Hague, Petrosian on first board, Tal on fourth
and Korchnoi on fifth each score a win and a
draw.
JULY 7-27-Spassky wins first-board prize and
Soviets take the team gold medals at the World
Student Team Championship in Marianske
Lazne.
SEPTEMBER 16-OCTOBER 10-Petrosian (on sec­
ond board), Spassky (third) and Tal {sixth)
each win board gold medals at the Olympiad
in Varna.
OCTOBER 20-NovEMBER 2-In a USSR teams
championship in Leningrad, Spassky has the
best first-board score, 6-2. Tal scores 4½-3½.
Korchnoi is 5-3 on second board.
END OF OcTOBER-Petrosian is notified that
Botvinnik will defend his world championship
title in 1963.
346 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
NOVEMBER 3-5-In a Leningrad-Moscow match
in Leningrad, Spassky draws two games on first
board, ahead of Korchnoi, who scores a draw
and a loss.
NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 20-Korchnoi wins,
Tal ties for second and Spassky shares fifth
place in the 30th USSR Championship finals
in Yerevan.
1963-Tal begins the new year with another hos­
pital operation and does not play chess until July.
Petrosian becomes chief editor of Shakhmatnaya
Moskva.
Spassky launches his comeback with a second
place in the 31st USSR Championship semifi­
nals in Kharkov.
MARCH 22-MAY 20-Petrosian becomes the
ninth world champion after defeating Botvin­
nik 12½-9½ in a title match in Moscow.
JUNE 1-10-At a USSR-Yugoslavia match in Ri­
jeka, Korchnoi scores 4-2.
JuLY-Spassky has the top score, 5½-½ in a Len­
ingrad team championship, ahead of Korch­
noi.
JULY 2-28-Petrosian shares first prize at the first
Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles.
JULY 4-26-Tal wins a Miskolc, Hungary, inter­
national by two points.
AUGUST 7-16-In a USSR teams championship
in Moscow, Tal scores 6-4, Korchnoi is 5½-2½
and Petrosian is 5½-3½.
AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 24-Korchnoi wins a
Havana international a half point ahead of Tal.
OCTOBER 29-NovEMBER 20-Tal is second in an
international tournament in Moscow.
NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 27-Spassky shares
first in the 31st USSR Championship finals in
Leningrad. Korchnoi is tenth.
DECEMBER 30-JANUARY 8, 1964-Tal wins a
Hastings international by a half point.
1964-JANUARY 5-Korchnoi loses to Bronstein
on the top board of a Leningrad-Moscow "tele­
match:'
JANUARY 7-17-Spassky finishes second in a play­
off of the 31st USSR Championship finals in
Moscow.
JANUARY 13-31-Tal wins a Reykjavik interna­
tional.
FEBRUARY 18-MARCH 10-A controversial "Tour-
nament of Seven" Zonal in Moscow ends in a
Spassky victory. Korchnoi ties for fifth and fails
to qualify for Interzonal.
MAY 20-JuNE 22-At the Amsterdam Interzonal,
Spassky and Tal tie for first and advance to the
1965 Candidates matches.
JUNE 10-15-Korchnoi scores 4-2 and Spassky is
1-1 in a USSR-Yugoslavia match in Leningrad.
JULY 9-25-Tal wins a Kislovodsk international.
JULY 9-AuGUST 4-Petrosian shares first prize in
a Buenos Aires international.
AUGUST 1-28-Korchnoi wins a Leningrad Cham­
pionship and qualifies for the 32nd USSR Cham­
pionship finals.
AUGUST 19-20-First board Spassky draws both
games and second board Korchnoi draws and
loses one game in a Leningrad-Belgrade match
in Leningrad.
AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 14-Spassky finishes
fourth in a Sochi international.
AUGUST 29-31-Korchnoi defeats Tal 2-1 in a
"living chess" match in Leningrad.
SEPTEMBER 22-0cTOBER 14-Spassky wins a
Belgrade international a point and a half ahead
of second-place Korchnoi.
NOVEMBER 2-25-In the Olympiad at Tel Aviv,
Petrosian scores 9½-3½ on first board and
Spassky has 10½-2½ as second reserve.
NOVEMBER 11-21-In the USSR team cup finals
in Moscow, Tal gets 4½-1½ and Petrosian has
3½-2½.
DECEMBER 2-16-Petrosian becomes Trade
Unions champion in Moscow.
DECEMBER 26-JANUARY 26, 1965-Korchnoi wins
the 32nd USSR Championship finals in Kiev
by two points. Tal is third despite playing sev­
eral games "under doctor's instruction" in his
hotel room.
1965-MARCH 4-26-Tal again becomes Latvian
champion.
APRIL 7-23-Spassky beats Keres 5½-4½ in a
Candidates match quarterfinals in Riga.
APRIL 12-MAY 9-Petrosian places third in a Za­
greb international.
MAY 26-JuNE 9-Spassky eliminates Geller 5½-
2½ in a Candidates match semifinals in Riga.
JUNE 6-16-At the European Team Champion­
ship finals in Hamburg, Petrosian is 6-4 on
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
first board and Korchnoi scores 5½-3½ on
third. During a simultaneous exhibition tour
afterwards, Korchnoi is invited to defect but
declines.
JUNE 26-JuLY 10-Tal beats Lajos Portisch 5½-
2½ in a Candidates match quarterfinals in Bled.
JULY 5-15-Korchnoi scores 4-1 and Spassky is
2-3 in a USSR-Yugoslavia match-tournament
in Vrnjacka Banja.
JULY 17-19-Korchnoi scores a win and a draw in
a Leningrad-Belgrade match in Belgrade.
JULY 26-AuGUST 8-Tal ousts Bent Larsen 5½-
4½ in a Candidates match semifinals in Bled.
AUGUST 8-26-Korchnoi dominates a Gyula,
Hungary, international with 14½-½.
AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 15-Spassky ties for first
at a Sochi international.
SEPTEMBER-Korchnoi begins a four month reign
as the world's number one rated player.
SEPTEMBER 17-OcTOBER 7-At a Yerevan inter­
national, Korchnoi wins, a point ahead of Pet­
rosian.
NovEMBER-Korchnoi wins both games from
Petrosian in a Moscow-Leningrad match in
Leningrad.
NOVEMBER 1-26-In the Candidates match finals
in Tbilisi, Spassky defeats Tal 7-4 and wins the
right to play a match for the world champi­
onship.
NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 24-Korchnoi only
ties for tenth place in the 32nd USSR Champi­
onship finals in Tallinn.
DECEMBER 29-JANUARY 8, 1966-Spassky ties for
first in a Hastings international.
1966-Spassky marries Larisa Soloviev.
JANUARY-Spassky gives a revealing interview to
British journalist Leonard Barden under the
condition it will not be printed until he be­
comes world champion. He begins six months
as the world's top rated player.
JANUARY 14-28-Petrosian is first, 8-2, in a train­
ing tournament in Moscow. Korchnoi scores
4-6.
MARCH 20-APRIL 7-Tal shares first prize in a
Sarajevo international. But kidney problems
return and he does not play again until July.
APRIL 9-JuNE 9- Underdog Petrosian upsets
Spassky 12½-11½ in a world championship
347
match in Moscow. He is the first champion
since Alexander Alekhine to win a title defense.
APRIL 24-MAY 11-Korchnoi triumphs, 12½-l½,
in a Bucharest international.
JUNE 10-20-Korchnoi scores 3½-1½ at a USSR­
Yugoslavia team tournament in Sukhumi.
JUNE 21-JuLY 11-Korchnoi wins an international
at Sochi. Spassky enters at the last minute and
ties for fifth.
JULY 17-AuGUST 15-Spassky wins the second Pi­
atigorsky Cup, in Santa Monica, California,
and earns enough prize money to support his
next world championship try. Petrosian ties for
sixth place.
JULY 22-AuGUST 8-Tal falls sick at a Kislovodsk
international and plays one game from his
hotel bathtub. He finishes with an even score.
SEPTEMBER 19-20-In a training match in Mos­
cow, Tal beats Bronstein with one win and
three draws.
SEPTEMBER 24-OcTOBER 6-At a USSR club
championship in Moscow, Tal and Petrosian
score 6-4, ahead of Spassky's 4½-5½.
OCTOBER 25-NOVEMBER 20-For the first time
all four rivals play on the same Olympic team,
in Havana. Tal is injured in a bar incident but
he, Petrosian and Korchnoi win their board
prizes and the Soviets earn team gold medals.
NOVEMBER 27-DECEMBER 18-Tal wins a Palma
de Mallorca international by a point.
DECEMBER 28, 1966-FEBRUARY 2-In the 34th
USSR Championship finals and Zonal at Tbilisi,
Korchnoi ties for third and qualifies for a play­
off.
1967-JANUARY 11-29-Spassky wins a Bever­
wijk international.
MARCH-Korchnoi wins both games in a Lenin­
grad-Belarus match in Leningrad.
MARCH 6-13-Spassky has two draws in a Rus­
sia-Ukraine match in Uzhgorod.
APRIL 1-12-In a playoff to choose Interzonal
qualifiers, Korchnoi, Gipslis and Taimanov
score 2-2. Taimanov is eliminated on tie breaks.
APRIL 22-27-Spassky scores 2½-1½ in a Rus­
sia-Hungary match in Budapest.
APRIL-MAY-Korchnoi registers 4½-1½ on first
board in a Leningrad team tournament.
MAY 7-9-Korchnoi loses both games in a Mos­
cow-Leningrad match in Leningrad.
348 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
MAY 16-JuNE 14-Korchnoi wins a Leningrad
"Jubilee" international.
MAY 21-JuNE 16-In the other "Jubilee," in Mos­
cow, Tal ties for second place, Spassky ties for
sixth and Petrosian shares ninth.
JUNE 22-JuLY 5-Korchnoi has the top score, 8-
3, in a USSR-Yugoslavia match-tournament at
Budva. Tal is second-best, 6½-4½.
JULY 2-Spassky's wife Larisa gives birth to a son,
Vasily.
JULY 23-AuGUST 3-In the finals of a Soviet re­
public championship in Moscow: Spassky scores
4-1, Korchnoi 3½-1½ and Petrosian 2½-2½.
Tal scores 4-1 in a second section.
SEPTEMBER 8-28-Spassky lands in a five-way tie
for first place at a Sochi international.
OcTOBER-Tal scores a win and a draw in a
Latvia-Rumania match in Riga.
OCTOBER 3-13-Spassky ties for third in a Win­
nipeg international.
OCTOBER IS-NOVEMBER 15-Korchnoi ties for
second and qualifies for the Candidates cycle
at the Interzonal in Sousse.
OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 5-Petrosian ties for
second in a Venice international.
DECEMBER 7-27-The 35th USSR Championship
finals at Kharkov is run as a Swiss System of
126 players. Tal ties for first.
1968-JANUARY 9-28-Korchnoi places first by
three points in a Wijk aan Zee international. Tal
ties for second.
APRIL 2-18-Spassky beats Geller S½-2½ in a
Candidates match quarterfinals in Sukhumi.
APRIL 2-28-Petrosian ties for second in a Bam­
berg international.
APRIL 20-MAY 15-Tal eliminates Svetozar Glig­
oric 5½-3½ in a Candidates match quarterfi­
nals in Belgrade.
MAY 8-20-Korchnoi ousts Samuel Reshevsky
S½-2½ in a Candidates match quarterfinals in
Amsterdam.
MAY 25-JuNE 17-Petrosian ties for first in a
Moscow Championship.
MAY 31-JuNE 5-In a Leningrad-Bucharest match
in Bucharest, Korchnoi scores a win and a
draw.
JUNE 26-JuLY 15-Korchnoi ousts Tal S½-4½ in
a Candidates match semifinals in Moscow.
JULY 5-64 is revived as a newspaper, edited by
Petrosian.
JULY 5-20-Spassky beats Larsen S½-2½ in a
Candidates match semifinals in Malmo.
SEPTEMBER 6-26-Spassky becomes a world
championship challenger again after defeating
Korchnoi 6½-3½ in a Candidates match finals
in Kiev.
OCTOBER 17-NovEMBER 7-At the Olympiad in
Lugano, Petrosian scores 10½-1 ½ on first board,
Spassky 10-4 on second and Korchnoi 11-2 on
third.
NOVEMBER 13-23-Tal triumphs at a Gori inter­
national.
NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 15-Korchnoi wins a
Palma de Mallorca international. Spassky ties
for second. Petrosian is fourth.
DECEMBER 10-24-Tal finishes 6-5 in a USSR
team cup in Riga.
DECEMBER 27-Petrosian defends his 260-page
dissertation, "Certain Problems of the Logic of
Chess Thought," for a master of philosophical
science degree at Yerevan State University.
DECEMBER 30-FEBRUARY 1, 1969-An ill Tal ties
for sixth place in the 36th USSR Championship
finals in Alma-Ata.
1969-FEBRUARY-Korchnoi has the top score,
S½-½, in a team tournament in Volgograd.
MARCH 12-MARCH 22-Tal loses to Larsen 2½-
5½ in a Candidates playoff match in Eersel.
MARCH 20-APRIL 7-Korchnoi wins with 12-3
at a Sarajevo international.
APRIL 14-JuNE 17-Spassky becomes the tenth
world champion by defeating Petrosian, 12½-
10½, in a title match in Moscow. Tal annotates
the games as a journalist from a Riga hospital
bed.
MAY 18-JuNE 8-Korchnoi wins a Luhacovice in­
ternational.
JUNE 30-JuLY 6-In a USSR-Yugoslavia match in
Skopje, Spassky and Petrosian score 1½-1½.
JULY-AUGUST-In a Trade Unions Championship
in Leningrad, Korchnoi has the top score, 7-
2.
AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 17-Korchnoi shares first
in a Havana international.
SEPTEMBER-Spassky trains with Botvinnik for
about 20 days in Pitsunda.
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
SEPTEMBER 5-OCTOBER 12-In the 37th USSR
Championship finals in Moscow, Petrosian
shares first. Tal ties for 14th place in a field of 23.
OCTOBER 8-28-Spassky wins a San Juan inter­
national.
NOVEMBER 22-DECEMBER 14-Petrosian is sec­
ond, Korchnoi ties for third and Spassky is fifth
in a Palma de Mallorca international.
NovEMBER-Tal has a diseased kidney removed.
DECEMBER 16-JANUARY 6, 1970-Tal ties for first
in a Tbilisi international.
1970-Tal and Sally Landau divorce and he briefly
remarries.
Tal wins a Georgian Championship in Poti.
JANUARY 19-29-Petrosian beats Polugaevsky in
37th USSR Championship playoff in Moscow.
MARCH 29-APRIL 5-In a USSR-Rest of World
match in Belgrade, the Soviets win by the nar­
rowest margin. Spassky scores 1½-1½ on first
board, Petrosian is 1-3 on second board,
Korchnoi gets 1½-2½ on third board and Tal
is 2-2 on ninth.
APRIL 8-9-Fischer wins an unofficial "world
speed championship'' in Hercegnovi. Tal is sec­
ond, Korchnoi third and Petrosian fourth.
APRIL 12-MAY 8-Korchnoi ties for second, a half
point ahead of Petrosian at a Rovinj -Zagreb
international.
APRIL 16-MAY 7-Spassky wins a match­
tournament in Leiden.
MAY 9-18-At the European Team Champion­
ship in Kapfenberg, Petrosian scores 3½-2½
on first board, Korchnoi has 4-2 on second,
Tal is 5-1 on seventh, and their team wins eas­
ily.
JUNE 22-JuLY 2-Korchnoi finishes 3-1 in a Len­
ingrad-Prague match in Leningrad.
JULY 13-AuGUST 1-Spassky shares first in an
Amsterdam international.
JULY 15-21-In a training match in Leningrad,
Korchnoi loses to David Bronstein, 1-4, but
improves his handling of the clock.
SEPTEMBER 5-27-At an Olympiad in Siegen,
Spassky beats Fischer and scores 9½-2½ on
first board. Petrosian is 10-4 on second board
and Korchnoi has 11-4 on third.
OCTOBER 1-13-Tal is eliminated in the quarter­
finals of a USSR Cup in Dnepropetrovsk.
349
OCTOBER 4-22-Petrosian ties for sixth in a Vin­
kovci international.
OCTOBER 13-NOVEMBER 2-In a Grandmasters
Versus Young Masters tournament, Sochi, Tal
has the best overall result, 10½-3½. Korchnoi
scores 6-8.
NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 28-In the 38th USSR
Championship finals in Riga Korchnoi wins.
Tal is denied an invitation.
1971-Tal is married for the third time, to An­
gelina (Gelya) Petukhov.
JANUARY 12-30-Korchnoi wins and Petrosian
ties for second in Wijk aan Zee.
FEBRUARY 20-MARCH 13-Tal ties for first in a
Tallin international.
MARCH 31-Petrosian dominates a five-minute
tournament in Moscow with 14½-½. Korchnoi
is second and Tal shares fourth.
MAY 13-JuNE 6-Korchnoi, by 5 ½ -2½, ousts
Geller in a Candidates match quarterfinals in
Moscow.
MAY 13-28-Trailing 4-3, Robert Hubner resigns
to Petrosian in a Candidates quarterfinals match
in Seville.
JUNE-First steps are taken to reassemble Spas­
sky's 1969 team of seconds, Igor Bondarevsky,
Nikolai Krogius and Geller.
JUNE-In a training match in Leningrad, Korch­
noi and Anatoly Karpov tie 3-3.
JUNE 9-30-Tal ties for second in a Piarnu inter­
national.
JULY 4-28-Petrosian defeats Korchnoi 5½-4½
in a Candidates match semifinals in Moscow.
JuLY 19-31-Spassky is third at a Goteborg inter­
national.
AUGUST 1-10-In a USSR team championship in
Rostov-on-Don, Spassky scores 3½-½ and Tal
is 4½-1½.
AUGUST 19-A 26-page analysis of Fischer's play,
conducted by Isaac Boleslavsky, Lev Polu­
gaevsky and others is given to Petrosian and
Spassky.
AUGUST 24-SEPTEMBER 3-Spassky ties for first
in the Canadian open championship in Van­
couver. He also shares third in a Toronto in -
ternational open.
SEPTEMBER 14-OcTOBER 18-Tal ties for second
in the 39th USSR Championship finals in Len­
ingrad.
350 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
SEPTEMBER 30-OcTOBER 28-In the final Can­
didates Match in Buenos Aires, Fischer beats
Petrosian 6½-2½ and wins the right to chal­
lenge Spassky for the world championship.
NOVEMBER 9-16-Korchnoi scores 4-1 in a USSR­
Yugoslavia match in Yerevan.
NOVEMBER 17-Spassky byp asses the Sports Com­
mittee and asks the Communist Party Central
Committee to let him negotiate terms of the
Fischer match. He is rebuffed.
NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 19-In a Moscow in­
ternational, Karpov wins, Petrosian ties for
fourth, Spassky and Tal share sixth and Korch­
noi is 11th.
DECEMBER 21-Spassky and his seconds open a
training camp at Krasnaya Pakhra, outside
Moscow.
DECEMBER 29-JANUARY 15, 1972-Korchnoi
shares first prize at a Hastings International.
1972-FEBRUARY 2-Bondarevsky notifies the
Sports Committee he is no longer helping Spas­
sky.
FEBRUARY 11-13-In a Latvia-Leningrad match
in Leningrad, Tal and Korchnoi draw two games
with one another.
FEBRUARY 27-The Sports Committee asks Pet­
rosian, Korchnoi, Tal and other members of a
grandmaster "consultative council" for detailed
analysis of the strong and weak points of Fis­
cher and Spassky.
MARCH 1-12-in a USSR teams championship fi­
nals in Moscow, Petrosian has the best score,
3½-1½. Tal is 2½-2½ and Korchnoi is 2-3.
MARCH-APRIL-Members of the "consultative
council;' including Tal, Korchnoi and Petro­
sian, submit their analyses. Spassky dismisses
their advice and refuses to discuss it with them.
MARCH 19-APRIL 7-Petrosian is second in a
Sarajevo international.
MAY 11-12-Korchnoi ties for third and Tal is sev­
enth in a national blitz tournament in Moscow.
MAY 29-JuNE 17-Korchnoi is second in an Am­
sterdam international.
JUNE 25-JuLY 2-Petrosian scores 3-1 and Ko­
rchnoi is 2½-1½ in a USSR-Yugoslavia match
in Ohrid.
JULY 11-SEPTEMBER 3-Fischer becomes the 11th
world champion, defeating Spassky, 12½-8½
in a match in Reykjavik.
JULY 5-18-Tal wins a Vilyandi international.
AUGUST 16-SEPTEMBER 7-Tal wins a Sukhumi
international.
SEPTEMBER 19-OcTOBER 13-In the Olympiad
in Skopje, Petrosian scores 10½-5½ on first
board, Korchnoi is 11-4 on second, Tal 14-2 on
fourth.
NOVEMBER 16-DECEMBER 19-Completing his
comeback, Tal wins the 40th USSR Champi­
onship finals in Moscow by two points.
NOVEMBER 18-DECEMBER 14-Petrosian ties for
first in a San Antonio international.
NOVEMBER 26-DECEMBER 17-Korchnoi shares
first in a Palma de Mallorca international.
1973-JuNE 28-Korchnoi shares first place with
Karpov in an Interzonal tournament in Lenin­
grad. It is his best-ever result in terms of perform­
ance rating.
OCTOBER 2-26-Spassky wins the Soviet Cham­
pionship in Moscow and becomes a favorite to
challenge Fischer in the 1975 world champi­
onship match.
1974-JANUARY 14-29-Spassky crushes Robert
Byrne 4½-1½ in a Candidates match quarter­
finals in San Juan.
JANUARY 16-FEBRUARY 13-Korchnoi beats Hen­
rique Mecking in a Candidates quarterfinals in
AuausTa, Georgia, by 7½-5½.
JANUARY 18-FEBRUARY 17-In Palma de Mallorca,
Petrosian defeats Lajos Portisch 7-6 in a Can­
didates match quarterfinals.
APRIL 10-MAY 10-Spassky is upset by Karpov
4-7 in a Candidates match semifinals in Len­
ingrad.
APRIL 12-24-In a bitterly contested Candidates
match semifinals in Odessa, Petrosian aban­
dons play against Korchnoi when trailing 1 ½-
3½. Their hostility becomes public and perma­
nent.
SEPTEMBER-Korchnoi is ranked second in world
ratings, a position he holds until January 1982.
SEPTEMBER 16-NovEMBER 22-Korchnoi loses
to Karpov 11½-12½ in the Candidates match
finals in Moscow. It turns out to be a de facto
world championship match because of Fischer's
subsequent refusal to defend his title in 1975.
After the match Korchnoi belittles Karpov's play
and he is denounced in the Soviet press. Pet-
 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
rosian i s blamed fo r inciting anti-Korchnoi
feeling.
1975-Having divorced Larisa, Spassky remar­
ries, over Soviet government opposition. His
third wife is Marina Yurievna Shcherbachova, a
French citizen descended from an anti-Commu­
nist general.
NOVEMBER 28-DECEMBER 22-In his former
hometown of Yerevan, Petrosian wins his fourth
and last Soviet championship.
1976-JuLY-Korchnoi gives an interview with
the Agence France-Press news agency in which
he denounces the Soviet decision to boycott the
upcoming Olympiad in Haifa, Israel. After play­
ing in an international tournament in Amster­
dam, and fearing reaction to the interview, he de­
fects. Soviet officials react by waging a boycott by
their players of tournaments in which Korchnoi
participates.
1977-FEBRUARY 27-APRIL 3-Korchnoi, now
stateless, again eliminates Petrosian in a Candi­
dates match, in 11 Ciocco, Italy by 6½-5½.
FEBRUARY 28-APRIL 19-Spassky ekes out a 8½-
7½ win over Vlastimil Hort in a Candidates
match quarterfinals in Reykjavik, after falling
ill late in the match.
JULY 2-AuGUST 6-Korchnoi crushes Polugaev­
sky 8½-4½ in a Candidates semifinals in Evian
Les Bains and qualifies for another finals match.
JULY 3-AuGUST 19-Spassky advances to the
Candidates finals for the first time in nine years
by beating Portisch 8½-6½ in a semifinals
match in Geneva.
NOVEMBER 21-JANUARY 12, 1978-Friendly rela­
tions between Spassky and Korchnoi are rup­
tured when they trade accusations of unethical
behavior during Korchnoi's 10½-7½ victory in
Candidate finals in Belgrade.
1978-Tal's autobiographical book V Ogon Ataki
is published. It later appears in English as the
acclaimed The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.
Korchnoi's autobiography, Chess Is My Life, is
published.
Tal, serving as Karpov's trainer, criticizes Korch­
noi in print before the Karpov-Korchnoi world
championship match. Korchnoi severs rela­
tions with him.
JULY 17-OcTOBER 17-In the longest world
championship match in more than 50 years,
351
Korchnoi loses his challenge to Karpov, 5-6 in
Baguio, Philippines.
1979-APRIL 10-MAY 19-A "Tournament of
Stars" tournament in Montreal is won by Tal and
Karpov. Spassky ties for fifth place. Tal becomes
the third highest rated player in the world.
SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 20-Petrosian ties
for first in an Interzonal in Rio de Janeiro and
begins his last bid for the world champion­
ship.
1980-MARCH 8-25-In their fourth and final
match, Korchnoi again defeats Petrosian, by 5½-
3½, in a Candidates quarterfinals in Velden, Aus­
tria.
MARCH 23-APRIL 13-Tal loses a Candidates
match quarterfinals, to Polugaevsky in Alma
Ata by 5½-2½.
MARCH 30-MAY 3-In Mexico City and Xalapa,
Mexico, Spassky draws a Candidates match
quarterfinals with Portisch with a 7 -7 score.
He advances to the semifinals under tie-break
rules because he had won more games with
Black.
JULY 20-AuGUST 20-Korchnoi outlasts Polu­
gaevsky 7½-6½ in a Candidates match semi­
finals in Buenos Aires.
DECEMBER 20-JANUARY 11, 1981-Korchnoi's
Candidates match finals in Merano, Italy ends
abruptly when Robert Huebner abandons play
while trailing 3½-4½.
1981-OcTOBER I-NOVEMBER 18-Korchnoi is
badly outplayed 7-11 by Karpov in a world cham­
pionship match in Merano.
1983-Spassky gives up Soviet citizenship and
plays for France in later Olympiads.
FEBRUARY-Spassky scores his last major victory
in a strong international tournament in Linares.
1984-AuGUST 13-Petrosian, 55, dies in Mos­
cow after a long illness.
1985-OcTOBER 12-NovEMBER 2-Tal ties for
fourth place and Spassky ties for sixth in a Can­
didates tournament in Montpellier. Tal draws a
playoff match with Jan Timman but loses his
chance to advance to Candidates matches because
of tie breaks. This is the last Candidates appear­
ances of Tal and Spassky.
1988-FEBRUARY-Tal wins the world blitz
championship in St. John, Canada.
352 Appendix A. Chronology: 1929-2016
1991-Korchnoi survives a Candidates match
quarterfinals with Gyula Sax, 5½-4½, in Wijk aan
Zee but loses in the semifinals to Timman 4½-
2½ in Brussels. It is his last Candidates appear­
ance.
1992-APRIL 23-MAY 5-In an international
tournament in Barcelona, an ill Tal shares eighth
place, with Korchnoi and Mikhail Gurevich, but
wins his last-ever tournament game.
JUNE 28-Tal, 55, dies in Moscow of multiple ail­
ments.
SEPTEMBER I-NOVEMBER 4-In "world champi­
onship rematch" in Belgrade and Sveti Stefan,
Spassky loses to Fischer 5-10, with 15 draws.
2006-SEPTEMBER 11-23-Korchnoi wins a
World Senior Championship in Arvier, Italy.
OCTOBER 1-Spassky suffers a stroke during a
lecture in San Francisco.
2012-In a break with his French family, Spassky
leaves France and returns to live in Russia.
2016-JUNE 6-After suffering a stroke, Korchnoi
dies in his adopted home of Wohlen, Switzerland.
 Appendix B:
Ratin g s Comparison

