The chess games of Mikhail Tal

Tal

Photograph courtesy of the Dutch National Archives

Mikhail Tal
Number of games in database: 2,822
Years covered: 1949 to 1992
Highest rating achieved in database: 2645
Overall record: +1144 -309 =1322 (65.0%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      47 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS

With the White pieces:

Sicilian (338)
    B46 B43 B82 B32 B40
Ruy Lopez (258)
    C92 C95 C93 C96 C84
Ruy Lopez, Closed (166)
    C92 C95 C93 C96 C84
Caro-Kann (104)
    B14 B17 B18 B12 B10
French Defense (97)
    C07 C18 C09 C05 C16
English (93)
    A15 A14 A13 A17 A16

With the Black pieces:

Sicilian (344)
    B43 B40 B22 B52 B92
King's Indian (114)
    E94 E92 E98 E69 E62
Queen's Pawn Game (83)
    E10 A46 E00 A40 A41
English (81)
    A15 A14 A10 A13 A17
Nimzo Indian (79)
    E48 E52 E53 E46 E56
Modern Benoni (74)
    A56 A64 A61 A62 A65

Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Tal vs Larsen, 1965 1-0
   Tal vs Hjartarson, 1987 1-0
   Tal vs Karpov, 1987 1-0
   Tal vs Smyslov, 1959 1-0
   Tal vs Miller, 1988 1-0
   Bobotsov vs Tal, 1958 0-1
   Tal vs Hecht, 1962 1-0
   Fischer vs Tal, 1959 0-1
   Tal vs Sviridov, 1969 1-0
   Tal vs Koblents, 1957 1-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   Tal-Botvinnik World Championship Match (1960)
   Tal-Botvinnik World Championship Return Match (1961)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Tal Fever by chocobonbon
   Match Tal! by amadeus
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by KingG
   Mikhail Tal: Selected Games by wanabe2000
   remembering Tal by Yopo
   The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by MoonlitKnight
   tal best games by brager
   Road to the Championship - Mik Tal by Fischer of Men
   TAL by chessdeviant
   The Magician, supplemental by Yopo
   Geller and Tal beat the French by ughaibu
   fav Tal & Topalov games by guoduke
   Mikhail Tal - Underrated Endgame Artist by Benzol
   benjobench's tal games by benjobench

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Mikhail Tal
Search Google^® for Mikhail Tal

MIKHAIL TAL
(born Nov-09-1936, died Jun-28-1992) Latvia

[what is this?]

Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal was born November 9, 1936 in Riga, Latvia (later annexed by the USSR in 1940). He learned chess from his father when he was eight years old. In 1953 he won his first Latvian Championship, and the following year he earned the title of Soviet Master. In 1957, he became the youngest-ever Soviet Champion. In 1960, following a string of victories in strong tournaments (including a second consecutive Soviet Championship, the Potoroz Interzonal and the Candidates in Yugoslavia), he became the youngest World Chess Champion with a match victory over Mikhail Botvinnik. This record was later broken by Garry Kasparov in 1985. Suffering from poor health, he then lost the rematch the next year. He never qualified for a title match again.

He 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. He 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 Anatoli Karpov and briefly climbed back to second place in the world rankings. In 1988, he won the World Blitz Championship. He died of renal failure in 1992, at the age of 55.

Renowned for his aggressive, sacrificial playing style, Tal was also a noted chess journalist and author. His autobiography, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, annotates 100 of his greatest games.

page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,822

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. J Klovans vs Tal	0-1	18	1949	Riga	C10 French
2. Tal vs M Strelkov	1-0	16	1949	Riga	C10 French
3. Nevitsky vs Tal	0-1	43	1949	Semi Finals Youth Championship	C49 Four Knights
4. Kholmov vs Tal	0-1	21	1949	Riga	D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
5. Tal vs Ripatti	½-½	41	1949	Riga	B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
6. Tal vs Leonov	1-0	25	1949	Riga	B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
7. Tal vs C Weldon	1-0	65	1949	Vilnius	B40 Sicilian
8. Parnas vs Tal	0-1	29	1949	Riga	C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
9. Tal vs J I Zilber	1-0	33	1949	Riga	C07 French, Tarrasch
10. Tal vs Pliss	1-0	37	1950	Riga	C99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd
11. K Klasup vs Tal	½-½	41	1950	Riga	D30 Queen's Gambit Declined
12. Tal vs Miglan	1-0	21	1950	URS jr	C82 Ruy Lopez, Open
13. Tal vs N Darsniek	0-1	26	1950	Riga	C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
14. Jullik vs Tal	0-1	39	1950	Riga	A16 English
15. Tal vs Sodell	0-1	23	1950	URS	C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
16. Pakala vs Tal	0-1	29	1950	Riga	D02 Queen's Pawn Game
17. Tal vs Kliavin	1-0	54	1950	Latvian jr Champ	B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
18. Leonov vs Tal	0-1	34	1950	URS	E17 Queen's Indian
19. Liepin vs Tal	0-1	44	1950	Riga	B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3
20. Ivanov vs Tal	1-0	25	1950	URS	C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
21. Lavrinenko vs Tal	0-1	38	1950	Riga	B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3
22. Birjanis vs Tal	0-1	35	1951	Riga	A91 Dutch Defense
23. Tal vs T Zeid	1-0	29	1951	Riga	D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
24. Tal vs Gradus	1-0	24	1951	Riga	C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
25. Berg vs Tal	0-1	25	1951	Riga	A34 English, Symmetrical


page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,822

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Tal wins | Tal loses

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 89 OF 89 · Later Kibitzing >
Nov-10-09		pulsar: <HeMateMe> I have that book, I'll check it when I get home. Excellent book, by the way.

