jessicafischerqueen
- Tal at the Uppsala Student Olympiad 1956
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <Uppsala Student Olympiad 1956>. in correct round order. (5-15 April)
In the first event he ever played outside of the Soviet Union, Tal won the Gold medal on 3d board, scoring +5 -0 =2. The USSR finished 1st, over Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Romania and the USA. ["The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," p.62; http://www.olimpbase.org/1957y/1957... http://www.olimpbase.org/1956y/1956... http://www.olimpbase.org/1956y/1956... Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," pp.89-91 ===
<More "Tal at the Chess Olympiads">: Game Collection: Tal at the Reykjavik Student Olympiad 1957 Game Collection: Tal at the Varna Student Olympiad 1958 Game Collection: Tal at the Munich Olympiad 1958 Game Collection: Tal at the Leipzig Olympiad 1960 Game Collection: Tal at the Varna Olympiad 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the Havana Olympiad 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the Skopje Olympiad 1972 -<Two games appear to be lost:> Final Round Six- USSR vs Romania
Ghitescu-Tal 1/2
Final Round Seven- USSR vs Hungary
Bilek-Tal 1/2
]
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5 games, 1956 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954>, in correct round order. ===
-<USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954> In Riga (3-17 Sept) 4th board for Daugava, with +1 -3 =6. Daugava finished 10th, behind Spartak (Petrosian), Nauka (Korchnoi), Medik (Chistiakov), Lokomotiv (Aronin), Trud (Suetin), Iskra (Taimanov), Dinamo (Lisitsin), Zenit (Averbakh) and Soviet Army (Kan). Tal's win against Averbakh was his first victory over a grandmaster. Tal states this was when he was awarded the Soviet master title.
["The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," pp.30-31; http://al20102007.narod.ru/team_ch/... Di Felice, "Chess Results 1951-1955," pp.416-418; http://www.olimpbase.org/1954sc/195... http://www.olimpbase.org/1954sc/195... http://www.olimpbase.org/1954sc/195... ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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10 games, 1954 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961>, in correct round order.[1,2 ] Tal played 1st board for Daugava, which finished 2d to Trud in the <Riga Semifinal> (8-19 Oct), ahead of Kalev, Dinamo, Vodnik, The Red Flag and Žalgiris.[3 ] Tal scored only +1 -1 =1 in Riga, losing to the candidate master Reinhardas Barstatis in round 4. His win over Yuri Averbakh was a bright spot, all the more so since it came on the day of his son's first birthday.[1 ] Still, more might have been expected of him, since just a week previously he had won spectacularly at Bled (1961), finishing 1st over Bobby Fischer, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Svetozar Gligoric and 14 others, scoring +11 -1 =7.[4 ] Part of the poor showing may have had to do with Tal's hectic travel schedule between the events: "On the return journey (from Bled) Keres and I had to 'jump out' of the plane, which stopped off at Kiev on the flight from Belgrade to Moscow. There we ran to catch the Kiev-Riga flight, and the following day were already at the board in the semifinal of the USSR team tournament... there were only three rounds... remaining."[1 ] Daugava's 2d place qualified them for the <Moscow final> (22-29 Dec).[5 ] Due to more tight scheduling, Tal had to rush to Moscow after a disappointing shared 4th in the USSR Championship 1961b (1961) in Baku just two days earlier.[6 ] He actually had only one day to get to Moscow, since he had to spend an extra day in Baku in bed, due to a flare up of his kidney disease.[7 ] His kidney problems may help explain the atrocious +0 -1 =4 score he put up in final. Daugava finished 5th, behind Burevestnik, Avangard, Trud and Spartak, ahead of only one club- Soviet Army.[5,8 ] [Notes
