Mikhail Tal avoids the "Cold Shower" after sacrificing material

Hi all

In this Tal game, it is White to play:

Would you be tempted by Qh5? Tal played a super precise move instead. It turns out that Qh5, black has the resource f5, and White's attack will bite the dust.

Instead Nf5! was played, and this is really crushing!

It makes all the difference now - this one single Tempo gain on black's queen. Tal seems to absorb and understand the importance of every single "Tempo gaining" move going to try and make sure defensive resources do not exist.

Final position

The beautiful point here is that if Qxh5 then Ne7+ Kh8 Rxh5 is mate!. Also if f6 then Ne7 is mate - the Queen on h5 prevents the King from using f7. Would you be able to see a counter-intuitive move that seems to offer a queen exchange after having sacrificed material - sometimes you need to :)

I have done a Tal course recently with over 33 hours of content here:
https://kingscrusher.tv/mikhailtal

and it was an absolute thrill to go over his thrilling games as you might expect for an attacking tactical player that I like to consider myself!

Key takeaway points

• If you try and emulate Tal, be prepared for the level of precision needed to justify sacrifices. The precision follow-ups are often needed to shut down resourceful defensive tries
• Key tempo gaining moves on the Opponent's queen factor into many of both Paul Morphy's and Mikhail Tal's crushing attacks
• Avoiding the dreaded "Cold shower" is an art form in its own right. Being able to anticipate key defensive resources, and want to shut them all down is something to enjoy doing.

Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.

Cheers, K