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Mikhail Tal

MIKHAIL TAL (born Nov-09-1936, died Jun-28-1992, 55 years old) Latvia PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal was born in Riga, Latvia (annexed by the USSR in 1940). At six, he learned chess from his father, a medical doctor (source: Tal interview in <Chess Life>, May 1967). Tal won his first Latvian Championship in 1953, and earned the title of Soviet Master the following year. In 1957, aged twenty, he became the youngest-ever Soviet Champion. In 1960, following a string of victories in strong tournaments (including a second consecutive Soviet Championship, the Portorož Interzonal and the Candidates in Yugoslavia), Tal became the youngest World Chess Champion with a match victory over Mikhail Botvinnik. This record was broken by Garry Kasparov in 1985. Suffering from poor health, Tal lost the rematch with Botvinnik in 1961. He never qualified for a title match again. Tal continued to struggle with health problems for the rest of his career, which was often marked by inconsistent results. On a number of occasions, however, he was still able to achieve world-class successes. Tal added four more Soviet Championship victories to his resume (in 1967, 1972, 1974, and 1978), equalling Botvinnik's all-time record of six. In 1979, he won joint first place at Montreal with Anatoly Karpov, briefly climbing back to second place in the world rankings and becoming only the third player after Fischer and Karpov to reach a rating of 2700.* In 1988, Tal won the World Blitz Championship. He died of renal failure in 1992 at age 55. Paul Keres was a font of inspiration for him and Tal won three Keres Memorials: 1977, 1981, and 1983. Renowned for his aggressive, sacrificial playing style, Tal was also a noted chess journalist and author. In his autobiography, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, he annotates 100 of his greatest games. A list of books about Tal can be found at http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... Wikipedia article: Mikhail Tal A chronological list of Tal's Tournaments and Matches 1949-1973: Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 * http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo198... Last updated: 2021-06-28 21:06:43

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page 1 of 119; games 1-25 of 2,957  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. A Parnas vs Tal 0-1 33 1949 URS U18 Team-ch Semifinal C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 2. Tal vs I Zilber 1-0 33 1949 Riga Pioneer Palace Championship C07 French, Tarrasch 3. Tal vs Vedrov 1-0 65 1949 URS B40 Sicilian 4. J Klavins vs Tal 0-1 18 1949 Riga Junior-ch Final C10 French 5. A Nevitsky vs Tal 0-1 43 1949 Semi Finals Youth Championship C49 Four Knights 6. Tal vs A Vilup   0-1 59 1949 Ch URS (team)(juniors 1/2) C03 French, Tarrasch 7. Tal vs M Strelkov 1-0 16 1949 Riga Junior-ch Final C10 French 8. Mendeleevsky vs Tal   1-0 39 1949 Ch URS (team)(juniors 1/2) D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 9. Tal vs Leonov 1-0 25 1949 Riga Junior-ch Semifinal B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 10. Tal vs Ripatti ½-½ 41 1949 URS U18 Team-ch Semifinal B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 11. Butvit vs Tal   0-1 37 1949 Riga C01 French, Exchange 12. Kholmov vs Tal 0-1 21 1949 Simul D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 13. Tal vs I Miglans 1-0 21 1950 Latvian Youth Championship C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 14. Juliks vs Tal 0-1 39 1950 Riga Championship semifinal A16 English 15. Tal vs Sodell 0-1 23 1950 URS C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 16. Liepins vs Tal 0-1 44 1950 Riga Team Championship B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3 17. Tal vs A Darznieks 0-1 26 1950 Riga Championship semifinal C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 18. A Pakalns vs Tal 0-1 29 1950 Riga Championship semifinal D02 Queen's Pawn Game 19. K Klasups vs Tal ½-½ 41 1950 Riga Championship semifinal D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 20. Tal vs J Klavins 1-0 54 1950 Latvian Youth Championship B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 21. Lavrinenko vs Tal 0-1 38 1950 Riga-ch Final B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3 22. Leonov vs Tal 0-1 34 1950 URS E17 Queen's Indian 23. Tal vs M Straihers 1-0 6 1950 Riga Championship semifinal B00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening 24. V Ivanovs vs Tal 1-0 25 1950 URS C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed 25. Tal vs Pliss 1-0 37 1950 Riga Championship quarterfinal C99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd  page 1 of 119; games 1-25 of 2,957