1 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.176 2 Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal" (Arco 1979), p.39, 47-48 3 Olimpbase "3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1961- Preliminaries" http://www.olimpbase.org/1961sc/196... 4 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1961-1963," pp.17-18 5 Olimpbase "3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1961- The Final Group" http://www.olimpbase.org/1961sc/196... 6 Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, "The Soviet Championships" (Cadogen 1998), pp.112-115 7 Tal, p.230
8 Olimpbase "3rd Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1961- Daugava" http://www.olimpbase.org/1961sc/196... ================
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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8 games, 1961 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games* Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964>, in correct round order. The Moscow final round games are correctly dated.[1 ] Tal took 1st board for Daugava in the preliminary event, held this year in Tallinn, Estonia.[2,3 ] Less usual was the surprising decision of the Soviet Chess Section to drop Tal from the roster in the upcoming <Tel Aviv Olympiad 1964>.[4 ] Though Tal had struggled since 1961 with an on again, off again kidney ailment, his current form seemed impeccable. He had recently shared 1st at the Amsterdam Interzonal (1964) with Vasily Smyslov, Bent Larsen and Boris Spassky. [5 ] Just prior to the club championships Tal had finished 1st at
the <Kislovodsk International 1964>, ahead of Leonid Stein and Yuri Averbakh. [6 ] This olympic snub did not go unnoticed by Tal: "Upset by the fact that on this occasion I had not been included in the Soviet team, I was angry with the 'whole world', and was burning with a desire to 'gain revenge'."[4 ] Tal reckoned that it was because of this that he "played so energetically," powering through the Tallinn preliminaries with no losses.[4 ] He beat Aarne Hermlin, Anatoly Lutikov, Abram Roizman, and most notably, his eternal Baltic rival Paul Keres, who the Olympiad selectors had not overlooked. Tal emerged with top score in the Tallinn division. Daugava finished atop the table and advanced to the final round, which was held in Moscow (11-21 Oct).[7 ] Arbiter Salomon Flohr presided over the cream of the Soviet chess clubs: Burevestnik, Soviet Army, Spartak, Avangard, Lokomotiv, and Daugava.[8 ] Tal kept his form against the premier grandmasters on 1st board, posting wins against Andrei Borisenko, Efim Geller, and Smyslov. He called his triumph with the black pieces over Smyslov "one of my best ever games. It is not very often that one sacrifices a queen for a rook, in order to reach a better ending!"[4 ] Here is the move Tal describes: 24...Qe7-e2!?
click for larger viewTal also remarked on his game against world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, noting that it was the first time they had ever faced each other in a tournament, as opposed to a match: "Once again the Caro-Kann Defence appeared, Black defended excellently, and after the draw had been agreed, Botvinnik and I shared first place on our board."[4 ] Tal finished with an impressive +7 -0 =5 score.[1 ] Daugava fared less well, managing only 6th place.[7 ] [Notes
*Tallinn Preliminary round 6, <Tal-Roizman 1-0>. This game score appears to be lost forever. (Thomas, p.109) 1 Final round games dated from: Alexander Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" (Chess Stars 1995), pp.75-81 2 Olimpbase "4th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1964-Daugava" http://www.olimpbase.org/1964sc/196... 3 Olimpbase "4th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1964-Preliminaries"
http://www.olimpbase.org/1964sc/196...
4 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), pp.276-277 5 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1964-1967," pp.5-6
6 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1964-1967," p.45
7 Olimpbase "4th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1964-The Final Group"
http://www.olimpbase.org/1964sc/196...
