The Old Indian Defense is a chess opening defined by the moves:
67-533: This opening is distinguished from the King's Indian Defense in that Black develops their king's bishop on e7 rather than by fianchetto on g7. Mikhail Chigorin pioneered this defense late in his career. The Old Indian is considered sound, though developing the bishop at e7 is less active than the fianchetto, and it has never attained the popularity of the King's Indian. Some King's Indian players will use
134-489: A bohemian life of chess playing, heavy drinking and chain smoking . His already fragile health suffered as a result, and he spent a great deal of time in the hospital, including an operation to remove a kidney in 1969. He was also briefly addicted to morphine , prescribed due to intense pain. Tal also drank heavily before tournaments; in a tournament in the Netherlands, Tal and another Soviet grandmaster were tied in
201-421: A kidney removed . He won the 1979 Riga Interzonal with an undefeated score of 14/17, but the next year lost a quarter-final match to Lev Polugaevsky, one of the players to hold a positive score against him. He also played in the 1985 Montpellier ( France ) Candidates' Tournament, a round-robin of 16 qualifiers, finishing in a tie for fourth and fifth places, and narrowly missing further advancement after drawing
268-545: A complete re-evaluation of this variation. A variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence also bears his name. Tal was a prolific and highly respected chess writer, penning a number of books and serving as editor of the Latvian chess magazine Šahs ("Chess") from 1960 to 1970. His books are renowned for the detailed narrative of his thinking during the games. American Grandmaster Andrew Soltis reviewed his book on
335-423: A forced draw . The line where White accepts the gambit runs 5...0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.Qxd8 (8.e5 Nfd7 9.f4 f6 10.exf6 is also possible here, though less often seen) Rxd8 9.Bxc5 Nc6. Black's activity is believed to give sufficient compensation. White's most frequent play is to decline the gambit, and instead play 7.Nge2, and head for Benoni type positions after a d4–d5 advance. However, after 7...cxd4 (preventing
402-430: A game? Tal: Yes. For example, I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of possible variations; but when I began to study hard and work through them, I found to my horror that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport
469-604: A good game with either 6...h6 or 6...Nbd7. This line is distinct from the much more popular Averbakh Variation, described below, since in the Zinnowitz, White has played 5.Nf3 instead of 5.Be2, as in the Averbakh, and then follows with 6.Bg5. Another, more significant and quite popular sideline occurs for Black on move 6, with 6...Bg4, in place of the mainline 6...e5. One idea for Black here is to relieve their somewhat cramped position by exchanging their light-squared bishop, which
536-401: A hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder. After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: "Well, just let it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on ... of his own accord! And straightaway
603-436: A number of tournaments and world championships) in the 1979 Montreal ( Canada ) "Tournament of Stars", with an unbeaten score of (+6−0=12), the only undefeated player in the field, which also included Spassky, Portisch, Vlastimil Hort , Robert Hübner , Ljubomir Ljubojević , Lubomir Kavalek , Jan Timman and Larsen. Tal played in 21 Soviet Championships , winning it six times (1957, 1958, 1967 , 1972 , 1974 , 1978 ). He
670-472: A playoff match with Jan Timman , who held the tiebreak advantage from the tournament proper. From July 1972 to April 1973, Tal played a record 86 consecutive games without a loss (47 wins and 39 draws). Between 23 October 1973 and 16 October 1974, he played 95 consecutive games without a loss (46 wins and 49 draws), shattering his previous record. These were the two longest unbeaten streaks in competitive chess for more than four decades, until Ding Liren broke
737-796: A similar vein, causing some to speak of a "Latvian School of Chess". Tal contributed little to opening theory, despite having a deep knowledge of most systems, the Sicilian and the Ruy Lopez in particular. There are a few openings named after him, however, such as the Tal Variation in the Caro-Kann and in the Sicilian Scheveningen . But his aggressive use of the Modern Benoni , particularly in his early years, led to
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#1732783978909804-435: A subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result, my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the infamous " tree of variations ", from which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable rapidity. And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered
871-731: A taxi driver in Paris in the 1920s and had lost all his family in World War II . His mother, Ida Grigoryevna, was the eldest of four sisters; Tal frequently visited the Netherlands to see his aunt, Riva, and another of his aunts settled in the United States but visited Riga. As a child, Tal joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. In 1949, he played Ratmir Kholmov , a young master who had recently competed in
938-733: A time in his early twenties. He was a member of the Daugava Sports Society, and represented Latvia in internal Soviet team competitions. In 1959, he married 19-year-old Salli Landau, an actress with the Riga Youth Theatre ; they divorced in 1970. In 2003, Landau published a biography in Russian of her late ex-husband. Tal made his first significant appearance at the 1956 USSR Chess Championship , sharing 5th–7th place with Lev Polugaevsky and Ratmir Kholmov. Grigory Levenfish called him "the most colourful figure of
1005-412: Is 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 (named for Yuri Averbakh ), which prevents the immediate 6...e5 (6...e5 ? 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Nd5 Nxd5 (If black doesn't play Nxd5, black loses the f6 knight)10. Bxd8 Nb6 11. Bxc7 White is up an exchange and a pawn, the endgame should be winning for white.) Black often repels the bishop with 6...h6 giving them the option of a later g5, though in practice this
1072-535: Is a weakening move. White has various ways to develop, such as Qd2, Nf3, f4 or even h4. However, Black obtains good play against all of these development schemes. The old main line in this begins with 6...c5 (which keeps the long diagonal open). However, 6...Nbd7 and 6...Na6 ( Judit Polgár 's move) are also seen. It is possible that the Averbakh System (of the Modern Defense) can transition to
