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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 67 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-29-07    talisman: most any one of the tal avatars would be a nice picture for the tal page. Jul-05-07    James Demery: Was Tal allowed to smoke during his Championship Match with Botvinnik? Jul-05-07    Open Defence: From The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal - "I went for a smoke behind the stage, (during the first match I was an amateur smoker so to speak and could happily go without a ciggarette for the full five hours)" so yes...but probably he did not smoke at the board until much later... Jul-05-07    talisman: i'm going to look up that picture that CG has from the 61 match. i believe there was an ashtray on the table. Jul-05-07    James Demery: Thanks Open Defense. I was just curious if maybe Botvinnik could have protested and insisted that Tal`s smoking be disallowed. Jul-06-07    Eric Schiller: Tal was very cooperative about smoking. When he played in the National Open in Chicago he was offered a special smoking area not far from the stage, but he declined, saying he'd play under the same conditions as everyone else. Jul-06-07    Open Defence: yeah I never read of anyone objecting to his smoking other than the damage it did to Tal's own health.. however the historians at this site can probably confirm this.. but <Dr Schiller> of all the legends you met.. I am sure Tal must have stood out.. was he one of the most unpretentious of the legends.. it certainly seems that way when I read about him Jul-07-07    Eric Schiller: <open> Words can't describe it. Tal was always my hero, more so even than Fischer. I met him in 2980 at the Olympiad, where I had to settle a controversy involving him. I ruled for Tal, though technically the regulations didn't favor him. In the appeal, Lothar Schmid, the chief arbiter agreed with me. "Tal is Tal" I treasure the many times we got together. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met, and a great artist who must never be forgotten. Jul-07-07    tamar: <I met him in 2980 at the Olympiad, where I had to settle a controversy involving him.> 2980? I knew Tal was immortal. Jul-07-07    WannaBe: Must find out what tournament and who will win, and get some of my chess bucks back from that danged bookie! Jul-12-07    talisman: promised to look up the picture on CG '61WC. book is by "botvinnik" tal-botvinnik 1961. page 3-4 there is a similar picture with tal putting out a cig. on the table. Jul-13-07    John Thornton: From John Donaldson's review of Korchnoi's Chess Is My Life (2005 edition): <Every chess player of a certain age knows about Tal getting hit with a bottle in a Cuban bar during the 1966 Olympiad but here you get the details and ramifications.> http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/... One detail, in particular, I'm interested in knowing: was the bottle empty? Jul-13-07    talisman: <John Thornton> john thornton... don't talk about tal...don't use his name... don't try to use levity using his name. the bottle was almost empty and the girl was beautiful.NOW...who are you? Jul-14-07    brankat: <talisman> Regarding Tal's smoking during 1961 match. At first Tal would go for a smoke behind the stage when it was Botvinnik's move. But things in the match were not going well. Getting up every few minutes to light up was also a distraction. So, finally, just as he was to get up, Tal asked Botvinnik whether he would mind his smoking at the table. Botvinnik replied: "Just go ahead. During preparations for this match I had been playing against players who smoke 10 times as much as You do." This little detail helps explain Tal's crushing defeat. His preparations were not adequate (even he admitted as much). While Botvinnik's were completely thorough. Jul-14-07    talisman: <brankat> thanks for that.that's an interesting comment.regarding preparation... in one of the early games botvinnik says as much...something along the lines of it was obvious that tal hadn't spent the year as champion preparing properly. Jul-19-07    Tamerlan: Here is the "Favourity song of Michail Tal" and nice pictures! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce2S... Jul-19-07    talisman: <Tamerlan> i tell you what! those were all great videos.so young. i wish i understood russian. the closing moves of the '60 championship were priceless;some kind of crowd too.thanks again. Jul-26-07    krusheto: OMG you HAVE to love that picture!!! Aug-13-07    stanleys: Much better pictures of Tal (and other players too) on http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten... Aug-13-07    brankat: <stanleys> Very nice pictures, indeed. Thanks. Aug-23-07    Silverstrike: Does one pronounce his name like one would pronounce "pal", "pool", or "Karl"? Aug-23-07    Wild Bill: <Silverstrike>: I think it is like the English word <tall>. Aug-24-07    brankat: <Silverstrike> The vocal "a" is a long one, pronounced the same way as an "a" in "car", "bar" "tar". There is more there than what can't be seen from the name's spelling. It actually should be: Taly: The first 3 letters are pronounced the way they would be in a non-word "Tahl", then just add "Y", to be pronounced the same as in "yet" "yes" etc. Aug-24-07    kackhander: tal vs short http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... by the end they were both medium sized. sorry. Aug-24-07    Silverstrike: <brankat> <Wild Bill> Thanks! :) Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 116) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 67 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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