8 Olimpbase "4th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1964-Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1964sc/196... ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships">: Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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11 games, 1964 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966>, dated and in correct round order.[1 ] This year's edition was held in Moscow (24 Sept - 5 Oct) without any preliminary rounds. Latvia was seeded directly into the "A" finals, where Tal would compete on 1st board against the top Soviet grandmasters.[2 ] He remarked that "The end of the year was crowded with events...", and it certainly was.[3 ] Immediately prior to the team championship, Tal won a four game training match against David Bronstein (19-20 Sept), and the championship would be followed by both the <Havana Olympiad 1966> (25 Oct - 20 Nov) and Palma de Mallorca (1966) (27 Nov - 18 Dec).[4 ] Tal opened with a 16 move "grandmaster draw" against Boris Spassky, but pressed hard against Efim Geller and Oleg Chernikov, without success. He took a 16 move rest against Leonid Stein, and then sparred warily for 29 moves with the ever dangerous Tigran Petrosian, before agreeing to his 5th straight draw. Tal took another short draw against Vasily Smyslov before finally posting a win against the Uzbeki international master Isaak Birbrager. After drawing Anatoly Lutikov in the next round, Tal faced arch rival Mikhail Botvinnik for only the second time in a tournament game. This would be the last game they ever played together, and it was a sweet one for Tal. He took the white pieces and broke Botvinnik's pet line in the Caro Kan with a positional masterpiece. In the middle game Tal was only up by a pawn, but held a significant advantage.[5 ] Position after 29.Nc4-d6
click for larger viewTal never lost a game, but his final score of +2 -0 =8 was only good enough to share the 1st board bronze medal with Petrosian, behind Botvinnik and Geller.[6 ] Daugava finished 6th, behind Soviet Army, Trud, Spartak, Burevestnik and Avangard, ahead of Lokomotiv, Moldova and Kalev.[7 ] [Notes
1 Rounds and games dated from: Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1960-1966" (Arco 1979), pp.142-144; Alexander Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II" (Chess Stars 1995), pp.142-146 2 Olimpbase "5th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1966-Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1966sc/196... 3 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.334 4 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1964-1967," pp.289-290, 322,333 5 Olimpbase "5th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1966-Daugava" http://www.olimpbase.org/1966sc/196... 6 Rusbase "Team Championship of USSR- Moscow 1966" http://al20102007.narod.ru/team_ch/... 7 Olimpbase "5th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Moscow 1966-The Final Group"
http://www.olimpbase.org/1966sc/196...
===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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10 games, 1966 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968>, dated and in correct round order.[1 ] This was Tal's last event of the year, hosted by the Trade Union Palace of Culture in his home town of Riga (11-24 Dec).[2,3 ] Tal took 1st board for club Daugava in the "Upper Division," and got off to a bad start in round 1 against Igor Zaitsev, who was not even a FIDE international master. Needless to say, Tal was disappointed with this loss: "I declined a draw offer..., adjourned the game in an inferior position, then reached a drawn position, but I blundered badly..."[5 ] Tal then "went down with a crash," as he put it, against David Bronstein, before notching his first win in round 3 against the unheralded Aarne Hermlin. [5 ] Four anemic "grandmaster draws" followed against Lev Polugaevsky, Efim Geller, Paul Keres and Ratmir Kholmov. Only two victories in the final two rounds prevented what could have been a disastrous final score. Tal finished in 6th place with +3 -2 =6, behind Polugaevsky, Geller, Kholmov, Keres and Leonid Stein, ahead of Bronstein, Vladas Mikenas, Leonid Shamkovich, I. Zaitesev, [bad player ID] and Hermlin.[6 ] Daugava finished 7th, behind Burevestnik, Soviet Army, Spartak, Trud, Avangard and Lokomotiv, ahead of Kalev, Moldova, Dinamo, Žalgiris and Jõud.[4 ] Tal summed up the event in somewhat morose terms: "...my result could not be called anything but mediocre."[5 ] [Notes
1 Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" pp.222-227;
