chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Mikhail Tal
Tal 
 

Number of games in database: 2,957
Years covered: 1949 to 1992
Highest rating achieved in database: 2705
Overall record: +1116 -292 =1301 (65.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 248 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (362) 
    B43 B46 B32 B82 B96
 Ruy Lopez (265) 
    C95 C92 C93 C96 C84
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (167) 
    C95 C92 C93 C96 C84
 French Defense (107) 
    C07 C18 C05 C09 C16
 Caro-Kann (105) 
    B18 B17 B14 B12 B10
 English (95) 
    A15 A14 A13 A17 A16
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (336) 
    B43 B40 B92 B22 B46
 King's Indian (113) 
    E69 E92 E80 E66 E98
 Modern Benoni (84) 
    A56 A64 A61 A70 A62
 Nimzo Indian (83) 
    E48 E52 E56 E53 E46
 English (83) 
    A15 A14 A10 A13 A16
 Queen's Pawn Game (74) 
    A46 E10 A40 A41 E00
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Tal vs B Larsen, 1965 1-0
   Tal vs Hjartarson, 1987 1-0
   Tal vs Smyslov, 1959 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Tal, 1960 0-1
   Tal vs H Hecht, 1962 1-0
   Tal vs Koblents, 1957 1-0
   Spassky vs Tal, 1973 0-1
   Fischer vs Tal, 1960 1/2-1/2
   Fischer vs Tal, 1959 0-1
   Bobotsov vs Tal, 1958 0-1

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

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Latvian Championship (1954)
   URS-ch sf Riga (1955)
   Zuerich (1959)
   Latvian Championship (1958)
   Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959)
   Asztalos Memorial (1963)
   Reykjavik (1964)
   Bled (1961)
   USSR Championship (1972)
   Keres Memorial (1977)
   Lublin (1974)
   Riga Interzonal (1979)
   USSR Championship (1962)
   Capablanca Memorial (1963)
   Amsterdam Interzonal (1964)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Talented Indeed is a FTB Understatement by fredthebear
   Tal Fever by chocobonbon
   Match Tal! by amadeus
   Match Tal! by docjan
   "Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973" per JFQ by fredthebear
   "Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973" by Littlejohn
   Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 by jessicafischerqueen
   Tal's Tournament and Matches 1949-1973 by Bokke
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by takchess
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by markkumatt
   2 Mikhail Tal's Best Games by Littlejohn
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by pdoaks
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by Okavango
   Mikhail Tal's Best Games by mneuwirth


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Mikhail Tal
 Search Google for 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

