Mikhail Tal (November 1936 – June 28, 1992) was a creative genius and one of the best attacking players of all time. His play was known or improvisation and unpredictability.
Born in Riga, he learned chess at an early age, but WW2 interrupted his childhood when his parents moved to a small city in the Ural mountains to avoid the Nazis. After the war, Tal's father, a doctor, returned home to continue his medical practice.
There Tal joined the Riga Pioneer House in 1948 where he learned theory and was tutored by the master Alexander Koblencs under whom he quickly became a First Category player (2000-2125).
Although not particularly successful in tournament play because of the strong opposition he was meeting, in 1950, the magazine Shakhmaty USSR mentioned the fourteen-year-old Tal as being an excellent player.
In the 1951 Riga Championship he met Candidate Masters (2125-2250) and Masters (2250-2400) with little success. In his next tournament, the USSR Junior Championship, he also failed to excel, but did play some nice games.
1953 saw him become the Latvian champion at the age of 16 and achieve the Candidate Master title.
In the 1953 Soviet Team Championship Tal, playing on second board, scored wins over several Masters and so won the right to play a match for the coveted Master title. His assigned opponent for the match was Vladimir Simagin who had beaten Tal in the team match.
It wasn't going to be an easy match. For 1953, Chessmetrics assigns Simagin a rating of about 2630. As an idea of how good Simagin was, other players in that group included such luminaries as Herman Pilnik, Ludek Pachman, Boris Spassky, Gedeon Barcza, Albric O'Kelly, Salo Flohr and Larry Evans. Chessmetrics does not assign Tal a rating until 1954. Tal won their match by a score of 8-6.
Tal's first international tournament was the 1956 Junior World Team Championship in Sweden which was won by the Soviets. Tal was on fourth board and scored 4-1. From there on his career took off and the rest was history as they say.
Tal was a chain smoker and an alcoholic and by the age of 23 he already had kidney problems. In 1969, one of his kidneys was removed. He died of kidney failure at the age of 55 in a Moscow hospital on June 28, 1992.
It used to be that one of the features of the Soviet Championship was that a crop of new talent was discovered, swelling the already large rank of Russian Grandmasters. The 23rd Soviet Championship held in Leningrad in 1956 was just such a tournament.
One of the new names that was introduced in this tournament was Mikhail Tal. Prior to this tournament he was just another talented young player, but after Leningrad the public took notice that he was a player who refused to be awed by authority and his willingness to slug it out with the top GMs,
Although his talents were multi-sided, the thing that stood out was his tactics. A good illustration is the following game in which Tal struts his stuff in positional game that is rife with tactics and a transition into a won ending.
Mikhail Tal - Vladimir Simagin
Result: 1-0
Site: Soviet Championship, Leningrad
Date: 1956.01.14
Pirc Defence
[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d6 Simagin employs a rather eccentric defense in this game trying to thow Tal off balance and lure him in to a rash attack, but the strategy backfires. 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.f4 ♕b6 5.♘f3 ♗g4 6.♗e2 ♘bd7 No doubt Simagin considered his position solid and any white attack would be easily fended off, but he is soon proved wrong. In fact, in my database white scored +11 -0 =2 from this position. 7.e5 ♘d5 8.O-O
8.♘e4 ♗xf3 9.♗xf3 dxe5 10.fxe5 e6 11.a3 White has the advantage and went on to win smoothly in Almasi,Z (2400)-Schaefer,M (2460)/Budapest 1991
8...♘xc3 9.bxc3 e6 Black can't win a P here with 9...Bxf3
9...♗xf3 10.♗xf3 dxe5 11.fxe5 ♘xe5 12.♗e4 ♘d7 13.♗f4 Black is behind in development and will have problems catching up, his Q is exposed amd his K will have difficulty vacating the center.
10.♘g5 With the obvious intention of sacrificing on f7. In his book of Tal's selected games published in 1961 author J. Hajtun questioned the soundness of this move. However, we armchair GMs backed up by Stockfish can assure you the move is perfectly sound being the engine's first choice! 10...♗xe2 11.♕xe2 h6 Thinking the sacrifice on f7 was unsound, Simagin provokes Tal into making it. As a matter of fact, black's position is already very badly compromised to the point that there really isn't anything better.
11...g6 was tried in Pereira,A (2300)-Ribeiro,F (2240)/Lisbon 1995, but it. too failed badly. 12.f5 gxf5 13.♕h5 ♘xe5 14.♘xe6 ♘g6 15.♘xf8 ♘xf8 16.♖e1 ♔d8 17.♕xf7 ♕c7 18.♗g5 ♔c8 19.♖e8 and black resigned because he gets mated next move
12.♘xf7 ♔xf7 13.f5 dxe5 14.fxe6 ♔xe6 With black's K so badly placed it's time to make another sacrifice. 15.♖b1 ♕xb1 Black might as well take the offered R because there is nothing better.
15...♕a6 16.♕g4 ♔d6 17.dxe5 ♔c7 18.♗f4 b5 (18...♘c5 19.e6 ♔d8 20.♖fd1 with a mating attack.) 19.e6 ♔b7 20.exd7 ♗c5 21.♔h1 ♕xa2 22.♗e5 with a winning position.
16.♕c4 ♔d6 17.♗a3 ♔c7 18.♖xb1 ♗xa3 Now it's clear why Simagin thought he might be OK. He has a R+B+N vs the Q. However, it's amazing that Tals' two pieces are able to weakne black's postion even further. Black's problem is that he can never get his pieces coordinated. 19.♕b3 ♗e7 20.♕xb7 Tal begins relentlessly hounding black's K. 20...♔d6 21.dxe5 ♘xe5 22.♖d1 ♔e6 23.♕b3 ♔f5 24.♖f1 ♔e4
24...♔g6 is the natural retreat, but it's no better. 25.♕e6 wins a piece.
25.♖e1 ♔f5 26.g4 ♔f6 27.♖f1 Alas, he has to go to g6 anyway. 27...♔g6 28.♕e6 ♔h7 29.♕xe5 ♖he8 30.♖f7 The attack continues. 30...♗f8 31.♕f5 ♔g8 Now what?! There is no way to continue the attack plus all of a sudden white's K is in danger. 32.♔f2 Heading for a safe haven on h4. This idea illustrates true brilliance on the part of Tal.
32.a4 This is "pass" just to illustrate the danger white faces. 32...♗c5 33.♔g2 ♖e2 34.♔g3 (34.♔f1 ♖f2 wins) 34...♗f2 35.♔h3 ♖ae8 36.♕g6 ♖8e3 37.♔g2 ♗g3 draws
32...♗c5 33.♔g3 ♖e3 34.♔h4 The only safe place as having the K on any other square would allow black right back in the game. 34...♖ae8 It appears that black has finally consolidated his position, but Tal isn't through. 35.♖xg7 Yet another sacrifice only this one leads to a winning endgame which, by the way, Tal also played very well. 35...♔xg7 36.♕xc5 ♖8e6 37.♕xa7 White's passed a-Pawn is going to secure the win. 37...♔g6 38.♕a8 ♔f6 39.a4 ♔e5 40.a5 ♔d5 41.♕d8 ♔e4 42.a6 ♔f3 43.a7 ♖e2 44.♕d3 ♖6e3 45.♕xe3 Simagin resigned. Powered by Aquarium
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