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Mikhail Tal
Number of games in database: 2,806
Years covered: 1949 to 1992
Highest rating achieved in database: 2705
Overall record: +1124 -297 =1282 (65.3%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      103 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:  Sicilian (342)      B43 B46 B82 B32 B40  Ruy Lopez (253)      C95 C92 C93 C96 C84  Ruy Lopez, Closed (162)      C95 C92 C93 C96 C84  Caro-Kann (104)      B14 B17 B18 B12 B10  French Defense (95)      C07 C18 C09 C05 C16  English (92)      A15 A14 A17 A13 A16	With the Black pieces:  Sicilian (342)      B43 B40 B92 B22 B46  King's Indian (110)      E92 E69 E98 E66 E62  Modern Benoni (82)      A56 A64 A61 A70 A62  Nimzo Indian (79)      E48 E52 E46 E53 E24  English (78)      A15 A14 A10 A13 A17  Queen's Pawn Game (74)      A46 E10 E00 A40 A41

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Tal vs Larsen, 1965 1-0
   Tal vs Hjartarson, 1987 1-0
   Tal vs Smyslov, 1959 1-0
   Tal vs Karpov, 1987 1-0
   Tal vs Hecht, 1962 1-0
   Tal vs Miller, 1988 1-0
   Tal vs Koblents, 1957 1-0
   Tal vs Sviridov, 1969 1-0
   M Bobotsov vs Tal, 1958 0-1
   Botvinnik vs Tal, 1960 0-1

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

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   USSR Championship (1958)
   Reykjavik (1964)
   Bled (1961)
   USSR Championship (1957)
   Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959)
   Zurich (1959)
   Palma de Mallorca (1966)
   Tallinn (1973)
   USSR Championship (1972)
   Riga Interzonal (1979)
   USSR Championship (1962)
   USSR Championship (1959)
   USSR Championship 1964/65 (1964)
   USSR Championship (1971)
   Amsterdam Interzonal (1964)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Tal Fever by chocobonbon
   Match Tal! by amadeus
   Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 by jessicafischerqueen
   Mikhail Tal: Selected Games by wanabe2000
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by KingG
   Tals Amazing ATTACKS!!! by Zhbugnoimt
   Tal king of chess by LESTRADAR
   remembering Tal by Yopo
   The Magician, supplemental by Yopo
   tal best games by brager
   The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by newfiex
   The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by MoonlitKnight
   Life and Games (Tal) by Qindarka
   Power Chess - Tal by Anatoly21

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Mikhail Tal
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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 6, he learned chess from his father, a medical doctor (source: Tal interview in <Chess Life>, May 1967). He won his first Latvian Championship in 1953, and earned the title of Soviet Master the following year. 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 Portorož Interzonal and the Candidates in Yugoslavia), he 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, he lost the rematch the next year. 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. 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 Anatoly Karpov, briefly climbing 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. 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

page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,806  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Tal vs C Weldon 1-0 65 1949 Vilnius B40 Sicilian 2. J Klavins vs Tal 0-1 18 1949 Riga C10 French 3. Tal vs J I Zilber 1-0 33 1949 Riga C07 French, Tarrasch 4. Kholmov vs Tal 0-1 21 1949 Riga D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 5. Tal vs M Strelkov 1-0 16 1949 Riga C10 French 6. A Nevitsky vs Tal 0-1 43 1949 Semi Finals Youth Championship C49 Four Knights 7. Tal vs Ripatti ½-½ 41 1949 Riga B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 8. Tal vs Leonov 1-0 25 1949 Riga B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 9. A Parnas vs Tal 0-1 29 1949 Riga C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 10. Liepin vs Tal 0-1 44 1950 Riga B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3 11. Leonov vs Tal 0-1 34 1950 URS E17 Queen's Indian 12. Lavrinenko vs Tal 0-1 38 1950 Riga B59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3 13. Ivanov vs Tal 1-0 25 1950 URS C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed 14. K Klasup vs Tal ½-½ 41 1950 Riga D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 15. Tal vs Pliss 1-0 37 1950 Riga C99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd 16. Jullik vs Tal 0-1 39 1950 Riga A16 English 17. Tal vs N Darsniek 0-1 26 1950 Riga C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 18. Tal vs Miglan 1-0 21 1950 URS jr C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 19. Tal vs J Klavins 1-0 54 1950 Latvian jr Champ B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 20. Pakala vs Tal 0-1 29 1950 Riga D02 Queen's Pawn Game 21. Tal vs Sodell 0-1 23 1950 URS C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 22. Berg vs Tal 0-1 25 1951 Riga A34 English, Symmetrical 23. Tal vs Gradus 1-0 24 1951 Riga C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 24. Tal vs T Zeids 1-0 29 1951 Riga D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 25. Tal vs S Giterman 1-0 63 1951 Leningrad D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav  page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,806    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Tal wins | Tal loses

