Story of How Benko Tried to Play Active Against Tal

BEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR CHESS https://onelink.to/lotus-agadmator #agadmator Pal Benko vs Mikhail Tal Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 7, Sep-17 Dutch Defense: Leningrad. Matulovic Variation (A89) 1. Nf3 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. d4 Nc6 8. d5 Na5 9. Qd3 c5 10. Ng5 a6 11. Rb1 Rb8 12. Bd2 Qe8 13. b3 b5 14. a3 Ng4 15. Nf3 bc4 16. bc4 Rb3 17. Rb3 Nb3 18. Rb1 Nd4 19. e3 Nf3 20. Bf3 Ne5 21. Qe2 Nf3 22. Qf3 e5 23. Qd1 e4 24. Qa4 Qe7 25. Qc6 f4 26. Rb8 Bh3 27. Rf8 Qf8 28. ef4 Qb8 29. Ne2 Qb1 The 1959 Candidates Tournament was hosted by three cities in Yugoslavia. The first 14 rounds were played in Bled, rounds 15-21 in Zagreb, and rounds 22-28 in Belgrade. This event would select the next challenger to world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who had just recaptured his title in the Botvinnik - Smyslov World Championship Rematch (1958). Mikhail Tal, Svetozar Gligorić, Pal Benko, Tigran Petrosian, Friðrik Ólafsson and Bobby Fischer qualified from the Portoroz Interzonal (1958). Vasily Smyslov and Paul Keres were seeded directly into the candidates tournament on the strength of their 1-2 finish in the previous Amsterdam Candidates (1956). Harry Golombek was arbiter, and the seconds were Bent Larsen (Fischer), Yuri Averbakh, joined later by Alexander Koblents (Tal), Vladas Mikenas (Keres), Isaac Boleslavsky (Petrosian), Igor Bondarevsky (Smyslov) Aleksandar Matanovic (Gligorić), Klaus Viktor Darga and Ingi Randver Johannsson (Ólafsson), and Rudolf Maric (Benko) The players would meet each other four times, twice in Bled and once in both Zagreb and Belgrade. In Bled, the players stayed at the Grand Hotel Toplice, the site of Alexander Alekhine's historic triumph in Bled (1931). Mikhail Tal had just had his appendix removed less than two weeks earlier, but FIDE insisted he make it in time for the tournament. According to Tal, "I was not much troubled by the effects of the operation, apart from in a purely mechanical sense; during a game I did not feel inclined to stroll about ..."5 This information may have come as a surprise to Harry Golombek, who commented after Round 5 that "it is an impressive sight to see him (Tal) get up after he has made what he obviously thinks is a winning move and pace around the table like a man-eating tiger." It may also have surprised Bobby Fischer, who complained after his first game with Tal that whenever he "rose from the board ... he'd begin talking to the other Soviet players, and they enjoyed whispering about their or others' positions." Pal Benko later revealed that due to his "demanding" job in a US brokerage firm, he "didn't prepare at all" for the event, although he reckoned "I did reasonably well." He didn't. After the first cycle Tal, Paul Keres and Tigran Petrosian shared the lead. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you realllly enjoy my content, you're welcome to support me and my channel with a small donation via PayPal, Bitcoin or Litecoin. Link to PayPal donation https://www.paypal.me/agadmator Bitcoin address 12VEbMQPyLzBoZzw9yuNofph4C9Ansc4iZ Litecoin address LbSuZuBffDCNmr5CSZbY7W2zM83w4ZvnC7 Check out ALL my videos here    • "Grand Opening" - Anderssen beats Morphy w...   Facebook:   / agadmatoryoutube   Twitter:   / agadmator   Instagram:   / agadmator   Lichess: https://lichess.org/@/agadmator Chess.com: agadmator Skype: agadmator League of Legends: agadmator (EUNE, my friend is using my EUWE account for a couple of years now) Check out the SUBSCRIBERS VIDEO    • Chess Brings People Together! | agadmator'...   Send your photos and videos here: [email protected] Send your own games here: [email protected] Congratulations to the winners of the Giveaway: https://www.facebook.com/agadmatoryou... 10 Amazon Gift Cards $25: Juke797 Augusto tudda Maël Dias thedoctor3151 HazeL Nuts Diego Rosas Svend Erik santtu poikela Patrik Černý Chicken Fighter Championship Chess Sets: i Fab max wake "Watch me without ads on your Amazon devices (https://bit.ly/Agadmator_Amazon) and Roku TV (https://bit.ly/Agadmator_Roku)