The Hippopotamus Game

In his excellent autobiography Mikhail Tal told an entertaining story of what does a chessplayer think when he plays:

"JOURNALIST. It's perhaps not convenient to interrupt at such a culminating moment, but I would, nevertheless, like to know whether extraneous thoughts ever enter your head during a game?

CHESS PLAYER. Oh yes! For instance, I will never forget my game with Grandmaster Vasyukov in one of the USSR Championships. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not altogher obvious, and there was a large number of possible variations, but when I conscientiously began to work through them, I found, to my horror, that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the famous 'tree of the variations', from which the trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelieavable rapidity.

And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the classic couplet by Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky:

Oh, what a difficult job it was

To drag out of the march the hippopotamus.

I don't know from what associations the hippopotamus got onto the chess board, but althoug the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how would you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder. After a lenghty consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully:"Well, let it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went off from the chess board just as he had come on. Of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations, and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised and interesting game, I could not refrain from making it.

And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the position for 40 minutes, made an accurately- calculated piece sacrifice..."

[Event "?"]

[Site "Kiev ch-SU"]

[Date "1964.??.??"]

[Round "?"]

[White "Tal,Mikhail"]

[Black "Vasiukov,Evgeny"]

[Result "1-0"]

[NIC "CK 8.2"]



1. e2-e4 c7-c6 2. Nb1-c3 d7-d5 3. d2-d4 d5xe4 4. Nc3xe4 Nb8-d7 5. Ng1-f3

Ng8-f6 6. Ne4-g3 e7-e6 7. Bf1-d3 c6-c5 8. O-O c5xd4 9. Nf3xd4 Bf8-c5

10. Nd4-f3 O-O 11. Qd1-e2 b7-b6 12. Bc1-f4 Bc8-b7 13. Ra1-d1 Nf6-d5

14. Bf4-g5 Qd8-c7 15. Ng3-h5 Kg8-h8 16. Bd3-e4 f7-f6 17. Bg5-h4 Bc5-d6

18. c2-c4 Bb7-a6 19. Nh5xg7 Kh8xg7 20. Nf3-d4 Nd7-c5 21. Qe2-g4 Kg7-h8

22. Nd4xe6 Nc5xe6 23. Qg4xe6 Ra8-e8 24. Qe6xd5 Bd6xh2 25. Kg1-h1 Qc7-f4

26. Qd5-h5 Qf4xe4 27. Rf1-e1 Qe4-g6 28. Qh5xg6 h7xg6 29. Bh4xf6 Kh8-g8

30. Re1xe8 Rf8xe8 31. Kh1xh2 Ba6xc4 32. Rd1-d7 Re8-e6 33. Bf6-c3 Bc4xa2

34. Rd7xa7 Ba2-c4 35. Kh2-g3 Bc4-d5 36. f2-f3 Kg8-f8 37. Bc3-d4 b6-b5

38. Kg3-f4 Bd5-c4 39. Kf4-g5 Kf8-e8 40. Ra7-a8 Ke8-f7 41. Ra8-a7 Kf7-e8

42. b2-b4 Bc4-d5 43. Ra7-a3 Ke8-f7 44. g2-g4 Re6-e2 45. Bd4-c5 Re2-e5

46. Kg5-h6 Re5-e6 47. Ra3-d3 Bd5-c6 48. Rd3-d8 Re6-e8 49. Rd8-d4 Re8-e6

50. f3-f4 Kf7-e8 51. Kh6-g7 Bc6-e4 52. Bc5-b6 Be4-f3 53. Rd4-d8 Ke8-e7

54. Rd8-d3 Bf3-e2 55. Bb6-d8 Ke7-e8 56. Rd3-d2 Re6-e3 57. Bd8-g5 Be2-d3

58. f4-f5



1-0



