Find the Move

One famous chess position a day: find the best move, read the story behind the game, then see why the move works and how the game went on. Free, with an archive.

Every day at midnight UTC a new moment from a famous game or study appears: Morphy at the opera, Fischer’s Game of the Century, Kasparov’s immortal attack and many more. Each issue has a short story about the players and the event, the position with the side to move, and — once you have found the move or given up — an explanation and the moves that followed in the real game. Every answer was checked with Stockfish.

Today’s issue (November 12, 2026): Tal at the 1959 Candidates (1959).

White to move. Find the best move.

From Mikhail Tal – Vasily Smyslov, Candidates, Bled 1959.

Yugoslavia, 1959. The Candidates Tournament, held in Bled, Zagreb and Belgrade, decided who would challenge world champion Botvinnik. Mikhail Tal, the 22-year-old 'Magician from Riga', won it and became world champion the next year. Against former champion Vasily Smyslov he played one of his typical games: material does not matter, initiative does. Black has grabbed pawns on the queenside; White's pieces are aimed at the king.