Olimpbase "6th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rīga 1968-Daugava" http://www.olimpbase.org/1968sc/196... 2 Olimpbase "6th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rīga 1968-Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1968sc/196... 3 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1968-1970," p.111
4 Olimpbase "6th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rīga 1968- Final Group" http://www.olimpbase.org/1968sc/196... 5 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p. pp.347-348 6 Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1967-1973" (Batsford 1979), p.36 ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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11 games, 1968 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971>, dated and in correct round order.[1 ] Rostov-on-Don hosted the championship in the Donetsk Sports Palace of Friendship,* where both the preliminaries (1-3 Aug) and finals (5-10 Aug) were played. L.O. Shapiro served as arbiter.[2 ] Photo: Donetsk Sports Palace http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/img... Tal remarked ruefully that he was "still 'fit' to play for the 'Daugava' team," referring to the fact that the Soviet chess team seemed to have dropped him.[3 ] After he was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the inaugural <USSR Cup 1970> (1-21 Aug), Tal complained that he "was forgotten."[4 ] He was not invited to play in either the <Siegen Olympiad 1970> (5-27 Nov) or the USSR Championship (1970) (25 Nov - 28 Dec), which was held in his home town of Riga.[5 ] So, if he wasn't "fit" for the Soviet team, at least he was still 'fit' for his Latvian club team Daugava. Daugava played in Preliminary Group 2 without the services of their regular 2nd and 3rd boards, grandmaster Aivars Gipslis and perennial Latvian champion Janis Klovans. Both had left to join the Army Sports Club.[1,6 ] Despite this loss, Tal reported that "we were a happy group" who could still give a good account of themselves.[3 ] In the preliminaries Tal did his best, scoring +1 -0 =2, with draws against Leonid Stein and Mark Taimanov. [7 ] But Vitaly Levchenkov and Andrejs Petersons, the Daugava 2nd and 3rd boards, managed only a paltry 2 points between them. Daugava finished 3d to the powerful Burevestnik and Avangard teams, and only qualified for Final B.[6 ] It seems Gipslis and Klovans really were missed. In 3 Final B rounds, Tal had no trouble drawing David Bronstein and beating up on the lowly Aron Reshko and
Shlomo Giterman. Against Giterman he found this pretty combination, which nets significant material in all variations: Nc4-b6
click for larger viewDaugava finished 2nd in Final B, behind Moldova, ahead of Zenit, Dinamo and Vodnik.[8 ] Tal's combined score of +3 -0 =3 was good enough to win the 1st board gold medal, but this is a bit misleading. The medals were calculated on who scored the most total points.[2 ] Without doubt, world champion Boris Spassky gave the best performance in this tournament. Playing for Lokomotiv, he skipped the preliminaries and played 4 rounds in the Final A group. He put up a +3 -0 =1 score, mowing down grandmasters Stein, Taimanov and Ratmir Kholmov. If the medals had been calculated on percentage, he would have won the gold on 1st board.[9 ] [Notes
1 Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" pp.306-308; Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1967-1973" (Batsford 1979), pp.91-92 2 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rostov-on-Don 1971-Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/197... 3 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.400 4 Tal, p.397
5 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1968-1970," pp.283-286, 331, 364-373 6 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rostov-on-Don 1971-Qualifying Group 2" http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/197... 7 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rostov-on-Don 1971-Daugava"
http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/197...
8 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rostov-on-Don 1971-Final B"
http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/197...
9 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Cup: Rostov-on-Don 1971-Lokomotiv
http://www.olimpbase.org/1971sc/197...
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<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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6 games, 1971 - Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1974
