The most bizarre game in the history of Chess!!
"It is usually thought that the prerequisites of chess creativity are logic, accurate calculation of variations, and technique, the latter including theoretical knowledge. There is a fourth component, however, perhaps the most attractive, although it is often forgotten. I have in mind intuition, or, if you like, imagination.
Sometimes, position occur that cannot be evaluated on the basis of such general principles as pawn weaknesses, open lines, better development, etc., for these positions are unequal in many areas and cannot be measured precisely. Similarly, a calculation of the variations cannot always be attempted. Suppose that a side has six or seven different continuations and that the opponent has five or six replies to any of them. It is not difficult to understand that even a genius cannot carry his calculations as far as the fourth move.
It is then that intuition, imagination, is called into play, which brings to the art of chess its most beautiful combinations and which permits chess players to experience the genuine joy of creation."
No marks for the correct guess of the author of the above quote......of course....it is David Bronstein!
Perhaps, the golden period of chess was between 1950 to 1980.....when the chess world was replete with many great players of diverse capabilities....we had the incorrigible Mikhail Tal on the one end and the nearly irrefutable systematician Botvinnik on the other end.....in-between these two extremes there were Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, Robert James Fischer, Bent Larsen, Svetozar Gligoric.....to name a few and I stop here as the list is quite long......needless to mention, the names that does not figure here are equally great....which includes the co-author of the game that we shall discuss below!
The latest fad in this "computer age" is to state that....these days, the defence technique has improved immensely and hence it is not possible to play like what they did earlier.....the 'knowledge of opening' lines has gone way beyond to produce games like what they did then.....
.....and yet, day in and day out, we see and get to hear players uttering, how difficult it was for them to comprehend the various positions during the game.....and the oft repeated cribbing....'there is a correct move here, in my file....but I forgot it'.
Perhaps, the advancement of computers and engines is doing great damage to the way human players think.....probably it is corroding it like the sea corroding into the land, surreptitiously....
As investigation and prognosis in medical field is getting tougher and errorful in this modern era....where they take great pride in the medical advancements....and yet are not able to diagnose, prevent or cure.... which should be the logical meaning of the word 'advancement'; so in chess, the investigation, understanding and conducting the play intuitively does not happen in line with the meaning of the word 'advancement'....
.....perhaps, this is a form a deeper delusion.....more importantly a mass-delusion, which is slowly affecting more and more people....
Meanwhile, let me maintain my 'iron stand' - chess could still be played the way they played then....and what it requires is only a liberation of mind from all conditioning and letting-go of all fears, cravings....be it for rating, ranking, titles, or even money....
.....an intellectual pursuit demands a clear, unconditional mind and only then it will be possible to explore anything with great freedom from 'what was' and 'what it needs to be'.....only then it is possible to let the imagination soar high and explore greater heights....
.....yes, one would lose, but one would also win a lot and the loss would only eat up few draws....no harm in letting-go fears absolutely, bordering on recklessness - for it will touch the realms of great beauty, both for the creator and for the onlooker!
This lengthy prologue is required for this extremely bizarre game....!
Lajos Portisch - Mikhail Tal, Interzonal at Amsterdam - 1964
1.Nf3 Nf6; 2.g3 d6; 3.d4 g6; 4.Bg2 Bg7; 5.OO OO; 6.c4 Bg4; 7.Nc3 Qc8; 8.Re1 Re8; 9.Qb3 Nc6; 10.d5 Na5; 11.Qa4 b6; 12.Nd2
I don't know:
a) whether this variation is extinct or still alive...
b) if alive, from which point and how it is assessed...
....but what I do know, is that, any assessment that is prevailing - at any point of time - is only short lived and will be overridden by something else. Change of perception....with the passage of time....and on the 'knowledge' gained through hindsight of what has happened from a particular point to the point of 'that present moment', where one is perceiving....is inevitable...
....and there is no business for the word 'correct' or 'wrong' to enter into this! For, what is correct now might (and will) turn wrong tomorrow and what is wrong will revert back to correct subsequently....
But, what we would also know is that, the ground is getting loosened up now....with.....!
12.....Bd7!?
If somebody wants to perceive and play chess the way Tal played, then what they require first and foremost, is loads of guts....and more importantly should never fear to lose....
Tal was a free-rock climber.....where one can either reach the top or the other option is to fall down and die! As a free-rock climber is sure of the firmness of the next crevice only when he gets his toe perched in it and is able to lift the other leg....so is Tal, who is
No middle-way....no considerations for rating, titles, etc....yes, they would come, but only as a bye-product!
