MEXICO CITY (apro).-Chess has fascinating stories. For example, Bobby Fischer’s chess career is full of all kinds of anecdotes, funny episodes and even events that are relatively unpleasant for many. What is clear, however, is that Fischer was a chess genius and at the age of 27 he would become World Champion, defeating the Russian Boris Spassky in a match that was called at the time “the match of the century.” However, in order to challenge Spassky, who was the World Champion, after having defeated Tigrán Petrosian in 1969, Fischer had to go through the quarterfinals, semifinals and final of the candidate tournament. At that time, due to Fischer’s express complaint that the Russians played as a team, the system was changed. From a round-robin tournament, individual matches would now be played. Thus, Fischer would face the legendary Mark Taimanov, who in addition to being a chess grandmaster and one of the best in the world, was a professional pianist and there are even recordings of him on Deutsche Grammophon Records. In fact, Taimanov himself once declared that for him life had been an eternal vacation, since he played the piano or played chess.
Well, from May 16 to June 1, 1971, the Candidates match was played between Bobby Fischer and Mark Taimanov, in the best of 10 games. The place of play was the city of Vancouver and Fischer defeated Taimanov 6 to 0. It is an incredible result at the grandmaster level but one thing was clear: Fischer no longer had any possible competition. The Russian would write a few years later the book titled “I was a victim of Bobby Fischer”, in which he narrates the match he had with the American. Many details are told here that were kept secret for a long time. For example, Mikhail Botvinnik, former world champion and the patriarch of Soviet chess, would comment after Taimanov’s loss to Fischer: “I have given Mark a series of advice but unfortunately he has not followed any of it.”
Since I read this comment (if I remember correctly in the book Bobby Fischer, his life and his games, by Pablo Morán, Escaques publishing house), I was left wondering what advice Botvinnik could have given Taimanov. Today, when I got Fischer’s victim’s book, I can see Botvinnik’s advice. Here is a summary of them:
Taimanov says that Botvinnik was great at preparing his rivals and faced with the possibility of playing a match with Fischer, the patriarch had studied his potential rival. These are Botvinnik’s findings:
At the opening
-At each event Fischer prepares some new variant (often only one). He has variants in the Sicilian Defense, in which he has worked carefully and that gives him a lot of confidence.
-In the Sicilian with white, he frequently places the pieces in squares according to this configuration: Nc3, Nb3, Be3 and Qf3.
-In several opening schemes he likes the configuration (with black) Bg7, d7-d6 and Ne5.
-When your opponent surprises you in the opening (especially in theoretical positions), you almost always react with very little success.
In the middle game
-Against opponents he considers weak, he likes to launch the attack with his kingside pawns.
-He likes clear positions and is always ready for simplification when he has a positional advantage.
-Reacts with some uncertainty when there are abrupt changes in position (going from attack to defense).
-In the positions he loses, “technical” defeats almost never happen.
-He “protects his chain of pawns”
-He likes to sacrifice quality for a central pawn.
-He likes to transfer the rook to the 3rd rank (Rf1-e1-e3).
-He likes the lady’s “long” moves.
-Against the knights on b3 and b6, the a-pawn likes to advance.
At the end
-Prefers horses to bishops.
-He likes the king’s “long” trips.
-He likes to play bishop endings of different colors if there are rooks on each side.
General remarks
-As a young man he sacrificed pawns for the activity of the pieces. Over the years he has become more greedy for the material.
-He likes to capture pawns.
-Has a very good sense of the positive and negative sides of the coordination of the pieces.
-Does not like the enemy’s strong pieces and seeks to change them immediately.
-For his part, he does not make mistakes in tactics and sees very far in positions.
Some additional considerations
-Against Fischer, the material should not be sacrificed based on “general considerations”. If there is a concrete refutation, he will find it.
-You should not be allowed to have activity without counterplay for the opponent.
It must be said that the Russian considers Taimanov’s match against Fischer as a unique opportunity to face a formidable opponent. And it should be clarified that, as Bobby would point out after the match, that the result did not indicate the great fight that had occurred on the board. In fact, the 3rd game was the one that ended up demoralizing Taimanov, as he reached a winning position. What’s more, at the critical moment the Russian thought for 72 minutes but could not find the winning continuation. This is what he wrote about it: “I remember this moment (white’s 20th move), all my understanding of chess, all my experience and intuition on the board led me to convince myself that I had a won position, but I couldn’t find the path to follow. the victory. I was disappointed in 20. Dh3! and I started looking for other plays… [] And then, I must confess, a state of misery fell upon me. Is this Fischer invulnerable or some kind of magician?… [] And then I collapsed psychologically. I ran out of energy and made the first play that occurred to me, which I lost immediately.”…
Well, this book by Taimanov is a classic that must be read. It is available in English on Amazon.
#Chess #recommendations #Botvinnik #Taimanov
2024-04-05 18:22:03