(The commentary to this game, by and Aleksandr Koblencs, is from an article in '64' (№ 52, 1976), entitled 'Sixteen Years Latet', introduced by the journalist P. Dembo. The translation from the original Russian is by Douglas Griffin.)

It was a long time ago, yet not so long. Then too Mikhail Tal and his trainer Aleksandr Koblencs discussed such a game, then too they reminisced, analysed, questioned, differed in opinion, agreed, and once again argued.Only then Tal had played with another World Champion not a tournament game, but a match one and the board stood on a different stage. This was sixteen years ago.And here they once again follow their in old tracks and discuss with one another (while noting down their conversation): Tal - on what he thought on the stage, playing; Koblencs, on what he experienced in the playing hall, the press room - becoming anxious, giving up hope, and then regaining it.

Karpov – Tal 10th round, 44th USSR Championship, , 10th December 1976

Tal: How exactly I ought to play with Black against Karpov was clear. In principle, I had no objection to sharing the point, but to play for equality and to make a draw from a position of weakness - this is a thankless task. This therefore meant 1...c5 on 1.e4, and there remained only the choice of variation. The decision settled on the relatively old 'Rauzer' variation.

I think that my choice was an open secret. I had twice played this variation in the Interzonal Tournament, and it was quite possible to expect that a repetition would take place.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.Bd3 Be7 XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wqk+-tr0 7+-+-vlpzpp0 6p+lzppsn-+0 5+p+-+-vL-0 4-+-+PzP-+0 3+-sNL+-+-0 2PzPPwQ-+PzP0 1+-mKR+-+R0 xabcdefghy

All this had occurred previously. The Encyclopaedia recommends here 11...Qa5, but I am not an encyclopaedist, but a practical player, and I could not agree with this recommendation.

In the Interzonal White played 12.e5, and a draw was immediately agreed. I assure you that had Karpov played 12.e5, then after 12...dxe5 peace would not have been concluded.

(Translator’s note: Tal's opponent in the Interzonal Tournament in Biel was Vladimir Liberzon, who had emigrated to from the USSR in 1973. Any mention of his name in the Soviet press was avoided, whenever possible. The same fate would of course later befall Viktor Korchnoi.)

12.Rhe1 0–0 13.e5 dxe5 14.Qf2 XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-trk+0 7+-+-vlpzpp0 6p+l+psn-+0 5+p+-zp-vL-0 4-+-+-zP-+0 3+-sNL+-+-0 2PzPP+-wQPzP0 1+-mKRtR-+-0 xabcdefghy

Koblencs: From the face of Karpov's trainer, Semyon Furman, with whom I was sat side by side in the box, I understood that you had fallen into a trap. And then there were the participants surrounding your table, and their faces expressing sympathy. Furman added further fat to the fire, saying "You will not be disappointed if Misha is still holding on after 30 moves."

I was genuinely worried...

Tal: I too understood that I had been 'trapped'. Only then did it become clear to me that in principle, after 13.e5 dxe5, if White wishes to achieve something, there is no other continuation. While on the stage of the Central House of Culture of Railway Workers, I immediately did not like my situation after the move 14.Qf2.

Variations associated with it, such as 14...Nd5 15.Bxh7+ Kxh7 16.Rxd5 exd5 17.Qh4+ and 18.xe7, or 14...e4 15.Bxb5 Qc7 (here the queen sacrifice will not do) 16.Bxc6 Qxc6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nxe4, with no compensation for the pawn, appealed to me still less.

