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GM Mark Taimanov celebrates his 86th birthday tomorrow, February 7, 2012.
:) :)
A Candidate on two occasions (1953 and 1971), and a top-class GM for the better part of three decades, GM Taimanov did yeoman service in creating many new playable variations for Black in the Sicilian Defence system which bears his name; I've had a lot of fun trying to find even more unusual lines in his system which are playable. At his peak he was a world-class pianist as well; he was selected for the musical collection "Top 100 Pianists of the 20th Century".
It's a tremendous shame, but GM Taimanov is unfortunately remembered by most chess people for one thing only: losing to GM Bobby Fischer by 6-0 in their Vancouver Candidates match. In the book "Russians Versus Fischer", it came out that Taimanov was receiving training advice that concluded Fischer was unbeatable by anyone in technical play, so the decision was taken to aim for tactical games, since Fischer had lost occasional tactical games, for example to GM Robert Byrne on the White side of a French Tarrasch in 1965-66, and to GM Vlad Kovacevic on the White side of a French Winawer in 1970. The problem was that Taimanov was 17 years older than Fischer, and the calculating exertions had to favour the younger man. So it proved, although Taimanov lasted into the endgames in most of the games. After returning home, GM Taimanov was stripped of several honours, titles, and stipends, since the verdict was that he had shamed the Soviet Union by such a terrible result. The facts of the matter were that Fischer was unstoppable by anyone at that time; after GM Bent Larsen also lost to Fischer by 6-0, Taimanov got back some of his honours, and after GM Tigran Petrosian lost to Fischer by 6.5-2.5, Taimanov was restored all of his previous honours!!
GM Taimanov beat World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who was at the height of his powers, at Leningrad 1977. Of course, the game was a Taimanov Sicilian!!
Many Happy Returns!!
:) :)
A Candidate on two occasions (1953 and 1971), and a top-class GM for the better part of three decades, GM Taimanov did yeoman service in creating many new playable variations for Black in the Sicilian Defence system which bears his name; I've had a lot of fun trying to find even more unusual lines in his system which are playable. At his peak he was a world-class pianist as well; he was selected for the musical collection "Top 100 Pianists of the 20th Century".
It's a tremendous shame, but GM Taimanov is unfortunately remembered by most chess people for one thing only: losing to GM Bobby Fischer by 6-0 in their Vancouver Candidates match. In the book "Russians Versus Fischer", it came out that Taimanov was receiving training advice that concluded Fischer was unbeatable by anyone in technical play, so the decision was taken to aim for tactical games, since Fischer had lost occasional tactical games, for example to GM Robert Byrne on the White side of a French Tarrasch in 1965-66, and to GM Vlad Kovacevic on the White side of a French Winawer in 1970. The problem was that Taimanov was 17 years older than Fischer, and the calculating exertions had to favour the younger man. So it proved, although Taimanov lasted into the endgames in most of the games. After returning home, GM Taimanov was stripped of several honours, titles, and stipends, since the verdict was that he had shamed the Soviet Union by such a terrible result. The facts of the matter were that Fischer was unstoppable by anyone at that time; after GM Bent Larsen also lost to Fischer by 6-0, Taimanov got back some of his honours, and after GM Tigran Petrosian lost to Fischer by 6.5-2.5, Taimanov was restored all of his previous honours!!
GM Taimanov beat World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who was at the height of his powers, at Leningrad 1977. Of course, the game was a Taimanov Sicilian!!
Many Happy Returns!!
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