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Tigran Petrosian vs Pal Benko
HUN-URS (1955), Budapest HUN, rd 7, Jun-??
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Saemisch Variation (E26)  ·  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
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Kibitzer's Corner
Jan-23-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: Terrible massacre. If 26...fxe6, then 27.Rf8.
Oct-02-09  Lt.Surena: 8.. e5? The hole in d6. Perhaps 8.. d5 is better.

11.. Ba6?. Pawn to d6 is a must now.

12.Nh4! Major weakness at f5 is exposed. Petrosian explores it immediately.

18.Nxe5 !! Petrosian must have seen it several moves ago. Clearing the way for central pawns to advance. Black's position/game collapse here.

Oct-02-09  AnalyzeThis: 8...e5 was fine. It's actually a common idea in the Nimzo. It makes perfect sense for black, having traded off his dark squared bishop to put his central pawns on dark squares and close the position, which would benefit his knights.

You're right that 11....Ba6 was a mistake, and that 11....d6 was better. If black had played 11.... d6, he has a perfectly playable game.

Dec-19-10  xombie: These Nimzos seem to have brought out the most aggressive in Petrosian (or maybe the opening is like that). I am a little confused by 12. Nh4. It's the sort of move that would drive me nuts thinking about. 12.. Nxe4 can't be played immediately because of 13. Nf5. But what about it the move after? I disregard 14. Nxg6 because it opens up the h file without really much advantage (or so it seems). But the continuation 13 .. Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Qxh4 15. g3 Qe7 (to grab e5, because otherwise white gets the d5, e5 center) 16. Bf4 Qxe4 17. Re1 wins the Q. However, remarkably, Petrosian retreats the knight soon after. This sort of play is very difficult, knowing when to leave the knight on h4 and when to move it back. After 13 ... 0-0-0 black's position just collapses (and hence it's a mistake?) - the moves are all forced since 14. Nf3! threatens to take the e pawn, and saving it results in that devastating pin.

I am very happy to see these nuances.

Dec-19-10  xombie: I take it back that 14... 0-0-0 is a mistake. It seems that if black plays something else ... say 0-0, we might have seen the e5 continuation after Nf3, Bf4 etc. Hence, it appears that black was already lost by move 14 (as Honza says, by move 8 maybe). Need to look at the annotations if they exist.
Mar-30-13  Rick360: Holy smokes; this is even more crushing than Iron Tigran's impressive win over Benko in '59, also a Nimzo indian.
Oct-04-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Nice c4 gambit idea to make sure the dark square bishop is given a great chance to see its potential.

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