Sally Simpson: Five pages and no one appears to have mentioned one very important aspect of this game. Trivial Pursuit Question No.162.
Which World Championship game was moved to a back room away from the spectators. "Fischer - Spassky, Game 3 1972."
Wrong. That game was played in a quiet room with no spectators. This game was actually moved whilst it was still in progress to another room. The controllers had enough of trying to quieten the spectators whilst this game was progress so here, after White played 28.Kg1  click for larger viewThey moved the players, the pieces, the board and clocks into a closed room and the game continued on from there. One can only imagine the noise level for such drastic action to be taken and this must have had an affect on the players. Tal says the electric warning panel had been flashing 'Silence' since his Knight sac back at move 21. Here, with Black to play.
 click for larger viewA few here have commented that 28...Rxc3 wins outright. "Tal missed 28. ... Rxc3! and ... Rd1 to follow, which would have finished the game off immediately. Even the greatest tactician in history missed a few now and then!" Agreed and Tal accepts he missed it but adds "there was more than chess reasons for this." and then tells us the controllers carried out their threat to move the game off stage. (which does indicate the noise level up to move 28 had been increasing.) Instead of 28...Bf4 the crowd obviously saw 28...Rxc3 and erupted.
The game at this point was taken off stage.
Tal continues that he is not used 'to playing in Nomadic conditions.' and being moved in the heat of the battle. In 'When Pieces Come Alive.'
https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrow... Tals adds:
"Chess players know how a smallest annoying thing can totally ruin their game. And such a change in the conditions could upset anyone. When I sat at the board again, I couldn’t remember the variant I calculated. I had to begin anew and, of course, overlooked a spectacular strike that led to the immediate victory. Fearing to miss something, I played more simply and prosaically. Thankfully, that move also won." Of course the computers have been in and mauled this game to shreds right to the end but how does one program in noise levels (shout at it when it is calculating) or 'small annoying things' (put a Fritz icon on a Rybka start up program...) So all computer analysis should be ignored. There were external factors that cannot possibly be acknowledged by a glorified pocket calculator. And No. This enlightening post is not me having my monthly rant v computers it is about.... Conspiracy Theory Number 289.
Botvinnik is 1-0 down in a world title match. Tal has a clear cut winning combination on the board when suddenly the arbiter stops the clock and carries away the board.... Tal misses the combination. C'mon guys. This is better than 1948 and all that jazz. This is dynamite. |