8 games, 1974 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1955>. The round order in the preliminary is not known, but the round order in the finals is correct. In Lugansk (4-27 Sept) (Lugansk was called Voroshilovgrad between 1935-1958). Tal claims theis event was played some time between (Feb-May). Bronze medal on 2d board for Latvia, with <+2 -0 =7.> Latvia finished 4th, behind RSFSR, Leningrad and Ukraine, ahead of Moscow, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Georgia and Uzbekistan. ["The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," p.31; http://www.olimpbase.org/1955st/195... Di Felice, "Chess Results 1951-1955," pp.518-520; http://al20102007.narod.ru/team_ch/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhansk ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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12 games, 1955 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1959>, in correct round order. ===
Hilary Thomas: "He seems to have relaxed- he lost to Keres, Spassky, and Nezhmetdinov and drew five games." -Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1936-1959" (Batsford, 1980), p.158 (pp.158-160) ===
Tal: "We returned home (from Zurich 1959) to join the Latvian team, which was preparing somewhere by the sea in Riga for the USSR Spartakiad, when I had my first attack of kidney trouble. The doctors were unable to say anything definite immediately, but suggested that in any case I shouldn't play in the Spartakiad. I realised this would not be easy for me there on top board against Botvinnik, Spassky, Geller, Keres, Boleslavsky and other, but I decided that my participation would to some extent help the team. Although I took last place (for the first time in my life!) in teh team leader's tournament, scoring 2.5 out of 8, I nevertheless succeeded in saving a few points for our team in analysis, so that the lads considered that I had been justified in playing. (115) I realsed, as early as the preliminary group, that I could not hope for much. I had only just sacrificed a knight on g7 against Keres, when I had a recurrence of the attack, and straight away the game ceased to be of interest. The following day exactly the same happened, and I am still sorry about this game: it could have been one of my best. Here is the second half of it, Spassky was White. 23...f6! 24.Qg4 f5! 25.Qh6 Nd6! 26.Nc2 Ne4 27.Nxb4 Nxb4 28.Ne1 c5! 29.Rb2 exd4 30.Qd1 g5 31.Bb2 Rc8 32.Rxc8+ Qxd8 f3 (D) 33...Qc3 (black wins easily after Nc3, and if 34.Qxd4 then 34...Ncxa2, when there is no defence against 35...Qc3. (116)
===
-<USSR Republics Team Championship 1959> In Moscow (6-15 Aug) Last place in the 1st board individual standings, behind Spassky, Nezhmetdinov, Gurgenidze, Botvinnik and Geller, with +0 -3 =3. Latvia finished 6th in "Final Group A," behind Moscow, Leningrad, Ukraine, RSFSR and Georgia.
[Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," pp.377-379; http://al20102007.narod.ru/team_ch/... http://www.olimpbase.org/1959st/195... http://www.olimpbase.org/1959st/195... http://www.olimpbase.org/1959st/195... "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," p.115 ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships">: Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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6 games, 1959 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1962>, in correct round order.[1 ] This year's edition was held in Leningrad (20 Oct - 2 Nov).[2 ] Since Latvia had finished 4th in the preceding 1960 republics championship, they were seeded directly into the finals.[3,4] Tal, who had been suffering from a diseased kidney since the Tal - Botvinnik World Championship Rematch (1961), had only recently started to feel fit. He had just won the gold medal on 2d reserve board in the <Varna Olympiad>, a modest achievement that he nonetheless said "helped considerably in re-establishing my self confidence."[5 ] As usual, Tal took 1st board for Latvia, opening in round 2 with a 19 move "grandmaster" draw against Boris Spassky. [1 ] In the ensuing rounds Tal played more aggressively, showing plenty of fight against Isaac Boleslavsky, Vladas Mikenas and Lev Polugaevsky, but failing to win a game. After resting with a leisurely draw against Paul Keres, Tal again bent himself to the task and took both Vasily Smyslov and Yuri Kots to the time control, but still no win to show for his efforts. After 7 rounds Tal had 7 draws! He joked that he had acquired a "reputation as a drawing king."[5 ] In the final round he squared off against the candidate master Mikhail Shofman, who had 7 losses from 7 rounds, and Tal joked yet again that it would be interesting to see whose "pattern" broke first.[5 ] Tal did not disappoint in the final game, saccing a pawn for a lively attack with a pretty finish, the move 22...Nf6-g4! 