Using the retroactive ratings o f Chessmet­ (Petrosian) (Korchnoi) (Spassky) (Tal)

rics.com we can chart the changes in relative 1955 6 10 15 68
strengths of Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, 1956 5 13 8 41
Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tal during the period 1957 6 9 15 20
covered in this book. 1 958 5 7 10 9
Petrosian first appears on the Chessmetrics list 1 959 7 8 11 1
in April 1946 when he was rated number 69 in the 1 960 3 9 4 1
world. Had there been ratable events, he would 1961 2 5 6 1
have joined the top 200 much earlier. Korchnoi 1 962 1 2 5 4
made the list in August 1950, when he was number 1 963 1 2 4 8
131. Spassky first appeared in May 1953 at number 1 964 1 5 6 8
61. Tal first appeared in June 1954 at number 183. 1 965 3 6 4 2
They were never the world's four highest rated 1966 7 3 1 2
players. They occupied four of the five highest 1 967 3 6 4 2
ratings from December 1961 to April 1962 when 1 968 5 2 4 3
the other top player in that period was Mikhail 1 969 4 2 3 11
Botvinnik. After Bobby Fischer became number 1970 5 2 3 14
one they were rated second to fifth in August 1967 1971 7 4 2 16
to April 1968. The four were in the top ten on 138 1972 7 3 2 10
of168 monthly lists from August 1957 to Decem­
ber 1972. Tal was ranked number one from October 1958
Here are their standings on the January lists. to April 1961, when he lost his world champion-
ship rematch. He returned to the top spot from
Petrosian Korchnoi Spassky Tal April to August 1965 and again during June and
1 947 51 July 1966. That is a total of 38 months.
1 948 36 Petrosian was number one for 33 months, from
1 949 50 May 1961 to January 1964, when Bobby Fischer's
1 950 42 10-0 victory in the U.S. Championship was rated.
1 95 1 39 1 18 Korchnoi was number one for four months,
1952 22 97 from September 1965 to December 1965.
1 953 15 32 Spassky was number one for six months, from
1 954 6 22 25 January 1966 to August 1966.

