Tactics Analysis - Tal vs Uhlmann, Moscow 1971

Today we're going to start looking at some master games, with the main idea of identifying as many tactical motifs as possible in them (rather than attempting a 'comprehensive' analysis at this stage). Who better to begin with then than Mikhail Tal - let's try and see if we can spot where he uses 'smoke and mirrors' and where he has a solid foundation for his 'wild' attacks.



We'll start at the point that things get really interesting, 12. Nf5. Black has grabbed a pawn leaving his King in the centre, his Black squares weak, and a couple of tempi behind in development.

Tal vs Uhlmann, Moscow 1971
Position after 12. Nf5

This Knight is a true "Trojan Horse"; it has been left as a gift just outside the citadel and it's capture flings open the gates for the entry of the attacking army. The motif in our vernacular is clearance of the e-file.

A computer should be ideal for analysing such a highly tactical situation, so it's interesting that Crafty gives this position about -2.5 (in Black's favour) at depth 10, but suddenly swings to +0.4 at depth 11. After 13. Re1+ (Crafty prefered an immediate 13. Qd6) it's back to -2, and it's not until depth 15 that it starts to see an advantage for White!

After 13. ... Nge7 the absolute pin on e7 and half-pin by the Bb5 are exploited by 14. Rxe7+ Nxe7 now Bd7 is pinned and (more importantly) barraged 15. Qxd7+ barraging Ne7 15. ... Kf8 16. Bxe7+. 13. ... Kf8 14. Qd6+ exploiting the weak black-coloured entry square leads to the same ideas, so Be6 is forced.

Tal vs Uhlmann, Moscow 1971
Position after 14. Qd6

Now the Black pieces are almost wholly immobilised. The King has a noose around His neck. There are absolute pins on Nc6 and Be6. Ng8 blocks Rh8 defending mate at e7. 14. ... Qxc2 15. Rac1 x-rays Nc6, a barrage allowing White to exploit the unprotected Ra8 and/or mate starting with 16. Rxc6 (i.e. 16. ... a6 17. Rc8 double check and mate), and other Queen moves also unprotect c6 permitting Bxc6+ immediately.

14. ... Rd8 and 14. ... Rb8 can be captured on the spot, again due to the absolute pin on Nc6, while 14. ... Rc8 15. Rad1 principally threatening 16. Qd8+ Rxd8 17. Rxd8# and Black can resign or play 15. ... Qxe1+ giving up a lot of material.

Of the available Pawn moves, Black chooses 14. ... a6 attempting to break the stranglehold by challenging the absolute pin on c6. At this point, it takes Crafty until depth 13 to see that White is not losing (giving 0.00), and perhaps more interestingly gives the game continuation to the end and beyond with white having only +0.5. We shall have to see...

White's forces, save for Ra1, are now at their maximum potential, and the fire needs some more fuel! If 15. Rad1 Black gets enough material for the Queen after 15. ... Qxe1+ and should be able to consolidate and win. Tal takes a new tack with 15. Bd2 Qxc2 16. Bb4.

The absolute pin on c6 is sacrificed for the final onslaught, a deep penetration at f8 with an x-ray attack on the unprotected Ra8.

Tal vs Uhlmann, Moscow 1971
Final position after 19. Qxa8

Here Black resigned, and in view of Crafty's assessment (after 14. ... a6), let's try to understand why.

First, note that the Bishop is immune to capture due to mate in 2 by Qd8+ and Qd6#. Black presently has a slight material advantage of B+N+2P vs R, but some of this will have to be returned to stave off a mating attack. White's ideas to continue the attack revolve around Ba5+ (trying to decoy the Knight to the mate in 2 threat again), but here ... b6 is a defense that will make the win a grind, and Rac1 - again with the absolute pin on the Knight! The Rac1 idea is why the e-Rook was used at move 18 (the "which Rook?" problem).

The black-squared Bishop will again be redeployed via c3 to a new line of attack, probably after provoking ... b6 as above to undermine the protection of c6.

Starting it's analysis at the final position on my fairly fast PC, it takes Crafty around 15 minutes to get to depth 13 and decide that White really does have a winning advantage (+1.9). At depth 14 (after nearly 30 minutes analysis) it's at +2.13 giving the line 19. ... Qe4 20. Rac1 Bd5 21. Ba5+ Kd6 22. f3 Qe3+ 23. Kh1 Nxa5 24. Qxa5 Nf6 25. Qc7+ Ke6 26. Re1 f4 27. Qxf4 Qxe1+ 28. Rxe1+ Kd7 29. Qg5 Rg8 30. Qd2.

Black is trying to build a shelter and run his King to safety, but it's still under constant harassment. Whether the players saw this over the board or simply had an intuition of the position's potential, there's not many who would relish trying to defend it against Tal.