click for larger viewThe win raised Tal's record to +1 -0 =7, which was good only for shared 6th with Boleslavsky on the 1st board final standings, behind Spassky, Efim Geller, Polugaevsky, Keres and Smyslov.[3 ] As Tal put it, "the opposition on first board was... pretty strong."[5 ] Latvia finished 4th, behind behind Leningrad, RSFSR and Moscow, ahead of Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania and Moldavia.[3 ] [Notes
1 Olimpbase "8th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Leningrad 1962- Estonia" http://www.olimpbase.org/1962st/196... 2 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1961-1963," p.243
3 Olimpbase "7th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1960- Final Group" http://www.olimpbase.org/1960st/196... 4 Olimpbase "8th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Leningrad 1962-Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1962st/196... 5 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.235 ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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8 games, 1962 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1963>, dated and in correct round order.[1,2,3 ] Moscow hosted both sections of the championship, with the preliminary rounds held (7-11 Aug).[2 ] Tal began well with a win on 1st board for Latvia, but followed that up with a disappointing loss to Anatoly Lutikov, who did not yet have a FIDE title. He lost again to Tigran Petrosian before picking up two wins in the last rounds to finish 3d in preliminary Group 1 with +3 -2 =0, behind Lutikov and Petrosian, ahead of Bukhuti Gurgenidze, Georgy Ustinov and [bad player ID]. [2 ] Tal had undergone surgery earlier in the year, but he reported that "The operation was completed successfully..." and he didn't seem bothered by it during the tournament. He remarked that "My result was more satisfactory than the one three years earlier (at the <USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961>), but our team only reached the second final group, not the main one, and so for part of the event I was playing against less experienced masters."[4 ] Latvia indeed finished 3d in their group, behind Moscow and Georgia, narrowly missing a spot in Final Group 1. The final rounds (12-16 Aug) saw Tal improve his results by beating the much weaker Eduard Mnatsakanian and Alexander Grushevsky. He finished off the tournament with a pair of lackluster 18 move draws against international master Vladimir Bagirov and grandmaster Paul Keres. Tal's official Final Group 2 score was counted as +2 -1 =2, even though he only played 4 games. The final 1st round was not played. Instead, whichever teams were scheduled to be paired in that round had the result of their preliminary round pairing carried forward. Latvia had been scheduled to play Moldova in final round 1, so Tal's preliminary round loss to the Moldovan Lutikov was carried forward and counted again.[1,5 ] Estonia had been scheduled to play Uzbekistan in final round 1, and Keres had won his preliminary round game against the Uzbeki Grushevsky, so he got an extra point in his final round score.[6 ] Tal ended up 2d to Keres, who garnered the bronze medal for 1st board.[7 ] In Final Group 2, Latvia finished 2d to Estonia, ahead of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Moldavia and Armenia.[8 ] [Notes
1 Olimpbase "9th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1963- Latvia" http://www.olimpbase.org/1963st/196... 2 Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1960-1966," pp.74-76 3 Alexander Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" (Chess Stars 1995), pp.17-21) 4 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.236 5 Thomas, p.76
6 Olimpbase "9th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1963- Estonia" http://www.olimpbase.org/1963st/196... 7 Olimpbase "9th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1963- Basic Information" http://www.olimpbase.org/1963st/196... 8Olimpbase "9th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1963- Final B" http://www.olimpbase.org/1963st/196... ===
<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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9 games, 1963 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1967>, dated and in correct round order.[1 ] Both the preliminary and final rounds were held in Moscow (23 July - 3 Aug).[2 ] Tal remarked that "Latvia found itself in a strong preliminary group, from which we only reached the second final group."[3 ] It was surely a strong group, featuring Ukraine, with Leonid Stein and Efim Geller and Belarus, with Alexey Suetin and Isaac Boleslavsky. [4,5 ] Tal and Aivars Gipslis, the 1st and 2d boards for Latvia, both scored +1 -0 =4, which wasn't good enough.[6 ] Latvia finished 3d and advanced only to "Final Group B."[7 ] Tal also noted that he "played several interesting games,"[3 ] and mentions his preliminary round 2 win with the black pieces against Anatoly Ufimtsev, which features this fine positional exchange sac: 21.Rh4 -e4!