The move ....Bd7 is the first step towards flirting with danger....the position of the Knight on a5 is not looking great and Tal's mind has started looking for ways to treat that 'disadvantage' as an opportunity.....to....
13.Qc3 c6; 14.b4 Nc4!!
Many annotators gave '?!' for this move....
...I wish to give '!!" and forewarn you not to take this double exclamation mark for the 'correctness'....for neither the great Tal...nor this novice who interprets knows not what is correct or wrong - the great creator knew how to create something which is both perplexing and beautiful and we know how to partake that perplexity to the limits of our perception and of course we are fully capable of ingesting the beauty!
Tal wrote, ".....having decided that the most important thing was to play the opening originally, I fully succeeded in my intention but then had to sacrifice to maintain the fire..."
15.Nc4 cd5; 16.Na3 d4!?
If you show glimpse of open lines for Tal, he will grab it with both hands and would handover material.... all he wanted was, open lines and freedom for his piece to express themselves!!
Here he grabs the c-file and the long light squared diagonal....and in return....
....got this position!
Neither he, nor Portisch....and certainly not us would understand what is happening....
The engine may give some 4.00 or 5.00....but it would amount for nothing in over-the-board play....
....what will aid you there is your fearlessness, the ability to deal with complexities... rid off any prejudice, craving for a conclusion and finite vision. For this very craving for finiteness, correctness is the breeding place of fear!
17.Ba8 Qa8; 18.Ncb5 Rc8; 19.Qd1 Ne4!
Now the other long diagonal opens out! Tal is a Rook down!
20.f3 a6; 21.Nd4 Qd5!? 22.Be3?!
Don't ask "why not 22.Bb2!?"....the player sitting on the other-side of the board was a great player too, and like any other player, would harbour apprehensions.....like....."If I put that Bishop on b2, will the pin on that Knight on d4 turn....?".
One may pretend, after a game is over....or whilst analysing the game in peaceful settings....but...
22.....Rc3!
Another attacker lands....what if he is a Rook down....as long as he has another, which does something important than that redundant one sitting on a1....raising doubts in the mind of his general who worries about the pin on that diagonal!
23.Ndc2 Qf5; 24.g4 Qe6; 25.Bd4 h5!!??
The dimension time is very important.....for given time, a side with material plus would consolidate....
26.Bg7! hg4??!
A pure gambling! Tal commented: "......with nothing to lose, I decided to break up White's position by the advance of my Rook's pawn..."
One can never say, why a player of Portisch strength could not see clearly the end position after the suggested next move (from what he played)....and what worried him there or prevented him before going there...
27.fe4 g3; 28.Qd2 gh2; 29.Kf2 Rh3; 30.Qf4!
or
27.Bc3 g3; 28.Qd4 gh2; 29.Kh1 Ng3; 30.Kg2
.....and instead play....
27.Nd4?!
.....which incidentally is also fair enough....for Tal has invested toooo much! Soon we will lose count of pieces...!!
27.....Qd5; 28.fe4 Qe4
Tal is a Rook and two pieces down and after 29.Bh6 Ra3; will still be a Rook and piece down!
But, Portisch decides to do something different...
29.Nf3? Qe3; 30.Kh1??
So much has happened in the past few moves that the King shivers to enter the battlefield....and decides to hide in a corner.....
30.....Bc6! 31.Rf1??
Has Portisch forgotten that he has other pieces too....that he could bring back his Bishop to d4 or take his Queen to d4!?
He obeys Tal's commands as if he got hypnotised!
31....Ra3?
Now it is Tal's turn to miss something....in time scramble! 31....gf3! for which he had put that Bishop on c6 would have done the trick....!
32.Qc1 gf3!!
What a position!
33.Qc6
Of course, 33.Qe3 loses to ......fe2!
At last, sanity is restored!
33.....Qe2; 34.Rg1 Kg7; 35.Rae1 Qd2; 36.Rd1 Qe2; 37.Rde1 Qd2; 38.Rd1 Qe2 Drawn
Perhaps, this is one of the most bizarre game to have ever been played, at top level chess!
What a game.....notwithstanding the innumerable mistakes!!
Tal wrote, "When the draw had been agreed, Portisch somewhat perplexed asked me whether he could have played better. I just waved my hands. Later, when he had cooled down after the game, Portisch admitted that he had been expecting my capitulation at any moment, and the fact that I did not resign had just put the normally calm Hungarian Grandmaster out of his stride."
