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Mikhail Tal (Latvian: Mihails Tāls; Russian: Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal, IPA: [mʲixa'iɫ̺ n̻ʲɛ'xɛmjɛvʲiʨ t̺al̻], sometimes transliterated Mihail Tal) (November 9, 1936–June 28, 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion. Tal was also a highly-regarded chess writer. Image File history File links Flag_of_Latvia. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union. ...
is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
For other uses, see Riga (disambiguation). ...
is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...
For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...
The title Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...
CCCP redirects here. ...
The title Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ...
The 1984 World Chess Championship was between Anatoly Karpov (left) and Garry Kasparov (right). ...
Career
Early years Tal was born in Riga, Latvia. At the age of eight, Tal learned to play chess while watching his father, a doctor. Shortly thereafter he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. His play was not exceptional at first but he worked hard to improve. Alexander Koblencs began tutoring Tal in 1949. Tal's game improved rapidly thereafter, and by 1951 he had qualified for the Latvian Championship. In the 1952 Latvian Championship Tal finished ahead of his trainer. Tal won his first Latvian title in 1953, and was awarded the title of candidate master. He became a Soviet master in 1954 by defeating Vladimir Saigin in a qualifying match. Tal graduated in Literature from the University of Riga, writing a thesis on the satirical works of Ilf and Petrov, and taught school in Riga for a time in his early 20s. He was a member of the Daugava Sports Society, and represented Latvia in internal Soviet team competitions. For other uses, see Riga (disambiguation). ...
A pioneer movement is an organization for children operated by a communist party. ...
Alexander (Aleksandrs) Koblencs (Koblents, Koblentz, Koblenz, Koblenc) (born 3 September 1916, Riga, - died 9 December 1993, Riga) was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. ...
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The Candidate Master (CM) title is awarded by the world chess governing body, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE). ...
Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ...
University of Latvia is the oldest university in Latvia. ...
Soviet champion Tal qualified for the USSR Chess Championship final in 1956, finishing joint fifth, and became the youngest player to win it the following year, at the age of 20. He had not played in enough international tournaments to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, but FIDE decided to waive the normal restrictions and award him the title anyway because of his achievement in winning the Soviet Championship.[1] Winner list: 1991 (58th,Moscow) Minasian, Artashes 1990 (57th,Leningrad) Beliavsky, Alexander / Yudasin, Leonid / Bareev, Evgeny / Vyzmanavin, Alexey ex aequo 1989 (56th,Odessa) Vaganian, Rafael 1988 (55th,Moscow) Karpov, Anatoly / Kasparov, Garry ex aequo 1987 (54th,Minsk) Beliavsky, Alexander 1986 (53rd,Kiev) Tseshkovsky, Vitaly 1985 (52nd,Riga) Gavrikov, Viktor / Gurevich...
The title Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ...
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world. ...
He retained the Soviet Championship title the following year, and competed in the World Chess Championship for the first time. He won the 1958 Interzonal tournament at Portorož, then helped the Soviet Union retain the Chess Olympiad. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. ...
Portorož (Portorose in Italian, literally Port of Roses) is a coastal town in Slovenia and one of the countrys largest tourist areas. ...
The Chess Olympiad is a chess event which has been officially organised by FIDE since 1927 and takes place in even years. ...
World champion Tal won a very strong tournament at Zurich, 1959. Following the Interzonal, the top players carried on to the Candidates' Tournament, Yugoslavia 1959. Tal showed superior form by winning with 20/28 points, ahead of Paul Keres with 18.5, followed by Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Svetozar Gligorić, Friðrik Ólafsson, and Pal Benko. Tal's victory was much attributed to his dominance over the lower half of the field; whilst scoring only +1 -3 vs Keres, he won all four individual games against Fischer, and took 3½ from Gligorić, Olafsson, and Benko. Location within Switzerland Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...
The Candidates Tournament was a triannual chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. ...
Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, ЈугоÑлавија in Cyrillic; English: South Slavia, or literary The Land of South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...
Paul Keres Paul Keres (born January 7, 1916, in Narva, Estonia; died June 5, 1975, in Helsinki, Finland) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and one of the strongest chess players of all time, apart from the World chess champions. ...
Tigran Petrosian (Armenian: ) (June 17, 1929 – August 13, 1984) was a former World Chess Champion. ...
Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov (Russian: ) (born March 24, 1921, in Moscow) is a Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. ...
Robert James Bobby Fischer (born March 9, 1943) is a United States-born chess Grandmaster who in 1972 became the only US-born chessplayer to become the official World Chess Champion. ...