353
This page intentionally left blank
 Chapter Notes
Preface
1. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), said on
page 4 that he was born July 23, 1931, not the correct
March 23, 1931. Korchnoi, Korchnoi's 400, repeats
this on page viii and page 1. The mistake was still
being made in a profile of him in 64, November
2002.
2. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 123.
3. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 27.
4. Short's column in Sunday Telegraph, June 20,
2004.
5. http : //facts.kiev.ua/archive/2 0 0 9 - 11-20/
101796/index.html and https://www.chess.com/blog/
Spektrowski/an-interview-with-angelina-tal.
Introduction
1. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 109.
2. Ibid. and http://whychess.com/en/node/4192,
accessed November 7, 2016.
3. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 122.
4. Ibid. , page 123.
5. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 91.
6. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 124.
7. Chess Life & Review, January 1970. In https://
kevinspraggettonchess.wordpress.com/?s=spassky&s
ubmit=Search he said, "Before I played important
games I usually tried to bathe, to put on a good �hirt
_
and suit, look comme il faut. But on this occas10n I
had analyzed incessantly and came to board looking
very disheveled and fatigued:'
8. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 68.
9. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 110.
10. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1990.
1 1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
12. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 186.
13. Tal and Damsky, Attack, page 126.
14. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 65.
15. Ibid.
16. Sport-Express, March 4, 2016; Kingpin, au-
355
tumn 1998; and Shakhmaty v Rossii, February­
March, 1997.
17. 64, April 1999.
18. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 167.
19. Vechernyaya Moskva, 2007. http://www.vm­
daily. ru/article.php?aid=4l35l. Accessed October 18,
2007.
20. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 125.
2 1 . 64, November 2006.
22. Vechernyaya Moskva, http://www.vmdaily.
ru/article.php?aid=41351. Accessed October 18, 2007.
2 3 . http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2 0 0 9 - 11 -2 0/
101796/index.html.
24. Sovietsky Sport, June 15, 1975.
25. https:/ /kevinspraggettonchess. wordpress.
com/?s=spassky&submit=Search.
26. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 11.
27. Cafferty, Tal's 100, page 21.
28. https:/ /kevinspraggettonchess. wordpress.
com/?s=spassky&submit=Search.
29. Sport Express, January 30, 2015. After his
studies ended in 1960 he "worked for 15 years in a
closed institution in connection with the cosmos;'
apparently in the Soviet aerospace industry.
30. Damsky, Grossmeister Geller, page 8.
3 1 . New in Chess, issue 6, 1990.
32. New in Chess, issue 1, 1990.
3 3 . http :www. euruchess. org/cgi-bin/index?
action=viewnews&id=2052. Accessed March 27,
2009.
34. https:// chesspro.ru/ enciklopediya/naslednik­
kazackogo-roda and http://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/
mikhalchishin_old_photo_1949.
35. Ibid.
Chapter I
1. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April-June, 1999.
2. Timman, Timman's Titans, page 47.
3. Time, April 11, 1969.
356 Notes-Chapter 1
4. Ibid.
5. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 163.
6. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 537. Vartan
Petrosian said in 64, June 2009, that his father
learned when he was 12.
7. 64, February 2016.
8. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 539.
9. Ibid.
10. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 90.
1 1 . Time, April 11, 1969.
12. Ibid.
13. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 16.
14. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 18.
1 5. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 16.
16. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 20. Early biographical
details of Korchnoi from his Chess Is My Life (1977) ,
pages 7-8, and (2004), pages 12-15. I n the 1977 ver­
sion he did not mention Jewish relatives.
17. New in Chess, issue 3, 2011.
18. http:/ /e3e5.com/article.php?id=l756. Other
war details from Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977),
pages 8-10, and (2004), pages 15-16.
19. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 15.
20. http: chesspro.ru/_events/2009/stein.html.
2 1 . 64, October 2003.
22. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 15.
23. Sport- Weekend, August 21, 2009. Accessed
August 23, 2009. Cannibalism numbers from Reid,
Leningrad, page 288.
24. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 16.
25. Sports Illustrated, December 12, 1977. Korch­
noi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 9, said, "The dead
lent the living a helping hand!"
26. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 9, said
his stepmother got his spice cake and pastries but
he wonders how it could be made because there was
no ordinary flour available.
2 7. http:/ /bulvar.com. ua/ gazeta/ archives/ s48_
65794/7826.html.
28. New in Chess, issue 3, 2011.
29. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 12,
and (2004), page 17.
30. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 17.
3 1 . 64, March 2006.
32. Time, April 1 1, 1969.
33. 64, March 2006.
34. Korchnoi has given several versions. In Izves­
tia, July 19, 2007, he said: "In the Leningrad Pioneer
home I recall the master of sport Batuev. When I
was about 13 he was surprised by how I played blind­
fold with an acquaintance and decided to test my
strength. We played a Hungarian Defense and I held
until I blundered around move 16. He was satisfied.
'You will become a master:" In Chess Is My Life
(1977), page 12, he said of Batuev, "He sat me down
with my back to the board" and "I held out for about
20 moves:' In (2004), Batuev "placed me in a corner
without a board" and he lasted "about 18 moves:' In
Sports Illustrated, December 12, 1977, he changed
the name of his opponent: "One day when I was 12
or so, Zak made me sit with my back to the board.
He played white and called out the moves. I remem­
ber that I played the Hungarian defense and I lasted
for 20 moves. Zak said, 'Good boy, someday you'll
be a master."'
35. http://www.euruchess.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?
action=viewnews&id=2052. Accessed March 27,
2009.
36. 64, July 2003.
37. Korchnoi, My Best Games, volume 1, page 13.
He added in an interview, "This explains why I
didn't become world champion;' http:/ /www.
izvstia.ru/ sport/ article3092023/.
38. 64, March 2006.
39. http:///www.jjew.ru/index.php?prn=6682.
40. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 13.
4 1 . Vasiliev, Tigran, page 24.
42. 64, June 1999.
43. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April-June 1999.
44. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 36.
45. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 25.
46. Sport- Weekend, May 29, 2011.
47. Marshall Chess Club lecture, August 18, 2017.
48. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 27.
49. http://chesspro.ru/view/ gavrilov_petrosian.
50. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 19.
5 1 . 64, October 2002.
52. Ibid.
53. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 7.
54. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 33.
55. Sovietsky Sport, http:/ /sovsport.ru/others/
chess/ articles/505904-10-j -chempion-mira-boris­
spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal-parshivo.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. 64, January 2007.
59. Sport-Express, http:/ /www.sport-express.ru/
fridays/reviews/973473/.
60. Ibid.
6 1 . Pskovskaya Pravda, October 19, 2007, Sport­
Express, March 4, 2016, Kingpin, autumn 1998,
http : / /www. euruchess. org/ cgi-bin/ index . cgi?
action=viewnews&id=l961 and Sovietsky Sport,
http://sovsport.ru/ others/ chess/articles/505904-10-
j-chempion-mira-boris-spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal­
parshivo.
62. Taimanov, Zarubezhniye, page 123.
63. 64, July 2003. In svobodanews.ru, January 26,
2006, he added, "I didn't have shoes, I had shorts
and an undershirt:' https:/ /www.svobodanews.ru/
Transcript/2006/0l/2006/0l/26/20060126123520300.
html.
64. Kingpin, autumn 1998.
65. 64, July 2003.
66. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page ix.
67. Sosonko, Russian, page 123. Korchnoi, Chess
 Notes-Chapter 2
Is My Life (1977), page 12, said, "Zak had a knack of
recognizing an ability for chess in a child who had
just been brought to the Palace by his mother, and
who at the moment hardly knew how to move the
pieces:'
68. 64, issue 23, 1980.
69. Ibid.
70. rsport.ria.ru/interview/20150102/7992290275.
html.
7 1 . http:/ /www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=23.
72. Moskovsky Komsomolets, January 28, 2017,
http://www.mk.ru/sport/2017 /0l/29/shakhmatist­
boris-spasskiy-teryal-soznanie-posle-partii-i-pod­
karmlival-messinga.html.
73. Shakhmaty v SSSR, September 1991.
74. 64, May 2009.
75. http://www.fide.com/ component/ content/
article/l-fide-news/3942-nalchik-gp-interview-with­
boris-spassky. Also, https://kevinspraggettonchess.
wordpress.com/?s=spassky&submit=Search.
76. Kingpin, autumn 1998.
77. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 599.
78. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
79. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
boris-spassky-2016-interview.
80. www.facts.kiev.ua /2007/01/07.htm. Accessed
January 1, 2007.
8 1 . https:/ /kevinspraggettonchess. wordoress.
com/?s=spassky&submit=Search. Also Chess Life &
Review, January 1970.
82. Tal's friend Sosonko said Robert Papirmeister
was his father in Sosonko, Russian, page 24, as did
Evgeny Gik in chessnews.ru, November 9, 2016,
http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22295. Vasiliev, Ak­
teri, page 144, said Dr. Tal's real surname was
Muzusovich but it was "difficult" and that is why he
was known by a simpler name, Tal.
83. Landau, Lyubov, page 44.
84. http:forum.kasparov.ru/viewtopic. php ?t=
14168. Accessed August 31, 20079.
85. Landau, Lyubov, page 44.
86. Sosonko, Russian, page 22.
8 7 . http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2 0 0 9 - 11-20/
101796/index.html.
88. Landau, Lyubov, page 46.
89. http ://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2 0 0 9 - ll-20/
101796/index.html.
90. http:/ / forum.kasparov.ru/viewtopic. php?t
=14168. Accessed August 31, 2009.
9 1 . Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1983.
92. Landau, Lyubov, page 47. She said Robert's
divorced ex-wife and his child died in a Nazi con­
centration camp.
93. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 145.
94. Chess Life, May 1967.
95. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1983.
96. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 87.
97. 64, December 2003.
357
98. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
99. Koblents, Vospominaniye, pages 96. How the
Tal-Koblents relationship developed is unclear. In
Tal, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tai, Tal did not
mention Koblents until page 13 when he describes
him as one of the masters in a tournament held at
the end of 1950. He is quoted in Kirillov, Team Tai,
page 87, as saying he first met Koblents at a simul­
taneous exhibition, no date given. Soviet masters
used to give simuls before screenings at movie the­
aters and Tal remember "being so enthralled by our
game that I was late for the movie" and eventually
lost. He said he did not remember when he was "in­
troduced to him as an 'up-and-coming player:"
100. Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986.
1 0 1 . 64, January 2007.
102. Ibid.
103. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1949.
Chapter 2
1 . Bronstein and Furstenberg, Sorcerer's, page
105.
2. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 70.
3. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 36.
4. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1984, and
Sosonko in 64, June 2009.
5. 64, May 2008. Chessmetrics ranks him from
11th to 13th in the world from May 1939 to March
1941.
6. 64, July 2009. This appears more accurate
than Vasiliev, Tigran, page 36, which said Petrosian
spoke to "Ratmir Makogonov:' who said he should
talk to Kasparian because Kasparian would have
been a great player if he had left Armenia.
7. 64, June 1999, and 64, June 1990.
8. Petrosian, Shakhmatniye, page 44.
9. Ibid. , page 46.
10. Ibid. , page 49.
1 1 . Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 19.
In (2004), page 22, he added that he trained by run­
ning up to three kilometers at a time.
12. http:/ruschess.com/Grands.Korchnoi/main.
html. Accessed October 23, 2004.
13. Petrosian, Shakhmatnyie, page 64. Games
notes on pages 64-67.
14. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, pages 94-5.
15. FIDE Revue, issue 4, 1963.
16. Ibid.
17. Sosonko, Evil-Doer, page 199.
18. Koblents, Vospominaniye, pages 96-97.
19. Shakhmaty v Rossii, November-December
1998.
20. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 45.
2 1 . Ibid., page 43.
22. Prorvich, 19th Pervenstvo, page 11.
23. Averbakh, Center-Stage, page 63.
358 Notes-Chapters 3 and 4
24. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 15.
25. worldchessrating.com, December 19, 2003.
Accessed December 19, 2003.
26. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 16.
27. New in Chess, issue 5, 2016.
28. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 15.
29. Korchnoi, My Best Games, volume 1, page
23.
30. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 17.
This is omitted (2004).
3 1 . Ibid.
32. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 29.
33. Nine years after the tournament, downed U-
2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was tried and convicted
of espionage in the hall.
34. Kasparov, My Great, Part III, page 9.
35. Geller, Grandmaster Geller, page 26.
36. Shakhmaty v SSSR, January 1952.
37. 64, June 2009.
38. New in Chess, issue 1, 2012. Averbakh in Noev
Kovcheg, February 14, 2012, said Rona asked several
players who was more talented and was told "Of
course, Tigran! " She made her decision based on
that, http:/ /noev-kovcheg.ru/mag/2012-03/3063.
html.
39. Averbakh, Center-Stage, page 119.
40. 64, October 2007.
Chapter 3
1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
2. http:/ /chesspro.ru/_events/2008/neistadt85.
html.
3. Nikitin in Crestbook.com, December 2009
said, "When I received the title of master of sport of
the USSR-then this title was valued more than in­
ternational master:'
4. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot.
5. 64, issue 19, 1982.
6. Tolush, Alexander, page 23.
7. Ibid., page 5.
8. 64, April 1999.
9. Ibid.
10. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 18.
1 1 . New in Chess, issue 4, 1989. Korchnoi belittled
both Spassky and Tolush by saying "the tutor not
only had a hand in his chess education but also in
his general education, his human education:'
12. Vechernyaya Moskva, http://www.vmdaily. ru/
article.php?aid=41351. Accessed October 8, 2007.
13. 64, January 2007.
14. http:/ /www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=23.
15. Landau, Lyubov, page 17.
16. Magnitsky Metal/, January 21, 2006, http://
magmetall.ru/ contribition/2513.htm.
1 7. http://www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=23.
18. Kingpin, autumn 1998.
19. 64, September 2005.
20. Sport- Weekend, February 6, 2011, http://sport­
weekend.com.index.php?option=com_content&task
=view&id=5499&Itemid=l.
2 1 . Szily, Mar6czy Geza, page 21.
22. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 22.
23. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1952.
24. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 84.
25. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 5.
26. New in Chess, issue 2, 2002, and 64, October
2002.
27. Prokhorovich, Mezhozonalny, page 201.
28. Ibid. , page 203.
29. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 117.
30. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 21.
3 1 . http://chesspro.ru/ details/voronkov_20_
champ_ussr.
32. Ibid.
33. 64, January 2007.
34. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March 1997.
35. Vestnik, August 25, 1992.
36. Ibid. In Kingpin, autumn 1998, he said, "It was
Soviet vlasti that helped me win the title!"
3 7. Sport-Express, http:/ /www.sport-express.ru/
fridays/reviews/973473/.
38. Interview with the author and Marcy Soltis,
October 4, 1984.
39. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 28.
He added that after that game Tal "was proud if he
managed to save a draw against me:'
40. 64, May 1999.
4 1 . Ibid.
42. Karpov, Karpov, page 92.
43. Shakhmaty v SSSR, September 1991. Vasiliev,
Tigran, page 60 said that before the 1955 Interzonal
"he considered that by careful play he could defi­
nitely come third or fourth, and this was all that he
aimed for:'
44. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 44 said "Those years
were very joyful. Petrosian was later to remember
them as he happiest of his life:'
45. Ibid. , page 32.
46. Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986.
Chapter 4
1 . Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 25.
2. Korchnoi, Wade and Blackstock, Korchnoi's
400, page 3.
3. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 84.
4. Konstantinopolsky, 21st Pervenstvo, page 16.
5. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 22.
6. Ibid., page 34.
7. www.sportsdaily.ru/articles/grossmeyster­
mark-taymonov-vsya- moya-zhizn- sploshnoy­
otdyih-59929. Also Sport- Weekend, February 7, 2001
and http:/ /www.e3e5.com/ article.php ?id=279.
8. Geller, Grandmaster Geller, page 40.
 Notes- Chap ters 5 and 6
9. Details of Buenos Aires trip come from
Taimanov, Zarubezhniye, pages 18-31, and Linder
and Linder, Koroli, page 543.
10. Abramov, Shakhmaty 1954, page 231.
1 1 . Geller, Grandmaster Geller, pages 44-45.
12. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977), page 26.
But his teammates included Alexander Nikitin, who
earned a gold medal on fourth board, and Nikolai
Krogius.
1 3 . Abramov, Shakhmaty 1954, page 33. There
was a separate Saar-land team in the 1954 Olympiad.
14. Taimanov, Zarubezhniye, page 69.
1 5. 64, May 1999.
16. Ibid.
1 7. Ibid.
1 8. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 6.
19. New in Chess, issue 6, 1997.
20. Taimanov in Sport- Weekend, February 6,
2011, http://sport-weekend.com.index.php?option=
com_content&task=view&id=5499&Itemid=l.
2 1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 122.
22. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 21.
23. http://whychess.com/en/node/4192 and Sport­
Express, http://others.sport-express.ru/reviews/4315/,
accessed March 5, 2010.
24. Chess (UK), Christmas 1985 issue.
25. Ibid.
26. http://whychess.com/en/node/4192. Accessed
November 7, 2012.
27. Landau, Lyubov, page 102 and 64, October
1998.
28. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 21.
29. http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter
143.html.
30. 64, June 2003.
3 1 . http://www.ogoniok.com/archive/2003/4785/
06-53-55/.
32. 64, June 2009.
Chapter s
1 . Botvinnik quoted by Yuri Razuvaev in 64,
October 2008. Spassky quoted in 64, January 2007.
2. Vladimir Simagin, 22nd Pervenstvo, page 67.
3. 64, January 2007.
4. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977) , page 27.
5. Chess (UK), March 20, 1972.
6. Beilin, Shakhmaty 1955, page 7.
7. 64, January 2007.
8. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 165.
9. Chess (UK), Christmas 1985 issue.
10. Ibid.
1 1 . Koblents, Dorogami, page 29.
12. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 183.
13. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977) , page 27.
14. Argumenty i Fakty, April 8, 2009. http://spb.
aif.ru/ society/ article/ 6538.
15. Pergamon Chess, July 1988.
359
16. 64, December 2007.
17. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March 1997.
1 8 . https:/ /www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/
2006/0l/2006/0l/26/20060126123520300.html.
19. 64, January 2007.
20. Beilin, Shakhmaty 1955, page 27. Evans and
Nicolas Rossolimo tied for first prize. Rossolimo
won on tie breaks and drove home to New York in
the car.
2 1 . British Chess Magazine, March 1956.
22. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977), page 30.
23. 64, March 2006.
24. 64, March 2003. This continued to the final
days of the USSR. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 94, said
Tal kept one-sixth of the 50,000 Canadian-dollar
first prize at the World Blitz Championship in 1988.
The rest went to the Sports Committee.
25. 64, September 2000.
26. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (2004) page 17, 64,
September 2005, and Izvestia, July 19, 2007. Korch­
noi was awarded the title of grandmaster of the
USSR in 1954. He was the 17th to earn it.
27. http://sport-weekend.com/index.php?option
=com_content&task=view&id-5643&Itemid=l.
Krabbe from https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/ chess/fant
100.htm.
28. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 62 and Shekhtman,
Games, volume 2, page 121.
29. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 121.
30. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 63.
3 1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
32. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977), page 13.
33. Sovietsky Sport, http:/ /sovsport.ru/others/
chess/articles/505904-10-j-chempion-mira-boris­
spasskij-a-debjuty-ja-znal-parshivo. Accessed Jan­
uary 20, 2012.
Chapter 6
l. Shakhmaty v SSSR, May 1959.
2. Raetsky and Chetverik Tai, page 8.
3. Cafferty, Tals 100, page 10.
4. Ibid.
5. http://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/mihalchishin_
protivoborstvo_ischeznuvshih_stran.
6. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (1977), page 32.
7. 64, March 1986.
8. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 235.
9. Shakmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986.
10. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 175.
1 1 . Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 101.
12. Korchnoi, Chess ls My Life (2004), page 36.
13. New in Chess, issue 3, 2011.
14. Koblents, Dorogami, page 62.
1 5 . https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
16. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 57.
360 Notes-Chapter 7
17. Cafferty, Tals 100, page 23.
18. Sosonko, Russian, page 23.
19. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 182.
20. Ibid.
2 1 . 64, November 2014.
22. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 61.
23. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 182.
24. http://chess-news.ru/node/17179.
25. Chessmetrics.com says his performance rat­
ing was 2752. Gligoric's was 2718 and Reshevsky's
was 2720 in winning Dallas 1957, the strongest for­
eign international of the year.
26. Muller and Stolze, Magic Tactics, page 65.
27. Shakhmaty v SSSR, May 1959.
28. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 63.
29. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 36.
30. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 39.
3 1 . Koblents, Dorogami, page 7.
32. https://web.archive.org/web/20091123072603/
http://www.facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/
index.html.
33. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 113.
34. Ibid., page 115.
35. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 178, and Cafferty, Tals
100, page 27.
36. Koblents, Dorogami, page 79.
37. 64, January 1993.
38. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 113. Tal, Life
and Games (1976), page 66 said it was an antibiotic.
39. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 113.
40. 64, June 1999.
4 1 . Ibid.
42. Koblents, Dorogami, page 85.
43. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1990.
44. Ibid.
45. Geller, Grandmaster Geller, page 113, and
Damsky, Grossmeister Geller, page 138.
46. http:/ /www.chessintranslation.com/2011/03/
anti-hero-evgeny-vasiukov-on-viktor-korchnoi/.
47. Ibid. Vasiukov met Fischer again in 1971 and
asked Bobby if he remembered the result of their
games. "Of course I remember. Why only the result?"
he said and reeled off the moves of a French Defense
they played 13 years before, according to Taimanov
in Sport- Weekend, February 6, 2011, http://sport­
weekend.com.index.php?option=com_content&task
=view&id=5499&Itemid=l.
48. New in Chess, issue 7, 1988.
49. 64, October 2002.
50. Averbakh, Center-Stage, page 108.
5 1 . 64, July 2003.
52. Sport-Express, https://chess24.com/en/read/
news/boris-spassky-i-m-waging-a-war.
53. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 381.
54. http://chesspro.ru/view/gavrilov_petrosian.
55. Tal, Life and Games (1976), pages 69-70.
56. 64, October 1983.
57. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-
22.
58. Ibid.
59. Cafferty, Tals 100, page 25.
60. Damsky, Grossmeister Geller, page 136.
6 1 . Koblents, Dorogami, page 98.
62. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 462. Pet­
rosian said he, not Geller, expressed doubts about
Tal's position.
63. Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986. Tal added
that it became a running joke: When he showed
Koblents one of his wins, Koblents would say, "Misha,
you are a genius:' Tal would reply, "I know" and they
would both laugh.
64. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 106, said "be­
fore making his move and capturing the piece, Filip
offered a draw:' Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 128,
said Black's position seemed better after his 27th
move when he "unexpectedly" offered a draw. In
https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/mikhail­
tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-22, Tal
revised his version: "My partner defended very well,
and then offered a draw, and with a good reason.
What should I do? I saw a bishop sacrifice, but then
I could even lose. In chess, it often happens that the
only way to win lies on a narrow road over the abyss.
Not everyone likes to walk there . . . . I quickly per­
suaded myself that I had to sacrifice:'
65. Korchnoi, My Best Games, volume 2: Games
with Black, page 142.
66. Koblents, Dorogami, page 38.
67. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 192. Koblents denied
this in Vospominaniye, page 132. Tal did not mention
either version in Tal, Life and Games.
68. Ibid.
69. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 107.
70. Landau, Lyubov, page 22.
7 1 . Ibid.
72. Ibid., page 26.
73. Ibid. , page 28.
Chapter 7
1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 121.
2. Ibid.
3. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 87.
4. 64, July 2009.
5. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 121.
6. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1990.
7. Averbakh in Noev Kovcheg, February 14, 2012,
http://noev-kovcheg.ru/mag/2012-03/3063.html.
8. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 21.
9. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 542.
10. Tal Life and Games (1976), page 109. Tal added,
"Thus by not taking first place at Tbilisi, I performed
a good deed for chess:'
1 1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 122.
12. New in Chess, issue 1, 2012.
 Notes-Chapter 8
13. Shakhmaty v SSSR, March 1961.
14. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 36. In
the 2004 version, page 37, he wrote "I lacked the
strength to refuse expert help:'
15. Flohr, Skvoz, page 123.
16. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 118.
1 7. Landau, Lyubov, page 30.
18. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
19. 64, October 2001.
20. Beilin, Shakhmaty 1958-1959, pages 274-277.
2 1 . Ibid.
22. Udovich, Match Veka, page 65, and Shakh­
maty v SSSR, July 1972.
23. Landau, Lyubov, page 33.
24. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
25. Landau, Lyubov, page 13.
26. Ibid. , page 31.
27. Ibid. , page 33.
28. Ibid. , page 35.
29. Ibid. , page 36.
30. Koblents, Dorogami, page 116.
3 1 . Ibid.
32. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 147.
33. Winter, Capablanca, page 249.
34. http:/ /chess-news.ru/17179.
35. Krogius, Psychology in Chess, page 44.
36. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 171.
37. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
38. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 148.
39. Krogius, Psychology, page 142.
40. Donner, The King, page 39.
4 1 . Ibid., page 39.
42. Landau, Lyubov, page 38.
43. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
botvinnik-lO0th-anniversary-party-at-suzdal-part-
2.
44. Ibid.
45. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 120.
46. Ibid.
47. Landau, Lyubov, page 55.
48. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
49. Landau, Lyubov, page 55.
50. Ibid.
5 1 . Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 117.
52. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 120. Tal said,
"Everyone knew that nine days before Bled, I had
an operation:' In https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/
Spektrowski/mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come­
alivequot-part-3.
53. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 121.
54. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
361
55. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 474.
56. Tribuna, January 31, 2012, http://www. tribuna.
ru/news/sports/pravaya_ruka_chempionov/.
57. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 210.
58. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 121.
59. Ibid., page 119.
60. Ibid., page 122. Tal claimed only the last two
draws with Petrosian were agreed in advance.
6 1 . Landau, Lyubov, page 49.
62. Linder and Linder. Koroli, page 476.
63. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
64. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 210.
65. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 122.
66. http://whychess.com/en/node/4192. Accessed
November 7, 2012.
67. https:/ /worldchesshof.org/ exhibit/memo
rable-life-glimpse-complex-mind-bobby-fischer.
68. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
69. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
70. http://whychess.com/en/node/4192. Accessed
November 7, 2012.
7 1 . Vasiliev, Akteri, page 212.
72. Cafferty, Tals 100, page 31.
73. Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986.
74. Tribuna, January 31, 2012, http://www.tribuna.
ru/news/sports/pravaya_ruka_chempionov/.
75. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 93.
76. Sosonko, Russian, page 20 and http://why
chess.com/en/node/4192. Accessed November 7,
2012.
77. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 152.
78. Landau, Lyubov, page 59.
79. Ibid. , page 60.
80. Ibid. , page 62.
Chapter s
1. Vechernyaya Moskva, http://www.vmdaily. ru/
article.php?aid=41351. accessed October 18,2007.
2. January 21, 2005, www.euruchess.org/cgi-bin/
index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=583. Also 64, Oc­
tober 2001.
3. Van Reek, Grand, page 150.
4. 64, October 2007.
5. http://whychess.com/en/node/4192. Accessed
November 7, 2012.
6. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 472.
7. chess-news.ru, 11/9/2016. http://www.chess­
news.ru/node/22295.
8. Landau, Lyubov, page 59.
9. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 36.
10. Chess (UK), March 20, 1972.
1 1 . 64, January 2007.
12. Ibid.
13. German, Shakhmatny, page 109.
362 Notes-Chapter 8
14. Ibid.
15. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 38.
16. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 526.
17. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 39.
18. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 106.
1 9 . http:/ /bulvar.com. ua/ gaze ta/ archives/ s48_
65794/7826.html.
20. Sosonko, Rise and Fall, page 119.
2 1 . http://chess-news.ru/node/2064 and http://
www.chessintranslation.com/2011/03/anti-hero ­
evgeny-vasiukov-on-viktor-korchnoi/.
22. www.sportsdaily.ru/articles/grossmeyster­
mark-taymonov-vsya-moya-zhizn-sploshnoy-otdyih-
59929.
23. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 44.
24. Zagainov, Porazhoniye, page lll.
25. Narodnaya Volya, July 21, 2009.
26. Zagainov, Porazhoniye, page 111.
27. Ibid., page 20.
28. Yet on Chess Is My Life (1977), page 78, Ko­
rchnoi spoke of players who "feel enmity towards
their opponent" and said this category includes him.
29. Facts.kiev. ua, June 13, 2007, and Sport- Week­
end, March 22, 2001, http://sport-weekend.com/
index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=
5643&Itemid=l. Taimanov gave a similar account
in www.sportsdaily.ru/articles/ grossmeyster-mark­
taymonov-vsya-moya- zhizn -sploshnoy-otdyih-
59929.
30. Landau, Lyubov, page 69. Averbakh quoted
Tal as saying "Botvinnik won't be able to argue with
me, because I am ready to concede him everything!"
In http:/ /whychess.com/ en/node/ 4192. Accessed
November 7, 2012.
3 1 . Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 153.
32. Ibid. , page 155.
33. http://www.chess-news.ru/node/17179.
34. Landau, Lyubov, page 68.
35. Tal, Life and Games (1976), pages 171-2.
36. Landau, Lyubov, pages 68-9.
37. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 125.
38. Koblents, Dorogami, page 152.
39. http://www.chess-news.ru/node/17179.
40. 64, March 2016, and in Sport- Weekend, Feb­
ruary 6, 2011, http://sport-weekend.com.index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=5499&Itemid=l.
4 1 . Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 42.
42. Van Reek, Grand, page 150.
43. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 39.
44. Chess (UK), May 1992.
45. Fakty, January 7, 2009.
46. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, pages 115-116.
47. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1990.
48. 64, June 1998.
49. Landau, Lyubov, page 69.
50. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 239.
5 1 . Shakhmaty v SSSR, September 1960.
52. Koblents, Vospominaniye, pages 156-7.
53. Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 17, 1986.
54. http:/ /chesspro.ru/interview/andrzej_fili
powicz_interview.
55. Landau, Lyubov, page 180.
56. Ibid.
57. Players Chess News, September 6, 1982.
58. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 170.
59. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
60. Kasparov, My Great, Part II, page 432.
6 1 . https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-quotwhen-pieces-come-alivequot-part-3.
62. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 89.
63. Sports Illustrated, May 30, 1960.
64. Landau, Lyubov, page 70.
65. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1959.
66. German, Shakhmatny Yezhegodnik 1960,
page 78.
67. Ibid. , page 83. Lombardy, Understanding,
page 116, said he surprised Spassky by choosing
this variation and "Boris surprised me by castling
short!"
68. Chess Life & Review, January 1970. Edmonds
and Eidinow, Bobby, page 43, said the first ban was
for two years.
69. 64, January 1992.
7 0. http : / /vest.lv/news/on- uehal-miskoi-a-
vernulsya-gross.
7 1 . Kirillov, Team Tai, page 93.
72. Grodzensky and Romanov, Khod, page 144.
73. Koblents, Dorogami, page 59.
74. Vasiliev, Akte ri, page 87. No game like this
appears in standard databases.
75. Ibid.
76. Landau, Lyubov, page 71.
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid. , page 75.
79. Koblents, Dorogami, pages 173-4.
80. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 44.
8 1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 324.
82. Ibid. , pages 322-23.
83. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 44.
84. 64, April 1999. But in Chess Is My Life (1977),
page 50, he wrote, "I think that 1964-65 were the
years of Spassky's best form:'
85. https:/ /kevinspraggettonchess. wordpress.
com/2012/01/30/boris-spassky-turns-75-years-young/.
86. Chessworld, January-February 1964.
87. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
88. Kingpin, autumn 1998.
89. 64, January 2007.
90. Chess Life, December 1980.
9 1 . Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 487.
92. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 106.
93. 64, November 2006 and Chaika, May 19,
2006, http://www.chayka.org/node/1082.
94. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 107.
95. Koblents, Dorogami, pages 183-4.
 Notes-Chap ter 9
96. Beilin, Shakhmatny 1961, page 15.
97. Bjelica, Grandmasters, pages 207-8.
98. Beilin, Shakhmatny 1961, page 16.
99. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 178.
100. Beilin, Shakhmatny 1961, page 27.
1 0 1 . Landau, Lyubov, page 181.
102. Koblents, Dorogami, page 191.
103. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 197.
1 04. 64, November 2006, and Chaika, May 19,
2006, http:/ /www.chayka.org/node/1082.
105. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 195.
106. 64, November 2006.
Chapter 9
1. http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/ll/
mikhail-tal-and-contemporary-chess/.
2. Ibid.
3. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 123.
4. Tribuna, January 31, 2012, http:/ /www.
tribuna.ru/news/sports/pravaya_ruka_chempionov/.
5. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 43.
6. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 45.
7. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 239.
8. Sports Illustrated, May 30, 1960.
9. Bellin, Shakhmatny 1961, page 14.
10. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 192.
1 1 . Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 182.
12. http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22295.
13. Landau, Lyubov, page 108.
14. http://www.gmsquare.com/SallyTal.html.
15. Landau, Lyubov, page 112.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., page 113.
18. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
19. Ibid.
20. Van Reek, Grand, page 151.
2 1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
22. Van Reek, Grand, page 151.
23. http:/ /www.spraggettonchess.com/boris-
spassky-turns-75-years-young.
24. Tolush, Alexander, page 5.
25. http://chesspro.ru/ details/bonadrevsky_100.
26. 64, January 2007.
27. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 45.
28. 64, issue 19-20, 1994. Korchnoi, Chess Is My
Life (1977), page 48, said his 1963 trip to Cuba was
"to all appearances" being "wrecked" until factory
workers of his Trud sports society wrote a joint
letter, with many signatures "demanding that I
should be allowed to play abroad:'
29. Kotov, V Shutki, page 294.
30. Bulletin of Central Chess Club, issue 5, 1961.
3 1 . Shakhmaty (Riga), issue 20, 1986.
32. Beilin, Shakhmatny 1961, page 244.
33. Bjeclica, Grandmasters, page 164.
34. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 50.
363
35. http://chesspro.ru/ _events/2012/ asrian2_
enc.html.
36. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 46.
37. Ibid. , page 44.
38. Ibid., page 45.
39. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 239. Vasiliev
said Tal suffered severe kidney pain right after the
Soviet championship and had to be taken by ambu­
lance to a hospital, Akteri, page 233.
40. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 195.
4 1 . Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 241.
42. Landau, Lyubov, page 55.
43. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 241.
44. Sports Illustrated, August 20, 1962.
45. Chess Life & Review, January 1977. "Surely he
wasn't being serious;' he said in Chess Is My Life
(1977), page 45. In Bohm and Jongkind, Bobby, page
38, he said, "Fischer was actually angry not only on
his behalf but on mine:'
46. Bohm and Jongkind, Bobby, page 37.
47. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 45.
The Geller-Petrosian game was 18 moves, not 10.
48. Bohm and Jongkind, Bobby, page 37.
49. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 51.
50. Tribuna, January 31, 2012. http://www. tribuna.
ru/news/sports/pravaya_ruka_chempionov/. Aver­
bakh said, "Three of our grandmasters-Keres, Pet­
rosian and Geller-decided not to risk, to conserve
strength, considering the long duration of the four­
cycle tournament and the difficult, hot climate:'
5 1 . Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 242.
52. Landau, Lyubov, page 145.
53. http://www.gmsquare.com/SallyTal.html.
54. Timman, Curafao 1962, page 26.
55. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 164. In Tigran,
page 110, Vasiliev wrote, "Korchnoi must burn him­
self out. No man could continue to expend such
colossal amounts of physical and nervous energy in
every game:'
56. Timman, Curafao 1962, page 139.
57. Beilin, Shakhmaty 1962, page 42.
58. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October, 1962.
59. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 99.
60. Chess Cafe.com, August 23, 2002. Accessed
August 23, 2002.
6 1 . https:// chess24.com/en/read/news/paul-
keres-vii-last-chance-in-curacao.
62. 64, December 2002.
63. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 113.
64. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16 .article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
65. Ibid. Mikhail Petrosian believed this hap­
pened before the final game.
66. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 45. In
New in Chess 3/2001, he said Petrosian "did not have
much of a fighting spirit which is why it was impor­
tant that his wife was with him:'
364 Notes-Chapter 10
67. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 45. In
the 2004 version this was translated as "a painstak­
ing nighttime analysis;' page 51.
68. Benko, Pal Benko, page 128. Benko misre­
membered the Keres game as occurring in the last
round. So did Petrosian in Shakhmaty {Riga), issue
7, 1969: "You know in Cura<,:ao in 1962 Benko in the
last round defeated Keres and that guaranteed me
victory in that tournament:'
69. New in Chess, issue 3, 2001.
70. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 104.
7 1 . Vasiliev, Tigran, page 116.
72. Sosonko, World, page 218 and New in Chess,
issue 1, 2012.
73. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), pages 45-
46. Omitted in (2004).
74. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16. article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
Chapter IO
1 . 64, October 2007. In the same article, Boris­
lav Ivkov wrote, "It's a great wonder that he became
world champion:'
2. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 53.
3. Soviet Life, March 1969.
4. New in Chess, issue 3, 2001.
5. Averbakh, Centre-Stage, page 132.
6. Ibid., page 136.
7. Tal, Life and Games {1976), page 243.
8. Muller and Stolze, Magic, page 154.
9. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 244.
10. https:/ /chess24.com/en/read/news/spassky­
stars-as-mamedyarov-crushes-tal-blitz.
1 1 . Sport-Express, https://www.chess.com/blog/
Spektrowski/boris-spassky-2016-interview. In Muller
and Stolze, Magic, page 153, Spassky said this hap­
pened when he returned to his hotel "about half past
three in the morning:' He added, "If I had got in
only a few minutes later he would not have survived
the blaze:'
12. Chess Herald, issued 4, 1994.
13. 64, April 1999.
14. http:///www.facts.kiev.ua/2007/01/07 .htm.
15. 64, January 1997.
16. http:/ /whychess.com/ en/node/2546.
1 7. Van Reek, Grand, page 151.
18. Tribuna, http://www.tribuna.ru/news/sports/
posledniy_match_patriarkha/. It also said he wanted
the match to start April 1, not in March, because he
had sore throats in winter. But his son Mikhail said
he wanted the match to begin in May because his
ears hurt in winter, http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.
date-2008_06_16.article-priemnuiy_sun_tigrana_
petrosyana-mikhaila/article.html. After much back
and forth, FIDE scheduled a March 23 start.
19. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 382.
20. 64, July 2009.
2 1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 386.
22. Chess Life, July-August 1963.
23. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April-June, 1993.
24. Asrian in 64, March 2012. In an interview
with the author and Marcy Soltis on October 4, 1984,
Spassky said he urged Botvinnik to have Geller as
his official second. Botvinnik replied, "You don't
choose as your second a man who is under the shoe
of his wife:'
25. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
26. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16. article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
27. http://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/tigran_petrosian_
85.
28. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 147.
29. Botvinnik, Achieving, page 172.
30. Chess Life, June 1963.
3 1 . 64, May 1999.
32. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 140.
33. http://chesspro.ru/view/gavrilov_petrosian.
34. 64, June 2003.
35. 64, June 2009.
36. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 49.
37. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 246.
38. Chess Horizons, March/April 1993.
39. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-tv-interview-in-1987.
40. Tal, Life and Games {1976), page 248.
4 1 . Sports daily, http://sportsdaily.ru/articles/
zhivyie-shakhmatyl-peterburga-37924.
42. 64, March 2011.
43. Ibid.
44. Moscow Times, June 6, 2003. http://carls
chreck.com/ displayArticle.php?article_id=89.
45. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-tv-interview-in-1987.
46. http://sobytiya.net. ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16. article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/article.html.
47. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 53.
48. Kashdan, First Piatigorsky, page xi.
49. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004) page 52.
50. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 422.
5 1 . 64, July 2009. This was their last decisive re­
sult.
52. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 76.
53. Gudok, August 7, 2016, https://www.chess.
com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-new-interview­
lokomotiv-society-saved-me-twice. In Van Reek,
Grand, page 150, Spassky said in 1961 that Lokomotiv
had found a one-room apartment for his estranged
wife so she moved out of the Spassky home "and
peace was restored:'
54. Gudok, August 7, 2016 https://www.chess.
com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-new-interview­
lokomotiv-society-saved-me-twice.
 Notes-Chap ter 11
55. Ibid.
56. Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012 and http://
sovsp ort.ru/ others/ chess/ articles/ 505904-10-j ­
chempion-mira-boris-spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal­
parshivo.
57. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 160.
58. Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012 and http://
sovsport.ru/ others/ chess/ articles/5059 0 4 - 1 0 -j ­
chempion-mira-boris-spasskij-a-debjuty-ja-znal­
parshivo.
59. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 49.