click for larger viewPerhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this game was that Tal actually ended up getting 2 points for the win. In Final Group B the 1st round was not played. Instead, whichever teams were scheduled to be paired in that round had the result of their preliminary round pairing carried forward. In Tal's case, Latvia would have played Kazakhstan in Final round 1, so his preliminary round win against the Kazakhstani player Ufimtsev was carried over into his final score, which was recorded as +3 -0 =2, even though he only played four games.[6,8 ] Final Group B may have been second best but it wasn't weak. Tal made a short draw with Paul Keres, and also drew the Uzbeki Georgy Borisenko, one of the more intriguing players in the event. He was an international master, but of correspondence chess! Tal posted wins against the untitled Armenian Karen Grigorian and the Azerbaijani international master Vladimir Bagirov to lead Latvia to first place.[6 ] [Notes
1 Hilary Thomas, "Complete Games of Mikhail Tal 1967-1973" (Batsford 1979), pp.7-9; Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" pp.180-184 2 Di Felice, "Chess Results 1964-1967," pp.453-462 3 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (Cadogan 1997), p.336 4 Olimpbase, "10th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1967-Ukrainian SSR" http://www.olimpbase.org/1967st/196... 5 Olimpbase, "10th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1967-Belorussian SSR" http://www.olimpbase.org/1967st/196... 6 Olimpbase, "10th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1967-Latvian SSR" http://www.olimpbase.org/1967st/196... 7 Olimpbase, "10th Soviet Team Chess Championship: Moscow 1967-Final B" http://www.olimpbase.org/1967st/196... 8. Thomas, p.8
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<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972 ]
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9 games, 1967 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1972
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <USSR Republics Team Championship 1972>, dated and in correct round order.[1 ] -<USSR Republics Team Championship 1972> In Moscow 1-13 March) 1st board for Latvia, with +3 -1 =0 in the preliminary and +1 -0 =3 in the final, for a total of +4 -1 =3. In Preliminary Group 2, Latvia 2d to Moscow, ahead of Belarus, Kazakhistan and Tajikistan. Qualified for Final Group A, finishing last, behind Moscow, RSFRS, Ukraine, Leningrad and Georgia.
[Olimpbase http://www.olimpbase.org/1972st/197... http://www.olimpbase.org/1972st/197... http://www.olimpbase.org/1972st/197... http://www.olimpbase.org/1972st/197... "Mikhail Tal - 8th World Champion" (PC-CD) Event Index, p.10; http://al20102007.narod.ru/team_ch/... Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" pp. 333-337 ] =============
[<More "Tal at the USSR Team Championships":> Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1954 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1955 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1959 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1961 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1963 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1964 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1967 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1968 Game Collection: Tal at the USSR Clubs Team Championship 1971 ]
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8 games, 1972 - Tal at the USSR Republics Team Championship 1975
8 games, 1975 - Tal at the Varna Olympiad 1962
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <Varna Olympiad 1962>, in correct round order. The Bulgarian Chess Federation, which had risen to some prominence on the international chess scene after World War II, hosted the 15th Olympiad in the beautiful Black Sea resort town of Varna[1 ] The Soviet team featured world champion Mikhail Botvinnik on 1st board, followed by Tigran Petrosian, Soviet champion Boris Spassky, and perennial world championship candidate Paul Keres. Efim Geller took 1st reserve board, with Tal following as 2d reserve.[2 ] Tal's low rank on the team might seem odd, but just three months earlier he had been forced to abandon the Curacao Candidates (1962) due to a serious kidney disease. The Soviet team doctors had debated whether or not to include him at all, but in the end Tal passed the medical inspection, which he characterized as "not inferior to" the space program's cosmonaut medical examination.[3 ] The preliminary rounds ran from 16-25 Sept,[1 ] and Tal indeed started off slowly by drawing his first two games. He was rested in the next round, and managed to post two consecutive victories, although he acknowledged that on his board the opposition was "not... strong."