Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Piss Off Tal

The very strong Tal Memorial tournament is on right now and it is in that light that GM Ian Rogers related a story, an encounter he had with the great man, in his column last Sunday for the Sun Herald. Actually, he first shared this story with me back in Dresden. It amused me then and it amuses me now.

While analysing with his opponent post game, Rogers saw "a bony hand from an old codger" reach for a central pawn with the idea of apparently sacking it. The Australian shooed the hand away, but the hand keeps on reaching, Rogers turns and, whoops(!), it's Tal! Naturally the pawn sac was a "powerful" one.

It makes me wonder how many wonderful stories GM Rogers has in his memories. When is his autobiography coming out?

1 comment:

chessx said...

what a story to tell your granchildren.