60. Averbakh, Cen tre-Stage, page 164. Also,
http://chesspro.ru/thesaurus/mikhalchishin_smyslov
said the Smyslov decision was made "a few days" be­
fore the Zonal began.
6 1 . Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 50.
The (2004), page 53, called Spassky a "strikebreaker"
and Bondarevsky "a Stalinist:'
62. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 50.
63. Kotov, V Shutki, page 312.
64. Shakhmaty v SSSR, July 1964.
65. Kasparov, My Great, Part III, pages 240-3.
66. Sports Illustrated, May 30, 1960.
67. Fakty i Kommentarii, http://facts.kiev.ua/
archive/2008-11-29/92238/index.html.
68. Landau, Lyubov, page 114.
69. Ibid. , page 126.
70. Ibid. , page 122.
7 1 . Ibid. , page 123.
72. Ibid. Landau also said that a government
minister with whom she had become involved in­
tervened on his behalf.
73. 64, July 1992.
74. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 253.
75. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
76. Sosonko, Smart Chip, page 8. Sosonko, Rise
and Fall, page 193, said that after Petrosian and
Bronstein tied for first in the Moscow Champion­
ship (1968) Petrosian refused to take part in a playoff
match because if he lost Bronstein "would declare
himself the de facto world champion:'
77. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 165.
78. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
Chapter ll
1. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 210.
2. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 60.
3. Chess Review, June 1965.
4. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
5. Sports Illustrated, May 30, 1960.
6. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 55.
7. 64, issue 19-20, 1994.
8. www.jjew, March 23, 2007.
9. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 55.
10. euruchess.org, May 11, 2004. http://www.eu­
ruchess.org/ cgi?action=viewnews&id=461. Accessed
October 26. 2007.
365
1 1 . Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 245.
12. 64, October 2006, and in Chaika, May 19,
2006, http://www.chayka.org/node/1082.
13. Sport-Express, August 21, 2009.
14. Landau, Lyubov, page 126.
15. Ibid. , page 135.
16. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 312.
17. Ibid.
18. Chess Review, November 1965.
19. Tal and Damsky, Attack, page 23.
20. Ibid. , page 24.
2 1 . Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 494.
22. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 312.
23. Chess Review, December 1965.
24. Tal and Damsky, Attack, page 1.
25. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 462.
26. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 316.
27. Ibid.
28. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 165.
29. http://sobytiya.net. ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16 .article -priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
30. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 165. Other personal de-
tails from this and 64, February 2007.
3 1 . http://chesspro.ru/view/ gavrilov_petrosian.
32. Chess Life & Review, May 1976.
33. http://chesspro.ru/view/ gavrilov_petrosian.
34. 64, June 2009.
35. http://sobytiya.net. ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16. article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/article.html.
36. http://chesspro.ru/view/ gavrilov_petrosian.
3 7. http://sobytiya.net. ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16 .article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
38. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1990.
39. New in Chess, issue 8, 2010.
40. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16 .article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
4 1 . Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1990.
42. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16 .article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
43. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1990.
44. Chess Life & Review, January 1977.
45. Chess Is My Life (1977), page 52.
46. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 108.
47. 64, 20/1980.
48. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 55.
The passage in his Shakhmaty bez Poshchadi, page
80, could be translated as "something had to be done:'
In both versions he called it "gossip'' but did not deny
it was true.
49. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March 1997.
50. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 317.
5 1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
52. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 318. But in
366 Notes-Chapter 12
Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 623, Tal is quoted as
saying "I wasn't surprised" by the Marshall.
53. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March 1997.
54. Tal and Darnsky, Attack, page 135.
55. http://www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=3l6.
56. Sport-Express, March 4, 2016 and https://
www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-
2016-interview.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 240.
60. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 318.
6 1 . Ibid., page 319.
62. http:/ /www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=3l6.
63. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 159.
64. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
65. Chess Life, July 1966.
66. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 53.
Not in (2004).
67. Vasiliev, Tigran, page 162.
68. Kingpin, autumn 1998.
69. Ibid.
70. Chess Life, July 1966.
7 1 . Rudolf Zagainov, Porazhoniye, page 38.
72. Sosonko, World, page 218.
73. Chess Life, July 1966.
74. 64, June 2009.
75. Shakhmaty {Riga), issue 5, 1982.
76. Shekhtman, Games, volume 1, page 7.
77. 64, June 2009.
78. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April 1997.
79. It was a 45-minute documentary aired in
spring 1969 and described in 64, February 2007.
80. 64, March 1997.
8 1 . Kingpin, autumn 1998.
82. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 215.
83. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 89. Vasiliev apparently
misremembered by saying Petrosian got up after
making his 35th move and that Spassky resigned
after making his reply.
84. Vechernyaya Moskva, October 18, 2007. http://
www.vmdaily.ru/article.php?aid=4l35l.
85. Chess Life, July 1966.
86. 64, February 2007.
87. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March 1997.
88. 64, February 2007.
Chapter 12
1. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
2. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 348.
3. Ibid., page 258.
4. Shakhmaty v SSSR, September 1966.
5. Kashdan, Second Piatigorsky, page 3.
6. Ibid., page 32.
7. New York Times, August 17, 1966.
8. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1966.
9. 64, June 1997 and www.facts.kiev.us July 19,
2007. But Gregor Piatigorsky wrote, "Unlike some
of the other people in the audience she was extremely
quiet and she spoke in a whisper so as not to disturb
the grandmasters during the play;' Kashdan, Second
Piatigorsky, page xx. Also, Petrosian told Larry Evans
(Chess Life, January 1968) that he had a winning po­
sition against Fischer in the last round but gave him
a draw because he wanted him, rather than Larsen,
to finish second. Computers see nothing like a win­
ning position.
10. Kashdan, Second Piatigorsky, page xxi.
1 1 . 64, January 1997.
12. Sport-Express, March 4, 2016 and https://
www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-
2016-interview.
13. 64, October 2004.
14. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 349.
15. Shakhmaty v SSSR, March 1991.
16. Korchnoi, Shakhmaty, page 81.
17. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends. Similar version in Sport­
Express, August 28, 2009.
18. http:/ /forum.kasparov.ru/viewtopic.php?t=
14168. Accessed on August 31, 2009.
19. Cuba/66, page 97.
20. 64, issue 22, 1989.
2 1 . Ibid.
22. Sport-Express, March 4, 2016 and https://
www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-
2016-interview.
23. 64, March 2001.
24. Ibid. Korchnoi, in Shakhmaty, page 76 repeats
the story and quotes him as saying, "Unfortunately
he has no understanding of the Catalan Opening!"
He said he beat Che three times in simuls.
25. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 475.
26. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 350.
27. http:/ /whychess.com/ en/node/4192. Vasiliev,
Akteri, page 149, indicates this happened at the Por­
toroz Interzonal.
28. 64, June 2005.
29. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 58.
30. http://en.chessbase.com/post/viktor-korchnoi­
dies-at-85.
3 1 . https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tal-tv-interview-in-1987.
32. 64, May 2005.
33. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
34. Chess Life, July 1964.
35. Chess Life, February 1968.
36. New in Chess, issue 5, 1992.
37. Muller and Stolze, Magic, pages 102-3. Bakh
said he introduced the two in 1967. When Koblents
completely relinquished his role is unclear. In Team
Tai, page 45, Kirillov said that Koblents was assisting
 Notes-Chap ter 13
Tal in the 1971 Soviet Championship when they had
"a contretemps" after a Tal loss "and the Maestro left
town:' Kirillov said he was asked to be Tal's sole sec­
ond for the tournament.
38. http://russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_
tal_the_eyes_of_colleagues_and_friends/.
39. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
mikhail-tals-blindfold-simul-for-documentary) .
Other details from http:/ /en.chessbase.com/post/a­
genial-genius-at-work-tal-blindfold-simul-in-video
and Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 474.
40. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
4 1 . http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/06/
analysing-by-the-riverside-with-bobby-fischer/.
42. http://jermuk2009.fide.com/interview-with­
gm-svetozar-gligoric-continuation.html.
43. http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/06/
analysing-by-the-riverside-with-bobby-fischer/.
44. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April 1997.
45. 64, June 2004.
46. Koblents, Vospominaniye, page 115.
47. Damsky, Grossmeister Geller, pages 9-10.
48. Sosonko, Russian, page 75 and 64, June 2004.
49. 64, issue 22, 1989.
50. 64, July 2008. How much time Petrosian de­
voted to 64 is unclear. Bejlica, Grandmasters, page
200, said "for six months" before his 1969 champion­
ship match "the editor's chair [was] vacant because
Petrosian has been preparing:'
5 1 . 64, June 2009.
52. Sosonko, Evil-Doer, page 205 about the es­
trangement from Igor and page 187 for the son out
of wedlock.
53. 64, June 2009.
54. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 172.
55. Chess Life & Review, May 1969.
56. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1968.
57. https://www.svoboda.org/a/129672.html.
58. chesstoday.net, November 26, 2000, posted
on gmsquare.com, http://www.gmsquare.com/Sally
Tai.html.
59. Chess Life, December 1968.
60. https://www.svoboda.org/a/129672.html.
6 1 . Chessville.com, April 7,2004, https:/ /archive.
is/bjuIN.
62. https://www.svoboda.org/a/129672.html.
Nikitin said in 64, February 2007 that the order was
"his second and last government award:'
63. 64, April 1999.
64. Sosonko, Russian, page 25 and 64, April 1999.
65. chess.news.ru, April 30, 2012, and http:// chess
pro.rut_events/2011/barskii5_enc.html. But Korch­
noi believed he had hypnotic power over Tal. In
Muller and Stolze, Magic, page 110, he said, "There
seems to be no other way to explain his catastrophic
overall result against me:'
367
66. Zagainov, Porazhoniye, page 20.
67. Landau, Lyubov, page 56.
68. Ibid., pages 185-6.
69. Shakhmaty v SSSR, January, 1991.
70. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 63.
7 1 . Shakhmaty v SSSR, January 1991. In Chess
Is My Life (2004), page 61, Korchnoi said, "it was
obvious he was doing the utmost to encourage
Tat:'
72. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 45.
73. Sosonko, Evil-Doer, page 228.
74. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 361.
75. Ibid.
76. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 243.
77. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
viktor-korchnois-interview-after-the-1968-korchnoi­
tal-candidates-match.
78. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 363.
79. Chess Life, December 1968.
80. Sports Illustrated, December 12, 1977.
8 1 . http://chesspro.ru/_events/2007 /voronkov_
henkin.html.
82. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 65. In
(2004), page 61, he described himself as "anxious:'
83. Chess Life, May 1969.
84. Byrne, Anatoly Karpov, page 174.
85. Kasparov, My Great, Part III, page 277.
86. http://www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=3l6.
87. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), pages 64-
65.
88. https:/ I chess24. com/ en/read/news/boris-
spassky-i-m-waging-a-war.
89. Ibid.
90. 64, June 1999.
9 1 . Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 541.
92. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 363. On page
423, he said "I became extremely nervy when, once
again at the last minute" he was excluded.
93. 64, June 1995.
Chapter 13
1 . Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 365.
2. 64, issues 34-36, 1969.
3. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 67.
4. Valery Asrian in 64, January 2011.
5. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 219.
6. Ibid. Spassky later modified his views, saying
that if he lost to Petrosian, he would play in candi­
dates matches if they were made longer: "I will no
longer play short matches:' Shakhmaty (Riga), issue
7, 1969.
7. 64, January 1997, with other details of Spas­
sky's preparation.
8. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April 1997.
9. 64, April 2009.
10. Zagainov, Porazhoniye, page 20.
1 1 . Keene and Levy, Siegen, pages 23-24.
368 Notes-Chapter 13
12. 64, April 2009.
13. 64, June 2004.
14. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 123.
15. 64, June 2014.
16. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 55.
1 7. FIDE Revue, issue 4, 1963.
1 8. Chess Review, January 1969.
19. http:/ /bulvar.com. ua/ gazeta/ archives/ s48 _
65794/7826.html.
20. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 221.
2 1 . Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby, page 47.
22. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 99. Time
expenditure from Alberic O'Kelly de Galway,
Campeonato del Mundo 1969, page 134.
23. Chess Life, December 1968.
24. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 125.
25. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 558.
26. Chess Life & Review, January 1970.
27. Shakhmaty v Rossii, April 1997.
28. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1969.
29. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
boris-spassky-new-interview-lokomotiv-society­
saved-me-twice. Spassky glossed over the break in
a tribute to Bondarevsky in http://chesspro.ru/details/
bondarevsky_100: "Of course . . . there were des­
perate disputes and conflicts that are inherent in any
process of preparation, but this did not prevent us
from working productively:'
30. Shakhmaty v SSSR, March 1969.
3 1 . Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 125.
32. Ibid.
33. http://www.chessintranslation.com/2012/01/
spassky-i-knew-the-openings-badly/.
34. Vasiliev, Akteri, page 245.
35. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1969.
36. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 125.
37. Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012.
38. Kasparov, How Life, page 25.
39. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1969. The de­
scription of the audience reaction to 25. Bd3 is con­
tradicted by O'Kelly, Campeonato, page 145, which
said Petrosian replied almost instantly.
40. Ibid.
4 1 . 64, June 2004.
42. http://www.sport-express.ru/fridays/reviews/
973473/.
43. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 125.
44. 64, January 1997.
45. Kasparov, My Great, Part III, page 79.
46. Kramnik in Izvestia, March 14, 2007, http://
www.izvestia.ru/ sport/ article3102044/.
47. http://sobytiya.net.ua/archive.date-2008_06_
16. article-priemnuiy_sun_ tigrana_petrosyana­
mikhaila/ article.html.
48. Sport-Express, March 5, 2010, http://others.
sport-express.ru/reviews/ 4315/.
49. Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012, http://sov
sport.ru/others/chess/articles/505904-10-j-chempion­
mira-boris-spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal-parshivo.
50. Sosonko, World, page 228.
5 1 . Shakhmaty v SSSR, December 1969.
52. Inside Chess, July 17, 1989.
53. Shakhmaty v SSSR, February 1970.
54. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 130.
55. 64, March 2016.
56. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 411.
57. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 144.
58. Muller and Stolze, Magic, page 109. Tal, in
Life and Games (1976), page 411, said he was told that
someone, apparently a spectator, exclaimed, "Not
bad for a dead man, don't you think?"
59. Evgeny Gik identified her as Irina Mikhaila
in http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22295.
60. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 474.
6 1 . Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012. http://sov
sport.ru/others/chess/articles/505904-10-j-chempion­
mira-boris-spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal-parshivo.
62. Sport-Express, March 4, 2016, https://www.
chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-2016-
interview. Also https://www.svoboda.org/a/129672.
html.
63. 64, August 2013.
64. www.svobodnanews.ru, July 19,2007.
65. Inside Chess, July 10, 1995.
66. Keene and Levy, Siegen, page 22.
67. Baturinsky, Stranitsy, page 31.
68. 64, April 2000.
69. 64, August 2002.
70. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 412.
7 1 . Alburt and Lawrence, Three Days, page 110.
He added, "During the years when I was champion
of the world, probably that was the most annoying
and unpleasant event:'
72. 64, February 2007.
73. Sovietsky Sport, January 20, 2012. http://sov
sport.ru/others/chess/articles/505904-10-j-chempion­
mira-boris-spasskij -a-debjuty-ja-znal-parshivo.
74. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 170.
75. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 69.
76. Koltanowski in Chess Life & Review, July 1970.
77. Tal, Life and Games (1976), page 413.
78. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 70. In
(2004), he explained Portsch's decision differently:
"It is probable that he was satisfied with winning by
the minimum margin;' that is, a 2½-1½ score with
Korchnoi.
79. http:/ /chesspro.ru/interview/portisch_inter
view.
80. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 520.
8 1 . Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 71.
82. http://www.hrt.hr/ enz/sahovski-komentar/
361627/.
83. 64, January 1992.
84. Ibid.
85. 64, March 2001.
 Notes-Chapter 14
86. Tai, Life and Games (1976) , page 416.
87. Taimanov and Cafferty, Soviet, page 150.
88. http:/ /www.chess-news.ru/node/22295.
89. http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/
index.html and https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spek
trowski/an-interview-with-angelina-tal.
90. http:/www.newsvostok.ru/v-sokol-nikah-tal­
vyigral-sem-samovarov/.
9 1 . http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/
index.html and https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spek
trowski/an-interview-with-angelina-tal.
92. Ibid.
Chapter 14
1. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 183.
2. Ibid. , pages 217-18.
3. Ibid. , page 214.
4. Shekhtman, Games, volume 2, page 91, and
Shakhmaty {Riga) issue 7, 1969.
5. 64, November 1999.
6. Linder and Linder, Koroli, page 547.
7. 64, May 1999.
8. Tai, Life and Games {1976), page 416.
9. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 29.
10. http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/
index.html).
1 1 . russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
12. New in Chess, issue 1, 2017.
13. Sport-Express, August 28, 2009.
14. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 75.
Korchnoi said they played "at Karpov's home" but
made no mention of the location in (2004).
15. Karpov, Karpov, page 73.
16. Ibid. , page 80.
17. Sport, April 17, 2008, http://sportdaily.ru/
issue.aspx/766/24796/ch.
18. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 75.
19. Chess Life & Review, August 1971.
20. Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1971.
2 1 . Sosonko, Evil-Doer, page 110.
22. 64, October 2001.
23. Posted on MK.ru on January 30, 2017. Similar
version in Shakhmaty v Rossii, issues 2-3, 1997.
24. www.facts.kiev July 19, 2007. How religious
Spassky is remains unclear. "I call myself a 'half-be­
liever: Sometimes I'm a firm believer, sometimes I
become an atheist;' he said in https:/ /www.chess.
com/blog/Spektrowski/boris- spassky-2016-inter
view.
25. https:/ /www.svoboda.org/a/129672.html.
26. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
boris-spassky-2016-interview.
27. Edmonds and Eidinow. Bobby, page 67.
28. Ibid., page 54.
369
29. http:/ /www.spraggettonchess.com/walter­
dobrich-writes-about-spassky/.
30. https:/ /www.svoboda.org/a/129672.html.
3 1 . Lecture at the Chicago Chess Club, February
1974, Michigan Chess, September 1974. He said he
lost to Petrosian because he was "exhausted" by the
Geller match but also because the semifinals were
in Moscow.
32. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 79.
33. Shakhmaty v SSSR, October 1971.
34. Lecture at the Chicago Chess Club, February
1974, Michigan Chess, September 1974. "People
j oked . . ." from Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977),
page 79.
35. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 273.
36. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 79.
37. Ibid.
38. 64, January 2001.
39. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life {1977), page 79.
40. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 109.
4 1 . http : / / ch e s s p r o . r u / t h e s au r u s / tig ran_
petrosian_85.
42. http:/ /bulvar.com. ua/g azeta/archives/s48_
65794/7826.html.
43. Chess Life, January 1977.
44. http:/ /bulvar.com. ua/gazeta/archives/ s48_
65794/7826.html.
45. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 273.
46. Ibid. While Korchnoi believed his "war" with
Petrosian began in 1960 and Averbakh felt their re­
lations were spoiled in 1971, Mikhail Petrosian said,
"Korchnoi and our family had good relations" until
1974 and said he spent his honeymoon in Leningrad
as guests of the Korchnois, http://sobytia.net.ua/
archive.date-2008_06_16.article-piemnuly_sun_
tigrana_petrosyana-mihail/ article.html.
47. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, pages 120-6.
48. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
nikolai-krogius-quotp reparing- for-the-match­
against-fischerquot-excerpts-from-boris-spasskys.
49. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 240.
50. New York Times, July 23, 1971.
5 1 . http://chesspro.ru/_events/2007 /voronkov_
henkin.html.
52. 64, June 2016.
53. Plisetsky and Voronkov. Russians, page 221.
54. The letter, signed, "Modest chess worker" and
Chebanenko's name, is now in Moscow's Chess Mu­
seum, 64, June 2017. Gufeld in 64, August 2000, said
Lev Polugaevsky showed him one of his old note­
books in which he, too, analyzed the key move.
