Polugaevsky thinks that Tal thought that his G4 novelty would win, after which Polugaevsky would stop using his Variation for the match.

So, reasoned Polugaevsky, Tal must have decided to play game 2 off-the-cuff, in his good old style. If Tal lost or drew, he would still be able to use his novelty in G4 (because Polugaevsky would carry on using his Variation). If he won, well, that's a win and he could use his novelty in the future.

In the end Tal ended up with a ½ point out of the 2 games.

In any case, Polugaevsky had been looking at possible early sacrifices on b5, and he was confident his Variation could withstand them all.

The Polugaevsky Variation is a fantastic fighting opening and it is a shame the Defence more or less died with him.