Craig Sadler 07/05/2004 10 comments
Looking for a different try in the Nimzo-Indian? Look no further, Mikhail Tal shows the way.
A couple of months ago I played through all the games, with annotations, from former World Champion Mikhail Tal's excellent book 'Tal-Botwinnik 1960' on his historic World Championship, becoming the youngest World Champion ever.
One of Tal's main weapons vs. Botwinnik was the
The line that Botwinnik played vs. Tal in their epic match was the Samisch variation. The idea behind this line is to force Black to give up the Bishop pair at the cost of doubled pawns. White considers the exchange on c3 to be advantageous and hopes the bishop pair and the extra central pawn will be in his favour. In game 4 of their match, Tal played one of the 'normal' lines involving castling. In games 14, 16, 18 and 20 Tal played 5... ')"> Ne4, preparing to push f5 and strike back against the centre in that way.
In the Samisch, White regularly dominates the center with his pawns and gets e4 in quite easily. Tal's idea, based on a monograph by Soviet great Mark Taimanov was quite surprising, going against the 'classical' rules of not moving a piece twice in the opening.
An interesting note, is that the ...Ne4, ..f5 idea can also be used in the Classical variation after 1. ')"> d4 ')"> Nf6 2. ')"> c4 ')"> e6 3. ')"> Nc3 ')"> Bb4 4. ')"> Qc2 ')"> O-O 5. ')"> a3 ')"> Bxc3+ 6. ')"> Qxc3 ')"> Ne4 7. ')"> Qc2 ')"> f5 It is playable in this line, it may be more effective, because not only is the knight clearing the way for the central thrust of f5, but he also gains a tempo on the queen.
Tal drew games 14, 16 and 18, but in the 20th game, Botwinnik made an improvement that Tal believed refuted the line entirely and was completely better for White. I had my doubts about that, so let's take a look at game 20. Notes are by me, and Tal where listed.
Now, I'm not grandmaster, world champion, etc. etc. etc. but I have to disagree with Tal's assessment of the line. This line may be slightly better for White, but gives no more of an advantage than any other opening. Maybe the GMs agree with me, because I've only tracked down a handful of games in this line, with Black winning all of them, but White never playing 10. h4 Polgar-Bischoff diverted with 9. ')"> Qh3 The other two games I have were Brusi-Barbara Hund (WGM) 1978 and Gert Pietrse-Tony Miles Amsterdam 1988. Surprisingly neither one of them continued 10. h4 They both continued 10. ')"> f3
In conclusion, Tal's line that he played vs. Mikahil Botwinnik in their first championship match is theoretically solid, and if there is a refutation to 5... ')"> Ne4 it's not in Botwinnik's line he played in the 20th game. Black still has a very good, dare i say better position in the line I suggested. It’s an interesting alternative, that isn’t covered very well theoretically and will be a potent surprise for your opponent.
Any criticisms to analysis are welcome as I'm not the strongest player in the world, as well as any other games that I may have missed (particularly any games found with Tal's 10. ')"> h4), or have been played by the Schemingmind.com members themselves, would be welcome in the comments.
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