Gufeld said, "The notebook proved that Polugaevsky
discovered 11. . . . d5! ten years before the match!"
55. Byrne to the author, November 1971.
56. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 80.
57. Kasparov, My Great, Part III, page 108.
58. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 284.
59. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 75.
370 Notes-Chapter 15
60. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 173.
61. http:/ /noev-kovcheg.ru/mag/2012-03/3063.
html.
62. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 288.
63. Ibid. , page 289.
64. 64, February 2014.
65. Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby, page 96.
66. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 242.
67. Ibid. , page 277.
68. Sports Illustrated, November 8, 1971.
69. Bjelica, Grandmasters, page 173.
70. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 294.
71. Ibid.
Chapter IS
1. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 302.
2. 64, June 1997.
3. Chess (UK), April 20, 1972.
4. 64, April 1999.
5. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
nikolai-krogius -quotpreparing- for-the-match­
against-fischerquot-excerpts-from-boris-spasskys.
6. Ibid., with other details of Spassky's prepara-
tions.
7. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 298.
8. Ibid., page 299 and https:/ /www.chess.com/
blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-new-interview­
lokomotiv-society-saved-me-twice.
9. Muller and Stolze, Magic, page 319.
1 0 . http ://facts.kiev.ua/ archive/20 0 9 - 11-20/
101796/index.html.
1 1 . http:/ /www.e3e5.com/article.php?id=l275.
12. 64, November 2006.
13. Kirillov, Team Tai, page 140.
1 4. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977) , page 84.
15. euruchess.org, May 11, 2004. http://www.
euruchess.org/ cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&
if=461. Accessed October 26, 2007.
16. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (1977), page 80. In
the 2004 version, page 75, he suggested Petrosian
avoided punishment because "on his return to Mos­
cow Petrosian began speaking and writing about
some kind of supernatural forces that supposedly
interfered with his play:'
1 7 . https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
nikolai-krogius- quotpreparing- for-the-match­
against-fischerquot-excerpts-from-boris-spasskys.
18. Ibid.
19. Rossiiskaya Gazeta, http://www.rg.ru/Anons/
arc_2002/0129/3.shtm.
20. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 301.
2 1 . New in Chess, issue 7, 1988.
22. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, pages
318-9.
23. Ibid., pages 324-6.
24. Ibid. , pages 315-8.
25. Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby, page 105.
26. Shakhmaty (Riga) , issue 22, 1970. In Chess
(UK) March 20, 1972, he said, "This is great encour­
agement to me. Korchnoi's forecasts always go
wrong:'
27. New in Chess, issue 1, 2012.
28. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
boris-spassky-new-interview-lokomotiv-society­
saved-me-twice.
29. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 339.
30. rsport.ria.ru/interview/20150102/792290275.
html.
3 1 . Shakhmaty v Rossii, January 1997. He also said
he did not need a translator: "We can do everything
ourselves:'
32. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
nikolai-krogius- quotpreparing- for-the-match­
against-fischerquot-excerpts-from-boris-spasskys .
33. https:// docs.google.com/ document/ d/lFrQda
Gpj0XNaKNOL7Zw3jSr8sDu-HKo3APILBylYdPg/
edit.
34. Karpov, Karpov, page 100.
35. Shakhmaty v Rossii, February-March, 1997.
36. Ibid. Soviet officials later denied it was an
emotional conversation.
37. 64, June 1997.
38. Vechernyaya Moskva, October 18, 2007.
http:/ /www.vmdaily. ru/article.php?aid=4l35l.
39. https://docs.google.com/document/ d/lFrQda
Gpj0XNaKNOL7Zw3jSr8sDu-HKo3APILBylYdPg/
edit.
40. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 339.
4 1 . Ibid. , page 345.
42. Chessbase.com on July 21, 2017, disputed this,
saying he took 37 minutes to choose 19 . . . . Rads and
only nine for his 21st move. Fischer spent 59 minutes
to reach move 21. http://en.chessbase.com/post/
bobby-fischer-in-iceland-45-years-ago-5.
43. https://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/features/
03/15/anatoly-karpov-talks-bobby-fischer/.
44. Karpov, Karpov, page 98.
45. Keene and Levy, Siegen, page 21.
46. Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby, page 200.
47. Plisetsky and Voronkov, Russians, page 353.
48. Ibid., page 349. Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby,
page 202, quotes Spassky as saying, "Don't spend
time on this nonsense. Fischer would never play
that:'
49. https:/ /www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/
nikolai-krogius- quotpreparing- for-the-match ­
against-fischerquot-excerpts-from-boris-spasskys.
64, January-February 1999 and August 2000. Pliset­
sky and Voronkov, Russians, page 350, credits 14 . . . .
Qb7 to Averbakh without elaboration.
50. Plisetsky and Voronkov. Russians, page 258.
5 1 . Ibid. , page 315.
52. http:/ /www.chess-news.ru/nodel83l4.
53. Byrne and Nei, Both Sides, page 113.
54. Shakhmaty v SSSR, November 1972.
 Notes-Epilogue
55. https://www.svoboda.org/ a/129672.html.
56. Analysis comes from Shakhmaty (Riga), issue
33, 1972 and Russians, page 372.
57. 64, June 1997.
58. Plisetsky and Voronkov. Russians, page 385.
59. Ibid., page 384. Edmonds and Eidinow, Bobby,
page 290, has Tai call his play "simply shocking:'
60. Ibid.
6 1 . Rossiiskaya Gazeta, July 19, 2007.
Epilogue
1 . http ://sovsport.ru/ others/ chess/ articles/
505904-10-j -chempion-mira-boris-spasskij -a-deb
juty-ja-znal-parshivo.
2. Shakhmatny Vestnik, July 1992.
3. http://facts.kiev.ua/archive/2 0 0 9 - 11-20/
101796/index.html.
4. 64, March 2010.
5. Tribuna, January 31, 2012. http://www.tribuna.
ru/news/sports/pravaya_ruka_chempionov/.
6. Sport-Express, March 5, 2010, http://others.
sport-express.rut reviews/ 4315.
7. 64, February 2007. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life
(1977), page 29, said this was for "incautious political
pronouncements:'
8. New in Chess, issue 7, 1988.
9. https:// chess24.com/ en/read/news/boris­
spassky-i-m-waging-a-war.
10. Karpov, Karpov, page 120.
1 1 . Chess Life & Review, January 1977.
371
12. Interview with the author and Marcy Soltis,
October 4, 1984.
13. Sport- Weekend, January 29, 2009. http://sport­
weekendcom/index.php?option=com_content&task­
view&id=2936&Itemid=l. Accessed January 29,
2009.
14. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 120.
15. Argumenty i Fakty, April 8, 2009, http://spb.
ai£ru/society/article/6538.
16. Korchnoi, Chess Is My Life (2004), page 119.
17. New in Chess, issue 5, 1992.
18. New in Chess, issue 3, 2011.
19. 64, March 2010.
20. http://chesspro.ru/view/gavrilov_petrosian.
2 1 . 64, November, 2002.
22. Euruchess.org posted May 11, 2004, http://
www.euruchess.org/ cgi-bin/index.cgi ?action=view
news&if=461.
23. russiachess.org, November 14, 2011. http://
russiachess.org/news/report/mikhail_tal_the_eyes_
of_colleagues_and_friends.
24. Sosonko, Russian, page 30.
25. worldofchess.ru, November 30, 2017, https://
worldofchess.ru/panorama-sobytij/167 -zhanna-tal­
papa-prosto-khotel-igrat-v-shakhmaty- zhit-a­
ne-sushchestvovat.
26. https:/ I chess24. com/ en/read/news/boris­
spassky-i-m-waging-a-war.
27. 64, October 2001.
28. https:// chess24.com/ en/read/news/boris­
spassky-i-m-waging-a-war.
This page intentionally left blank
 Biblio g raphy
Periodicals
The main sources were the Russian language mag­
azines 64, Shakhmaty v SSSR, Shakhmaty (pub­
lished in Riga), Shakhmaty v Rossii and Shakh­
matny Vestnik The main English language sources
were New in Chess, Chess Life, Chess Life and Re­
view, Chess (published in the UK), Inside Chess
and Sports Illustrated.
Reference
Karpov, Anatoly, ed. Shakhmaty, Ensyklopedichesky
Slovar. Moscow: Sovietskoye Encyclopedia, 1990.
Linder, VJ., and I.M. Linder. Koroli Shakhmatnogo
Mira. Moscow: Terra-Sport, 2001.
Romanov, I.Z. Shakhmatny Slovar. Moscow: Fizkul­
tura I Sport, 1964.
Memoirs, Game Collections and
Other Basic Chess Sources
Abramov, Lev, ed. Shakhmaty za 1951-2. Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1953.
__, ed. Shakhmaty za 1953 goda. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1954.
__, ed. Shakhmaty za 1954 goda. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1955.
Akopian, G.E. Volshebnik Shakhmat. Erevan: Aias­
tan, 1981.
Alburt, Lev, and Al Lawrence. Three Days with
Bobby Fischer and Other Chess Essays. New York:
Chess Information and Research Center, 2003.
Alexander, C.H.O'D. Fischer v. Spassky, Reykjavik
1972. Oxford: Penguin, 1972.
Averbakh, Yuri. Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes.
Alkmaar: New in Chess 2011.
Baturinsky, V.D. Stranitsy Shakhmanoi Zhizni. Mos­
cow: Fizkultura i Sport 1983.
Bellin, Mikhail. Shakhmaty za 1955 goda. Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1956.
373
__. Shakhmaty za 1958-1959 goda. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1960.
__. Shakhmatny Yezhegodnik 1961. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1963.
__. Shakhmatny Yezhegodnik 1962. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1964.
Benko, Pal, and Jeremy Silman. Pal Benko: My Life,
Games and Compositions. Los Angeles: Siles Press,
2003.
Bjelica, Dimitrije. Grandmasters in Profile. Sarajevo:
Zavodza Izdavanje Udzbenika, 1973.
Bohm, Hans, and Kees Jongkind. Bobby Fischer: The
Wandering King. London: Batsford 2005.
Botvinnik, Mikhail. Achieving the Aim. Oxford: Per­
gamon, 1981.
Bronstein, David, and Tom Furstenberg. The Sor­
cerers Apprentice. London: Cardogan, 1995.
Byrne, Robert. Anatoly Karpov: Road to the World
Championship. New York: Bantam, 1976.
__ and Ivo Nei. Both Sides of the Chessboard. New
York: Quadrangle, 1974.
Cafferty, Bernard. Tals 100 Best Games, 1961-1973.
New York: Pitman Publishing, 1973.
Cafferty, Bernard, and Mark Taimanov. The Soviet
Championships. London: Cadogan: 1998.
Clarke, P.H. Petrosians Best Games of Chess, 1946-
63. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1973.
Damsky, Yakov, ed. Grossmeister Geller. Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1976.
Donner, J.H. The King. Alkmaar: New in Chess,
2006.
Dvoretsky, Mark. Dvoretskys Analytical Manual, sec­
ond edition. Milford, CT: Russell Enterprises, Inc.,
2013.
Edmonds, David, and John Eidinow. Bobby Fischer
Goes to War. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Euwe, Max, and Jan Timman. Fischer World Cham­
pion! Alkmaar: New in Chess, 2002.
Flohr, Salo. Skvoz Prizmu Polveka. Moscow: Soviet­
skaya Rossia, 1986.
374 Bibliography
Geller, Yefim. The Application of Chess Theory. Ox­
ford: Pergamon Press, 1984.
__. Grandmaster Geller at the Chessboard. Not­
tingham: The Chessplayer, 1969.
German, V. E., ed. Shakhmatny Yezhegodnik 1960.
Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1961.
Gipslis, Aivar. Aivar Gipslis. Moscow: Fizkultura i
Sport, 1987.
Grodzensky, Sergei, and Isaak Romanov. Khod v
Konverte. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1970.
Gufeld, Eduard, and Yefim Lazarev. Leonid Stein.
Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1980.
Karpov, Anatoly. Karpov on Karpov. New York: Mac­
millan, 1990.
Kasparov, Garry. How Life Imitates Chess. New York:
Bloomsbury USA, 2007.
__. My Great Predecessors, Part II. London:
Gloucester Publishers, 2003.
__. My Great Predecessors, Part III. London:
Gloucester Publishers, 2004.
Khalifman, Alexander, ed. Mikhail Tal Games: Vol­
ume I, 1949-1962. Bulgaria: World Science, 1994.
__. Volume II, 1963-1973. Bulgaria: World Sci­
ence, 1995.
Kirillov, Valentin. Team Tal: An Inside Story. Latvia:
Elk and Ruby Publishing House, LLC, 2017.
Koblents, Alexander. Dorogami Shakmatnykh Sraz­
henii. Riga: Latviiskoye Gosudarstvennoye Izda­
telstvo, 1963.
__. Vospominaniye Shakhmatista. Moscow: Fiz­
kultura i Sport, 1986.
Korchnoi, Viktor. Chess Is My Life. London: Batsford,
1977.
__. Chess Is My Life. Ziirich: Edition Olms, 2004.
__. My Best Games, Volume I: Games with White;
Volume 2: Games with Black. Ziirich: Edition
Olms, 2001.
__. Shakhmaty bez Poshchadi. Moscow: Astrel,
2006.
_, and R.G. Wade and L.S. Blackstock. Korch­
nois 400 Best Games. New York: Arco Publishing,
1978
Kotov, Alexander. V Shutki i Vserioz. Moscow: Molo­
daya Gvardia, 1965.
Krogius, Nikolai. Psychology in Chess. Albertson,
NY: RHM Press, 1976.
Landau, Sally. Lyubov i Shakhmaty, Elegiya Mikhaila
Talya. Moscow: Russian Chess House, 2003.
Liepnieks, A. The Chess Psychologist World Cham­
pion Tal. Chicago: Alfreds Kalnajs Publishing Co.,
1961.
Lombardy, William. Understanding Chess. New York:
William Lombardy, 2011.
Muller, Karsten, and Raymund Stolze. The Magic
Tactics of Mikhail Tal. Alkmaar: New in Chess
2012.
Petrosian, Tigran. Shakhmatniye Lektsii. Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1989.
Plisetsky, Dmity, and Sergey Voronkov. Russians
Versus Fischer. London: Everyman Chess, 2005.
Raetsky, Alexander, and Maxim Chetverik. Boris
Spassky: Master of Initiative. London: Everyman
Chess, 2006.
__. Mikhail Tal, Tactical Genius. London: Every­
man Chess, 2004.
Ragosin, Vyacheslav, ed. Shakhmaty za 1947-1949.
Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1951.
Reid, Anna. Leningrad. New York: Walker & Com­
pany, 2011.
Shekhtman, Eduard. The Games of Tigran Petrosian,
Volume 1: 1942-1965; Volume 2: 1966-1983. Ox­
ford: Pergamon Chess, 1991.
Sosonko, Gennady. Evil-Doer: Half a Century with
Viktor Korchnoi. Middletown: Elk and Ruby Pub­
lishing House LLC, 2018.
__. The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein. Latvia:
Elk and Ruby Publishing House LLC, 2017.
__. Russian Silhouettes. Alkmaar: New in Chess,
2009.
__. Smart Chip from St. Petersburg. Alkmaar:
New in Chess, 2006.
__. The World Champions I Knew. Alkmaar: New
in Chess, 2013.
Timman, Jan. Timmans Titans. Alkmaar: New In
Chess, 2016.
Taimanov, Mark. Zarubezhniye Vstrechi. Leningrad:
Lenizdat, 1958.
Tal, Mikhail. The Life and Games ofMikhail Tal. New
York: RHM Press, 1976. Second edition, London:
Gloucester Publishers, 1997.
__ and Iakov Damsky. Attack with Mikhail Tal.
London: Gloucester Publishers, 1994.
Tolush, Valentina. Alexander Tolush. Moscow: Fizi­
kultura i Sport, 1983.
Van Reek, Jan. Grand Strategy: 60 Games by Boris
Spassky. Alkmaar: New in Chess, 2003.
Vasiliev, Viktor. Akteri Shakhmatnoi Stseni. Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1986.
__. Tigran Petrosian, His Life and Games. Lon­
don: Batsford, 1968.
Winter, Edward. Capablanca. Jefferson, NC: McFar­
land, 1989.
Zagainov, Rudolf. Porazhoniye. Moscow: Computer
Chess Publishing House, 1993.
Zak, Vladimir. Puty v Sovershevstvovaniya, Moscow:
Fizkultura i Sport, 1981.
Tournament and Match Books
Mar6czy Geza Nemzetkozi Sakkverseny Budapest
1952. Joszef Szily. Sport Lap-Es Konyvkiado Val­
lalat 1954.
Mezhozonalny Shakhmatny Turnir v Stockhome 1952
goda. L. I. Prokhorovich, ed. Moscow: Fizkultura
i Sport, 1954.
19th Pervenstvo SSSR po Shakhmatam. A.S. Prorvich,
ed. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1953.
 Bibliography
20th Pervenstvo SSSR po Shakhmatam. Mikhail Yu­
dovich, ed. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1954.
21st Pervenstvo SSSR po Shakhmatam. Alexander
Konstantinopolsky, ed. Moscow: Fizkultura i
Sport, 1955.
22nd Pervenstvo SSSR po Shakhmatam. Vladimir
Simagin, ed. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1956.
Das Kandidatenturnier fur die Weltmeisterschaft
1956. M. Euwe and W. J. Muhring. Amsterdam:
W. ten Have Verlag, 1956.
Tal-Botvinnik 1960. Mikhail Tai. Milford, CT: Rus­
sell Enterprises, 2000.
Curafao 1962. Jan Timman. Alkmaar: New in Chess,
2005.
XV Chess Olympiad (Varna 1962). A. Malchev, ed.
Sofia: Meditsina i Fizkultura, 1966.
First Piatigorsky Cup. Isaac Kashdan, ed. Los Angeles:
W. Ritchie Press, 1965.
XXXI USSR Chess Championship. London: British
Chess Magazine, 1964.
375
Modern Grandmaster Chess (Soviet Zonal 1964). An­
drew Karklins. Chicago: Chicago Chess Books,
1974.
Second Piatigorsky Cup. Isaac Kashdan, ed. Los An­
geles: W. Ritchie Press, 1968.
Cuba/66: XVII Olimpiada Mundial de Ajedrez. Ha­
vana: Ediciones Deportivas.
Interzonal Chess Tournament Sousse 1967. R. G.
Wade. Nottingham: The Chess Player, 1968.
Campeonato del Mundo 1969. Alberic O'Kelly de
Galway. Madrid: Ricardo Aguilera, 1969.
Match Veka (USSR-Rest ofthe World 1970). Mikhail
Udovich. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1971.
Interzonal Chess Tournament Palma 1970. R. G.
Wade. Nottingham: The Chess Player, 1970.
Siegen Chess Olympiad (1970). Raymond Keene and
David Levy. Sutton Coldfield: Chess Ltd., 1971.
Chess Olympiad 1972. Raymond Keene and David
Levy. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1975.
This page intentionally left blank
 Index of Opponents
Korchnoi versus:
Averbakh, Yuri 233
Bastrikov, Georgy 67, 134
Boleslavsky, Isaac 239
Bronstein, David 299
Byrne, Robert 259
Csom, Istvan 232
Diez del Corral, Jesus 278
Fischer, Bobby 193
Flohr, Salo 81
Geller, Yefim 71, 305
Gipslis, Aivars 255
Goldberg, Grigory 75
Hort, Vlastimil 255
Kamyshov, Mikhail 55
Karpov, Anatoly 304
Kluger, Gyula 181
Lipnitsky, Isaak 72
Marsalek, Josef 180
Minev, Nikolai 84
Penrose, Jonathan 292
Petrosian, Tigran 29, 79, 192,
238, 311
Platonov, Igor 301
Portisch, Lajos 294
Razov 23
Rovner, Dmitry 22
Smyslov, Vasily 55
Sokolsky, Alexey 80
Spassky, Boris 36, 63, 94, 105,
135, 153, 203, 215, 248, 272, 318
Stein, Leonid 214
Suetin, Alexey 155
Taimanov, Mark 50, 103
Tal, Mikhail 99, 120, 136, 269,
270, 296
Tarasov, Vitaly 113
Vasilchuk, Yuri 30
Yanofsky, Abe 187
Yukhtman, Jacob 117
Zak, Vladimir 54
Petrosian versus:
Bakhtadze 18
Bannik, Anatoly 49, 114
Bednarski, Boguslaw Jacek 274
Benko, Pal 100
Bisguier, Arthur 86
Botvinnik, Mikhail 206, 207
Bronstein, David 152
Cherepkov, Alexander 52
Filip, Miroslav 190, 196
Fischer, Bobby 195, 295, 314, 316
Flohr, Salo 16
Fridshtein, Grigory 52
Fuchs, Reinhard 233
Geller, Yefim 211
Giorgadze, Tengiz 25
Gligoric, Svetozar lll, 210
Goode, Royal 87
Hort, Vlastimil 302
Kasparian, Genrikh 28
Keres, Paul 27, 49, 66
Kopilov, Nikolai 57
Korali, Hector 83
Korchnoi, Viktor 29, 79, 192,
238, 311
Kotov, Alexander 45, 68
Larsen, Bent 230
Letelier Martner, Rene 220
Lyublinsky, Viktor 45
Malashkia 17
Matanovic, Aleksandar 130
Matulovic, Milan 323
Milic, Borislav 91
Novotelnov, Nikolai 58
Pfeiffer, Gerhard 171
Pogrebissky, Iosif 43
Portisch, Lajos 249, 256
Reshko, Aron 25
Savon, Vladimir 289
Schmid, Lothar 266
Simagin, Vladimir 31, 48
377
Smyslov, Vasily 59, 107, 146
Sorokin, Nikolai 26
Spassky, Boris 122, 154, 241,
242, 244, 249, 281, 282, 285,
286
Szabo, Laszlo 69
Tal, Mikhail 147, 188, 303
Terpugov, Evgeny 60
Teufel, Jurgen 266
Spassky versus:
Aftonomov 42
Barda, Olaf 74
Bilek, Istvan 257
Boleslavsky, Isaac 118
Boucchechter, Ariel 220
Calvo Minguez, Ricardo 279
Chepukaitis, Genrikh 64
Ciric, Dragoljub 199, 297
Estrin, Yakov 62
Fischer, Bobby 327, 329, 330,
332
Foguelman, Alberto 161
Geller, Yefim 93, 264
Keres, Paul 222
Klages, Jurgen 96
Klovans, Janis 213
Korchnoi, Victor 36, 63, 94,
105, 135, 153, 203, 215, 248,
272, 318
Kozma, Julius 96, 124
Larsen, Bent 267
Lee, Peter 237
Lombardy, William 166
Medina Garcia, Antonio 102
Milic, Borislav 102
Nikitin, Alexander 41
Petrosian, Tigran 122, 154, 241,
242, 244, 249, 281, 282, 285,
286
378
Pietzsch, Wolfgang 197
Polugaevsky, Lev 174
Quinones, Oscar 219
Reshko, Aron 138
Shman 35
Smyslov, Vasily 36, 185
Stein, Leonid 259, 308
Tal, Mikhail 5, 104, 234, 235,
236, 319
van Oosterom, Joop 101
Zaitsev, Igor 173
Tai versus:
Antoshin, Vladimir 321
Aronin, Lev 90
Averbakh, Yuri 88
Index of Opponents
Barcza, Gedeon 202
Benko, Pal 144, 145
Boleslavsky, Isaac 119
Botvinnik, Mikhail 165, 176,
178
De Greiff, Boris 127
Donner, J. H. 141
Filip, Miroslav 128
Fischer, Bobby 148
Geller, Yefim 122
Gipslis, Aivars 98
Gligoric, Svetozar 263
Gurgenidze, Bukhuti 97, 114
Hamann, Svend 247
Kholmov, Ratmir 39, 261
KlaviQs, Janis 125
Koblents, Alexander 159
Korchnoi, Viktor 99, 120, 136,
269, 270, 296
Kupper, Josef 140
Larsen, Bent 228, 276
Leonov 40, 47
Olafsson, Fridrik 131
Pachmann, Ludek 182
Petrosian, Tigran 147, 188, 303
Portisch, Lajos 217, 225
Spassky, Boris 5, 104, 234, 235,
236, 319
Suetin, Alexey 290
Szukszta, Janusz 109
Tolush, Alexander 158
Wade, Robert 253
Wintr, Stanislav 168
Zilber, Josif [Israel] 77
 Index of Openin g s­
Traditional Names
Alekhine's Defense 332
Anti-Griinfeld Defense 232, 302
Belgrade Gambit 88
Benoni Defense 74, 145, 308
Bogo-Indian Defense 263
Budapest Defense 16
Caro-Kann Defense 225
Caro-Kann Defense, Advance
Variation 152, 176, 182
Caro- Kann Defense, Classical
Variation 161, 165, 241
Caro-Kann Defense, Exchange
Variation 40
Caro- Kann Defense, Two
Knights Variation 28, 90,
135, 138, 159
Catalan Opening 297, 318
Dutch Defense 21, 50
Dutch Defense, Stonewall
Variation 29
Dutch Indian Defense 144, 323
English Opening 18, 41, 72, 81,
86, 127, 180, 192, 230, 266,
272, 294, 299, 311
Falkbeer Countergambit 64
French Defense, Burn Variation
117, 188, 202
French Defense, Exchange
Variation 117
French Defense, Tarrasch
Variation 25, 49, 52, 80, 258,
274, 296
French Defense, Winawer
Variation 120, 178, 211
Griinfeld Defense 27, 289, 301,
314
Griinfeld Defense, Exchange
Variation 94
Giuoco Piano 122
Hungarian Defense 23, 55
Irregular Benoni Defense 60
King's Gambit Accepted 168
King's Indian Defense 68, 87,
105, 292, 295
King's Indian Defense, Classical
Variation 52, 97, 154
King's Indian Defense, Panno
Variation 79, 107, 249
King's Indian Defense, Siimisch
Variation 91, 101, 104, 109,
119, 210
King's Indian Defense, Yugoslav
Variation lll, 181
Modern Benoni Defense 114,
124, 141
Modern Defense 242
Neo-Griinfeld Defense 43
Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad
Variation 222, 237
Nimzo-Indian Defense, Rubin­
stein Variation 57, 66, 100,
134, 238, 279, 282
Nimzo-Indian Defense,
Siimisch Variation 5, 93
Philidor's Defense 321
Pirc Defense 67
Polish Defense 244
Ponziani Opening 62
379
Queen's Gambit Accepted 42,
146, 153, 173
Queen's Gambit Declined 35,
190, 233, 281
Queen's Gambit Declined,
Exchange Variation 45, 83,
220
Queen's Gambit Declined,
Ragozin Variation 130
Queen's Gambit Declined,
Semi-Tarrasch Variation
203, 255
Queen's Gambit Declined,
Tartakower-Makagonov­
Bondarevsky Variation 305,
327
Queen's Indian Defense 47,
174, 215, 303
Reti Opening 185, 217
Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall
Variation 213
Ruy Lopez, Breyer Variation 102
Ruy Lopez, Classical Variation
219
Ruy Lopez, Marshall Gambit
220
Ruy Lopez, Old Main Line
128, 270
Ruy Lopez, Open Variation
99, 155, 239
Ruy Lopez, Ragozin Variation
286
Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Defense,
Doubly Deferred 197
Scotch Game 22
Semi-Slav Defense 39, 171
Sicilian Defense 278
380 Index of Openings-Traditional Names
Sicilian Defense, Alapin
Variation 84
Sicilian Defense, Dragon
Variation 17, 36, 36, 253, 259
Sicilian Defense, Kan Variation
158, 235, 247, 290
Sicilian Defense, Najdorf
Variation 58, 69, 77, 114,
125, 136, 140, 147, 166, 330
Sicilian Defense, Nimzowitsch
Variation 113, 199
Sicilian Defense, Richter­
Rauzer Variation 96, 103,
118, 257
Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen
Variation 214, 304, 319
Sicilian Defense, Sozin
Variation 193, 261, 327
Sicilian Variation, Closed
Variation 236, 264
Slav Defense 26, 59, 63, 256,
267
Torre Attack 46
Two Knights Defense 71
Veresov Opening 54
 Index of Opening s-ECO Codes

