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Mark Taimanov vs Tigran Petrosian
"Taim the Tiger" (game of the day Dec-20-2014)
Zuerich Candidates (1953), Zuerich SUI, rd 20, Oct-06
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Bernstein Defense (E58)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 36 times; par: 61 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-17-05  sneaky pete: <patzer2> See Game Collection: "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess" by R. Spielmann compiled by <mjk> to see the clear jargon used by the (unnamed) American translator.
May-14-09  WhiteRook48: 40 Kf2!!!
Oct-13-09  WhiteRook48: who needs the second rook anyway?
Jul-19-12  Memethecat: 24.Ba4 a great move, among many great moves.
Feb-17-13  shatranj7: 26. BxR deserves three exclams, considering that if 26...QxQ, then 27.BxB ch. K-R1. 28. BxQP, and now white has deadly passers, and will soon win the exchange of black's rook for bishop. Excuse the descriptive notation, but I'm trying to learn it, so I've been using it lately. Studying "My System."
Dec-20-14  kyg16: 40. Kf2!!! Beauty at its most.
Dec-20-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: OK, I'll bite. What was wrong with 24...Bd7 ?
Dec-20-14  RookFile: I'm glad that no all of Petrosian's exchange sacs worked. Otherwise, the guy would have us thinking that a bishop was stronger than a rook.
Dec-20-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <Dec-20-14
Premium Chessgames Member al wazir: OK, I'll bite. What was wrong with 24...Bd7 ?>

25.e6 Qxe6 26.Qd8+

Dec-20-14  Abdel Irada: <RonB52734: Also, Eskimos are said to have many words for "snow.">

Surprisingly, it turns out that Eskimos have no more lexemes for "snow" than most languages.

Dec-20-14  Moszkowski012273: 23...Nc8 looks purty purty bad.
Dec-20-14  Abdel Irada: Perhaps, but can you suggest another way for Black to avoid death on g7?

Dec-20-14  morfishine: Obvious and tired puns like "Tall" for "Tal" are rarely funny
Dec-20-14  Tigranny: A model game for how to play the Nimzo Indian as White.
Dec-20-14  varishnakov: 40.K-B2 cool as a cucumber
Dec-20-14  kevin86: A deadly rook file mate is in the offing.
Dec-20-14  Skisuitof10: After 24...Bd7 25.e6 Najdorf's tournament book, p258. It also states that this games won the 2nd Brilliancy Prize...
Dec-21-14  lost in space: <<al wazir>: OK, I'll bite. What was wrong with 24...Bd7 ?>

24...Bd7 25. e6 Qxe6 26. Qd8+ Qe8 27. Qxe8+ Bxe8 28. Bxe8 wins a piece


click for larger view

Dec-21-14  Cheapo by the Dozen: Going back to the translation discussion from a decade ago, "Schein" is German for "appear", which is why a Scheinopfer would be an apparent but not real sacrifice.

I might have guessed wrong on Nutzopfer, however, as Nutz also means necessity.

Feb-15-15  gprice: Funny coincidence that both games
in the tournament between these two
ended with the move Kf2.
1st game: 41 Kf2
2nd : 40 Kf2

also odd is Taimonov winning both
games, now that was difficult to do
against Petrosian.

Jul-23-16  Robyn Hode: Dominate the dark squares.
Oct-10-16  dashjon: I was going over this game as a side game to Reshevsky-Petrosian Zurich 53 round 2 in Kasparov's "My Greatest Predecessors III". I opened my worn Bronstien's Zurich 53, and read my notes from 1976. wow,awesome,wow.. * come back here! wow.. This is chess! wow Awesome! Kf2!! (Kg1-f2!!)
Dec-11-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  plang: 9..b6 was played in a number of game in this tournament but is rarely played nowadays. 11 Ne5 prepares the advance of the kingside pawns and attempts to exchange off the knight on c6 depriving Black of queenside counterplay with ..Na5 and ..Nc4. In the previous game with 11 Ne5, Stahlberg-Samisch Dresden 1936 (White won), White had responded to 11..Qc7 with 12 f4; 12 Nxc6 was new. Bronstein suggested 15..f5 as the most consistent follow-up to 14..Nd7 with sharp play with one idea to answer 16 e5 with 16..b5 followed by ..Nc4; instead Petrosian's 15..c4?! left him with bo active play. As it turned out White benefited from the opening of the queenside with 19..b5?!; 19..Nf8 was an alternative. With 21..Nb6 and 23..Nc8 Petrosian clearly underestimated White's attack.
Jan-26-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: I fell in love with this game via Bronstein's tournament book. One neat variation Bronstein pointed out at move 27:


click for larger view

27.Rh3 h6 28.Rg3 Kh7 29.Bf8!, or if 27....g6 then 28.Rb7!.

Bronstein sniffily called the conclusion <a trifle crude> and notes that 38.Kf2 is mate in four (<sneaky pete> also pointed out this move).


click for larger view

Tough critic! In the game continuation, after 38.h7+ Kxh7 39.Qxf7+, there's a sacrificial forced mate after 39....Kh6: 40.Kf2 Nxf4 41.Rh1+ Nh5 42.Rxh5+! gxh5 (42....Kxh5 43.Qh7+) 43.Bg5+! Kxg5 44.Qf6+ Kg4 45.Qg6+ Kf4 46.Qg3+ Ke4 47.Qe3# (SF10).

Najdorf gave 23....Nc8 two question marks in his (also excellent) tournament book, but the SF10 eval is already +2.47 at 39 ply after 23.Rf3. Back in 2005 <patzer2> gave some illustrative variations showing how the game might have gone after a stronger Black 23rd move.

Oct-30-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  scutigera: <Abdel Irada>: To be fair to the factoid consensus, each of the terms "Eskimo", "words", and "for snow" requires a lot of defining, but you are quite correct: C.W. Schultz-Lorentzen's 1926 "Dictionary of the West Greenlandic Eskimo Language" (available today in later editions with slightly different titles) contains precisely two relevant roots: "aput", meaning "snow on the ground" or "snowdrift"; and "qanik", meaning "snow in the air" or "snowflake". For further (enlightening and entertaining) information, consult linguistics professor (UC Santa Cruz at the time) Geoffrey Pullum's essay "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax", collected in a book of the same name, which cost me $10 in 1994 or so and which has repaid me manifold over multiple rereadings - so many, in fact, that I was able to quote all of the above without consulting it.
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