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 119; games 1-25 of 2,957  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. A Parnas vs Tal 0-1331949URS U18 Team-ch SemifinalC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
2. Tal vs I Zilber 1-0331949Riga Pioneer Palace ChampionshipC07 French, Tarrasch
3. Tal vs Vedrov 1-0651949URSB40 Sicilian
4. J Klavins vs Tal 0-1181949Riga Junior-ch FinalC10 French
5. A Nevitsky vs Tal 0-1431949Semi Finals Youth ChampionshipC49 Four Knights
6. Tal vs A Vilup  0-1591949Ch URS (team)(juniors 1/2)C03 French, Tarrasch
7. Tal vs M Strelkov 1-0161949Riga Junior-ch FinalC10 French
8. Mendeleevsky vs Tal  1-0391949Ch URS (team)(juniors 1/2)D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
9. Tal vs Leonov 1-0251949Riga Junior-ch SemifinalB13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
10. Tal vs Ripatti ½-½411949URS U18 Team-ch SemifinalB74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
11. Butvit vs Tal  0-1371949RigaC01 French, Exchange
12. Kholmov vs Tal 0-1211949SimulD44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
13. Tal vs I Miglans 1-0211950Latvian Youth ChampionshipC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
14. Juliks vs Tal 0-1391950Riga Championship semifinalA16 English
15. Tal vs Sodell 0-1231950URSC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
16. Liepins vs Tal 0-1441950Riga Team ChampionshipB59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3
17. Tal vs A Darznieks 0-1261950Riga Championship semifinalC98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
18. A Pakalns vs Tal 0-1291950Riga Championship semifinalD02 Queen's Pawn Game
19. K Klasups vs Tal ½-½411950Riga Championship semifinalD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
20. Tal vs J Klavins 1-0541950Latvian Youth ChampionshipB74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical
21. Lavrinenko vs Tal 0-1381950Riga-ch FinalB59 Sicilian, Boleslavsky Variation, 7.Nb3
22. Leonov vs Tal 0-1341950URSE17 Queen's Indian
23. Tal vs M Straihers 1-061950Riga Championship semifinalB00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening
24. V Ivanovs vs Tal 1-0251950URSC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
25. Tal vs Pliss 1-0371950Riga Championship quarterfinalC99 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin, 12...cd
 page 1 of 119; games 1-25 of 2,957  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Tal wins | Tal loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 66 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-26-07  code13: Although I am not an expert, I believe it is widely accepted that Tal increasingly emphasised positional play later in his career. For example at Montreal 1979.
Jan-26-07  whiskeyrebel: Yes. Tal also seems very proud of his endgame efforts in his autobiographical game collection. Let's face it, The element of surprise worked in his favor in his early years. After he became such a legendary attacker his opponents were ready for it; well, as ready as you could be I suppose.
Jan-26-07  OneBadDog: Tal was gifted in all phases of the game. I think that Tal's temperment influenced his play more than anything else.
Feb-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member		  Sneaky: Yes I agree, Tal is so famous for creating middlegame complications but he was also an incredible master of opening theory and his endgame play was right up there with Karpov, Capablanca, Fischer etc.
Feb-23-07  talisman: just ordered tal's book on the first korchnoi-karpov championship match."chess scandals"...looking forward to it, let ya'll know later.
Feb-23-07  whatthefat: <talisman>

I believe the book was authored by someone called Edmondson, with Tal annotating the games. I'm sure it'll be a good read.

Feb-24-07  talisman: you're right...looking forward to what tal has to say about karpov's 11th move...game ten.
Feb-27-07  Daodejing: I think Tals highest rating was 2705 in 1980 and not 2645 as given in this database.
Feb-27-07  whatthefat: <Daodejing>

That's correct. See the January 1980 rating list here: http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Tr...

I can only assume none of his games in the database from that period included his rating.

Mar-08-07  avramesh: < talisman: just ordered tal's book on the first korchnoi-karpov championship match."chess scandals"...looking forward to it, let ya'll know later.> Did u get that book???How is it??
Mar-10-07  talisman: <avramesh> i sure did.tal's annotations are great although a little slanted toward's karpov.edmonson's inside scoops compliment keene and larsen.tal is always interesting.11th move must have come from Zaitsev (sp?) korchnoi had some emotional matches.petrosian-hate match..polugaevsky-just had a big falling out with him..and then spassky-big brouhaha in this match.finally karpov, and 78 was like nothing else. i didn't think anything could outdo the protests of 72 but this one did.
Mar-13-07  avramesh: Thank you.....so i'll try to get one.
May-02-07
Premium Chessgames Member		  chancho: I wonder how many games Tal played in his career where he did not sacrifice a single piece in the whole game. Perhaps it happened when he was way past his prime.
May-03-07  Cyphelium: <chancho> There are hundreds of such games. He did get more peaceful when he was past his prime, and just taking a random year, I found these examples after searching for just a few minutes:

Tal vs Speelman, 1988
Gufeld vs Tal, 1988
Romanishin vs Tal, 1988
S Estremera Panos vs Tal, 1988
P Nikolic vs Tal, 1988
Hjartarson vs Tal, 1988
Razuvaev vs Tal, 1988
Tal vs Vaganian, 1988

May-03-07  Cyphelium: <chancho> It is slightly more difficult to find such games in his youth, but it can be done:

Tal vs Friori, 1957
Lombardy vs Tal, 1957

And there are of course also games when his opponent plays so bad he doesn't have to sac anything.

