(9) Tal - Petrosian Ruy Lopez [C97]Gothenburg 1955Riga 1958 When the Game Looks Grim, Plant a Rook on f4. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.
Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1 Nc4 A well-known position for the Chigorin Spanish. Tal's next move is perhaps not the most principled, but still the second most popular move in the database: [Diagram] I have on numerous occasions stressed my preference for avoiding piece exchanges when one controls more space, and I will repeat myself here.
Perhaps White maintains still a slight edge after this move, but I have the suspicion it facilitates Black's task. 14.b3 Nb6 15.Ne3 is more critical, and has been debated a lot at top level chess. After 15.c4 16.Ba3 Rfe8 17.Qd2 Bf8 18.
Rad1 cxb3 19.axb3 a5 20.Rc1! a4 21.bxa4 Nxa4 22.Bb4, both sides have a solid position, but White nevertheless maintains some slight pressure. The game Areshchenko-Grandelius, Grosseto Prugna 2016, continued 22.Rac8?! (22.Nb2!r was better.
) 23.Bb1 Nb6 24.Bd3 Qb7? 25.dxe5! dxe5 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.c4! Kg8 28.cxb5 Nxe4 29.Bxe4 Qxe4 30.
Nc4 Nxc4 31.Qxd7 Qa8 32.Ng5 Rf8 33.Qd3 e4 34.Nxe4i and White converted his material superiority. 14.Nxe3 15.Bxe3 Photo: Mikhail Tal On the bright side for White, he has clarified the position while completing development and the opposition has no chance to generate queenside play after the knight exchange.
What Black needs now is to address, in accurate fashion, the issue of how to configure his pieces best, and I get the impression that Tigran's next move was not very much to the point: 15.Be6?! This tempts White to close the center, an event which Petrosian might have considered as suiting his aims of maneuvering slowly and perhaps achieving an exchange of dark-square bishops via b6 or g5 at a later stage. But it is rather artificial. 15.Rfe8! is better, as White will have to close the center anyway, so why give him a tempo? After 16.d5 h6! 17.Nh2 (Samko-Zakovic, Bratislava 1996), the positional idea 17.Nh7! easily equalizes, as shown by the computer variation 18.
a4 Bg5 19.Nf1 Reb8 20.Bxg5 Nxg5 21.Ne3 Qd8=. Black has the potentially superior bishop for all endgames and White is not even better on the kingside, which is the traditional area of the board where he usually develops some initiative. [Diagram] 16.Nd2!? Tal liked fluid positions in general, and the text move reveals his reluctance to block the center, at least for the time being.