Svetozar Gligorić (Светозар Глигорић) (born February 2, 1923) is a chess grandmaster. ...
Friðrik Ólafsson (born January 26, 1935) is a chess Grandmaster. ...
Pál Benkő (born July 15, 1928 in Amiens) is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. ...
In 1960, at the age of 23, Tal thoroughly defeated the relatively staid and strategic Mikhail Botvinnik in a World Championship match, held in Moscow, by 12.5–8.5 (six wins to two with 13 draws), making him the youngest-ever world champion (a record later broken by Garry Kasparov, who earned the title at 22). Botvinnik won the return match against Tal in 1961, also held in Moscow, after a lengthy study of Tal's style. Botvinnik's margin was 13-8 (ten wins to five with six draws). Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat, as did his refusal to postpone the match for health reasons. His short reign atop the chess world made him one of the two so-called "winter kings" (the other was Smyslov) who broke up Botvinnik's long domination (1948–63). Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (IPA: ; Russian: ) (August 17 [O.S. August 4] 1911 - May 5, 1995) was a Russian International Grandmaster and long-time World Champion of chess. ...
For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (IPA: ; Russian: ) (born April 13, 1963, in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR; now Azerbaijan) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer and political activist. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov (Васи́лий Смысло́в) (born March 24, 1921) is a chess player. ...
His highest ELO rating was 2705, achieved in 1980. His highest Historical Chessmetrics Rating was 2799, in September 1960. This capped his torrid stretch which had begun in early 1957. Chess Go The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess and Go. ...
There is no consensus on who is the greatest chess player of all time, but it is a topic often discussed by fans and addressed by writers. ...
Later achievements Immediately after he lost his title back to Botvinnik, Tal won the 1961 Bled supertournament, ahead of a star-studded field which included Fischer, Petrosian, Keres, Gligorić, Efim Geller, and Miguel Najdorf. Area: 188. ...
Efim Petrovich Geller (March 2, 1925 – November 17, 1998) was a Soviet chess player. ...
Miguel Najdorf (born as Mieczysław Najdorf; 1910 - 1997) was a Polish-Argentine chess player. ...
Subsequently Tal played in several Candidates' Tournaments. In 1965, he lost the final match against Boris Spassky, after defeating Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen. He lost a 1968 semi-final match against Viktor Korchnoi, after defeating Gligoric. Health worries caused a slump in his play from late 1968 to late 1969, but he recovered his form after having a kidney removed. He won the 1979 Riga Interzonal with a dominant score of 14/17, but the next year he lost a quarter-final match against Lev Polugaevsky, one of the very few players to hold a positive score against him. He also played in the 1985 Montpellier Candidates' Tournament, a round-robin of 16 qualifiers, finishing in a tie for third and fourth places and narrowly missing further advancement after drawing a playoff match with Jan Timman. He later defeated Timman in a 1988 exhibition match. Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij) (Russian: ) (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess player and former world champion. ...
Lajos Portisch (born April 4, 1937 in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname of the Hungarian Botvinnik. One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve straight Interzonals, and qualified for the...
Bent Larsen Bent Larsen (born March 4, 1935) is a Danish chess player. ...
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (also Korchnoy, Kortchnoy, Kortschnoi, etc. ...
Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић) (born February 2, 1923) is a chess grandmaster. ...
For other uses, see Riga (disambiguation). ...
Lev Polugaevsky (sometimes transliterated Polugayevsky; (20 November 1934-30 August 1995) was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title. ...
Montpellier (Occitan Montpelhièr) is a city in the south of France. ...
Jan Timman Jan Timman (born December 14, 1951) is a famous Dutch chessplayer who had his greatest successes in the 1970s and 1980s. ...
He was a six-time winner of the Soviet Championship (1957, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978), a number that is only equalled by Botvinnik. He was also a five-time winner of the International Chess Tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, with victories in 1971, 1973, 1977, 1981, and 1983. Winner list: 1991 (58th,Moscow) Minasian, Artashes 1990 (57th,Leningrad) Beliavsky, Alexander / Yudasin, Leonid / Bareev, Evgeny / Vyzmanavin, Alexey ex aequo 1989 (56th,Odessa) Vaganian, Rafael 1988 (55th,Moscow) Karpov, Anatoly / Kasparov, Garry ex aequo 1987 (54th,Minsk) Beliavsky, Alexander 1986 (53rd,Kiev) Tseshkovsky, Vitaly 1985 (52nd,Riga) Gavrikov, Viktor / Gurevich...
County Area 159. ...
