Tal's Final Tournament Game: A SHOCKING Result! 

There is a nice story about this game. Tal came to the tournament in Barcelona in fine form and won two out of three first games, but then he fell very ill (he had a kidney disease that would take his life a month later). However, he didn't want to withdraw from the tournament and insisted on playing on. However, he didn't have the strength to play long games (back then, classical tempo was 40 moves for 2.5 hours with adjournments if necessary). So he devised the following system - he drew his white games in 10-15 moves by playing extremely timid, drawish openings and tried to hang in with black as best as he could. However, the illness had been getting worse and he'd lost three games with black before this game, the last round. So there he went, played the quietest possible variation against the Sicilian, offered a draw on move 12 or so, and got up from the table before Akopian responded, fully expecting Akopian to accept. However, when he came back to the playing hall, Tal was informed by the arbiter that Akopian had, in fact, refused the draw offer. "Fuck it, he is gonna lose then" was pissed-off Tal's reply to the arbiter. He proceeded to sit down, concentrate and started playing with great energy. Akopian, who was a top 20 player then and some 35 years younger than Tal, soon obtained a better position, but he overextended and Tal punished him in the complications, finishing his last classical tournament with a respectable 50% even though he fully intended to draw the last game and go home with a -1 score. After this tournament, Tal went back to Moscow and checked into a hospital, only to check himself out against medical advice when he heard there was an elite blitz tournament being played. He played excellently and finished third - Kasparov was first, but Tal beat him in their game. Couple of days after that blitz tournament, Tal had to go back to hospital where he passed away.

So special to be able to see the brilliant Tal's last tournament game. After such a remarkable career and his devotion to the game over decades, I'm happy that he won this final one. Thank you for sharing this with us, and thanks for your very nice channel. Rest in peace, Tal.

Rest in Peace, Mikhail Nehemyevich !!

What a great finale tournament game. I’m sure he’s in heaven trolling Fischer with the Sicilian defense

Great game and the perfect amount of analysis. Keep up the great work!

Tal ,a revelation to the end. Thank you for expertly taking us through this wonderful game.

Actually that was very moving. To see such brilliance in a man of his years, and for it to be his final game is quite special. Thanks for sharing this and for your clear commentary.

Tal❤

This is becoming my favorite channel for watching great chess games. I've been a fan of agadmator for years and he's awesome, but he often goes off the rails too far and I sometimes get lost and aggravated. thank you, ChessDawg!

Love your channel. It's always a treat when you upload

I love your analyses, I'm going to watch all of them

Tal was a meteor-asteroid burning through the skies of the universe! His imagination for sacrifices is approached only by a few GMs..Alekhine,Kasparov.

Great final to a remarkable career❤. Favorite champion of many players. Very nice analysis. Thank you.

A good game, and thank you for this content 😊

Thanks ❤ from Malaga Spain

Ke1🎉 what a last move.... King returns to his position

Thanks for another brilliant Tal's game. I like him very much. Brave man who knows how to savour life

Excellent and exciting game. Thanks for showing us. I wonder if you could use a more attractive board like Agadmator uses?

He played in hes stile till the end. Agressive, spectakullary and powerfully.The king of chess.

Please we need games in black

Thanks chess dawg

more tal games mr chessdawg pls..

Him doing this in 1992, while sick and out of chess for a while is amazing. They dont make them like they used to

At 10:20 I thought Tal was going to solve his problem by sacrificing the queen by capturing the Bishop on c6 and somehow winning with the queening pawn.

“Because there is no check on A1” 😂

TAL ❤

TAL was in deep trouble . . . then BOOOOM!

wonderful game....so aggressive

How come when Tal plays D4 at 1.27, pawn in c4 x d4 and goes to d3? 🤔

7:10 in this position I prefer white at any time of a day!

you should really make a discord server

10;57 R G7=??? IF K G8 R D8 R D8 Q C3 R G2+ K E3 R D3+ BLEACK WIN

Dawg day…..sun does shine on a dog’s behind every now and then. Done with online chess. The realtactitioner gets the account back or there will be no games at all. Kidney disease, ugh.

I like your content but you butcher these names. I was a Peace Corp volunteer in that part of the world so I’m probably being critical but let me help. Mikhail Tal: Meek-hall Tall. Akopian: Ah-Cope-yawn. Agadmator does a great job with names, in case anyone is ever curious. Admittedly, it’s not always easy.