Tal-Hecht, Olympiad, Varna 1962
After five consecutive victories in the previous Chess Olympiads, another Olympic gold for the USSR in Varna, Bulgaria 1962 was no surprise for anyone. Four out of six Soviet players took individual gold medals on their boards. One of them was the former World Champion Mikhail Tal.
The presented beautiful game was played in the match USSR - West Germany of the A-Final from the Varna Olympiad. It is best characterized by Tal's opponent Hans-Joachim Hecht, who wrote about his astonishment after Tal's 19th move: "I almost fell out of my chair when I saw it". Two moves later an even bigger surprise was awaiting the German player. After Tal's 21st move Hecht wrote: "This is where I lost it. It took me several minutes before I was able to calculate the next variations. Tal considered this game one of the most beautiful in the Olympiad. For me, it represents a wonderful example of harmonious coordination of the pieces."
Enjoy another pearl from Mikhail Tal's practice!