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Paul Keres vs Tigran Petrosian
"Better Call Paul" (game of the day Apr-18-2018)
USSR Championship (1949), Moscow URS, rd 5, Oct-23
King's Indian Defense: Normal. King's Knight Variation (E60)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Feb-09-06  woodenbishop: Incredible end game by Keres. Had it not been for WWII, which fostered for millions of people a series of perilous events, Keres, based on games such as this one, surely would have stood a good chance of becoming world champion.

-Paul

Apr-14-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: This round 5 game was Petrosian's fifth straight loss to begin his first USSR Championship. Things would get better. And, when your opponents are Kotov, Smyslov, Flohr, Geller, and Keres, such a streak is not that unusual.
May-15-09  squizz: The king's position on h7 was very vulnerable with the open center. If the center was blocked, like it often is in the King's Indian defence, black would have had very good chances.
Mar-04-12  Garech: Great game between the two giants! An awesome attack from Keres against Petrosian and good activity on both sides of the board; I enjoyed going through it.

-Garech

Mar-23-12  ChessValley: What happens after 22 ... Qxd1, 23 Rxd1 Bxf5?
Black has a rook and 2 knights for the queen. That should be sufficient compensation. Any suggestions?
Mar-23-12  stanleys: <ChessValley> The knight on e5 is hanging at the end of your line
Mar-25-12  ChessValley: <stanleys> Thanks for pointing that out.
Apr-26-17  Marmot PFL: Petrosian's fifth straight loss to start the USSR ch. Has any other future WC ever lost five straight games?* Many players might have lost heart after such a start and given up chess entirely, but not Petrosian.

*Kasparov said he never lost three straight games until a match with Karpov, where he thought one of his seconds was selling his analysis to the enemy.

Apr-26-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <squizz: The king's position on h7 was very vulnerable with the open center...>

I don't understand why Petrosian played 11...Kg7. Looks premature to me. Why not mobilize his queenside or play for e5? But again, I often don't get Petrosian's positional subtleties.

Apr-26-17  Olavi: <Marmot PFL: Petrosian's fifth straight loss to start the USSR ch. Has any other future WC ever lost five straight games?*>

A reigning one has, Steinitz in the first match against Lasker.

Apr-18-18  ChessHigherCat: <Fusilli: <squizz: The king's position on h7 was very vulnerable with the open center...> I don't understand why Petrosian played 11...Kg7. Looks premature to me. Why not mobilize his queenside or play for e5? But again, I often don't get Petrosian's positional subtleties.>

I think black played 11...Kh7 to prepare for Nh5 or Ng8 to be followed by f5/e5. That's why white played 12. g4.

Apr-18-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp:


click for larger view

Petrosian suspected that White's next move was going to be 12.Qd2, attacking the pawn on h6. The only response to that would be 12...Kh7. Since he was not yet sure how to place his pieces and pawns, and because he didn't want to create any further weaknesses, he played 11...Kh7 immediately. This may well have been a bad decision. He was not on his best form at the start of this event.

Apr-18-18  goodevans: Nice game. Pathetic pun.
Apr-18-18  Ironmanth: The black queen was playing another game, I think! Great game between two titans.
Apr-18-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: <Better Call Saul

The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer, Jimmy McGill, in the time leading up to establishing his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.>

<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3032476/>

Apr-18-18  morfishine: Exciting game, but obviously Petrosian was not yet Petrosian, while Keres was polished and in good form

<offramp> I would've played <11...Nh7> and held my breath

*****

Apr-18-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: Q: What's your name?

A: It Saul Goodman!

Apr-18-18  ChessHigherCat: <Check It Out: Q: What's your name? A: It Saul Goodman!>

Pretty good. It would also work as the world's most ambiguous answer:

Ali-G: Is there be anything what you really love in this world?

A: It Saul Goodman!

Apr-18-18  cormier: <ChessValley: What happens after 22 ... Qxd1, 23 Rxd1 Bxf5?> 24.Bxe5 if ...Bxe5 25.Qxe5!
Apr-18-18  cormier: 1) =0.00 (40 ply) 11...e5 12.Qd2 e4 13.Nh2 h5 14.f3 Nb6 15.b3 d5 16.Rf2 Bf5 17.Raf1 exf3 18.Nxf3 Ne4 19.Nxe4 Bxe4 20.Ng5 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 dxc4 22.Rxf7 Qd5+ 23.Kh2 Rae8 24.Rxf8+ Rxf8 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Bf4 Ke7 27.Qc2 Qxd4 28.Qxg6 Qf2+ 29.Kh1 Qf1+ 30.Kh2 Qxe2+ 31.Kh1 Qf1+ 32.Kh2 Qf2+ 33.Kh1 Qf1+

60.0 minute analysis by Stockfish 9

Apr-18-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  sleepyirv: Better Call Saul is a great show, but I made the mistake to watch the entire third season over a weekend. You have to stretch it out.
Jan-23-21  tympsa: resigned 1 move before mate .And what were black queen and knight doing same time ? Just chilling on queenside : we dont care about our king anyway ...
Aug-20-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  WTHarvey: White mates in 3.


click for larger view

38. ?

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