The strategic concept was simple. When Tal, following one of his own previous wins, moved a rook from f8 to e8, Penrose unleashed a pawn sacrifice which enabled the Englishman’s queen and rook to breach the black defences via the the vacated f1-f8 line. Tal fell acutely short of time, lost a piece, belatedly resigned, and blamed Keres.
The game created a furore because of its decisive style and its dent to the Soviet team’s invincibility. Penrose was given a standing ovation when he entered the players’ dining hall that evening, and next morning the Guardian and other English broadsheets headlined the result on their front pages.
I just love those two paragraphs. You've not just won a game of chess, you've beaten the great Mikhail Tal, the World Champion and one of the greatest attacking players who ever lived. You've done so as an amateur player based on your own homework, studying the games of one of Tal's Soviet team mates, in a style of which Tal himself would be rightly proud. And every top player in the world rises to their feet to salute you.