Rannanjarvi vs Tal, 1957

May-03-07  actionhero56: what a scary picture...
May-03-07
Premium Chessgames Member		  chancho: It must have been very stressful playing against him. He'd be staring at you constantly and using smoke warfare during the game, as well as his tactical virtuosity. A daunting task indeed.
May-03-07  micartouse: <chancho: He'd be staring at you constantly and using smoke warfare during the game, as well as his tactical virtuosity.> :) Maybe Benko should've showed up with an oxygen mask as well.
May-03-07  RookFile: Tal needs a better picture. I actually played in a simul against him where he looked like the picture he currently has. He was an old looking, alcohol consuming man who stumbled around a lot then.

Didn't prevent him from dominating in the simul, of course.

May-04-07  avramesh: <RookFile: Tal needs a better picture. I actually played in a simul against him where he looked like the picture he currently has. He was an old looking, alcohol consuming man who stumbled around a lot then. Didn't prevent him from dominating in the simul, of course.> Ya chessgames should put photo of a young TAL.......
May-04-07  Davolni: <Rookfile> <Avramesh> I have been contacting chessgames this whole week with a request of changing Aronian's picture, just because it's an old one, and a funny one, plus I also asked if they could add a picture for Vladimir Akopian. The guy is 2703 rated player, and has been in top 20 for a long time, yet no picture. some other players (female players, 2400-2500 ELO) they already have pictures and a whole page of biography. Chessgames informed me they don't have funds to buy more pictures from professional photographers.... which was strange to me. I thought they could just get any picture from internet and put it up. Same thing with TAL.

Chessgames is really lacking that picture issue.....

May-04-07  ganstaman: When I think of Tal, this is the picture I imagine. Not sure if I've ever seen another.
May-04-07
Premium Chessgames Member		  keypusher: <Davolni> Slapping up a picture from the internet typically violates copyright. You or I could probably get away with it, because we are not worth pursuing, but a pretty big site like cg.com could get into real trouble.
May-04-07  Davolni: I agree <keypusher>, being a pretty big site, they have to have a way of finding some pictures, either buying them, or getting the right from the photographers or something like that. Because it is part of their job, that's what they do, and that is what makes them a pretty big site. Even if they have to invest some money into it, it may still be wise. I saw they updated Kramnik's page(of course kramnik is the Champ, may be that's why)... I don't know....
May-04-07  malthrope: Hey Guys!

I'd posted a small tribute to Tal on the previous page in my response to <Nikita Smirnov> wishing Tal a 'Happy New Year!' (another 'New Year' that he had missed).

Mikhail Tal

These pics were taken by a friend of mine (Richard Shorman) and he would gladly waive any copyright nonsense... The scans of the chess books written by Tal are all mine.

I've met six WCC (you can read my 'Profile' for the details) and I've often been asked if I could revisit just one of the 14 Classical WCC which one would it be? There is absolutely no doubt in my mind there can be only one answer...

♔ TAL!!! ♔

Anyway, here they are again with a few frivolous scans of Misha thrown in for good measure...

Best Regards, - Mal

_______________________________

Here are some links to few 'Tal' scans of mine (many are personally autographed):

Image posted above the captions.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Tal's chess set (ProChess chess set) that he used at the Pan-Pacific International Chess Tournament // San Francisco in 1991.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Inscription to the chess book "Tal - Botvinnik 1960" (First Edition - Interstate Press, Inc. - Hanon Russell).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Inscription to the chess book "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" (First Edition - RHM Press).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Tal (signed) at the Pan Pacific International Chess Tournament (1991).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Slightly larger version of the above image (Tal signed at the Pan Pacific 1991).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

This is the image used for the 'Tal poster' (given in the first URL link above).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

The 'Candidates Chess Tournament 1959' (both the printed signature [directly underneath his photo] and his actual signature) First Edition (Yugoslav printing) by Gligoric and Ragozin.

Finally, just for fun! (not my scans):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

Russian character sketch of Misha.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...

What every chess aficionado must have - a 'Tal' mug! ;-)

Note: the hand featured in the pic is my old friend Kerry Lawless of ChessDryad fame.

Of course, I have many, many more but that was just a nice sampling of the one & only...

♔ The 'Magician from Riga!' ♔ :-)
______________________________

End of this Tal photo sampling

Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 116)
search thread:   
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 66 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.

NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.
<This page contains Editor Notes. Click here to read them.>
 Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!
Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC