micawber wrote on 12/09/10 at 07:33:46:


I recall there was much speculation that Bronstein was put under serious pressure to throw the match, but Bronstein wrote about his mind wandering etc etc.  Later, post-Soviet times, he basically said he was put under serious pressure by various people to throw the match, and it was up to him to decide whether or not to crumble under the pressure.  He also said he didn't really fancy becoming world champion...

It's doubtful the truth will ever be known, but I find it hard to believe he would play so badly in such an endgame.  Nerves can play a part however.

micawber wrote on 12/09/10 at 07:41:50:


Good point, it pays to have good endgame technique in case a gambit backfires.

On topic, there is a famous Tal (as White) game against a player I cannot remember, where he heads straight from the opening onto a winning pawn endgame. I've either seen it in Sheresevsky's Mastering the Opening books or in Polugaevsky's Sicilian Labyrinth. I think it might have been a Sicilian..

There are some good examples in Marin's learn from the legends where Tal exploits the superiority of R+p/R+2p vs. B+Kn. 
And of course there is Tal-Bronstein, 1974 where Tal shows that with an active king B+p can defeat a passive rook.

The endgame 19th game return match Botvinnik-Tal 1961.
Ivkov-Tal, Bled 1961
Tal-Anatoshin, Kharkov, 1967
And I seem to rember that Tal published an endgame study in relation to a game against Boök with K+pawns vs K+pawns+knight where a pawn in compensation for a knight is sufficient to draw.
Of course you had to be very strong to reach an endgame against Tal.
On the darker side, Tal missed several endgame wins against Botvinnik.

Bronstein would have become world champion if he had not dropped two crucial endgame points in his match against Botvinnik.
One through a blunder, but in the famous endgame of 2B vs 2.Kn a lack of technique.

We also know that Kasparov spend months studying endgames in preparation for the semi-final candidates match against Korchnoi.

Thank you, and keep the recommendations coming!  If there is a book where some nice analysis of Tal's (or Shirov's, Bronstein's, etc) endings are published, please include that also.

Many class players want to emulate players like Tal, Bronstein, etc., and often don't want to study anything but tactics and openings.  These sorts of players often neglect the endgame and strategic play.  I'm looking for instructive endgame examples by "attacking" players to help me convince class players that to be successful, even great attacking players had to have a high level of endgame technique and positional understanding. 

Any good study material that shows Tal converting a small engame plus to a full point?