Looking at these games, it feels like Mariotti and Nezhmetdinov were cut from the same cloth. Nezh also played a brilliant attacking game against Polugaevsky - one of the classics! And while his game against Korchnoi ended in a draw, there was a similar idea of giving Viktor the queenside, while trying to squeeze out a victory on the opposite flank. As you say, Viktor was so combative, he would willingly enter into these risky double-edged contests.
Yes Viktor was always trying to keep life in the position but here he somehow ended up leaving his kingside empty of defensive pieces. And Mariotti is one of the worst people you could do this against! 😊
This series of videos spotlights the great Italian player Sergio Mariotti, Italy's first grandmaster whose love of gambits and attacking play earned him the nickname (given by the British Chess Magazine apparently!) of "The Italian Fury"! This game is one of Mariotti's most famous victories, sweeping aside the great Viktor Kortchnoi - at the peak of his powers - with some non-standard opening and middlegame and a powerful final attack!
I think engines follow the same principle Mariotti is using of letting the opponents piece drift away from the king seeking counterplay elsewhere before going for a decisive attack
Looking at these games, it feels like Mariotti and Nezhmetdinov were cut from the same cloth. Nezh also played a brilliant attacking game against Polugaevsky - one of the classics! And while his game against Korchnoi ended in a draw, there was a similar idea of giving Viktor the queenside, while trying to squeeze out a victory on the opposite flank. As you say, Viktor was so combative, he would willingly enter into these risky double-edged contests.
Yes Viktor was always trying to keep life in the position but here he somehow ended up leaving his kingside empty of defensive pieces. And Mariotti is one of the worst people you could do this against! 😊
This series of videos spotlights the great Italian player Sergio Mariotti, Italy's first grandmaster whose love of gambits and attacking play earned him the nickname (given by the British Chess Magazine apparently!) of "The Italian Fury"!
This game is one of Mariotti's most famous victories, sweeping aside the great Viktor Kortchnoi - at the peak of his powers - with some non-standard opening and middlegame and a powerful final attack!
I think engines follow the same principle Mariotti is using of letting the opponents piece drift away from the king seeking counterplay elsewhere before going for a decisive attack
Yes he seems to have the kanck of getting his opponents to do that! It's uncanny because they must have know he was a really good attacking player!
More or less a 3...g6 Ruy Lopez with an extra tempo
Yep! The extra tempo is always worth less than you hope but it does normally help you avoid the riskiest lines that you might face with Black!