Hello everyone! In this video, I will show you a remarkable game played between
former Yugoslavian IM Rudolf Maric and former World Chess
Champion Tigran Petrosian. Let's see what happened in that game.
Tigran Petrosian was Black. And after 1.e4, he answered 1...d6. He refrained of playing his
favorite French Opening and probably with more patience, playing style in that game, he wanted to
win the game against an IM, let's say, a weaker opponent but that was
wrong calculation. Let's see what happened. Nf3, Bg7. Maric, also
continueed playing patiently and probably Petrosian was satisfied because I think he
just wanted to play patiently, waiting for weaker opponent's mistake. But something
completely different happened. White played a perfect game and black did some mistakes
even in early stage of game which was fought off for him, later. After h3, Nbd7, Be3
Now, there is not Ng4 - stopped that possibility.
e5 which is very risky. You will see soon why. Qc7 was safer to prevent Qb6 later.
Well, after e5, dxe5, Black made another mistake..dxe5.
Nxe5 was safer. Now after dxe5, White simply placed his queen on weak square - d6.
Now maybe Black should go for Ne8, White queen will go back to d2 and Black
will lose tempo with Qe7 and again,Nf6. But Black didn't want to
waste time for Ne8-Nf6 again. He played Re8
maybe intending Re6, maybe intending Bf8 but after perfect move
Bc4, suddenly Black faced huge problems. What's the point? If Bf8 attacking queen,
queen just goes to d2 and Ng5 looks unstoppable with attacking f7 - weak sqaure....
weak pawn. Qe7 - what else? Well, if Black already played Re8,
Qe7 looks natural
and many White players will now answer with Rfd1. But Qxe7 is also very strong. What's thr
point? It looks like a waste of time but now rook on second rank will be very passive and causing
some chaos in Black camp. Simply, Black cannot easily fight for the file and by dominating on that
file, soon you'll see White will get very comfortable and very promising position.
Now I suggest you to pause the video, to find the best move for White. And of course, after analyzing
some position you will see that
Black pieces are not co-operating well and looks like Black needs more space. He
should go, probably, for more space with b5, Nb6 something like that or patiently b5,
Bb7, Rd8. a4 - perfect move! One of the key moves in this game..key move in White's strategy.
Not only preventing b5 which will be probably good for Black. Not only that,
but another idea is a5, fixing pawn on a7..you see, after a5
if Black wants to activate rook, probably he will go for a6 but then b6 and c5
will be week squares. Well, after a4 and preventing Black's b5, White simply
will leave Black without counterplay for a long time. Black immediately played b6.
that's good move because now if White plays a5, Black will play b5
with a6 and Black will improve his position. What can White do? Okay, all White pieces are
activated. It's time for rooks - Rfd1. Probably, White rook is more needed on a1 than f1 so that is the
reason White plays Rfd1. Bb7 and okay, why not double the rooks?
Rd6. Not only doubling, but also attacking c6 and f6-knight.
Black pieces are very passive and he tries a6 to prepare b5 in order to get space
and somehow put down White's
pressure on Black's weakened queenside. After a6, White doesn't care about his potential threat. After b5,
of course,White didn't take because axb5
will just lead to opening a-file for Black. So Bb3, just keep that tension.
If Black plays b4, White can easily retreat knight and Black cannot take on e4 because
knight on d7 is hanging. So b4, let's say, Nb1 with Nd2 and Nc4.
Black decided to play h6. Solid move. Somehow, Black sets all his pawns 6th rank
in order to restrict the activity of White's pieces (Ng5) as you can see
was threat. And after general exchanges on f7, Rd7 will follow. But another key
moment in that game. Black just stopped White's Ng5. But can still White somehow achieve that?
Yes, there is a perfect possibility. Just see the move - g4!
Well, what's the idea? If White plays g5, Black must take and finally, White knight goes to g5 and
still that knight will be untouchable there.
How to stop that? Nh7 is forbidden because d7-knight is hanging.
If Black plays g5, just look at the terrible Black position. White knight will
go to e2
then to f5 via g3, of course
So Black decided to play Rc8. Probably with an idea of playing Rc7 and defend
knight on d7. But White just follows his nice plan. g5, hxg5, Nxg5. And
there is a threat of Nxf7. Rc7 happened. First key move in
that game was a4 and second was g4. Now it's time for
the third key move in that game. Now you should pause the video and try to find that move.
Well, that perfect move is a5. What's the idea? Looks like pawn on a5 is weak and exposed, but Black
cannot attack that pawn and that pawn may have some brilliant threats like Bb6.
After Bb6, Nxb6, axb6, White will penetrate via 8th rank..Rd8-Rb8. Or f7-pawn
will be lost finally. What can Black do? He decided to play just Kf8 and to move king from that diagonal
but once again, you can see that if you perfectly lead, play nice, strategical
game, finally there must be some tactics coming to help. So White could now play
Bb6 but White's next move wins the game at once - Bxf7. What a shot!
Final occurred in that brilliant symphony. Well, Black took, Ne6+, Kg8, Nxc7.
White is exchange up. Black should resign but following some intertion, he just played
Bf8 but now, even another tactical shot
completely destroying the game. Ne8 - pure brilliancy! If Bxd6, Nxd6
attacking Bb7 and f7-rook. If Nxe8, simply Rxd7 with penetration! Black decided to play Kh7
but that allows even one more tactical shot for White. Rxd7! And after
Nxd7, Rxd7, Black was completely humiliated. What a triumph! What a victory!
That game was played only once, in whole entire career especially, if you're
only IM, but still very strong player, Rudolf Maric simply destroyed his much stronger and very
well renowned opponent. Actually that game was played in 1970, only 1 week ago, Petrosian lost his World Championship Match against Boris Spassky.
You could see, in that game, how Black simply neglected fighting for open file by
allowing Qd6 and easily
doubling of
rooks for White and simply, with few just waiting moves, a6, b6, h6, Black didn't do anything to
fight against White's growing initiative. White just used open file with
his rooks and used some weak squares - especially g5 and b6. b6 was a square where White bishop intended
to go with dangerous threats. Black finally allowed some tactical shots and was humiliated. I hope you enjoyed
that example and see you soon
with new lectures. Bye-bye! :)