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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 64 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-19-06    Joshka: In one of Kasparov's books on his Predecessors, Garry claims Tal had "perfect pitch". I have read somewhere that Tal also had a good command of the piano. Can anyone verify these sources? Where did Garry get his info? We always read about the bad vices or character flaws of individual's what about some of the good ones! Thanks in advance Nov-19-06    thegoodanarchist: Since Gary knew Tal, he may have just gotten the info from hanging out with Tal. Nov-19-06    Calli: "perfect pitch" - Tal did play the piano well, but I always take Kasparov's historical "facts" with a grain of salt. In Russian, here is an interview with Tal's daughter (with photo): http://www.telegraf.lv/index.php?gi... The story tells of bad treatment of Tal and his family by the Soviets. Apparently, he had to accept the generosity of a German admirer and moved to Germany late in life. Zhanna Tal still lives there, teaches music, and is getting into theater. At one point the interview says that her dad probably wished to see her as a professional musician since he was known as an "excellent" piano player, but would he expect an actress? Zhanna says that her dad would not be surprised. She and her mother would like to move back to Latvia but can't afford it. Neither she or her brother were invited to the Tal Memorial. Nov-19-06    Open Defence: <Neither she or her brother were invited to the Tal Memorial> I think most of the memorial tournaments have nothing much to do with the actual memories of the player they are supposed to celebrate... I thought the most interesting memorial was the Polgaevsky memorial where every game was supposed to be an Open Sicilian in memory of his contribution to the opening Nov-20-06    Joshka: <OpenDefence> Very good point! Wow, what a shame his children were not invited!! What's the point of calling something a "memorial" ? What are we to remember? As far as Garry claiming Tal to have "perfect pitch" I'm sure he got it from some source, and not just made it up, I would hope. We all know Taimanov excelled at the piano, Smyslov sang opera. Has there ever been a book written about Tal that talks about his early life in some of these details? Nov-20-06    code13: Perfect pitch isn't that unusual, as far as I know. And even people who can't play any instrument can have perfect pitch. Nov-21-06    Joshka: <code13> Oh it is VERY unusual, believe I read somewhere maybe one in fifty-thousand!! Nov-21-06    tino72: <Perfect pitch isn't that unusual> I too thought: "so what? It's not that rare - I used to have it." But I stand corrected. About 1 in 10,000 people have it according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolu... (I now realise that I used to have RELATIVE pitch because I played the oboe and used a tuning fork every day to find the note A. I suspect that many people with so-called "perfect pitch" actually have relative pitch. As for Tal - who knows?) Nov-21-06    code13: One in 10,000 still mounts up to a lot of people. It's not as if you have to be Mozart to have it. It is a lot less rare (per head of population) than being a grandmaster for example! Nov-21-06    Joshka: <tino72> allright thanks for the link! 1 in ten-thousand is more common than I would expect! Yes relative-pitch is a lot more common. I have this, but I use tricks. I pretty much know what A above middle C sounds like, and use this as a reference. Maybe this is what Tal had. Relative as opposed to absolute. thanks for answering Nov-21-06    2021: from the Baltic Review, vol.19: Mikhail Tal—"Wizard of Riga" and "Diabolic Genius of Combination", to name just a couple of his many pseudonyms. --- Proof to the strong chess position of the Baltic Sea states, among the others are also the regular inter-state events of summing-up strength, the Chess Olympiads, held starting from 1927 Medals at Chess Olympiads have been awarded to Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia, to say nothing of the fact that after WWII until 90s the nearly stationary winner, the team of the USSR was partly complemented by Estonian, Latvian and Leningrad's players. Latvians, too have found themselves in the leading sextet in Chess Olympiads (1931). Lithuania scored their best in 1937, winning the 7th place. The Finns and the Norwegians have displayed a somewhat bleaker performance. Nov-23-06    CoryLetain: Let me clarify Perfect pitch. Perfect pitch is the ability to accurately identify frequency without any outside influence. As opposed to 'Relative' pitch where the person identifies frequency by comparison of other previuosly played frequencies. Musicians who have a good sense for relative pitch