One of Tal's greatest achievements during his later career was an equal first place with Anatoly Karpov (whom he seconded in a number of tournaments and world championships) in the 1979 Montreal "Tournament of Stars", at the time the strongest event ever held. In 1988, at the age of 51, he became World Champion in Blitz chess at Saint John. Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian: ) (born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. ...
Nickname: Motto: Concordia Salus (well-being through harmony) Coordinates: , Country Province Region Montréal Founded 1642 Established 1832 Government - Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area [1][2][3] - City 365. ...
Blitz chess (also known as speed chess or blitzkrieg chess) is a game of chess where each side is given very little time to make all of their moves. ...
Saint John[3] is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. ...
In Olympiad play, Mikhail Tal was a member of eight gold medal winning Soviet teams (1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1980, and 1982), won 59 games, drew 32 games, and lost only 2 games. He played close to 3,000 tournament games, scoring over 65 percent. An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. ...
In the 70s he had unbeaten streaks of 93 and 86 games, records that still stand.
Health problems Tal suffered from bad health, and had to be hospitalized frequently throughout his career. Tal was a chain smoker and a heavy drinker; he was also briefly addicted to morphine.[2] Tal's untimely death was likely related to these problems; e.g. at the Hastings tournament of 1973, which he won, he drank the hotel dry of brandy and whiskey.[3] This article is about the drug. ...
For other uses, see Hastings (disambiguation). ...
On June 28, 1992, Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of kidney failure. But his friend and fellow Soviet Grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that "in reality, all his organs had stopped functioning." is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...
Renal failure is when the kidneys fail to function properly. ...
Playing style Tal loved the game in itself and considered that "Chess, first of all, is Art." He was capable of playing numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely for the joy of playing. Blitz chess (also known as speed chess or blitzkrieg chess) is a game of chess where each side is given very little time to make all of their moves. ...
Known as "The Magician from Riga," Tal was the archetype of the attacking player, developing an extremely powerful and imaginative style of play. His approach over the board was very pragmatic—in that respect, he is one of the heirs of ex-World Champion Emanuel Lasker. He often sacrificed material in search for the initiative in chess, which is defined by the ability to make threats to which the opponent must respond. With such intuitive sacrifices, he created vast complications, and many masters found it impossible to solve all the problems he created over the board, though deeper post-game analysis found flaws in some of his conceptions. Although his playing style was scorned by ex-World Champion Vasily Smyslov as nothing more than "tricks," Tal convincingly beat virtually every notable grandmaster with his trademark aggression. Viktor Korchnoi and Paul Keres are two of the very few with a significant plus record against him. It is also notable that he adopted a more sedate and positional style in his later years; for many chess lovers, the apex of Tal's style corresponds with the period (approx. from 1971 to 1979) when he was able to integrate the solidity of classic chess with the imagination of his youth. For other uses, see Archetype (disambiguation). ...
Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German World Chess Champion, mathematician, and philosopher born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland). ...
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (also Korchnoy, Kortchnoy, Kortschnoi, etc. ...
Paul Keres Paul Keres (born January 7, 1916, in Narva, Estonia; died June 5, 1975, in Helsinki, Finland) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and one of the strongest chess players of all time, apart from the World chess champions. ...
Of the current top-level players, the Latvian-born Spaniard Alexei Shirov has probably been most influenced or inspired by Tal's sacrificial style. In fact, he studied with Tal as a youth. Many other Latvian grandmasters and masters, for instance Alexander Shabalov and Alvis Vitolins, have played in a similar vein, causing some to speak of a "Latvian School of Chess." Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (Aleksejs Å irovs, ÐлекÑеÌй Широв) (born July 4, 1972 in Riga, Latvia), is one of the top chess grandmasters in the world today. ...
Alexander Shabalov is an American chess grandmaster, the multiple winner of the US Chess Championship. ...
Tal contributed little to opening theory, despite a deep knowledge of most systems. However, his agressive use of the Benoni defence, particularly in his early years, led to a complete re-evaluation of this variation at the time, though it is seldom seen in tournament play in the 21st century. Benoni may refer to: In biblical names: Benoni or Ben Oni, son of my sorrow, or pain In Jewish philosophy: Benoni, the intermediate one; see Tanya In chess openings: Benoni Defense Benoni, Taimanov variation Franco-Benoni In geography: Benoni, Gauteng, a city on the East Rand in South Africa the...
He remained to the end of his shortened life an immensely popular figure in the world of chess.
Quotes on chess - "Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine."[4]
- "To play for a draw, at any rate with White, is to some degree a crime against chess."[5]
- "If (Black) is going for victory, he is practically forced to allow his opponent to get some kind of well-known positional advantage."