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 84 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-06-09    kamalakanta: <AnalyzeThis: Good work blackie... you got me there. Think that everybody else sided with Morphy, no?> You guys crack me up! I'm laughing all the way to work! Thanks! May-06-09    kamalakanta: <AnalyzeThis: Good work blackie... you got me there. Think that everybody else sided with Morphy, no?> I think also Staunton's wife, Marcia, and his mother and little sister sided with him... May-06-09    AnalyzeThis: You forgot his pet canary. May-07-09    kamalakanta: <AnalyzeThis: You forgot his pet canary.> Of course! The one who kept saying, "He's the one! He's the one!" May-08-09    Fanacas: AnalyzeThis, I also think anderssen after his lost match with steinitz i believe he said something that steinitz was even greater then morphy. May-11-09    talisman: <parisattack> that would be one book that i would buy. May-13-09    ewan14: Database has Lev Poly beating Misha 8 - 2 ! ! May-17-09    myschkin: . . . Last round in Beograd 1959: http://www.youtube.com/v/jshd4ZwB_Vw Champion of the world P1: http://www.youtube.com/v/RnmgOpjo3Xo P2: http://www.youtube.com/v/W_h9u0NxAcM May-17-09    schroedingers cat: Benko looks funny in those sun glasses :) May-22-09    talisman: <ewan14> well lev p. and korchnoi were his indian signs that's for sure. but lev waxing him in '79 was the one that really hurt. last chance. May-22-09    AnalyzeThis: Tal had good manners. That was my impression of him. I think it shows on the great videos, too. May-26-09    kamalakanta: <AnalyzeThis: Tal had good manners. That was my impression of him. I think it shows on the great videos, too.> Fischer liked him, even though they were rivals. I believe Fischer was the only player who visited Tal in the hospital during the Curazao 1962 Candidates Tournament; they even played some informal games. These guys really loved the game of chess! See the image here: http://tinyurl.com/p3c7nu Kamalakanta May-27-09    Crocomule: There's a great photo of Tal on the cover of Attack with Mikhail Tal (Everyman, '03); is the guy behind him Iakov Damsky? May-27-09    kamalakanta: <Crocomule: There's a great photo of Tal on the cover of Attack with Mikhail Tal (Everyman, '03); is the guy behind him Iakov Damsky?> I really don't know. It could be any chess fan, or it could be Damsky as a chess fan...does anyone know? There is only one game of his in chessgames.com, I Damsky vs Nezhmetdinov, 1965 and no biographical notes anywhere... Jun-01-09    BISHOP TAL: Everybody knows Tal liked to drink.Did he drink in his prime years say 58-62.Did he show up to games buzzed or hungover.How did it affect his game. Does he ever talk about this in his boigraphy or anything, any feedback would be cool. Jun-01-09    Granny O Doul: Seems likely enough that he was hungover for some games, but I don't remember where he ever specifically said so. Doesn't seem like him to do so, as it would be belittling to his opponents. Jun-01-09    Tessie Tura: <Everybody knows Tal liked to drink.Did he drink in his prime years say 58-62.Did he show up to games buzzed or hungover.How did it affect his game. Does he ever talk about this in his boigraphy or anything, any feedback would be cool.> He doesn't say anything like that in his autobiography. Given his drinking habits in later life as they've been described, it wouldn't be surprising if he did turn up at some games in an impaired condition, shall we say. I don't believe he was drinking much during his championship years. Jun-02-09    HeMateMe: Joel Benjamin said that he had an early morning game agains Tal, and Tal "looked horrible", and asked Benjamin for a draw, very early in the game. JB refused the draw offer, and later in the game Tal tried to make two moves in a row. Benjamin said "thats the first time a GM tried to make two moves in a row against me." Jun-02-09    whiskeyrebel: Ah, quite an innovative trick by Tal. Jun-02-09    ughaibu: The only candidate game: Tal vs J Benjamin, 1991 Note: 1) RookFile's final comment 2) the brevity of the game 3) which would be the double move? Jun-02-09    Granny O Doul: <ughaibu> I imagine he did not get away with it. A good moment for it though, would have been 15.Qf3/Qxb7. Jun-03-09    HeMateMe: Dont know if it was a "candidate game"? this came from Benjamin, either in an interview with Chess Life, or in a retrospective article about Tal. Jun-03-09    HeMateMe: I think Tal used to drink at a place in NYC called "The Leningrad Club" when he was in new york for chess. A russian joint. Probably around the Bighton beach area in Brooklyn, heavily russian/ukranian. Jun-03-09    talisman: 1.reason for tal looking terrible: the man was dying. 2.reason for tal(maybe?) trying to move twice: the man was dying. BUT, he beat kasparov shortly before he died AND, he died very much in the saddle. Jun-03-09    HeMateMe: Our boy Misha was a serious drinker and chain smoker. The fact that he might show up hungover for a game should surprise no one. I've seen a few drinkers over the years, and I know what a hangover looks like and smells like. I would guess the GMs would know as well. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 116) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 84 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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