are just as good as perfect pitchers. First off perfect pitch it not that uncommon. One in 50 000! no way in hell. Second its commonly beieved that perfect pitch is something your born with. Couldn't be more wrong. Perfect pitch can be developed in any person ( taken for granted their not tone deaf or have a disabilty )if they put the time and effort into ear training. I've personally witnessed this. I know this because I have B Music Degree and I've spoken with many 'perfect pitchers' on this subject (some who have developed perfect pitch later in life). From what I've personnaly experienced, previous knowledge on perfect pitch has to be completely thrown out. So if somebody says "I have perfect pitch" I have no reason to disbelieve that claim, nor do I think its impressive if that person actually does have perfect pitch. Nov-26-06    talisman: chessgames k-bitzers:botvinnik-tal 1960=100%. tal-botvinnik 1961=100%.fischer-spassky 1972=100%...these 3 are 3 of my favorites..... now alekhine-bogoljubov 1927=100%??? Dec-03-06    talisman: i believe i read somewhere, where tal was never an IM.he was immediately granted a GM title in 57 or so after winning the ussr championship.1.i wonder if this is correct? 2.if it is, i wonder if it has ever happened since and to whom? Dec-03-06    plang: Not sure, but haven't the norm rules changed since 57? Dec-03-06    Stefan Teplan: <talisman: botvinnik-tal 1960=100%. tal-botvinnik 1961=100%.fischer-spassky 1972=100%...these 3 are 3 of my favorites..... now alekhine-bogoljubov 1927=100%???> Alekhine-Bogoljubov 1927 will never be 100% cause in 1927 it was Alekhine-Capablanca Dec-03-06    talisman: <Stefan Teplan> let's try 1929. Dec-04-06    The hachett man: Has any one read Study chess with Tal by Tal and Koblentz? Is their additional new analysis of his compared to his biography? Bob Dec-04-06    Stefan Teplan: <The hachett man> Yeah, I read it. There is no new analysis compared to his biography, it's more lectures and exercises on middlegame and endgame strategy, but very instructive. Dec-10-06    talisman: 500th k-bitz.got to put it on the tal page.now there is one thing i know about chess and that is i don't know 500 things about it.saw a picture of tal, fischer, korchnoi, and stein the other day in a gufeld book on stein.i think it was in havana maybe 1966.they all had drinks in their hands and all were laughing.i wonder what they were talking about? well tal was in the middle of korchnoi and fischer, and it just struck me that who else but tal could get these two to laugh at the same time.here's to tal,fischer and all the greats of my childhood for bringing a lot of enjoyment to life. Dec-11-06    The hachett man: Thanks Stefan for the info on "Study with Tal" I will read it with great interest. Talking of rare books by Tal, There seems two very rare books, Tal's winning chess combinations (Simon and schuster 1979)which is very highly rated and mentioned previously on this site, Maybe Cadogan books can re-release this like they did with the "Life and games of Mikhail Tal" I'm sure it would be very popular, its currently very expensive on the second hand market. There is one more out of print Tal book called "Play like Tal" Batsford Ltd (February 1982)which I can not find any copy available to buy. I would be interested to know if any one has read it and how it compares to his other published books. Dec-20-06    OJC: Here's a crosstable of the St. John blitz world championship in 1988. I've been interested in seeing it for a long time. http://www3.sympatico.ca/g.giffen/w... Karpov and Kasparov both fared badly, but maybe due to limited games in matches and knockout style. Still, a great win for Tal, especially as his health wasn't the best. Now if only the games were available from somewhere... Dec-20-06    whatthefat: <OJC> Thanks for that. I wasn't aware that he won the final 4-0! Dec-20-06    OJC: Yeah, the 4-0 finish for Tal is fantastic. I found one game posted only yesterday by User: borkoto at Kiril D Georgiev . Interestingly, Georgiev would have won the tie-breaking game against Vaganian and met Tal in the final if not for a technicality. Dec-20-06    OJC: I see that many of the games have been recently submitted to the database, e.g.: Tal vs Vaganian, 1988 Vaganian vs Tal, 1988 Tal vs Vaganian, 1988 Vaganian vs Tal, 1988 Tal vs A Chernin, 1988 A Chernin vs Tal, 1988 Tal vs A Chernin, 1988 A Chernin vs Tal, 1988 Yusupov vs Tal, 1988 Tal vs Yusupov, 1988 Tal vs Yusupov, 1988 Kiril Georgiev vs Kasparov, 1988 Kasparov vs Kiril Georgiev, 1988 Kiril Georgiev vs Kasparov, 1988 Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 116) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 64 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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