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Mikhail Tal
Number of games in database: 2,833
Years covered: 1949 to 1992
Highest rating achieved in database: 2705
Overall record: +1134 -300 =1304 (65.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      95 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:  Sicilian (342)      B46 B43 B82 B32 B40  Ruy Lopez (255)      C92 C95 C93 C96 C84  Ruy Lopez, Closed (163)      C92 C95 C93 C96 C84  Caro-Kann (104)      B14 B17 B18 B12 B10  French Defense (95)      C07 C18 C09 C05 C16  English (94)      A15 A14 A17 A13 A16	With the Black pieces:  Sicilian (345)      B43 B40 B22 B92 B52  King's Indian (114)      E94 E92 E69 E98 E62  Queen's Pawn Game (82)      E10 A46 E00 A40 A41  English (79)      A15 A14 A10 A13 A17  Nimzo Indian (79)      E48 E52 E46 E53 E24  Modern Benoni (76)      A56 A64 A61 A62 A79

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 Miller, 1988 1-0
   Tal vs Hecht, 1962 1-0
   Tal vs Sviridov, 1969 1-0
   Tal vs Koblents, 1957 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 (1957)
   Portoroz Interzonal (1958)
   USSR Championship (1958)
   Bled (1961)
   Zurich (1959)
   Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959)
   Amsterdam Interzonal (1964)
   Palma de Mallorca (1966)
   Tallinn (1973)
   USSR Championship (1972)
   Riga Interzonal (1979)
   USSR Championship (1959)
   USSR Championship (1962)
   USSR Championship (1971)
   USSR Championship 1964/65 (1964)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Tal Fever by chocobonbon
   Match Tal! by amadeus
   Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 by WCC Editing Project
   Mikhail Tal: Selected Games by wanabe2000
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by KingG
   remembering Tal by Yopo
   Tal king of chess by LESTRADAR
   The Magician, supplemental by Yopo
   The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by newfiex
   The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by MoonlitKnight
   tal best games by brager
   Tals Amazing ATTACKS!!! by Zhbugnoimt
   Road to the Championship - Mik Tal by Fischer of Men
   TAL by chessdeviant

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 114; games 1-25 of 2,833  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Tal vs J I Zilber 1-0 33 1949 Riga C07 French, Tarrasch 2. J Klavins vs Tal 0-1 18 1949 Riga C10 French 3. Tal vs M Strelkov 1-0 16 1949 Riga C10 French 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. Nevitsky vs Tal 0-1 43 1949 Semi Finals Youth Championship C49 Four Knights 7. Tal vs Leonov 1-0 25 1949 Riga B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 8. Tal vs C Weldon 1-0 65 1949 Vilnius B40 Sicilian 9. A Parnas vs Tal 0-1 29 1949 Riga C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 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 J Klavins 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. Gutnikov vs Tal 0-1 22 1951 Leningrad C47 Four Knights 23. Tal vs J Klovans ½-½ 40 1951 Riga D47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 24. Ragozin vs Tal 0-1 40 1951 Riga (Latvia) D31 Queen's Gambit Declined 25. Tal vs Gipslis 1-0 24 1951 Tournament E30 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad  page 1 of 114; games 1-25 of 2,833    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Tal wins | Tal loses

