It’s always a bummer when the first line of your obituary kicks off with the lowest moment of your professional life.
For Soviet Grandmaster Mark Taimanov, born 100 years ago this month in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, it’s also deeply unfair.
Taimanov, who in his spare time managed to forge a second career as a world-class classical pianist, is probably best remembered by casual chess fans for his epic 6-0 Candidates’ match loss to Bobby Fischer in 1971, the first step on the American’s incredible run to a world title clash with Boris Spassky in Reykjavik a year later.
The play in that Vancouver match was a little more balanced (especially in the early games) than the final score might indicate, and Fischer would go on to deliver a similarly spectacular 6-0 beatdown of Danish star GM Bent Larsen in his next match. But Taimanov admitted later that the embarrassing final score got him in trouble with Soviet authorities back home, costing him his state salary and invitations to future events outside the country for years to come.
“It was unthinkable for the authorities that a Soviet grandmaster could lose in such a way to an American, without a political explanation,” he told the Chessbase.com website years later.
What should also be remembered is that Taimanov, who died a decade ago at the age of 90, in his prime was one of the top players in the fabled Soviet chess juggernaut of the 1950s and 1960s, a two-time world championship candidate, a prolific author and an opening theorist with popular variations bearing his name in the Sicilian, Benoni and Nimzo-Indian Defenses.
Taimanov may have suffered professionally for his loss to Fischer, but he remained a dangerous opponent at the chessboard for decades. Five years after his disastrous Candidates’ match, he finished just a half-point out of first place at a strong zonal tournament in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1975, taking home a brilliancy prize for his beautifully orchestrated attacking win over Armenian GM Rafael Vaganian.
After some early positional maneuvering in this English Opening, Taimanov as White builds up a sizable development advantage by targeting the wayward Black queen on 16. Nb3 Qa4?! (the queen will be driven back to her home square and, even with not a single piece past the third rank, White’s position builds up a lot of dynamic energy) 17. Qd2 Kh7 18. Nc5 Qd4 (Qxa2? 19. Ra1 traps her majesty) 19. e3 Qd8 20. h4!, signaling that White intends to hit the kingside before the full Black army can be deployed.
Black’s efforts to keep the kingside closed backfire on 21. h5 g5?! (safer was 21…e5 22. hxg6+ fxg6 23. b4 Nf6 24. a4, with just a small initiative for White) 22. f4 Nxc5 23. fxg5!? (the prelude to a speculative piece sacrifice; note that the routine 23. Rxc5 doesn’t pose many practical problems for the defense after 23…gxf4 24. Rxf4 Be6 25. Be4+ Kh8 26. Qc3+ f6 27. Bg6 Rf8) Ne6 24. Rxf7+ Kg7 (Ng7 25. gxh6 Kxh6 26. e4+ Kh7 27. h6, winning) 25. gxh6!!.
White gets full marks for both guts and ingenuity. Black takes the bait and Taimanov generates a remarkably powerful attack with, at first, just his queen and pawns in the fight: 25…Kxf7? (a sporting move by Vaganian, but discretion here was the better part of valor: 25…Rf8! — the only saving move — 26. Rxf8+ Qxf8 27. e4 Kh7 28. Rf1 Qxh6 29. Rf7+ Ng7 30 Qxh6+ [Qa5!? is another way to go] Kxh6 31. Rf8 and the fight goes on) 26. Qf2+ Kg8 27. Qf5!, with the nasty threat of 28. Qg6+ Kh8 (Kf8 29. Rf1+) 29. Be4.
Black is forced to give back the rook on 27…Rf8 28. Qg6+ Kh8 29. Be4 Rf7 (White meets 29…Rf1+ 30. Rxf1 Qg8 with 31. Rf7! Qxg6 32. hxg6 Bd7 33. Rh7+ Kg8 34. Rxe7 Rd8 35. Bf5) 30. Qxf7, and Taimanov displays some admirable sangfroid with 30…Qg8 31. Qxe7!, allowing his opponent some scary-looking checks to set up the winning idea.
White gets down to business after 37. Kf2 Qh2+ 38. Bg2, forcing resignation after 38…Bd7 (39. Qe8+ was a nasty threat) 39. Qf6+ Kh7 40. Qf5+ Kg8 41. Rh1 Qc7 42. Qg6+, and Vaganian conceded in light of 42…Kh8 (Kf8 43. Qf6+ Ke8 44. h7 and wins) 43. Qf6+ Kg8 44. h7+! Kxh7 45. Be4+ Kg8 46. Rg1+, with mate to come.
