Mikhail Tal destroys 16 year old Fischer in Najdorf Fischer-Sozin System

Hi all

I revisited analysis of a classic Fischer vs Tal game where Tal seemed to really crush Fischer in Fischer's pet 6.Bc4 variation - which later due to Fischer's research and success became the "Fischer-Sozin" system.

Here is a Youtube video I did back in 2016:

https://youtu.be/z1CAF0FgkAc

I have kind of "upgraded" by analysis a little and it is here for you to also check out:

The 6.Bc4 position:

Final position

6th Move against Sicilian Najdorf

Interestingly Tal has only it seems played 6.Bc4 once and won with it. He usually played 6.Bg5. Fischer has lost a couple of times with 6.Bg5 when he rarely chose it. It seems the 6th move is somehow symbolic also of some philosophical differences between the players. Tal played until the month before he died. Fischer retired from Chess after not having all his demands met to play Anatoly Karpov. It seems to me overall, Tal loved playing chess for the fun of it, and was not so concerned about his status in the Chessworld but nevertheless had very respectful world rankings after FIDE introduced FIDE ratings in 1970 onwards. Usually, Tal was in the top 10 ranking players in the world, long after 1960 - up to about 20 years later. In fact even one month before his death, Tal escaped hospital to go and play in a major blitz tournament where he beat Garry Kasparov.

Anyway, aside from this 6th move, it seems Mikhail Tal played in his usual super-dynamic manner where he emphasised going through the center to attacking the White King above materialistic concerns like trying to exploit the knight on a4. Tal is more concerned with "winning the war" i.e. checkmating, than "winning a battle" e.g. winning material.

Tal did make it look a little easy with thematic play, and a liberating d5 break. Then there was the beautiful exploitation of Fischer's pinned knight and the opening of the g-file which meant that Fischer's king was in a terrible crossfire along two lines - the 'g' file and the a8-h1 diagonal.

In revisiting analysis, some revision is made of some ideas and greater empathy for what seems painful anti-positional contortion moves that Fischer was bullied into like having to play c4 to be able to play Bc2 if needed. It seems Fischer self-destroyed basically two minor pieces, before having his King torn wide open. But to be fair, Fischer was young - only around 16 years old, and in 1959 it seems Tal was towards the peak of his game.

Key takeaway points

• "A knight on the rim can be dim" as the saying goes
• Getting a battery going on the a8-g2 diagonal can be dangerous
• Liberating pawn moves like d5 can be dangerous
• Don't expect opponents to try and "win battles" when they can "focus on the war" instead - i.e. try and checkmate you.
• Tal was at the peak of his powers in 1959 and ended up crushing Fischer 4-0 in the candidates tournament. Tal ended up signing Fischer's scoresheet in good humor for both. They did become good friends and Fischer even visited Tal in hospital.

Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.

Cheers, K