Frankly speaking, I too was worried. But then I calmed down, reflecting that Black has still not had time to make a single bad move, and he ought not to immediately be 'consumed by the flames'. The threat of 15.Bxh7+ features in a fairly large number of variations, but after all the main danger for Black lies not in xd8, but in Qh4+. Thus there appeared the idea of defending radically, playing

14...h6 XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-wq-trk+0 7+-+-vlpzp-0 6p+l+psn-zp0 5+p+-zp-vL-0 4-+-+-zP-+0 3+-sNL+-+-0 2PzPP+-wQPzP0 1+-mKRtR-+-0 xabcdefghy

Tal: By the time I had played this move, I had already calmed down sufficiently: the play would not be a 'one-way street'. If White wants to show that 14.Qf2 is indeed a move carrying a threat, then he must accept the challenge. The concrete variation is not difficult: 15.Bh7+ Kxh7 16.Rxd8 Rfxd8 17.Bxf6 Bxf6, and Black has an excellent position.

The matter would have been more complicated after 15.Bxb5, after which I had a choice. My spirit inclinded towards 15...axb5 16.Rxd8 Rfxd8 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.fxe5 Bg5+ 19.Kb1 b4 20.Qb6 (otherwise the compensation for the queen is visible to the naked eye) 20...bxc3 21.Qxc6, and now either 21...cxb2, or 21...Rc8 or 21...Bd2.

But it was also possible to play 15...Qc7 16.Bxc6 Qxc6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.fxe5 Be7, and White has a weak pawn at e5. This, for example, would tell in the case of 19.Ne4 Rab8 20.Rd3, since for Black there is the move 20...Qb5.

Koblents: After 14...h6 Furman, having thought it over, said "Misha - bravo." Considering the variations in parallel with you, I too understood that Black has everything in order.

And by now I was no longer regretting that I remained seated next to the trainer of the champion.

15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.fxe5 Tal: Here Tolya and I exchanged smiles.

16...Bh4 17.g3 Bg5+ 18.Kb1 Qc7 19.h4 Koblencs: Here Karpov offered you a draw?

Tal: Yes, after 19.h4. It may be that Black has no noticeable advantage. But to me it was clear that White had gained absolutely nothing of the advantage that he had counted on when playing 14.Qf2. I consider the rule forbidding draws from being agreed before the 30th move without the sanction of the arbiters to be rather absurd, but it is impossible to disregard it.

On the board there is a typical 'Sicilian' position, and a draw is hardly to be obtained by itself in the next few moves - for this, 'co-operative' play is necessary. White must try to give mate, since otherwise Black, possessing the advantage of the two bishops and the c-file, with the weakness of the e5–pawn, obtains a definite advantage. Therefore I rejected Karpov's peaceful offer. Of course, it was a pity, Maestro, that your worries were not yet over, but recall just how many tight spots we have already been in. XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-trk+0 7+-wq-+pzp-0 6p+l+p+-zp0 5+p+-zP-vl-0 4-+-+-+-zP0 3+-sNL+-zP-0 2PzPP+-wQ-+0 1+K+RtR-+-0 xabcdefghy

19...Be7 20.g4 Bb4 21.g5 Tal: At the board it seemed to me that stronger is 21.Qd4, and after 21...Qe7 - 22.g5.

21...Bxc3 22.bxc3 h5 XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-trk+0 7+-wq-+pzp-0 6p+l+p+-+0 5+p+-zP-zPp0 4-+-+-+-zP0 3+-zPL+-+-0 2P+P+-wQ-+0 1+K+RtR-+-0 xabcdefghy

23.Qc5 Koblencs: In the press bureau the conclusion was rapidly reached that White had committed a mistake. I was already beginning to rejoice.

Tal: Naturally, this is not the best of moves. White ought to play 23.Be2 or 23.g6.

23...Rac8 24.Kb2 Qb7 25.Be2 Bd5 Tal: After the game Tolya said that when going in for this variation, he had reckoned on playing 26.Qb4, but now noticed that it gifts Black an important tempo - 26...a5, since 27.Qxb5 is impossible on account of 27...Qc7.

26.Qe3 b4 27.c4 Bxc4 28.Rd6 Qb5 Koblencs: Here my hopes had become much less rosy.

Tal: I understand, but most of all I feared the exchange of queens. White will take this opportunity, and will play Qe3–b6. A game of technique against Karpov did not at all come into my plans. This, incidentally, had also appeared in our choice of opening, had it not?