Sometimes, position occur that cannot be evaluated on the basis of such general principles as pawn weaknesses, open lines, better development, etc., for these positions are unequal in many areas and cannot be measured precisely. Similarly, a calculation of the variations cannot always be attempted. Suppose that a side has six or seven different continuations and that the opponent has five or six replies to any of them. It is not difficult to understand that even a genius cannot carry his calculations as far as the fourth move.
It is then that intuition, imagination, is called into play, which brings to the art of chess its most beautiful combinations and which permits chess players to experience the genuine joy of creation."
No marks for the correct guess of the author of the above quote......of course....it is David Bronstein!
Perhaps, the golden period of chess was between 1950 to 1980.....when the chess world was replete with many great players of diverse capabilities....we had the incorrigible Mikhail Tal on the one end and the nearly irrefutable systematician Botvinnik on the other end.....in-between these two extremes there were Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, Robert James Fischer, Bent Larsen, Svetozar Gligoric.....to name a few and I stop here as the list is quite long......needless to mention, the names that does not figure here are equally great....which includes the co-author of the game that we shall discuss below!
The latest fad in this "computer age" is to state that....these days, the defence technique has improved immensely and hence it is not possible to play like what they did earlier.....the 'knowledge of opening' lines has gone way beyond to produce games like what they did then.....
.....and yet, day in and day out, we see and get to hear players uttering, how difficult it was for them to comprehend the various positions during the game.....and the oft repeated cribbing....'there is a correct move here, in my file....but I forgot it'.
Perhaps, the advancement of computers and engines is doing great damage to the way human players think.....probably it is corroding it like the sea corroding into the land, surreptitiously....
As investigation and prognosis in medical field is getting tougher and errorful in this modern era....where they take great pride in the medical advancements....and yet are not able to diagnose, prevent or cure.... which should be the logical meaning of the word 'advancement'; so in chess, the investigation, understanding and conducting the play intuitively does not happen in line with the meaning of the word 'advancement'....
.....perhaps, this is a form a deeper delusion.....more importantly a mass-delusion, which is slowly affecting more and more people....
Meanwhile, let me maintain my 'iron stand' - chess could still be played the way they played then....and what it requires is only a liberation of mind from all conditioning and letting-go of all fears, cravings....be it for rating, ranking, titles, or even money....
.....an intellectual pursuit demands a clear, unconditional mind and only then it will be possible to explore anything with great freedom from 'what was' and 'what it needs to be'.....only then it is possible to let the imagination soar high and explore greater heights....
.....yes, one would lose, but one would also win a lot and the loss would only eat up few draws....no harm in letting-go fears absolutely, bordering on recklessness - for it will touch the realms of great beauty, both for the creator and for the onlooker!
This lengthy prologue is required for this extremely bizarre game....!
Lajos Portisch - Mikhail Tal, Interzonal at Amsterdam - 1964
1.Nf3 Nf6; 2.g3 d6; 3.d4 g6; 4.Bg2 Bg7; 5.OO OO; 6.c4 Bg4; 7.Nc3 Qc8; 8.Re1 Re8; 9.Qb3 Nc6; 10.d5 Na5; 11.Qa4 b6; 12.Nd2
I don't know:
a) whether this variation is extinct or still alive...
b) if alive, from which point and how it is assessed...
....but what I do know, is that, any assessment that is prevailing - at any point of time - is only short lived and will be overridden by something else. Change of perception....with the passage of time....and on the 'knowledge' gained through hindsight of what has happened from a particular point to the point of 'that present moment', where one is perceiving....is inevitable...
....and there is no business for the word 'correct' or 'wrong' to enter into this! For, what is correct now might (and will) turn wrong tomorrow and what is wrong will revert back to correct subsequently....
But, what we would also know is that, the ground is getting loosened up now....with.....!
12.....Bd7!?
If somebody wants to perceive and play chess the way Tal played, then what they require first and foremost, is loads of guts....and more importantly should never fear to lose....
Tal was a free-rock climber.....where one can either reach the top or the other option is to fall down and die! As a free-rock climber is sure of the firmness of the next crevice only when he gets his toe perched in it and is able to lift the other leg....so is Tal, who is
No middle-way....no considerations for rating, titles, etc....yes, they would come, but only as a bye-product!
