Mikhail Tal

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Lore & Background

Mikhail Tal was born in Riga, Latvia, into a Jewish family. According to his friend Gennadi Sosonko, his true father was a family friend identified only as "Uncle Robert"; however, this was vehemently denied by Tal's third wife Angelina. Uncle Robert had been a taxi driver in Paris in the 1920s and had lost all his family in World War II. As a child, Tal joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. In 1949, at age 13, he played Ratmir Kholmov in a simultaneous exhibition and used an imaginative combination to win. He made his first significant appearance at the 1956 USSR Chess Championship, sharing 5th–7th place. Grigory Levenfish called him "the most colourful figure of the championship" and a "great talent" who strove for "sharp and complicated play". Tal became the youngest player to win the 1957 USSR Chess Championship at age 20, and FIDE awarded him the Grandmaster title. He retained the title in 1958, then won the 1958 Interzonal at Portorož and helped the Soviet Union win the 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich.

Reader's Guide

Mikhail Tal's significance lies in his brief but brilliant reign as World Champion and his enduring influence on chess style. In 1960, at age 23, he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik 12½–8½ (six wins, two losses, thirteen draws) to become the youngest-ever World Champion, a record later broken by Garry Kasparov and Gukesh Dommaraju. Botvinnik won the return match in 1961 by 13–8 (ten wins to five, six draws), having analyzed Tal's style and turned games into slow wars of maneuver or endgames. Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat; his doctors in Riga advised postponement, but Tal decided to play. He never again earned a world title match, but remained a formidable opponent. He won the 1961 Bled supertournament by one point over Fischer. He tied for first at the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal and won the 1979 Riga Interzonal with an undefeated 14/17. He tied for first with Anatoly Karpov at the 1979 Montreal "Tournament of Stars", the only undefeated player. Tal played in 21 Soviet Championships, winning six times (1957, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978). His two longest unbeaten streaks—86 games (47 wins, 39 draws) from July 1972 to April 1973, and 95 games (46 wins, 49 draws) from 23 October 1973 to 16 October 1974—stood for over four decades until Ding Liren's 100-game streak. At age 51, he won the second official World Blitz Championship in 1988 at Saint John, Canada, defeating Rafael Vaganian 3½–½ in the final. On 28 May 1992, at a Moscow blitz tournament he left the hospital to play, he defeated Kasparov. He died one month later. The Mikhail Tal Memorial tournament was held in Moscow annually between 2006 and 2014, with two more tournaments in 2016 and 2018.

Did You Know?

• Tal held the record for the longest unbeaten streak in competitive chess history with 95 games (46 wins, 49 draws) between 23 October 1973 and 16 October 1974, until Ding Liren's streak of 100 games.
• At age 13, Tal used an imaginative combination to win a game against master Ratmir Kholmov in a simultaneous exhibition.
• When Pal Benko arrived for his Candidates' match with Tal wearing dark glasses to avoid Tal's intimidating gaze, Tal borrowed large sunglasses from the crowd and wore them as a joke.
• Tal won the second official World Blitz Championship in 1988 at age 51, defeating reigning world champion Garry Kasparov and ex-champion Anatoly Karpov.
• On 28 May 1992, Tal left the hospital to play a Moscow blitz tournament and defeated Kasparov; he died one month later.