Candidates' Tournament 1959: Part 5, by James O'Fee

Continued from Part 4:

Third Cycle, Rounds 15-20 (Zagreb)

Before the chess circus moved on from picturesque Bled, site of Alekhine's smashing victory in 1931, a rapid tournament was held where Tal emerged the winner, which must have fortified his confidence and self-belief. (Tal would win two further such rapid tournaments before all left Yugoslavia). In his autobiography, Tal wrote that it was already clear that either Keres or himself would win the Candidates' Tournament.

So Round 15 opened in Zagreb, capital city of Croatia, today independent but then a constituent Republic of Federal Yugoslavia, with Keres leading the field with 10/14, and Tal just a half-point behind. Both players had dramatic games and the spectators who thronged the playing venue, and other buildings in the Croatian capital where the games were demonstrated, certainly had good value for their money.

Keres had lost to Fischer in the first round, but had gained revenge on the young American in Round 8. In their third game, Keres failed again. He grabbed a pawn in the opening, yielding the two bishops and powerful pressure. Then on move 23 Keres played a colossal blunder which lost a piece (the right move would have led to an almost certain draw). Fischer forced resignation just four moves later.

Just as in the first round, Smyslov outplayed Tal who wandered into great time trouble with a seemingly hopeless position. Yet here Smyslov failed to find a clearly winning move. Tal created some counterplay and then conjured up a typical piece of Tal tactics. On the 38th move, just before the time control, Tal offered the sacrifie of a rook to perform perpetual check and a draw. Tal's miraculous escape yielded a valuable half-point, doubly valuable since through it Tal joined the losing Keres as joint leader.

In the 16th round Tal became the undisputed leader. He played a beautiful sacrificial game against Gligorić, a game included in all the anthologies; while Keres could only draw against Smyslov. Tal would hold on to this lead until the tournament's end.

The 17th round saw a decisive confrontation between the two front-runners. Golembek tells us that it was imperative for Keres to win, while Tal could have been happy with a draw. Keres overreached himself, compromised his position, then sacrificed unsoundly for an attack. Tal domonstrated his skill in defence and Keres resigned just before the adjournment, in a game included in Clarke's book. In an interview at the end of the tournament, Golembek tells, Tal was asked what he regarded as the turning point of the event and he replied "The game against Keres in Round 17".

With 12 1/2 points, Tal's lead over Keres had become 1 1/2 points. Gligorić lagged a point behind Keres with the rest even further behind. In Round 18 Tal empasised his form with an excellent win over Ólafsson, while Keres only drew against Smyslov. Tal remained undefeated in the rest of the cycle, recording wins over Fischer (Round 20) and Benkö (Round 21), and drawing with Petrosian (as ever).

It is clear that Tal was playing at his peak. He demonstated his skill in time pressure (versus Smyslov, Round 15), in defence (versus Keres, Round 16), with unbalanced forces (versus Ólafsson, Round 18) as well as in sacrifical attack (versus Fischer and Benko, Rounds 20 & 21). Clarke includes 4 of these games in his collection (j), while Liepnieks includes inly 3 i.e. he excludes the defensive masterpiece versus Keres (k). In his autobiography Tal includes his 3rd-cycle victories over Gligorić and Fischer (l)

Turning to Bobby Fischer, he and and Tigran Petrosian played their famous 'Four Queens' drawn game In Round 16 of this cycle (m).

Notes

(j) Round 16, Tal-Gligorić, Queen's Pawn, Queen's Indian Defence (Clarke's Game 42)
Round 17, Zagreb. Keres-Tal, Sicilian Defence (Clarke's Game 43)
Round 18, Zagreb. Tal-Olafsson, Ruy Lopez (Clarke's Game 44)
Round 20, Zagreb. Tal-Fischer, Queen's Pawn, King's Indian Defence (Clarke's Game 45)
- Mikhail Tal: Master of Sacrifice, P.H. (Peter) Clarke, Batsford, London, 1991

(k) Round 16, QUEEN'S INDIAN DEFENSE, Tal- S. Gligoric, 64 moves (Game 48)
Round 20, KING'S INDIAN DEFENSE, Tal-R. Fischer, 34 moves (Game 49)
Round 21, SICILIAN DEFENSE, P. Benko-Tal, 33 moves [Notes by US Master E. Mednis] (Game 50)
-The Chess Psychologist World Champion TAL, A. Liepnieks, North American Latvian Chess Association, Chicago, 1961

(l) Tal-Gligorić, Queen's Indian Defence, 1-0, 64 moves (Game 30)
Tal-Fischer, King's Indian Defence, 1-0, 34 moves (Game 31)
- The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Tal, Cadogan Chess, 1997.

(m) Fischer, My 60 Memorable Games -
(Game 16) Fischer-Petrosian, Caro-Kann Defense, 1/2, 48 moves "Four Queens"

Soltis, Bobby Fischer rediscovered -
(Game 13) Fischer-Petrosian, Caro-Kann Defense, Two Knights Variation (B11), 1/2, 48 moves

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To be continued