Taimanov-Najdorf, Candidates Tournament, Zurich 1953
Thanks to the tournaments in Mar del Plata and Zurich, the year 1953 has given an important impetus to the popularity of King's Indian Defence. In the presented game, the renowned specialists Taimanov and Najdorf went for a theoretical battle in this opening. The course of the game showed that Najdorf on the black side had a more profound understanding of the subtleties of the position. This has an explanation: in the Mar-del-Plata tournament earlier the same year the Polish-Argentine Grandmaster played the white pieces against this variation of King's Indian. He was so impressed by Black's plan demonstrated by the Yugoslav players Trifunovic and Gligoric, that afterwards he deeply studied the variation and was happy to give it a try with Black. According to Bronstein, Taimanov wasn't aware of the games from Mar del Plata, while Najdorf himself thought the opposite. One way or another Taimanov's analysis was more superficial and typical for the King's Indian pawn structure, Najdorf managed to get a highly dangerous attack on the kingside. As it is often the case in this opening, in no time White's position collapsed under Black's pressure.
A perfectly conducted game by Najdorf, which won the 1st brilliancy prize in the Zurich Candidates Tournament.