29.Qe4 Tal/Koblencs: Karpov finds the only moves.

29...Bxe2 30.Qxe2 XIIIIIIIIY 8-+r+-trk+0 7+-+-+pzp-0 6p+-tRp+-+0 5+q+-zP-zPp0 4-zp-+-+-zP0 3+-+-+-+-0 2PmKP+Q+-+0 1+-+-tR-+-0 xabcdefghy

30...Qc5 Koblencs: Geller, analysing this position in the press bureau, came to the conclusion that after 30...Qa4 you had winning chances.

Tal: Naturally, I wanted to play 30...Qa4. Then 31.Rxa6 loses in view of 31...Rxc2+. Black was agreeable to such technical play. But White has the retort 31.Qd3, all the same frightening me with the idea of exchanging queens. On 31...Rc3 there is the reply 32.Rxa6, and here 32...Rxc2+ will not do on account of 33.Kb1.

31.Rxa6 Rfd8 Koblencs: Black gives up one pawn, but does not take another...

Tal: I wanted to take it - 31...Qd4+ and 32...Qxh4, but it seemed that after 33.g6 White has counter-play.

32.Kb1 XIIIIIIIIY 8-+rtr-+k+0 7+-+-+pzp-0 6R+-+p+-+0 5+-wq-zP-zPp0 4-zp-+-+-zP0 3+-+-+-+-0 2P+P+Q+-+0 1+K+-tR-+-0 xabcdefghy

32...Rd5 Koblencs: Why was 32...g6 not played? This would have got rid of the danger at once. In the press bureau Geller smiled and said "Misha is playing for mate!". Where you in fact playing for mate?

Tal: After 32...g6 White would probably have lost. In the case of 33.Rd6 Rxd6 34.exd6 some technical difficulties would have been created for Black. Now they do not seem to me to be serious. In some variations, a queen endgame arises. But I already had two games adjourned in queen endings (against Zakharov and Vaganian), and you yourself said that we had enough of them.

But if we speak seriously, then of course, I would have played 32...g6 had I seen such a simple 35th move for White. But I had not seen it, and decided first of all to rid myself of the 'threat' of 33.Rd6 with the move in the text (now this cannot be played in view of 33...Ra8).

This was the only moment when ...g7–g6 was possible. And...

33.g6 fxg6 34.Rxe6 Rcd8 35.Rc1 Tal: It is strange that this move had not come into my head. The point is that on 35...Rd2 36.Qe4 Rd1 White has the reply 37.Re8+.

Koblencs: That is all. The advantage has been let slip. Having been in the clouds, we were now back down to earth.

Tal: We were indeed back down. But I could not deny myself the pleasure of setting a pair of traps - the first of them, rather amusing, the second - primitive:

35...Qc3 Tal: (Trap No. 1). In the case of 36.Qe4 Black unexpectedly expels the white king 'into the open': 36...b3 37.cxb3 Rd1 38.Qc2 Rxc1+ 39.Qxc1 Qd3+ 40.Qc2 Qf1+ 41.Kb2 Qe1!. But alas...

36.Rxg6 Rxe5 Tal: If I may put it so: Trap No. 2 - if White suddenly plays 37.Qg2. Then 37...Re1 38.Rxg7+ Kh8.

37.Qf2 Tal/Koblencs: Alas...

37...Red5

XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-tr-+k+0 7+-+-+-zp-0 6-+-+-+R+0 5+-+r+-+p0 4-zp-+-+-zP0 3+-wq-+-+-0 2P+P+-wQ-+0 1+KtR-+-+-0 xabcdefghy

Agreed drawn.

Koblencs: I had already begun to fear that from inertia, as often happens, you would persist in the pursuit of the 'bird that had got away'.

Tal: What do you mean? I have grown up over the years. Although, evidently not so much that I have ceased to fear endgames, and to play ...g7–g6 in time.

Koblencs: On the other hand, also not so much that you no longer offer the sacrifice of your queen.