The move ....Bd7 is the first step towards flirting with danger....the position of the Knight on a5 is not looking great and Tal's mind has started looking for ways to treat that 'disadvantage' as an opportunity.....to....
13.Qc3 c6; 14.b4 Nc4!!
Many annotators gave '?!' for this move....
...I wish to give '!!" and forewarn you not to take this double exclamation mark for the 'correctness'....for neither the great Tal...nor this novice who interprets knows not what is correct or wrong - the great creator knew how to create something which is both perplexing and beautiful and we know how to partake that perplexity to the limits of our perception and of course we are fully capable of ingesting the beauty!
Tal wrote, ".....having decided that the most important thing was to play the opening originally, I fully succeeded in my intention but then had to sacrifice to maintain the fire..."
15.Nc4 cd5; 16.Na3 d4!?
If you show glimpse of open lines for Tal, he will grab it with both hands and would handover material.... all he wanted was, open lines and freedom for his piece to express themselves!!
Here he grabs the c-file and the long light squared diagonal....and in return....
....got this position!
Neither he, nor Portisch....and certainly not us would understand what is happening....
The engine may give some 4.00 or 5.00....but it would amount for nothing in over-the-board play....
....what will aid you there is your fearlessness, the ability to deal with complexities... rid off any prejudice, craving for a conclusion and finite vision. For this very craving for finiteness, correctness is the breeding place of fear!
17.Ba8 Qa8; 18.Ncb5 Rc8; 19.Qd1 Ne4!
Now the other long diagonal opens out! Tal is a Rook down!
20.f3 a6; 21.Nd4 Qd5!? 22.Be3?!
Don't ask "why not 22.Bb2!?"....the player sitting on the other-side of the board was a great player too, and like any other player, would harbour apprehensions.....like....."If I put that Bishop on b2, will the pin on that Knight on d4 turn....?".
One may pretend, after a game is over....or whilst analysing the game in peaceful settings....but...
22.....Rc3!
Another attacker lands....what if he is a Rook down....as long as he has another, which does something important than that redundant one sitting on a1....raising doubts in the mind of his general who worries about the pin on that diagonal!
23.Ndc2 Qf5; 24.g4 Qe6; 25.Bd4 h5!!??
The dimension time is very important.....for given time, a side with material plus would consolidate....
26.Bg7! hg4??!
A pure gambling! Tal commented: "......with nothing to lose, I decided to break up White's position by the advance of my Rook's pawn..."
One can never say, why a player of Portisch strength could not see clearly the end position after the suggested next move (from what he played)....and what worried him there or prevented him before going there...
27.fe4 g3; 28.Qd2 gh2; 29.Kf2 Rh3; 30.Qf4!
or
27.Bc3 g3; 28.Qd4 gh2; 29.Kh1 Ng3; 30.Kg2
.....and instead play....
27.Nd4?!
.....which incidentally is also fair enough....for Tal has invested toooo much! Soon we will lose count of pieces...!!
27.....Qd5; 28.fe4 Qe4
Tal is a Rook and two pieces down and after 29.Bh6 Ra3; will still be a Rook and piece down!
But, Portisch decides to do something different...
29.Nf3? Qe3; 30.Kh1??
So much has happened in the past few moves that the King shivers to enter the battlefield....and decides to hide in a corner.....
30.....Bc6! 31.Rf1??
Has Portisch forgotten that he has other pieces too....that he could bring back his Bishop to d4 or take his Queen to d4!?
He obeys Tal's commands as if he got hypnotised!
31....Ra3?
Now it is Tal's turn to miss something....in time scramble! 31....gf3! for which he had put that Bishop on c6 would have done the trick....!
32.Qc1 gf3!!
What a position!
33.Qc6
Of course, 33.Qe3 loses to ......fe2!
At last, sanity is restored!
33.....Qe2; 34.Rg1 Kg7; 35.Rae1 Qd2; 36.Rd1 Qe2; 37.Rde1 Qd2; 38.Rd1 Qe2 Drawn
Perhaps, this is one of the most bizarre game to have ever been played, at top level chess!
What a game.....notwithstanding the innumerable mistakes!!
Tal wrote, "When the draw had been agreed, Portisch somewhat perplexed asked me whether he could have played better. I just waved my hands. Later, when he had cooled down after the game, Portisch admitted that he had been expecting my capitulation at any moment, and the fact that I did not resign had just put the normally calm Hungarian Grandmaster out of his stride."
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