[3 ] Tal rested three more rounds before notching one more victory in the preliminaries, against the untitled Greek player Lazaros Vizantiadis. The finals, played 27 Sept - 10 Oct, provided a much sterner test. Given his shaky health, perhaps Tal's first truly impressive accomplishment in the tournament was drawing the tough Yugoslavian grandmaster Borislav Ivkov in round two. After another rest, however, Tal finished the tournament with a flourish, scoring 4½ points from his last five games. His overall score of +7 -0 =6 earned him a board gold medal. The USSR finished 1st over Yugoslavia, Argentina, USA, Hungary, Bulgaria, West Germany and East Germany.[2 ] According to Tal, the two most memorable moments in the event were his queen sac brilliancy vs. Hans-Joachim Hecht in round 9, and the sleepless night the Soviet team spent finding a draw for Botvinnik vs Fischer in their adjourned game.[3 ] [Notes
1 Árpád Földeák, "Chess Olympiads 1927-1968" Robert Ejury , Jeno Bochkor and Peter Clarke transl. (Dover 1969), pp.311-313 2 Olimpbase "15th Chess Olympiad: Varna 1962" http://www.olimpbase.org/1962/1962u... http://www.olimpbase.org/1962/1962f... 3 Mikhail Tal, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," pp.233-235 ===
<More "Tal at the Chess Olympiads">: Game Collection: Tal at the Uppsala Student Olympiad 1956 Game Collection: Tal at the Reykjavik Student Olympiad 1957 Game Collection: Tal at the Varna Student Olympiad 1958 Game Collection: Tal at the Munich Olympiad 1958 Game Collection: Tal at the Leipzig Olympiad 1960 Game Collection: Tal at the Havana Olympiad 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the Skopje Olympiad 1972 ]
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13 games, 1962 - Tal at the Varna Student Olympiad 1958
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <Varna Student Olympiad 1958>, in correct round order. (5-20 July)
Tal won the gold medal on 1st board, with +7 -0 =3. The USSR finished 1st over Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, USA, Argentina and East Germany. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," pp.287-289; http://www.olimpbase.org/1958y/1958... http://www.olimpbase.org/1958y/1958... http://www.olimpbase.org/1958y/1958... "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," pp.73-74 ===
<More "Tal at the Chess Olympiads">: Game Collection: Tal at the Uppsala Student Olympiad 1956 Game Collection: Tal at the Reykjavik Student Olympiad 1957 Game Collection: Tal at the Munich Olympiad 1958 Game Collection: Tal at the Leipzig Olympiad 1960 Game Collection: Tal at the Varna Olympiad 1962 Game Collection: Tal at the Havana Olympiad 1966 Game Collection: Tal at the Skopje Olympiad 1972 ]
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10 games, 1958 - Tal at the West Germany-USSR Match 1960
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at the <West Germany-USSR Match 1960>, in correct round order. In Hamburg (27 July - 5 Aug). Tal finished first in the individual standings with +7 -0 =1. The USSR won 51 -13. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.497; "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal," p.166; Hilary Thomas, "Complete games of Mikhail Tal 1960-66" (Batsford 1979), pp.9-11 ]
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8 games, 1960 - Tal at Wijk aan Zee 1968
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[This collection is part of Game Collection: Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 ] These are all the games Mikhail Tal played at <Wijk aan Zee 1968> ((10-28 Jan)), dated and in correct round order. Shared 2nd with Hort and Portisch, behind Korchnoi, ahead of Gheorghiu, Ciric, Matanovic, Ivkov, Ree and Bobotsov, with +5 -2 =8. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1968-1970" (McFarland 2013), pp.92-93; Khalifman, ed. "Mikhail Tal Games II 1963-1972" pp.193-200] Game Collection: Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1968
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15 games, 1968 - Tal's Italian Tour 1957
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-<Milan-Riga Match 1957> In Milan (27-28 Oct) 1st board vs. Ferrantes, with +2 -0 =0. Riga won 8-2. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.190 ] -<Venice-Riga Match 1957> In Venice (31 Oct - 1 Nov) 1st board vs. Szabados, with +2 -0 =0. Riga won 9.5 - .5. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.193 ] -<Reggio Emilia-Riga Match 1957> (2-3 Nov) 1st board vs. Romani, with +2 -0 =0. Riga won 7.5 - 2. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.191 ] -<Florence-Riga Match 1957> In Florence (4-5 Nov) 1st board vs. Scafarelli, with +1 -0 -1. Riga won 6.5 - 3.5.
[Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.188 ]
-<Rome-Riga Match 1957> In Rome (6-7 Nov) 1st board vs. Giustolisi, with +1 -0 =1. Riga won 8.5 - 1.5. [Di Felice, "Chess Results 1956-1960," p.191 ]
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6 games, 1957
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Kibitzing
