Mikhail Tal, nicknamed the Wizard of Riga, was well known for his spectacularly speculative sacrifices. I tend to believe that he was the last of the true romantics in the game that has slowly but very surely stamped out the artistic, replacing it with a base calculus.
Tal was well-educated, with a wonderful way of expressing his style. Sagar Shah, in his ChessBase annotations on today’s game, used the following Tal quote to best illustrate his philosophy: “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one!’’
I think this speaks to the irrationality of what on the surface appears to be an unsound sacrifice but still requires a lot of work to refute. Another way of saying it in a more American way is that you need to take your opponent into the “Twilight Zone.’’
Today’s game is from the classical chess phase (G/60; d5) of the Saint Louis Chess Club’s “Showdown in St. Louis’’ event. It features a Tal-like sacrifice by Veselin Topalov, who decided that instead of defending a worse position, a pawn down, he would enter the dimension where 2+2=5.
2016 Champions Showdown, St. Louis, Mo.
Veselin Topalov (2760) — Fabiano Caruana (2823)
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 dxc4 The Vienna line in the Ragozin Defense to the Queen’s Gambit. 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4 A well-known gambit here. 6…Nxe4 7.0–0 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd6 8...Bxc3 is well known to give White enough compensation after 9.Rb1 0–0 10.Qd3 Ba5 11.Ng5 g6 12.Qh3 h5 13.g4 for example. 9.Re1 Nd7 11.Ne5 Maybe not so good here as it allows the following 11…Bxe5 12.dxe5 Nb6 13.Qg3?!! This is not sound but after the normal and rational 13.Ba3 Qxd3 14.Bxd3 Re8, Black would be very comfortable with a pawn up and better structure. So, White decides to do something that makes Black wonder about rationality in chess and his opponent. 13...Nxc4 A piece is a piece! 14.Bh6 g6 15.Rad1 Having said “A’’ white must say “B’’ as 15.Bxf8 just leads to a lost position without any play. 15...Bd7?! The first sign that Black has not acclimated himself to the new reality. Better was 15…Qe7, leaving the bishop’s development to later. Then after 16.Bg5 f6 17.exf6 Qf7 18.h4 Re8 19.h5 e5 20.hxg6 Qxg6 21.Qh4 Nd6 Black is well on his way to winning. 16.h4 Nb6 The knight should stay on c4 with the hope of landing on d6 someday. So, 16…Qe7 is to be preferred. 17.h5 Qe7 18.Rd4 Everyone loves rook lifts. White’s attack needs another piece and this is the only one left not already helping out, so up and over it goes. 18...Be8? Black wants to add extra protection to g6 but it locks in the rook. Better and still winning is 18…Bc6 when after 19.Bg5 f6 20.exf6 Qf7 21.Rh4 Rfe8 White will soon run out of gas. 19.Bg5 f6 And not19...Qa3 20.Bf6 Nd5? 21.Rxd5 exd5 22.Qe3 winning but instead; 19...Qc5 20.Bh6 Bc6 21.Qg5 Nd5 22.Red1 Qe7 23.Qxe7 Nxe7 24.Bxf8 Kxf8. 20.exf6 Qc5 21.Rxe6 Qf5 22.Re5 Qb1+ 23.Kh2 gxh5?? The losing move. Whether caused by a hallucination or a tactical oversight, we just don’t know, but for sure, the “Twilight Zone’’ has claimed another victim! 23…Bf7 should hold at the least. 24.Bh6+ Bg6 25.Bxf8 Rxf8 White now has near material equality and a winning attack. 26.Qg5 Qxa2 27.Re7 Qxf2 28.Rg7+ Kh8 29.Rxg6 With no good defense to Qh6, and mate thereafter, Black gave up; 1–0
Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.