Nov-10-09		HeMateMe: Many people feel Tal's "My life and Games" should be on a top ten list, best chess books of all time. Plenty of good games and theory, but not a drag, not so dense that you need to have a chess set to open the book.

Nov-10-09		Tessie Tura: <One thing about Tal, he sure photographed well, or crazy? Some of the pics of him, that mad scientist stare - not at you, but at the board.> Tal was a very attractive man when he was young, not that you'd guess from the photo on this page. Although I like his 'mad scientist' look, too.

Nov-10-09		HeMateMe: But should you win a Marty Feldman look alike contest, well, then you've gone too far.

Nov-10-09		SamAtoms1980: That picture of Tal looks uncannily similar to Henry Stauf from the 7th Guest / 11th Hour series.

Nov-13-09		M.D. Wilson: It sums up Tal, though.

Nov-13-09		parisattack: <HeMateMe: Many people feel Tal's "My life and Games" should be on a top ten list, best chess books of all time. Plenty of good games and theory, but not a drag, not so dense that you need to have a chess set to open the book.> There are perhaps 20 or so Tal books in English - but this one has to be the best!

Nov-13-09		whatthefat: <parisattack: There are perhaps 20 or so Tal books in English - but this one has to be the best!> Is that so? I recently updated the Tal wikipedia entry to include a 4th book, since it claimed he only authored 3. I know of 'The life and games', 'Attack with Mikhail Tal', 'Tal's winning chess combinations', and the 1960 match book. What are the others?

Nov-13-09		HeMateMe: I had "Attack with Tal,", years ago. I only read part of it, then lost it when I moved. I think he anaylyses other GM games, mostly ones of his era, and 'rennotates', makes suggestions on the attacks could have been carried out. Not a bad book, but of course, not as good as his games.

Nov-13-09		whatthefat: <HeMateMe> Yes, it's basically structured into chapters by different attacking themes - quite an original layout. Much like his combinations book, which has chapters devoted to each piece and combinations of pieces, e.g., a chapter on combinations involving the rook, another on combinations involving the rook and bishop working together, etc. All 4 are fantastic books. If he's authored more, I'd be very happy to see them!

Nov-13-09		parisattack: <Is that so? I recently updated the Tal wikipedia entry to include a 4th book, since it claimed he only authored 3. I know of 'The life and games', 'Attack with Mikhail Tal', 'Tal's winning chess combinations', and the 1960 match book. What are the others?> Sorry. I am meaning books of Tal's games.

Nov-13-09		TheFocus: <Whathefat> How about,possibly: Chess Scandals: The 1978 World Championship match - Ed Edmundson, annotations by Tal Study Chess with Tal - Tal & Koblenc The Super Clash: SWIFT - Tal and others Montreal 1979 - Tal and others Selected Chess Games - Tal

Nov-13-09		whatthefat: I have the Montreal 1979 tournament book, but there are a lot of different authors on that. Have you read the others?

Nov-13-09		TheFocus: Long ago I did, but none of them are in my library. Maybe <parisattack> has them. I just went to www.abebooks.com to see what was listed as being by Tal.

Nov-13-09		parisattack: Looks like 17 English language 'Tal' (about) books in my individual player books. Those do not include (annotated by) unless his games, nor foreign (about) such as 'Mikhail Tal, Creative Works 1949-1961' in Russian and such. I am a big Tal fan but I'm sure there are a few more.

Nov-17-09		M.D. Wilson: Was the Montreal 1979 "Tournament of Stars" considered, at the time, to field the strongest chess players in history? Pardon my ignorance, I was seven years from being born! It's a great testament to Tal's strength that he managed to tie with the World Champion. The 1970s certainly proved to be a Renaissance for Tal; his games from the period speak for themselves.

Nov-17-09		Benzol: <M.D. Wilson> Yes the Montreal Tournament Of The Stars was one of the strongest tourneys ever to be held see Game Collection: Montreal 1979 for more details. Tal and Karpov had been working together around this time and I believe the relationship was mutually beneficial.

Nov-17-09		M.D. Wilson: Right, thanks, Benzol. Yes, their relationship was very productive indeed.

Nov-17-09		Everett: <MDWilson> Perhaps health was never on Tal's side because he drank and smoked heavily. This would indicate that he maybe did not have it "right" in life.

Nov-17-09		whiskeyrebel: Tal made his own decisions about drinking and smoking. As a grown man he was entitled to such pleasures and others.

Nov-18-09		M.D. Wilson: Tal was never in good health, but despite this, he treated all those around him with compassion and respect. He loved life, although, ultimately, he had little of it. Yes, this was partly of his own making, but nevertheless Tal had a full and colourful life. One of the greats on and off the board. Tal reminds me of Ian Fleming in this regard.

Nov-18-09		talisman: <M.D Wilson> I agree. You know i was looking for a new Tal avatar, but there seems to be some kind of conspiracy, when it comes to new tal pictures.

Nov-19-09		Everett: Of course he has every right to live his life as he sees fit. It is remarkable, however, how many people seem to ignore his own responsibility for his poor health. It certainly wasn't all "poor luck," at some point. And why were players like Smyslov and Lasker so strong later in life? Well, we can say it was all luck and genetics, or we can go a little deeper and suggest the fruits of their success was also strongly influenced by prudent living. In short, I think it is sad for Tal that he treated his body as he did, but I do not feel the same about his "poor health."

Nov-20-09		M.D. Wilson: If Tal had the constitution of Botvinnik, just imagine! Then again, he wouldn't have been Tal. I'm sure sound health would have only helped his chess, though, as it seems ill health interrupted his career.

Nov-20-09		Everett: <MDWilson> I wonder how strong Botvinnik's constitution would be if he chain smoked and was a heavy drinker.

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