AOO 266 B12 176, 182 CI6 211 D8O 27

AO4 217, 242 B13 40 CIS 120, 178 DS2 314
AO6 185 BIS 161, 165 C31 64 DS3 301
AIO 180 B19 241 C36 168 DS7 94
All 230 B22 84 C41 321
A13 72 B25 236, 264 C44 62 EO6 297
A14 272 B29 113, 199 C47 22, 88 EO9 318
A17 127 B42 290 cso 23, 55 Ell 263
AIS 41 B43 158, 247 C53 122 E12 174
A2O 311 B44 278 css 71 E14 303
A2S 18 B61 257 C64 219 E17 47
A3O 266 B63 96, 118 C79 197 EIS 215
A31 192 B67 103 CS3 99, 155, 239 E24 48
A33 294 B71 36 CS4 213 E26 5, 93, 100
A34 81, 299 B74 17, 30, 36 CS9 220 E3O 237
A36 86 B77 253, 259 C92 286 E31 222
A4O 244 BS2 235, 319 C94 102 E44 134
A43 74, 145 BS3 304 C9S 128, 270 E47 279, 282
A46 46, 60 BS4 214 ESO 238
A4S 68 BSS 327 DOO 54 E53 66
A49 105 BS9 193, 261 D1O 63, 256 E54 57
A52 16 B9O 125 D14 26, 267 E6O 79, 232, 301
A57 308 B92 58 D25 153, 173 E63 107, 249
A61 124 B93 69, 77 D2S 42 E64 181
A7O 141 B94 136, 147, 166 D29 146 E66 lll
A7S 114 B96 140 D31 289 E67 292
AS7 323 B97 330 D32 255 E7O 87
AS9 144 B99 114 D35 83, 220 E77 295
A9O 29 D37 35, 190, 281 ESO 104
A96 31 CO3 49, 80 D3S 130 ESI 210
A97 50 cos 274 D41 203 ESS 101
CO7 25, 296 D43 233 ES6 109
BOS 332 cos 52 D44 39, 203 ES7 91, 119
BO7 67 CO9 258 D45 171 E94 52
BIO 90, 152, 225 CIO 188 DSS 305 E95 154
Bll 28, 135, 138, 159 C l l 117, 202 D74 43 E9S 97

381
 General Index

Page numbers in bold italics indicate illustrations

Abramov, Lev 108, 125, 232 Beilin, Mikhail 35, 77, 168, 203, 262, 265, 308
''According to position," playing 17, 45, 81, 133, Belkadi, Ridha 84
159, 274 Belushi, John 230
Akopian, Andrannik 28 Benko, Pal 67, 100, 149, 192, 227
Akopian, Vladimir 175 Beria, Lavrenti 57, 164
Alatortsev, Vladimir 305 Bernstein, Ossip 84
Alberto, Roman Toran see Toran Alberto, Bertok, Mario 146
Roman Bhend, Edwin 140
Alekhine, Alexander 22, 24, 141, 182, 271 Bisguier, Arthur 85, 117, 194
Alexandrov, Alexander 75 Bjelica, Dimitrije 277-8, 316
Alkhimov, Alexander 231 Blagidze, Alexander 53
All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Blindfold chess 18, 23, 34, 211, 261-2
Physical Training 313 The Blues Brothers 230
American Chess Foundation 293 Boleslavsky, Isaac 11, 52, 68, 73, 76, 94, 118-20,
Antoshin, Vladimir 321-2 122, 134, 157, 162, 201, 205, 241, 277, 280-2,
Arkhangelsky, Boris 35 284-87, 330
Armenian Championship 28-29 Bondarchuk, Sergei 83, 231
Armenian chess federation 208 Bondarevsky, Igor 24, 50, 58, 66, 83, 85, 102, 151,
Aronin, Lev 41, 90, 114, 174, 176 166, 175, 184, 187, 197-8, 212-4, 220, 234-6,
Arzumanian, Ashot 133-4 241, 245, 252, 258, 272-4, 273, 279-80, 282,
Asrian, Valery 61, 133, 205 284, 287, 291, 321, 324-6, 334
Averbakh, Yuri 1-2, 5-7, 9, 12, 46, 52-3, 61, 76, Borba 144
81, 86, 88-91, 105-6, 116, 122, 124, 127-8, 134, Borisenko, Georgy 12
143-4, 146, 148-9, 151, 176, 187, 194, 201, 204, Botvinnik, Mikhail 11, 25, 34, 58, 66, 68-9, 75,
211, 214, 233, 242, 253, 288, 310, 312, 316-7, 321, 77, 88, 93, 96, 101, 107, lll-2, 123, 128-9, 131,
327, 335 132, 133-4, 140-3, 157, 163-7, 163, 168, 176-80,
Azbel, Zelda 19 187, 195, 201, 203-8, 211, 224, 236, 242-4, 250,
269, 294, 301, 304, 307, 309, 317, 320, 325, 327,
Babadzhanian, Arno 231 335
Bagirov, Vladimir 13, 154, 199, 278 Brinck-Claussen, Bj0rn 234
Bagramian, Ivan 206, 274 Bronstein, David 5-6, 8, 21, 43, 52, 57, 66-8, 72,
Bakh, Alexander 116, 260 83, 88, 91, 94, 107-9, lll-2, 115-7, 120, 122-3,
Bannik, Anatoly 13, 46, 121, 206 127, 131, 136, 146, 149, 152-3, 156, 161, 169, 177,
Barden, Leonard 91, 238, 258, 320 182, 298-9, 301, 312
Batuev, Andrei 22-3, 105 Bulletin of the Central Chess Club 185, 265
Baturinsky, Viktor 291-3, 309, 317, 321 Buslaev, Alexander 17, 28
The Beatles 230 Bykova, Elizaveta 168
Bebchuk, Yevgeny 307 Byrne, Robert 314, 333

382
 General Index 383

Cafferty, Bernard 299 European Team Championship 180-1, 224, 297

Calero, Ivan 209 Euwe, Max 69, 76, 109, 164, 197, 222, 241, 286-7,
Canadian Chess Chat 194 294-5, 310, 326
Candidates matches: 1965-10, 102, 215, 218, Evans, Larry 85, 102, 117, 201
222-3, 234-7, 254, 280, 312, 319; 1968-11, 215, Exchange sacrifice 10, 44, 45, 49, 58-9, 67, 69,
262-5, 267-74, 269; 1971-305-7, 309-17, 310, 72, 76, 99, lll, 115, 138, 152, 154, 176, 211, 238,
320; 1974-211, 241, 335; 1977-336; 1980-211 272, 315
Candidates tournaments: 1953-70, 76, 83, 97;
1956-102, 106-8, lll, 133; 1959-2, 26, 127, Fateeva, Natalya 323
130, 143-9, 159; 1962-3, 108, 137, 152, 156, FIDE 117, 128, 130, 187, 216, 267, 276, 293, 326
187-96, 189, 203, 205, 227 Filip, Miroslav 103, 188
Capablanca, Jose 17, 24, 45, 81, 91, 140-1, 153, Filipowicz, Andrzej 164, 260
166, 252 Fischer, Bobby 1-2, 10-1, 51, 53, 110, 123-4, 125,
Cardoso, Rodolfo 131 126, 127-8, 148-9, 151-2, 161, 163-4, 170, 171,
Carlsen, Magnus 268 174-5, 182-3, 186-7, 190, 193-6, 201, 220, 224,
Caruso, Enrico 244 238, 249-50, 252-3, 255, 259, 266, 277, 293,
Castro, Fidel 141, 252 294-7, 301-4, 309-17, 318, 320-l, 322, 323-34,
Central Chess Club 69, 123, 137, 142, 218, 291, 335-6, 353
295, 303, 326 Fizkultura i Sport 196
Central Committee (Communist Party) 214, 216, Flohr, Salo 7, 16, 45, 81, 117, 139, 160, 178, 208
217, 231, 267, 321, 335 Fridman, Rosa 21
Chalyapin, Fyodor 244 Fridshtein, German 270
Cheating, suspicions of 31, 51, 54-5, 103-4, 106, Frumkin, Anatoly 188
154, 156, 192, 297, 303, 310-2 Furman, Semyon 61, 82, 101, 201, 274, 280, 293,
Chebanenko, Vyacheslav 314, 330 329
Chekhover, Vitaly 64
Cherepkov, Alexander 71 Gagarin, Yuri 179
Chess Archives 164 Gavrilov, Andrei 29, 125, 207-8, 229, 337
Chess Is My Life 2, 30, 94, 117, 154, 156, 172, 190, Geller, Alexander 275
196, 233, 270, 297, 310, 314 Geller, Oksana 205, 281
Chess Life! Chess Life & Review 189, 207, 311 Geller, Yefim 1-2, 11-2, 43-6, 51-3, 57, 58-61, 66,
Chess Oscar 277 68-9, 71-2, 76, 79, 82-3, 85, 86, 88, 92-5, l03,
Chess Praxis 17-8 108, 110-12, 118, 122-3, 128, 136, 146, 154-6, 160,
Chess Review 69, 110, 170, 197, 199, 225, 228-9 162, 175, 181-2, 184, 187-8, 190, 193-6, 200-1,
Chessmetrics.com 3, 29, 353 203, 205, 209, 211, 223-4, 234-5, 239, 241, 254,
Chigorin, Mikhail 24, 64 259, 264-5, 267, 271, 275, 277, 281, 284-5, 288-
Chistiakov, Alexander 44 9, 302, 304-6, 3 06, 313, 325-30, 332
Churchill, Winston 87 Georgia Championship 17-18, 25-7, 291
Ciric, Dragoljub 199 Gik, Evgeny 183, 300
Communist ideology 12, 53, 102, 141, 160, 267 Ginzburg, David 9, 122
Communist Party membership 19, 224, 291 Giorgadze, Tengis 25-6, 76, 205
Cuellar, Miguel 187 Gipslis, Aivars 97-8, 124-5, 188, 254-5
Gliekhman, Joseph 270
Damjanovic, Mato 224 Gligoric, Svetozar 31, 87, 104, lll, 127, 141, 145,
Davidovich, Bella 165-6 157, 210, 237, 243, 259, 262-3, 308
Davis, Angela 309 Goglidze, Sergo 66
Demichev, Pyotr 321, 326 Goglidze, Viktor 66, 290
Divinsky, Nathan 194 Goldberg, Grigory 75, 166
"Doctors Plot" 15-6, 132 Golombek, Harry 206-7
Donner, J.H. 141-2 Golz, Werner 171
Dorazil, Wilfried 227 Gorbachev, Mikhail 321
Dubeck, Leroy 326-7 Gorky Park 116
Dvoretsky, Mark 225 Gorshkov, Sergey 200-1, 204
Dymov, Gennady 24 Grandmaster draw 42, 44, 70, 74, 76, 171, 175,
188, 190, 224, 230, 257, 274, 286, 289, 292, 297,
Ebralidze, Archil 16-7, 23, 28, 40 307, 310
Edmondson, Ed 205, 327 Grandmaster title 71, 103, 105, 115, 117, 175
Estrada Theater 206, 240, 281, 283 Grossmeister 323
Estrin, Yakov 62 Guevara, Che 252
384 General Index

Gufeld, Eduard 60, 147, 154, 184-5, 265, 275
Gurgenidze, Bukhuti 115, 166, 291
Hecht, Hans-Joachim 201
Horowitz, Al 85, 101
Hort, Vlastimil 259, 274
Housing problems 15, 19, 117, 162, 184, 212, 239
Hiibner, Robert 302, 307
Ilivitsky, Georgy 95
Interzonal tournaments: 1952-57, 60, 69-70;
1955-95, 102-3; 1958-5-6, 117-8, 123-4, 126,
126-32, 146; 1962-146, 187; 1964-214, 216-9,
313; 1967-254, 259-60, 301; 1970-301; 1976
(playoff) -191
Iosifian, Andronik 231
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 249
Ivkov, Borislav 61, 128, 151, 227
Ivonin, Viktor 325
Jansa, Vlastimil 168, 224
Kadar, Janos 232, 295, 303
Kalantar, Karen 28
Kamyshov, Mikhail 55
Kan, Ilya 55
Karpov, Anatoly 10, 24, 28, 94, 101, 239-41, 270,
303-5, 308, 310-1, 312-3, 318, 323, 326-7, 329,
335-6
Kashdan, Isaac 210, 249-50
Kasparian, Genrikh 28-9, 44
Kasparov, Garry 3, 8, 10, 59, 94, 121, 149, 172,
222-3, 225, 246, 272, 286
Keres, Paul 1-2, 17, 27, 39, 45, 49-50, 57, 59-60,
64-8, 72-3, 76, 84, 88, 99, 102, 107-8, 110-3,
117, 121, 128, 131, 141, 144-9, 181, 184, 187-8,
190-l, 194-6, 200-l, 203, 205, 210-l, 220, 222-
3, 237, 241-2, 255, 271, 284, 297, 303-4, 307,
308, 312, 325, 330
KGB 32, 65, 85, 102, 153, 181, 184, 200, 204, 211,
216, 224, 234, 260, 291, 307, 309, 322, 326
Khachaturian, Aram 206, 309
Khalifman, Alexander 127
Khasin, Abram 12
Khenkin, Viktor 272, 314
Kholmov, Ratmir 13, 82, 105, 115, 136, 248, 256,
261
Khrushchev, Nikita 91, 123, 160, 214
Khrushchoba 162, 212
Kirillov, Valentin 90, 270
Kirov Park 33
Klages, Jiirgen 96
K!avit;ts, Janis 78, 125, 167
Klovans, Janis 213
Koblents, Alexander 6-7, 40, 51, 79, 90, 98, 112,
115-6, 118-22, 126-31, 140, 143, 146, 148-9, 157,
159, 164, 168, 171-2, 176, 225, 228, 260
Kolobov, Nikolai 45
Koltanowski, George 85, 294
Kommunalka 19, 32, 162
Komsomol 12, 32, 66, 224, 307
Komsomolskaya Pravda 187, 314
Konstantinopolsky, Alexander 71, 81
Kopilov, Nikolai 57
Korchnoi, Bella (wife) 117, 192, 201, 232
Korchnoi, Igor (son) 154
Korchnoi, Lev (father) 13, 18-20
Korchnoi, Viktor: childhood 2, 11, 18-23; death
337; education 21, 53, 203; family 18-20, 154;
health 21, 47, 82, 98, 208, 259; introduction to
chess 19; memory 21-2; personality 10-11, 21,
24, 94, 156-7, 209, 307, 312; photographs 41,
55, 199, 251, 269, 293, 306, 308, 310, 322;
playing style 10, 24, 71-2, 80, 95, 99, 113, 203,
214, 222; relations with Petrosian 10, 41, 51, 79,
137, 239, 277, 297, 309-13, 336-7; relations
with Soviet authorities 200-1, 232, 251, 313; re­
lations with Spassky 10-1, 34, 36, 106, 175, 185,
272, 320, 325-6, 334, 336; relations with Tal 10,
75-6, 98-9, 99-100, 120, 209, 250-1, 268-71;
relations with trainers 22-3
Korchnoi, Zelda (mother) 18
Korchnoi's 400 Best Games 36
Koroleva, Shura 244
Kotov, Alexander 6, 57, 68, 70, 88, 110, 118, 137,
162, 185, 195, 214, 297, 313
Kots, Yuri 197
Kovacevic, Vladimir 297
Krabbe, Tim 106
Kramnik, Vladimir 172, 288
Krogius, Nikolai 104, 125, 155, 203, 204, 250, 254,
279, 313, 321, 324-6, 328-30, 333
Kruskops, Janis 39-40
Kuperman, Iser 134, 230-1
Kupreychik, Viktor 157
Landau, Sally 2, 37-38, 65, 132, 137, 139-40, 142-
3, 147, 149-52, 157-8, 164, 166, 169, 178, 183,
194, 216-7, 232, 291, 323, 337
Larsen, Bent 11, 122, 126-7, 136, 218, 227-8, 259-
60, 267-8, 276-7, 282, 294, 310, 313
Lasker, Emanuel 10, 21, 24, 81, 252
Latyntceva, Nadezhda 151
Lazarev, Yefim 162, 216
Lein, Anatoly 254
Lenin 102
Leningrad Pioneer Palace 11, 16, 22-4, 33, 36, 66,
71, 94, 166, 184, 305
Levenfish, Grigory 24, 36, 102
Lilienthal, Andrei 45, 57, 61, 67, 76, 79, 134, 139
Linder, Isaac 2, 148
Linder, Vladimir 2, 148
Literaturnaya Gazeta 185
"Living" chess 209
Ljubojevic, Ljubomir 148
Lokomotiv sports society 212, 321
Lombardy, William 167
Lutikov, Anatoly 51, 110
 General Index 385