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 109 OF 109 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-14-15    1d410: The whole point of the article is that one can play like Tal and not trust the evaluation. Jun-14-15    1d410: at least if you are talented Jun-30-15    Bruce Graham: Nice Tal tribute at Chessbase- including a simultaneous gem which should be at Chessgames as well: http://en.chessbase.com/post/tal-in... Jul-18-15    HeMateMe: There's a Latvian in the newspapers almost every day, these days, in New York City: <http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/kn...> Jan-23-16    Mikhail12: Wondering if anyone still gets as big a kick as I do out of Tal's hippo game story. Apr-25-16    lazerus: Right now I am reading The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal in which he related an anecdote that he participated in a bull fight against a calf during a tournament in Spain. Tal goes on to say that a picture of him turn up in the paper the next fighting the calf. Does anyone have this picture? Apr-28-16    ketchuplover: Carlsen succumbs to Aronian today. The unbeaten streak lives on! Apr-28-16    ketchuplover: I hope Tal is riding that hippo in the sky Jun-26-16    brankat: Still into ketchup after all these years? Jul-16-16    Sally Simpson: The horse 'Your Pal Tal' is running today in the 5:10 at the Curragh. Going to put a few quid each way on it. I've lost loads of games trying to play like Tal, might as well lose some money chasing the Tal dream as well. Jul-16-16    Sally Simpson: The horse came in last from 19 runners. :( Aug-04-16    HeMateMe: one of the ten best chess books of all time: <https://www.amazon.com/Life-Games-M...> Aug-04-16    brankat: Beautifully written indeed! Aug-08-16    indianchessupdates: Unbeaten Streak in Chess without defeat in classical games Mikhail Tal in 1973-74 - 93 games Mikhail Tal in 1972-73 - 86 games Milan Drasko in 2006-2007 - 84 games Vladimir Kramnik in 1999-2000 - 82 games Wang Yue in 2008 - 82 games Vachier Lagrave in 2015-2016 - 67 games Aug-08-16    TheFocus: I believe Schlechter is supposed to be in that list somewhere. Aug-09-16    offramp: <indianchessupdates: Unbeaten Streak in Chess without defeat in classical games Mikhail Tal in 1973-74 - 93 games Mikhail Tal in 1972-73 - 86 games ...> What is this nonsense? 1972 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Mikhail Tal 3 losses. 1973 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... 13 losses 1974 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... 4 losses. All those are from normal tournaments; I've excluded blitz games and such. Aug-09-16    Olavi: No nonsense, well known fact. The first one ended in the Moscow 1973 team tournament, the second one started at the 1973 USSR championship and ended in the last or penultimate round of the 1974 championship. See http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... Aug-09-16    offramp: <Olavi: No nonsense, well known fact....> Very well-known, but I have never seen any accurate lists. The timeline would have to go something like this: 1972 Tal loses 3 games. After the third loss he goes 86 games without defeat, ending sometime in 1973 After that loss he has a mixture of results including 13 losses, but after the last loss he goes 93 games without defeat ending sometime in 1974, and after that loss he had 3 more losses during the year. If that scenario is correct then Tal must've been playing a lot of chess. Another puzzling thing is the 13 losses in 1973. If there was only a short gap between the two Non-losing sequences then he must have lost a lot of games in a very short period. Aug-09-16    TheFocus: You might be interested in <jessicafischerqueen>'s excellent Tal collection: Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 Aug-09-16    Olavi: He lost 12 games in 1973, the 13th is a clock simultaneous. The streaks fit easily in his record. The Leningrad Interzonal and the USSR ch were not among his best. Aug-09-16    offramp: <Olavi: He lost 12 games in 1973, the 13th is a clock simultaneous.> Thanks, <Olavi>. I missed one. Aug-09-16    perfidious: <Olavi....The first (undefeated run) ended in the Moscow 1973 team tournament, the second one started at the 1973 USSR championship and ended in the last or penultimate round of the 1974 championship....> The latter unbeaten string actually ended with Tal vs N K Ivanov, 1974, played in an event which began the second week of October. The 1974 Soviet championship started the last day of November. Aug-25-16    seeminor: The man himself talking about his life, taking audience questions. A remarkable find from 1988. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bb... Aug-25-16    Bruce Graham: <seeminor> Thanks so much. A <remarkable find> indeed. Sep-23-16    brankat: Not necessarily the best, but certainly the most likable character in Chess. Ever. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 109) < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 109 OF 109 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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