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Chess
4 Life!
By Candidate
Master Collin Madhavan
Good
Choice!!
'What shall it be, sir?', asked the waiter. I
asked him, "What is good on the menu?", to which he replied, 'Everything!',
and smiled. He then went on to recite what I believed were the more popular dishes.
He droned on till I interrupted
him by saying, "Seafood platter, please." Immediately he
quipped, 'Good choice!' and darted off to the kitchen. This happened
last Thursday at one of those swanky restaurants in Petaling Jaya.
Those two words of
the waiter's reminded me of something which took place some 17 years
ago.
On June 24th, 1990, the Malaysian
Chess Federation, through its Development Committee, arranged
for a group of top Soviet Grandmasters, who were en route to the Inter-Zonals in the
Philippines. The stop over in Malaysia was for these Grandmasters to play in a multiple
simultaneous match in Shah Alam. What a coup
that was! We were privileged enough to be playing against some of the
strongest chess players in the world!
The Grand Simul Match was
actually about 14 GMs playing 10-player simul matches against
local players. After a short welcoming speech, and almost
immediately, the local players were being assigned to the respective
Grandmasters. I was as happy as a clam during
high tide, as I ran into the different playing halls looking
for my friends.
Then, Hamid Majid stopped me in my
tracks and asked, "So, who do you want to play with?". I
calmed myself down and asked, "Who can I play with?" And
Hamid began reading from the list of GMs, "Tal, Smyslov, Ivanchuk,
Salov, Beliavsky, Dalmatov, Vaganian, Sokolov, Khalifman, Yudasin,
Liputian, Guravich, Gelfand and Dreev!!!!" After such a mouth
watering list of Chess giants, I was left wondering if this was not
like an objective styled question - where there was an option of
"All of the Above!" It was a tough choice to make, and Hamid was
waiting as other local players too wanted to get onto the list.
(You can imagine how I
was "suffering" with such a buffet spread)! Finally, I
said meekly, "Grandmaster Tal please!" I noticed Hamid
writing my name in Tal's list and as Hamid was turning away, he said,
"Good Choice!"
And lest I forget, I must add a
word of thanks to
the Malaysian Chess Federation, namely Laurence How, Ibrahim Bakar, Hamid
Majid, Latif
Mohammed, Choo Min Wang and Najib Wahab (yes), who formed part of the
organising/development committee for that match.
Tal, the Magician of Riga (on the right), playing 17. Ng3 in our game
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Mikhail
Tal - Collin Madhavan Simul Match Shah Alam 1990 |
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6
The Sicilian
Nadjorf variation, made popular by Argentine Grandmaster Miguel
Nadjorf
6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 ........
I watched Tal walk
away to the other end to continue with his other games.
At this stage I felt as though the World title was at stake. Two
players, one title!!
What do you play against one of the greatest attacking players of all
time?
7 ...... b5!!
Collin
Tal (to play)
Two
exclamation marks, to show that I got B.... , I mean, guts! Others may
disagree, but
I wanted to win the game and title (??! - obviously delusional).
The Polugayevsky Variation is
considered by many to be unsound though no one has yet to refute the
line. I remember once
IM Jimmy Liew commenting about this move. He said that
either Black will win brilliantly or he'll go down in flames!
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5 11. Be2 Qxg5
12. Qd3
Collin (to
play)
Tal
A
known sacrifice of a pawn. Things are getting a bit hotter!! Tal's
other 9 opponents
also seem to be holding their own against the 8th World Chess
Champion.
12 ..... Qxf6
A
pawn is still a pawn.
13. Rd1 Ra7 14. Ne4 Qe5 15. Nxb5! Rd7
Collin
Tal (to play)
A
necessary defensive move. The position seems dynamically equal.
Unfortunately, there were only 9 of us left and Tal was coming
around faster.
16. Nd4 Bb7
17. Ng3 Bxg2
Collin
Tal (to play)
At
this stage, I had a plus. But Tal had a bigger PLUS as only 8 of us
remained! As with all simul
matches, the master is allowed to think at the board but the
participant has to move
immediately on the master's return to the board. It really amounts to
"Lightning' chess.
How do you play in such a situation? I had to remind myself that
this was NOT the match
for the world title but just an exhibition match!!
18. Rg1 Bb7 19. Rf1 Bc5
Not
the best. The immediate 19 ..... h5 seemed better.
20. c3 g6 21. b4 Be7?
A
mistake as 21 ..... Bb6 was definitely better. At this stage, I think
that only 5 of us were left.
22. Kf2 h5
Better
later than never. Trying to dislodge the Knight on g3.
23. Nf3 .........
Collin (to
play)
Tal
What
do I play here? Tal was returning faster than ever, which that the our
numbers
have gone even further. I was having a better position but how do you
continue? With a
pawn and position advantage, and with an attack looming over my King, the
correct approach would be to trade pieces. But then Tal returned to my
table, impatiently
and may I add, vigorously, tapping his fingers on his side of the
table - almost causing
some kind of tribal drum beat! Here I missed 23 ..... Bxf3
24 . Qxf3 h4!,
with ..... Qxh2 to follow, which would have given me a big plus.
23 .......Qf4 24. Qe3 Bg5 25. Qxf4 Bxf4 26. h4 Ke7
Tal
was hovering over my board as all the others had been beaten. Here, I
was blitzing with Tal.
He was still tapping on his side of the board whenever it was my turn.
27. c4 Rhd8 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. a4 Bd2 30. Rb1 Nc6 31. b5 Nd4???
Can
I say that this was a blunder in time trouble!?
32. Nxd2 and I resigned.
Tal graciously signed both my
score sheet and souvenir book, and like some shy hero, disappeared
into the crowd of players that surrounded us! Two things were not
known to me then, that Tal was a chain smoker and that he was having
kidney problems. It would explain his finger tapping. Sadly, Grandmaster
Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal passed
away about two years after this match. I best remember Tal
for what he said on sacrifices, "Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine."
Tal - Madhavan
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