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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 69 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-09-07    isemeria: <notyetagm: Has there ever been a stronger tactician than Tal?> I guess there may have been many, but Tal was special in that he could achive top results with his style, year after year. One example of famous tacticians if of course Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid... A couple of his classic games: Nezhmetdinov vs Tal, 1961 Polugaevsky vs Nezhmetdinov, 1958 Nov-09-07    Open Defence: actually... for pure tactics.. there might have been others superior to Tal .. e.g. Petrosyan and Karpov were superb and clear tacticians.. BUT for tactics combined with IMAGINATION ... clearly Tal is above the rest by a long way .. maybe Bronstein comes close.. but Tal is ahead IMHO Nov-09-07    onemorechessplayer: Happy birthday to Mr. Tal - one of the most popular and loved chess tacticians ever! Nov-09-07    sallom89: i think he said long time ago "There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine". Nov-09-07    arnaud1959: I'm looking for a Tal game where he has the black pieces and he sacrifies a minor piece (I think a knight) for two pawns and forces the white king to come out to b3 (in front of his pawns?). Immediately afterwards he castles. Besides the compensation, no attack, no other advantage but he wins at the end. Can you find me this game? Nov-09-07    King mega: happy bday tal! when is Anand's turn to be a POTD? Nov-09-07    Marmot PFL: Well he would only be 71 today, younger than Korchnoi and not much older than Fischer or Spassky. Tal died much too young but did not spend his days trying to prolong them. Nov-09-07    JYMMI: Birthday of my favourite player of ever. I'd really like to know how to express how much I thank master Tal for his incredible playing style and his unmeasureable contribution to the noble art, the game of the kings, the chess. <<Rest in peace> master Mikhail> Nov-09-07    WannaBe: Happy Birthday Mikhail, so far, I've gotten the sac-sac portion mastered... However, still no where close to that step 3. Nov-09-07    Nikita Smirnov: Congratulations Mikhail Tal on your birthday today.You are the best ever.There will be no one like you ever. Nov-09-07    RookFile: Mikhail Tal was a wonderful person, and I'm glad that for one night, during a simul and some blitz games afterwards, I got to spend some time observing him. Nov-09-07    sushijunkie: Tal is The One True Chess GOD Nov-09-07    parisattack: <arnaud1959: I'm looking for a Tal game where he has the black pieces and he sacrifies a minor piece (I think a knight) for two pawns and forces the white king to come out to b3 (in front of his pawns?). > Are you thinking perhaps of Kupper-Tal, Zurich 1959? Nov-09-07    isemeria: J Kupper vs Tal, 1959 certainly fits to that description. Beautiful game! Nov-09-07    RookFile: <sushijunkie: Tal is The One True Chess GOD > No, he had his weaknesses like everybody else. Tal himself would be the first to tell you this. But perhaps, Tal's games and annotations are the most enjoyable to play over. Nov-09-07    talisman: happy birthday tal.<rookfile> man lucky you. when and where did ya see him? anything you can tell us...thanks in advance. Nov-09-07    isemeria: Here's another "Tal sacrifice", not really sound but worked well in practice: Averbakh vs Tal, 1958 It's game 17 in "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal", one of the greatest chess books of all time. Nov-09-07    isemeria: A couple of years ago I played against Aarne Hermlin in a weekend tournament. This means that my "Tal number" is 2. Not that it really matters anything, but it's nice for a patzer to feel connected to chess history and community. This means also that my "Morphy number" is 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdos_... http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skitt... Nov-09-07    tal lover: i started play chess 3 years ago with some friends, that time i didnt knew any opening (always my games was 4 knights), the only chess player i knew was Kasparov, and never had saw a master game, so in order to improve my game i buyed chessmaster9000, one day i taked a look at master games, i didnt understood a single move and why the games didnt end with checkmate... as i improve my game i began to understood some moves, and began to feel fascinate with the sacrifices that masters do, i looked all Kasparov games in chessmaster database, then Morphy, then Fischer, then i discovered Alekhine, i loved him, what strong attacks he could do, but something was missing, the first time i saw a Tal game i cant explain what i felt, in few days i taked a look in all Tal games more than 10 times. I love his games thats why im in this site, a true genius. Thanks Tal for this wonderful games. Nov-10-07    arnaud1959: <parisattack:Are you thinking perhaps of Kupper-Tal, Zurich 1959?> and < isemeria> Thanks to both. I'm 90% sure that it is this game although it seems to me that white had a more secure situation in the game I saw. I remember that the annotator had given a !? to the sacrifice move (maybe ♘xb2?). Nov-10-07    talisman: <isemeria> very interesting reading.thanks. ya got any other numbers? Nov-10-07    isemeria: <talisman> None that I'm aware of. :-) Nov-10-07    talisman: 1992 Moscow Blitz Tournament: has anyone heard of tal beating kasparov in this event? Nov-11-07    hitman84: <Talisman> <Clubfoot: Tal defeated Kasparov in the 1992 Moscow Blitz tournament, an event for which Tal reportedly sneaked out of the hospital; Kasparov recovered to win the tournament. Whatever the case, Tal returned to hospital the next day and died the following week. This is a something of a cool story. However, I've never been able to locate the score of that game, which may not be on record. > Kasparov vs Tal, 1989 Nov-11-07    parisattack: <However, I've never been able to locate the score of that game, which may not be on record. > Has anyone checked the Russian periodicals for the game? CCCP, 64, Byulletin? If not, I'll look. <hitman84> Do you know what month the tournament was held? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 116) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 69 OF 116 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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