This Game Put An End To Mikhail Tal’s “French Career”

Mikhail Tal who preferred dynamic positions with attacking possibilities was definitely uncomfortable when playing “cramped” positions! French defense is probably the best example! There was nothing wrong with that opening but it wasn’t an opening for Tal. After suffering a painful loss in a game against Hungarian Grandmaster Lajos Portisch Tal gave up playing French and here is how he commented his decision! “At that point my “French career” came to an end. The French requires Black to play with great accuracy” and this is a quality I never had a great measure of.” In the end of the video as usual you can solve the daily puzzle!
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Lajos Portisch vs Mikhail Tal
EUR-chT (Men) 2nd (1961), Oberhausen FRG, rd 4, Jun-24
French Defense: Tarrasch. Pawn Center Variation (C05)
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3
Qb6 8.g3 cxd4 9.cxd4 f6 10.Bh3 fxe5 11.fxe5 Bb4+ 12.Kf1 Nf8
13.Ne2 Ng6 14.Kg2 O-O 15.Bg4 Bd7 16.h4 Ba5 17.Rb1 Qb5 18.h5
Nge7 19.h6 g6 20.Bg5 Nf5 21.Bxf5 Rxf5 22.g4 Rxf3 23.Kxf3 Bb6
24.Kg3 Rf8 25.Qd2 Bc7 26.Bf4 Be8 27.Rhf1 Bb6 28.Rf2 Nb4
29.Rbf1 Nd3 30.Rf3 Qxb2 31.Qxd3 Bb5 32.Bg5 Rf5 33.Qc3 Bxd4
34.Qc8+ Kf7 35.Qc7+
1-0
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Video Thumbnail Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mikhail_Tal_1962.jpg

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