Lyubov i Shakhmaty, Elegiya Mikhaila Talya 1966-1, 250-2, 251; 1968-1, 4, 274-5; 1970-
132 293; 1972-323
Osnos, Vyacheslav 157, 270, 306
Makogonov, Mikhail 45
Makogonov, Vladimir 44-6 Pachmann, Ludek 209
Malich, Burkhard 170, 224 Panno, Oscar 130-1
Malkin, Viktor 169, 217, 243, 279, 335 Panov, Vasily 48
Marianske Lazne 188, 1 99 Pavey, Max 101
Marovic, Drazen 199 Pavlov, Alexander 284
Marshall, Frank 10, 64, 220 Pavlov, Sergei 321, 327, 329
master title, international 63, 74-5, 82 Penrose, Jonathan 171
master title, Soviet 29, 31, 55, 63, 78, 88-90 Peron, Juan 83
Matanovic, Aleksandar 129 Petrosian, Hmayak (brother) 15
Matulovic, Milan 260, 294, 324 Petrosian, Mikhail (son) 50, 195-6, 206, 229-31,
Mecking, Henrique 268 288
Mednis, Edmar 101 Petrosian, Rona (wife) 50, 61, 88, 95-96, 119-20,
Messing, Wolf 234-6 134-5, 162, 180, 183, 192, 195, 201, 205, 207-9,
Mihailov, Nikolai 66 219, 229, 229-32, 244, 250, 281, 287, 297, 316
Mikenas, Vladas 149 Petrosian, Tigran: Armenia and Armenians 27-
Mikhalchishin, Adrian 110 9, 44, 83, 133-6, 206-7, 209-10; chess "hunger"
Mikoyan, Anastas 231 205, 241; childhood 15-8; deafness 15, 125;
Milic, Borislav 96, 102 death 337; depression 243, 317; education 24,
Milner-Barry, Philip 87 28, 210, 274; health/physical training 23, 82,
Model, Abram 35, 37 85, 125, 195, 205, 208, 278, 317, 337; hobbies 23,
Moiseev, Oleg 12 229-30; introduction to chess 24; intuition
Molotov, Vyacheslav 110 70, 303, 316; nerves 9, 11, 196, 242, 278, 288,
Moscow Circus 179 316-7; personality 8, 12, 18, 25-28, 45, 76-7,
Moscow Pioneer Palace 240 82, 92, 133, 211-2, 229-31, 266, 285, 312; photo­
My Great Predecessors 2, 59, 149 graphs 57, 86, 126, 132, 166, 189, 207, 209,
My 60 Memorable Games 148 229, 240, 251, 283, 293, 310; playing style 10,
40, 45, 48, 52, 77, 86-7, 92, 108, 122, 277, 303;
Nadareishvili, Gia 137, 275 relations with Korchnoi 17, 41, 51, 79, 137, 239,
Najdorf, Miguel 76, 83, 106, 171, 183, 197, 237, 277, 297, 309-13, 336-7; relations with Spassky
294 8, 15, 220, 326, 334; relations with Tal 17, 88,
nardy 15, 229, 231 112, 147, 191; relations with trainers 17, 40, 134,
Nedelya 229 205, 241, 280, 285, 316-17
Nei, Iivo 29, 324-6, 328-31, 334 Petrosian, Vartan (father) 15-6
Neishtadt, Yakov 61 Petrosian, Vartan (son) 61, 92, 229-31, 242, 266
New York Times 85, 250 Petukhov, Angelina (Gelya) 37, 118, 300, 303-4,
Nezhmetdinov, Rashid 82 323, 335
Nikitin, Alexander 12, 32, 40, 41, 50, 65, 73, 75, Piatigorsky, Gregor 210, 249
102, 153, 167, 175 Piatigorsky, Jaqueline 210, 249
Nikolaevna, Tatiana 83 Pilnik, Herman 67
Nimzowitsch, Aron 17, 24, 117, 274 Pioneers, Young 11-2, 15-6, 21, 24, 26, 33, 39, 44,
NKVD 32 66, 71, 94, 166, 184, 240, 318
Noakh, Mikhail 47 Plachetka, Jan 168
Novopashin, Arkady 221 Plisetskaya, Maya 309
Novosti news agency 243 Politburo 214
nyevyezdny 167, 187, 217, 232, 303, 335 Politika 110
Polugaevsky, Lev 11, 12, 140, 174-5, 186, 203, 224,
Obukhova, Nadezhda 244 230, 248, 251, 251-2, 260, 289-90, 297, 330
Ogonyok 117, 133 Pontanin, Andrei 133
Oistrakh, David 83, 231 Popov, Oleg 179
O'Kelly, Alberic 245, 272, 287 Portisch, Lajos 12, 67, 99, 101, 217-8, 225, 259, 295
Olafsson, Fridrik 130-1, 146, 212 Postnikov, Dmitry 63, 73, 85, 102
Oliver, Maria Rosa 161 Pravda 307
Olympiads: 1950-83, 91; 1952 69, 83; 1954-83, psychology, chess 8, 39, 99-100, 129, 148-9, 169,
85, 100; 1956 lll; 1958-131, 132; 1960-46, 227, 245, 285, 328
170, 170-2; 1962-119, 200-2; 1964 219-20; Pushkin Theater 163, 164
386 General Index

Quinones, Oscar 219 17th 43-7; 18th 49-50; 19th 52-3, 55-60; 20th
62, 67, 71-3; 21st 79-83; 22nd 93-5; 23rd 98,
Ragozin, Vyacheslav 79, 144 104-6; 24th 5, 112-117, 119, 149, 206; 25th 5-9,
Rakhmaninoff, Sergei 38, 132, 166, 337 7, 37, 117-123; 26th 134-37; 27th 152-6; 28th
Razuvaev, Yuri 116, 120 173-6, 219; 29th 185-6; 30th 203-4; 31th 213;
Reshevsky, Samuel 10, 101-2, 106, 161, 237, 264, 32th 239, 247; 34th 254; 35th 269; 37th 288-
294 9; 38th 299-300, 303; 41st 336
Reshko, Aron 25, 138-9, 199 The Soviet Championships 299
Ridin, Vladimir 85 Soviet Chess Federation 64, 78, 104, 166, 185,
Riga Pioneer Palace 39, 116, 260 194, 210, 214, 232, 262, 267, 276, 291
risk in chess 62, 77, 96, 112, 171, 180, 277-80, 285, Soviet Junior Championship 25, 56, 79
289, 294, 298 Soviet Life 199
Robeson, Paul 87 Soviet Union (magazine) 150
Rokhlin, Yakov 35 Sovietskaya Rossiya 185
Romanovsky, Pyotr 41-2, 72, 141, 153, 156 Sovietsky Sport 72, 242, 285, 336
Roshal, Alexander 10 Spartak sports society 44-5, 88, 229, 242, 312
Rovner, Dmitry 6, 118 Spasskaya, Ekatarina 32-3, 244
Rubinstein, Akiba 203 Spassky, Boris: acting ability/poker face 15, 245,
250, 264, 269, 314; childhood 11, 32-7, 321;
Sahovski Glasnik 109 education 75, 174, 204, 238; emotions/nerves
Sahs 168 15, 73-4, 174-5, 278, 281, 283-4, 309, 327, 334;
Saidy, Anthony 253 evacuation 32; family 11, 32-4; health/stamina
Saigin, Vladimir 88-90 95, 105, 174, 212, 294, 309, 337; hobbies/sports
Sakharov, Yuri 13, 168 17, 27, 95; introduction to chess 32-3;
Savon, Vladimir 289 intuition 42, 62, 96, 153, 200; laziness 11, 75,
Schmid, Lothar 266, 327 137, 238-9, 279, 320-1; "locomotive" 240, 280,
Serov, Alexey 265 326; marriages 151, 174, 212, 267, 336;
"Seven Steps Beyond the Horizon" 262 "melancholic" 247, 284, 331, 336; memory 175,
Shakespeare, William 247 279, 327, 330; personality 15, 33-4, 95, 108,
Shakhmatnaya Moskva 265, 303 197, 204, 213, 291, 320; photographs 7, 34, 41,
Shakhmatny Bulletin 125, 265 251, 273, 283, 288, 308, 322; playing style 10,
Shakhmatny Listok 204 41-2, 62, 64, 97, 101, 118, 203-4, 277; relations
Shakhmaty (Riga) 168 with Korchnoi 10-1, 34, 36, 106, 175, 185, 272,
Shakhmaty v SSSR 29, 34, 50, 53, 55, 55-6, 69, 320, 325-6, 334, 336; relations with Petrosian
109, 129, 133, 139, 153, 156, 161, 166, 174, 179, 8, 15, 220, 326, 334; relations with Soviet
194, 209, 240, 248, 250-l, 273, 283, 286, 288, authorities 9, 35-6, 63-4, 73, 102, 185, 200, 204,
293, 306, 308, 310, 322, 330 212, 214, 252, 292, 307-9, 336; relations with
Shamkovich, Leonid 254, 330 Tal S-9, 14, 17, 62, 201-2, 218, 234, 334;
Short, Nigel 6, 272 relations with trainers 33-4, 64-5, 184, 212-3,
Simagin, Vladimir 31-2, 69, 104-5, 116, 157, 169, 252, 279, 284, 324-31, 334; relations with
205, 323 women 108, 151, 238; writing 199, 207-8, 238
simultaneous exhibition 16, 34-6, 168, 224, 240- Spassky, Georgy (brother) 60
1, 252, 261, 292, 300 Spassky, Vasily (father) 32
64 46, 265, 271, 277, 282, 288, 291, 303 Sports Committee, USSR 76, 85, 95, 103-4, 121,
Skuratov, Oleg 22 123, 160, 162, 199, 208, 214, 224, 231, 277, 291,
Sliwa, Bogdan 71 294, 310-l, 313, 320-l, 324-6, 329, 334, 335-6
Smejkal, Jan 168 Sports Illustrated 190
Smyena 209 Stahlberg, Gideon 67, 87, 103
Smyrnov, Pavel 85 Stalin 13, 57, 66, 82, 91, 102, 307
Smyslov, Nadezhda 244 Stein, Leonid 11, 20, 162, 175, 184, 185, 187, 203-4,
Smyslov, Vasily 10, 36, 44, 53, 55, 55-7, 66, 68, 214-5, 218-9, 221-2, 224, 232-3, 251, 254, 257-
73, 76, 86-7, 108-12, 128, 131, 146, 184, 203, 214, 9, 293, 294, 303, 308
222-3, 237, 244, 255, 279, 286, 294, 325, 327 Stipends, government 12, 36, 291, 321
Sobolevskaya, Larisa 216, 225 Stoltz, Gi:ista 87
Soloviev, Larisa 258, 281, 334, 336 Stolyar, Yefim 121
Sorokin, Nikolai 26 Stolyarov, Sergei 83
Sosonko, Gennady 2, 32, 45, 51, 53, 61, 159, 254, Suetin, Alexey 68, 71, 89, 97-8, 118, 155, 203, 205,
260, 262, 265, 270, 288, 299, 306, 326, 337 211, 258, 285, 312, 314
Soviet Championship: 14th 23, 38; 16th 57-9; Suslov, Mikhail 214
 General Index
Sveshnikov, Evgeny 260
Szabo, Laszlo 67, 69-70, 73, 323
Taimanov, Mark 11-2, 16, 20-2, 24, 28, 33, 37-8,
50, 64, 66, 76, 82-3, 85, 87, 93-5, 103-6, 110-2,
117, 120, 122, 135, 139, 146, 151, 156-7, 160, 209,
216, 225, 247, 251, 254-5, 268, 289-91, 293,
299, 303-4, 313, 314, 316-7, 323, 337
Tal, Georgy (son) 90, 170, 225, 290, 323
Tal, Ida (mother) 7, 37-8, 98, 112, 116, 157, 216, 291
Tal, Mikhail: acting ability 148, 269, 323;
calculation 91, 115, 119, 129, 140; childhood 37-
9; death 337; drinking/drugs 143, 194, 269,
290, 304, 323, 336; education 38, 53-4, 125;
evacuation 71; family 22, 69-74; health 37-8,
110, 116, 118, 121, 143, 169, 176-8, 188, 194, 201,
208, 234, 237, 269, 285, 288, 290, 323, 335-7;
introduction to chess 38-9; intuition 91, 120,
140, 218, 227, 277; marriages 4, 149-50, 216,
220, 291, 300; memory 91, 168, 183, 227, 236,
262, 277; personality 4, 110, 112, 115, 118, 191-2,
217, 234, 297, 304, 323; photographs 7, 110,
126, 132, 139, 163, 168, 170, 189, 251, 269, 322;
playing style 10, 40, 48, 54, 77, 87, 91, 99, 101,
109, 115, 129, 140-3, 145, 169, 203, 222, 277, 303;
relations with Korchnoi 10, 75-6, 98-9, 99-
100, 120, 209, 250-1, 268-71, 336; relations
with Petrosian 17, 112, 147, 191; relations with
Soviet authorities 170, 208, 216-7, 251, 300, 335;
relations with Spassky 8-9, 14, 17, 62, 185, 201-
2, 218, 234, 334; relations with trainers 39-40,
65-6, 106, 120-1, 143-4, 148-9, 157, 159, 225,
227; relations with women 137, 151-2, 198, 216,
250-1, 300, 337; "sanguine" 247, 253, 261-2;
smoking 158, 177, 201, 323; writing 168, 206,
242, 276-7, 285, 289, 299-300
Tal, Nekhemya (father) 37-8, 98, 116, 140
Tal, Yakov (brother) 69, 116, 300
Tal, Zhanna (daughter) 323, 327
Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 163
Tarasov, Vitaly 31, 72
Tartakower, Savielly 21, 84
TASS 281
Tchaikovsky, Peter 205, 317
Terpugov, Evgeny 60
Terrazas, Filiberto 252
Tbilisi Pioneer Palace 12, 16, 26, 240
Timman, Jan 192
Tolush, Alexander 6, 11, 35, 56, 64-6, 73-4, 76,
96-98, 105-6, 108, 115-7, 119, 124, 153, 174, 184,
284, 325, 329
Tolush, Valentina 64, 156, 166, 184
Toran Alberto, Roman 132
Tournaments, International (individual):
Budapest 1952 66; Bucharest 1953 11, 73-5;
Belgrade 1954 82, 91-2; Bucharest 1954 71;
Hastings 1955-56 103; Moscow 1956 lll-2;
Riga 1959 158-9; Zurich 1959 140-2; Beverwijk
1960 160; Buenos Aires 1960 161; Copenhagen
387
1960 160; Mar del Plata 1960 164; Bled 1961
181-3, 212; Budapest 1961 181; Hastings 1961-2
197; Havana 1962 197-8; Havana 1963 198-9,
199, 208, 216; Miskolc 1963 208; Piatigorsky
Cup 1963 210-1; Buenos Aires 1964 220;
Gyula 1965 232; Yerevan 1965 233; Zagreb
1965 230; Hastings 1965-6 237, 246;
Kislovodsk 1966 247; Palma de Mallorca 1966
253; Piatigorsky Cup 1966 249-50, 279; Sochi
1966 248; Leningrad 1967 256; Moscow 1967
256-8; Bamberg 1968 266; Palma de Mallorca
1968 277; Wijk aan zee 1968 261; Havana 1969
277; Luhacovice 1969 277; Palma de Mallorca
1969 292; San Juan 1969 292; Sarajevo 1969
277; Tbilisi 1969-70 290; Amsterdam 1970
297; Hercegnovi 1970 295-6, 301; Leiden 1970
295; Rovinj -Zagreb 1970 297; Gi:iteborg 1971
292; Moscow 1971 292, 318-20; Piarnu 1971
303; Tallinn 1971 303; Wijk aan Zee 1971 302;
Hastings 1971-2 311, 323; Amsterdam 1972 311;
Palma de Mallorca 1972 311; San Antonio 1972
323; Sarajevo 1972 323; Wijk aan Zee 1972 321;
Tal Memorial (Moscow) 2011 251, 261; Tal
Memorial (Moscow) 2016 201
Trifunovic, Petar 225-6
Tringov, Georgi 219
Trud (newspaper) 237
Trud sports society 64
Tukmakov, Vladimir 322
"Uncle Robert" 6, 37-8, 110, 132, 137, 140, 149,
169, 194, 291
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)-
Argentina match 83
USSR- France match 84
USSR-Great Britain match 87
USSR-Hungary match 100
USSR-Rest of the World match 10, 139, 293, 294
USSR-Sweden match 87
USSR-Uruguay match 83-4
USSR-USA matches 82, 85-7, 86, 100-1, 160,
201, 252 293
USSR-Yugoslavia match 110
USSR Cup 299
United States Chess Federation 205, 293, 326
Vaitonis, Povilas 69
Validol 196
Vasilchuk, Yuri 25, 28
Vasiliev, Viktor 2, 17, 53, 116, 203, 243
Vasiukov, Yevgeny 104, 110, 123, 142-3, 156, 180,
301, 308, 330
Vatnikov, Josef 208
Vechernyaya Moskva 261
Veinstein, Boris 8, 122-3
Veksler, Roma 142
Velimirovic, Dragoljub 262-3
Vishnevsky, Alexander 231
Vokuchava, Aleksandr 275
388 General Index

Volpert, Larisa 34, 65-6 Yakovlev, Alexander 321

Vukovic, Vladimir 144 Yanofsky, Abe 187
Vysotsky, Vladimir 209 Yatsekevich, Oleg 22
Yerevan Pioneer Palace 45
Wagner, Richard 208, 244 Yudovich, Mikhail 166
World Championship matches and tournaments:
1921-252; 1948-39; 1951-lll, 312; 1957- Zagainov, Rudolf 157, 241
108; 1958-128; 1960-5, 163, 163-6; 1961- Zaitsev, Igor 203
176-9; 1963-113, 204-8; 1966-18, 97, 237, Zaitsev, Lev 76, 85, 86
240-6, 329; 1969-273, 280-7, 316-7, 329; Zak, Vladimir 23-25, 33-4, 36, 39-40, 50-1, 64,
1972-11, 317 66, 222, 237, 284
World Junior Championship 79, 96, 101-2, 304 Zakarian, Yanik 208
World Student Championship 66 Zonal tournaments 5, 57, 95, 117, 173, 185, 213-6,
World Student Team Championship 79, 84-5, 218, 254, 288
95-7, 109, 116, 124, 166, 197, 199, 261 Zorin, Leonid 288, 323
World War II evacuations 20, 32