King Tries To Give Checkmate Himself! - Best Of The 1980s - Portisch vs. Pinter, 1984

In one of the prettiest chess games of all time (seriously, I could watch this game all day long ,), Jozsef Pinter conducted a spectacular king hunt in the endgame, using his own king to help checkmate Lajos Portisch! Here are some of the spectacles you will see in this game: 1) a piece sac in the endgame, 2) a king hunt, 3) a king march, 4) an amazing winning resource for Portisch, 5) beautiful checkmating combinations, 6) four consecutive checks, just like in the movies!

Top 10 Games of the 1980s

• #1: ???
• #2: ???
• #3: ???
  
• #4: Portisch vs. Pinter, 1984
• #5: Tal vs. Hjartarson, 1987 (blog)
• #6: van de Loo vs. Hesseling, 1983 (blog)
  
• #7: Korchnoi vs. Karpov, 1981 (blog)
  
• #8: Smirin vs. Beliavsky, 1989 (blog)
  
• #9: Kasparov vs. Petrosian, 1981 (blog)
  
• #10: Beliavsky vs. Nunn, 1985 (blog)
  
• See also: Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s

The game opens placidly enough with a Semi-Tarrasch Defense, long disreputed and now well reputed, and Pinter overextends on the queenside with his b-pawn. However Portisch (a great positional master), plays slowly in response, and in a flash, Pinter launches an attack on the centralized white king!

The absence of queens does not faze him, and he offers a piece sacrifice to continue the king hunt which his own king joins. There is one way out though! Portisch could have found a spectacular interference and turned the game around! Failing that, a glorious mating attack soon followed.

Lessons:

• A queen exchange does not mean the king is safe.
• Don't waste any time in the opening.
• Don't bend to your opponent's threats. Bend them to yours!

Annotations are below

If you like the content and want to support it, subscribe and follow on YouTube and Twitch!