A Pawn to e2, and Two Rooks

The game, move by move

A Berlin Defence

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez
6. 3… Nf6 Nf6 — the Berlin Defence The solid answer, and it was played to death by the hypermoderns and then again by Kramnik against Kasparov thirty-five years after this.
7. 4. O-O White castles
8. 4… d6 d6
9. 5. d4 d4
10. 5… Bd7 Bd7
11. 6. Nc3 The second knight
12. 6… exd4 Taken on d4
13. 7. Nxd4 The knight recaptures
14. 7… Be7 Be7
15. 8. b3 b3
16. 8… Nxd4 The knights come off
17. 9. Qxd4 The queen recaptures
18. 9… Bxb5 The bishops come off on b5
19. 10. Nxb5 The knight recaptures
20. 10… Nd7 Nd7

Both bishops off the long diagonal

1. 11. Ba3 The bishop to a3
2. 11… a6 a6, at the knight
3. 12. Nc3 The knight back to c3
4. 12… Bf6 Bf6
5. 13. Qd2 The queen to d2
6. 13… O-O Black castles
7. 14. Rad1 The rook to d1
8. 14… Re8 The rook to e8
9. 15. Rfe1 The second rook to e1
10. 15… Nb6 Nb6
11. 16. Bb2 The bishop to b2
12. 16… Qd7 The queen to d7
13. 17. a4 a4
14. 17… Qc6 The queen to c6
15. 18. a5 a5, at the knight
16. 18… Nd7 The knight back to d7
17. 19. Ba1 Ba1 — the bishop tucked into the corner On the long diagonal and out of everything. Three moves later it is taken there.
18. 19… Re6 The rook to e6
19. 20. Nd5 The knight to d5
20. 20… Bxa1 The bishop takes on a1
21. 21. Rxa1 The rook recaptures — in the corner
22. 21… Rae8 The second rook to e8

A pawn to e2

1. 22. f3 f3, holding e4
2. 22… f5 f5, at it
3. 23. Re3 The rook lifts to e3
4. 23… fxe4 The pawn takes e4
5. 24. Rc3 The rook swings to c3
6. 24… Nc5 Nc5
7. 25. Nf4 The knight to f4
8. 25… e3 e3 — the pawn arrives A black pawn on e3, and behind it a rook on e8. In almost any other game this is the winning plan.
9. 26. Qd4 The queen to d4
10. 26… Re5 The rook to e5, behind it
11. 27. b4 b4, at the knight
12. 27… e2 e2 — one square from a queen And Tal never takes it, never blocks it with a piece he needs, and never spends a move worrying about it. He puts a rook on e1 and goes to the other side of the board.

Ignored, and taken

1. 28. Re1 Re1 — and that is the whole answer One rook, in front of the pawn, doing nothing else for eleven moves. It is the rook that finally takes on e2 on the last move of the game.
2. 28… Qa4 The queen to a4
3. 29. Rc4 The rook to c4
4. 29… Nd7 The knight back to d7
5. 30. Rxc7 The rook takes c7
6. 30… Nf6 Nf6
7. 31. Qxd6 The queen takes d6 Tal has spent four moves taking pawns on the queenside while Larsen has a pawn on e2. That is the judgement the game is about.
8. 31… Qa2 The queen to a2
9. 32. h4 h4
10. 32… Nd5 Nd5
11. 33. Rc5 The rook to c5
12. 33… Nxf4 The knight takes f4
13. 34. Rxe5 The rook takes the rook on e5
14. 34… Rf8 The rook to f8
15. 35. g3 g3, at the knight
16. 35… Qf7 The queen to f7
17. 36. gxf4 The pawn takes the knight
18. 36… Qxf4 The queen takes back
19. 37. R1xe2 R1xe2 — and Black resigned The rook that has stood in front of the pawn for eleven moves finally takes it. Larsen has a queen and a rook against a queen and two rooks with nothing coordinated, thirty-four legal moves, and no reason to play any of them.