Mikhail Tal 8thclassical world champ (1960-1961)

Mikhail Tal…aka the magician from .

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal was born in Riga, in 1936 and died on 28 June 1992. Tal was born in Riga, Republic of Latvia, into a Jewish family. He would come to be known as the “Magician from Riga” for his unique tactical style. It was an approach that would win him several fantastic games, not to mention the championship of the world in 1960. From the very beginning of his life, Tal suffered from ill health. He learned to read at the age of three, and was allowed to start university studies while only fifteen. At the age of eight, he learned to play while watching his father, a doctor and medical researcher. Shortly thereafter Tal joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. His play was not exceptional at first, but he worked hard to improve. Alexander Koblents began tutoring him in 1949, after which Tal's game rapidly improved, 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. That same year he also scored his first win over a when lost on time in a drawn position. Trivia Tal first 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 at its 1957 Congress to waive the normal restrictions and award him the title because of his achievement in winning the Soviet Championship. At that time, the was dominant in world chess, and Tal had beaten several of the world's top players to win the tournament.

Known as "The Magician from Riga", Tal was the archetype of the attacking player, developing an extremely powerful and imaginative style of play He often sacrificed material in search of the , 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.

Books by Tal

• Tal, Mikhail (2001) [1970]. Tal–Botvinnik, 1960. Russell Enterprises. ISBN 1-888690- 08-9. • Tal, Mikhail (1973). World Championship: Petrosian vs. Spassky 1966. Chess Digest. • Tal, Mikhail (2003) [1975]. "Mikhail Tal, The Score Isn't Everything, Victory in the Ending". In Keene, Raymond (ed.). Learn from the Grandmasters. Batsford. pp. 5– 16. ISBN 0713481382. • Tal, Mikhail (1997) [1978]. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. . ISBN 1-85744-202-4. • Tal, Mikhail & Alexander Koblencs (2013) [1978]. Study Chess with Tal. Batsford. ISBN 978-1849941099. • Tal, Mikhail & Viktor Khenkin (1979). Tal's Winning Chess Combinations: The Secrets of Winning Chess Combinations Described and Explained by the Russian Grandmaster Mikhail Tal. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671242628. • Tal, Mikhail, Aleksandr Roshal and V. Chepizhny (1980). 1979: Tournament of Stars. Pergamon Press. ISBN 0080241328. • Tal, Mikhail & E.B. Edmondson (1981). Chess Scandals: The 1978 . Pergamon Press. ISBN 008024145X. • Tal, Mikhail (1988). "The chess calculator's confession". In Estrin, Yakov; Romanov, Isaac (eds.). The World Champions Teach Chess. A & C Black. pp. 102– 112. ISBN 0713655968. • Tal, Mikhail, Iakov Damsky and Ken Neat (tr.) (1994). Attack with Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-043-9.

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