- "It is also important to remember that he was a real chess gentleman during games. He was always very fair and very correct." (On Bobby Fischer)
- "I drink, I smoke, I gamble, I chase girls—but postal chess is one vice I don't have."[6]
- "They compare me to Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. He made mistakes in every game and I in only every second one!"
- (referring to his piece sacrifices) "They can only take them one at a time!"
Robert James Bobby Fischer (born March 9, 1943) is a United States-born chess Grandmaster who in 1972 became the only US-born chessplayer to become the official World Chess Champion. ...
Correspondence chess is chess played by some sort of long-distance correspondence, usually through a Correspondence Chess Server or e-mail or the postal system. ...
Notable chess games - Mikhail Tal vs Alexander Tolush, USSR Championship, Moscow 1957, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E81), 1-0 In a critical last-round game, Tal spares no fireworks as he scores the win which clinches his first Soviet title.
- Boris Spassky vs Mikhail Tal, USSR Championship, Riga 1958, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E26), 0-1 Spassky plays for a win to avoid a playoff for an Interzonal berth, but Tal hangs on by his fingernails before turning the tables in a complex endgame; with the win, he captures his second straight Soviet title.
- Mikhail Tal vs Vasily Smyslov, Yugoslavia Candidates' Tournament 1959, Caro-Kann Defence (B10), 1-0 A daring piece sacrifice to win a Brilliancy Prize game.
- Robert James Fischer vs Mikhail Tal, Belgrade, Candidates' Tournament 1959, Sicilian Defence, Fischer-Sozin Variation (B87), 0-1 In 1959, Bobby Fischer was too young and inexperienced to meet Tal with success. Still, their games from this time are full of interesting tactics.
- Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Tal, World Championship Match, Moscow 1960, 6th game, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation, Classical Main line (E69), 0-1 An excellent sample of Tal's style from the first Botvinnik-Tal match. Tal sacrifices a knight for the attack and Botvinnik is not able to find a good defence in the given time; his 25th move is a mistake spoiling the game for him.
- Istvan Bilek vs Mikhail Tal, Moscow 1967, King's Indian Attack, Spassky Variation (A05), 0-1 A risky counterattack is crowned with success, winning the Brilliancy Prize.
- Boris Spassky vs Mikhail Tal, Tallinn tt 1973, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Leningrad Variation (E30), 0-1 A game fuelled with tactics from its first moves. Black attacks in the centre and then starts a king chase.
- Mikhail Tal vs Tigran Petrosian, Moscow 1974, Pirc Defence (B08), 1-0 Tal destroys perhaps the greatest defensive player of all time in a miniature.
Writings Although he did not publish much, Tal became also known as an exceptional chess writer who did not provide an abundance of variations but was able to communicate the intuition behind his reasoning to the reader. His account of his successful World Championship match against Botvinnik is regarded by many as one of the best chess publications ever. He also served as Editor of the Riga magazine Sahs. - Tal, Mikhail (1997). The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-202-4.
- Tal, Mikhail (2001). Tal-Botvinnik, 1960. Russell Enterprises. ISBN 1-888690-08-9.
Further reading - Tal, Mikhail, Iakov Damsky and Ken Neat (tr.) (1994). Attack with Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-043-9.
- Gallagher, Joe (2001). The Magic of Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-266-0. This covers Tal's career post 1975, and can therefore be seen as a sort of sequel to Tal's own autobiography and games collection, which covers his career up to that point.
- Winter, Edward G. (ed.) (1981). World chess champions. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024094-1.
- Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. Dover. ISBN 0-486-28674-6.
- Clarke, Peter H. (1991). Mikhail Tal – Master of Sacrifice. B.T.Batsford Ltd. ISBN 0-7134-6899-8.
Joseph Gerard Gallagher (born May 4, 1964) is a British Chess International Grandmaster and former British Champion. ...
Irving Chernev (1900-1981) was a prolific Russian-American chess author. ...
References - ^ At that time, the Soviet Union was dominant in world chess, and Tal had beaten several of the world's top players to win the tournament. Master of Sacrifice, 4.
- ^ http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1164840612480&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112101662670
- ^ Lawson, Dominic, Why artificial intelligence is never enough, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20061128/ai_n16873075>. Retrieved on 2007-09-14
- ^ http://www.terragon.com/max/h_advicenhumor.html
- ^ http://www.chessville.com/misc/Quotes/New_Additions_Part_2.htm
- ^ http://www.website-analyst.co.il/chess/chess_quotes.html
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