How to drag the hippo out of the marsh

image from chess.com

In case you're wondering, yes this is a post about chess 😅

The great Mikhail Tal told the following story in his autobiography.

image from goodreads.com

The full funny anecdote in wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Tal#Writings

Naturally this got me curious and I searched for the game. Thanks to the internet it's now easy to find it and with chess engines I can analyse and appreciate the beauty of Tal's art. Yes Tal is an artist and the chessboard is his canvas.

Mikhail Tal - Evgeni Vasiukov, USSR Championship 1964

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139685&comp=1&kpage=2

This was the position referred to in the book. Here Nxg7 is simply beautiful. Was there a decisive win? NO! This is a speculative sacrifice and this is Tal's style. The courage to take the risk is a move that I can only wish in my games.

I will not pretend to understand the moves that followed but the constant threats and pressure to Black is something my amateur eyes can appreciate.

Please play through the game and enjoy the genius of Tal.