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An even stronger proof that there was life after Fischer came with Taimanov’s victory over Soviet world champion Anatoly Karpov — then at the height of his powers after claiming the crown Fischer abdicated — in a strong 1977 event in Leningrad. He never did beat Fischer, but Taimanov over the course of his long career could boast of wins over Karpov and five other world champs, including two takedowns of Mikhail Botvinnik and three wins over Spassky.
The center gets locked in this Sicilian, and a positional battle breaks out over who will call the shots on the open queenside. Taimanov, as Black, opts against passive defense, jettisoning a pawn with 25. Bd2 Nb6!? 26. Rxc5 c4, forcing the White bishop back as 27. Bxc4? (also bad is 27. bxc4? Rxa5 28. Bxa5 Qc5 29. Bxb6 Nf3+ 30. Kf1 Nxe1 31. Bxc5 Nxd3) Nxc4 28. Rxa7 Qxa7 29. bxc4 Nf3+ wins for Black.
With 31. axb3 g6!? (enterprising, but Black could have played it safe with 31…Nxb3 32. Qc3 Ra1 33. Qc8+ Kf7 34. Qd7+, with a likely perpetual check) 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. b4 Kg7 34. b5, White’s has preserved his extra pawn, but Karpov’s near-infallible positional radar appears to shut down for once.
White’s back-rank weakness is cunningly exploited on 35. exf5 Nxf5 36. Rb3 (see diagram) Qd4! (centralizing the queen and setting a diabolical trap that the world champ walks right into) 37. b6?? (passed pawns, they say, must be pushed, but White can still preserve equality with either 37. Rb1 or 37. Rc3) Ra1 38. Rb1 (no doubt banking on 38…Rxb1? 39. Qxb1 Qd2 40. Qd3 [and not 40. b7? Ng3+! 41. hxg3 (Kg1?? Qe3 mate) Qh6+ 42. Kg1 Qe3+, drawing] Qb2 41. g4, and White is still playing for the win) Ng3+!!.
White resigns on the spot, seeing just a move too late Taimanov’s unexpected idea: 39. hxg3 (Qxg3 Rxb1 40. Qf3 e4 41. Qe2 Qd3 42. Qxd3 exd3 42. Kg1 d2 44. Kf2 d1=Q, with mate to follow quickly) Ra8!!, and the Black rook circumnavigates the board to victory. Mate on the open h-file can only be delayed a few moves with 40. Qf2 Qxf2 41. Rb4 Qxf1+ 42. Kh2 Ra2 43. Kh3 Qh1+ 44. Kg4 Qh5 mate. Very few players can claim to have outfoxed the crafty Karpov in such spectacular fashion.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Taimanov-Vaganian, Zonal, Vilnius, USSR, August 1975
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.O-O O-O 8.d3 Nc6 9.Be3 h6 10.Rc1 Re8 11.Nd2 Nd4 12.Bxd4 Bxd4 13.Nb5 c6 14.Nxd4 Qxd4 15.Qc2 Rb8 16.Nb3 Qa4 17.Qd2 Kh7 18.Nc5 Qd4 19.e3 Qd8 20.h4 Nd7 21.h5 g5 22.f4 Nxc5 23.fxg5 Ne6 24.Rxf7+ Kg8 25.gxh6 Kxf7 26.Qf2+ Kg8 27.Qf5 Rf8 28.Qg6+ Kh8 29.Be4 Rf7 30.Qxf7 Qg8 31.Qxe7 Qxg3+ 32.Kf1 Qh3+ 33.Kf2 Qh2+ 34.Ke1 Qg1+ 35.Ke2 Qh2+ 36.Kf1 Qh3+ 37.Kf2 Qh2+ 38.Bg2 Bd7 39.Qf6+ Kh7 40.Qf5+ Kg8 41.Rh1 Qc7 42.Qg6+ Black resigns.
Karpov-Taimanov, October Revolution 60th Anniversary Tournament, Leningrad, USSR, June 1977
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 e5 6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. f3 O-O 9. Be3 d6 10. Rc1 b6 11. Bd3 Bc5 12. Qd2 Be6 13. Nxc5 bxc5 14. O-O Nd4 15. Nd5 Nd7 16. f4 Rb8 17. f5 Bxd5 18. cxd5 Qb6 19. Rf2 f6 20. Rc4 a5 21. Ra4 Ra8 22. Qe1 Ra7 23. b3 Rfa8 24. Rb2 Qc7 25. Bd2 Nb6 26. Rxa5 c4 27. Bf1 Rxa5 28. Bxa5 Qc5 29. Bxb6 Qxb6 30. Kh1 cxb3 31. axb3 g6 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. b4 Kg7 34. b5 f5 35. exf5 Nxf5 36. Rb3 Qd4 37. b6 Ra1 38. Rb1 Ng3+ White resigns.
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