Complicated: Tal vs Panno, Portoroz 1958
Tal remembered the game fondly: "The game with Panno gave me great pleasure and it won a prize for the most interesting game of the tournament." (Tal, Damsky, V ogonj ataki, Moscow 1978, page 31).
Zoran Petronijevic: "The game has been annotated countless times, but it is so complex that these analyses still contain mistakes and omissions. I do hope that my analyzes bring us a bit closer to the truth. Mistakes are, of course, unavoidable."
Conclusions
By Zoran Petronijevic
- The first interesting moment in the game arises after 14.e5, which is dubious. Better is Kasparov’s suggestion 14.b3, after which White has a clear edge.
- 19…Nxa1 is a mistake (which none of the previous annotators pointed out), after which the position is lost. Better is 19…Nxd4 which leads to even play.
- After 23.Be1! (instead of the game move 23.Bxf4 which is a mistake that leads to an even position) White is winning.
- 23…Rxd4 is best and leads to even play. The alternative 23…cxd4, which was given by many sources, should lose.
- 26…Bf7 is best and gives Black comfortable play. 26…Kh8 looks weird, and was given as by bad by Tal, but also leads to even play.
- 27…Bg6 is a mistake, after which Black is lost. After 27…Rd1, the position is even.
- 32.g3 is a mistake after which the position is even. Better is 32.Kh2 or 32.g4. White wins in both cases.
- After 32…Be4 the position is even.
- 41…Rxe3 is given by all sources as a mistake but leads to draw. The alternative 43…Re6 also leads to a draw as Black can build a fortress.
- 45…Kd4 is given by all sources as a mistake but in fact it leads to a draw. All sources give 45…Rxg3 (a suggestion by the Yugoslavian IM V. Vukovic) as better by my analyzes indicate that this loses. But the game move 45…Kd5 should also lead to a draw.
- 49…Ra2 is a decisive mistake. 49…Re6!! saves the game for Black.
If the analyzes are correct Tal was never lost, and with best play Black could have reached no more than equality.
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