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 106 OF 106 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-31-14    ughaibu: But that's about a place in the interzonal, not on the Olympiad team. Nov-01-14    keypusher: <Zonszein: Can anybody ask <keypusher> to unblock me and that I apologise if I said something wrong in the past? Thank you> You are not blocked -- I apologize for whatever I did that made you think you were! I enjoy your posts. Nov-01-14    Zonszein: You're right I wasn't sure And. <chancho> : thank you for your post Nov-06-14    Owl: I'm Looking for Tal game where Tal queen takes his opponent a8 rook but the opponent a8 rook is protected and the opponent takes back but Tal then uses his Bishop to check the opponent king. Nov-07-14    moronovich: Tal vs B Brinck-Claussen 1-0 45 1966 Havana <Owl> Perhaps it is this game you had in mind. Nov-09-14    andrewjsacks: Happy birthday to the hero and idol of my youth. Nov-09-14    TheFocus: Happy Birthday to one of my heroes! Nov-09-14    crazyim5: Happy birthday to one of the greatest of all time! Nov-09-14    ketchuplover: I second that emotion :) Nov-09-14    alfiepa: Thank you for ever Misha ! Nov-09-14    Rookiepawn: Simply the best. Nov-09-14    Domdaniel: Hard to believe that Tal has been dead for over 22 years. My battered copy of his best games is forever near to hand. Nov-09-14    Rookiepawn: A guy with aesthetics and sportsmanship in his mind. Not hating opponents, taking things personal, mixing chess with things that have nothing to do with it, whining all the time, changing rules, and all the neurothic, nerdy circus unfortunately so typical of many chess players. Tal never needed to add extra chess aspects to his chess career, he could be repectful of any rival while crushing them OTB. Compare that with the chessplayers that try every trick to get their rivals off balance, mix politics with pieces and boo-hoo every second. Nov-09-14    Owl: Yes That's it Thx. There was Steinitz game very similar to that I am looking for. Wondering anyone got it too. Its similar to that in the Diagonal Nov-09-14    juan31: Maestro M. Tal another inmortal thanks to his brillant work in the field of chess Dec-12-14    isemeria: Last weekend we were on holiday in Riga. So I took the opportunity to visit the cemetery where Tal is buried. It's called Jaunie ebreju kapi (New Jewish Cemetery), and it's located about 9 km northeast from the Old Town. The grave itself is not marked in any special way. Luckily we found it rather quickly behind the main building at the entrance. It was nice to notice that someone had brought flowers to the grave not so long ago. Actually it seemed that there were flowers by more than one person. So he's really not forgotten by any means. The text in the gravestone is in Russian and says simply: "Grandmaster, world champion of chess". See for example the image in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M... Tal is pictured as an old man, with casual shirt and jacket, and a cigarette in his mouth. I think it's great that picture shows the man he was, and not some idolising image. Dec-15-14    offramp: In the 1970s Tal figured out a clever efficient of playing chess. As white against a weak opponent he would play for a win. As white against a strong opponent he would see what happened on the board. His reputation and his title of ex-world-champion tended to insure him against defeat, especially as his rating grew: if his position looked bad he would offer a draw. As black he would simply play a few moves and offer a draw. Using this method he racked up huge non-losing streaks and his rating skyrocketed! Very clever. Dec-15-14    1d410: Tal was a visionary, basically smarter than every opponent he faced anyways. Dec-15-14    chancho: <As long as my opponent has not yet castled, on each move I seek a pretext for an offensive. Even when I realize that the king is not in danger. ~Mikhail Tal> Dec-16-14    offramp: <isemeria: Last weekend we were on holiday in Riga. So I took the opportunity to visit the cemetery where Tal is buried. ... The text in the gravestone is in Russian and says simply: "Grandmaster, world champion of chess". See for example the image in Wikipedia...> I am glad you found it quickly; graves can be very hard to locate, sometimes. Tal's memorial is tastefully done. Unlike poor Johannes Zukertort whose restored gravestone I rightly lambasted at this Johannes Zukertort page. Dec-17-14    Check It Out: I've been pouring through The Life & Games of Mikhail Tal. What a treasure trove of great anecdotes and great games. Dec-25-14    TheFocus: Tal's Final Interview: http://www.chessmastery.co.uk/inter... Dec-25-14    john barleycorn: <TheFocus> nice find. thanks for the link. Dec-26-14    TheFocus: <The first essential for an attack is the will to attack> - Tartakower. Jan-04-15    offramp: Does anyone else think that Tal looks as if he could be a sixth Marx brother? I think he looks a bit like a cross between Harpo and Chico. *** *** <Check It Out: I've been pouring through The Life & Games of Mikhail Tal....> Did you mean "tearing through"? As in reading quickly? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 106) < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 106 OF 106 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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