1139-416: Is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as one of the most influential players in chess history . Tal played in an attacking and daring combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. Vladislav Zubok said of him, "Every game for him was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem". His nickname was " Misha ", a diminutive for Mikhail , and he earned
1206-407: Is considered a separate opening). White's major third move options are 3.Nc3, 3.Nf3 or 3.g3, with both the King's Indian and Grünfeld playable against these moves. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings classifies the King's Indian Defence under the codes E60 through E99. The King's Indian is a hypermodern opening, where Black deliberately allows White control of the centre with pawns, with
1273-473: Is more solidly defended than in most KID variations. The most common responses are: Finally, White has other setups, such as Nf3 and h3 and Nge2 (with or without Bd3), but these are currently not as popular at the grandmaster level. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 followed by 6.Ng3 is called the Hungarian Attack . One of the earliest examples: One of the most famous King's Indian games
1340-554: Is often relegated to a passive role in the King's Indian. White's most popular response is 7.Be3, similar to the Gligoric System (see above); White seems to retain a small edge in every variation. Top players who have used this line for Black include two former World Champions: GMs Mikhail Tal and Boris Spassky . After 6...c5 7.O-O cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6, the game transposes into the Accelerated Dragon variation of
1407-460: Is solid and their piece coordination is good; White's pawn exchange in the center has allowed Black equal space and freed the f8-bishop. After 5...Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Re1 (or 8.Be3), White stands slightly better. The Janowski Variation, 3.Nc3 Bf5, was first introduced by Dawid Janowski in the 1920s. The idea behind it is that 3...Bf5 prevents White from immediately grabbing space with 4.e4. The variation did not gain much popularity until
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#17327839789091474-461: Is that it deprives the knight on g1 of its most natural square, thus impeding development of the kingside. Black can strike for the centre as previously mentioned or delay with 6...Nc6, 7...a6 and 8...Rb8 so that Black can play ...b7–b5 to open lines on the queenside. The Classical Defence to the Sämisch is 5...0-0 6.Be3 e5, when White has a choice between closing the centre with 7.d5, or maintaining
1541-447: Is the main line. The Fianchetto Variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0, is named for White's development of light-squared bishop to g2, and is one of the most popular lines at the grandmaster level, Korchnoi once its most notable practitioner. This method of development is on completely different lines than other King's Indian variations. Here, Black's normal plan of attack can hardly succeed, as White's kingside
1608-447: Is typical in that regard: Tal sacrificed a knight with little compensation but prevailed when the unsettled Botvinnik failed to find the correct response. Tal's style of play was so intimidating that James Eade listed Tal as one of the three players whom contemporaries were most afraid of playing against (the others being Capablanca and Fischer). However, while Capablanca and Fischer were feared because of their extreme technical skill, Tal
1675-434: The Modern Benoni after 5...0-0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6. World champions Mikhail Botvinnik , Mikhail Tal , Tigran Petrosian , Boris Spassky , Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov have all played this variation. This line defends the e4-pawn to create a secure centre and enables White to begin an attack kingside with Be3, Qd2, Bh6, g2–g4 and h2–h4. It allows placement of a bishop on e3 without allowing ...Ng4; however, its drawback
1742-623: The Sicilian Defence . The Sämisch Variation is 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3. It is named after Friedrich Sämisch , who developed the system in the 1920s. This often leads to very sharp play with the players castling on opposite wings and attacking each other's kings, as in the Bagirov–Gufeld game given below, though it may also give rise to heavyweight positional struggles. Black has a variety of pawn breaks, such as ...e5, ...c5 and ...b5 (prepared by ...c6 and/or ...a6). This can transpose to
1809-475: The 1959 candidates tournament, when Fischer was only 16 years old, but never beat Fischer again.) Although his playing style at first was scorned by ex-world champion Vasily Smyslov as nothing more than "tricks", Tal convincingly beat many notable grandmasters with his trademark aggression. Prevailing against Tal's aggression required extraordinary ability. It is also notable that he adopted a more sedate and positional style in his later years; for many chess lovers,
1876-493: The 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal to advance to matches. Then in 1965, he lost the final match against Boris Spassky , after defeating Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen in matches. Exempt from the 1967 Sousse Interzonal in Pahlavi Iran , he lost a 1968 semifinal match against Viktor Korchnoi , after defeating Gligorić. Poor health caused a slump in his play from late 1968 to late 1969, but he recovered his form after having
1943-594: The 1980s. Several top-level players have employed the line multiple times, including Mikhail Tal , Bent Larsen , Florin Gheorghiu , and Kamran Shirazi . Or via the transposition 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4. Now: King%27s Indian Defence The King's Indian Defence (or KID ) is a common chess opening . It is defined by the following moves: Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead and
2010-469: The Averbakh Variation of the King's Indian Defence. The Four Pawns Attack continues with 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3. This is the most aggressive method for White, and was often seen in the 1920s. With their fifth move, White erects a massive centre at the price of falling behind in development. If Black can open the position, White may well find themselves overextended. From this 6...c5
2077-788: 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 18½, followed by Tigran Petrosian , Vasily Smyslov , the sixteen-year-old Bobby Fischer , Svetozar Gligorić , Friðrik Ólafsson , and Pal Benko . Tal's victory was attributed to his dominance over the lower half of the field; whilst scoring only one win and three losses versus Keres, he won all four individual games against Fischer, and took 3½ points out of 4 from each of Gligorić, Olafsson, and Benko. When Benko arrived for his match with Tal, he wore dark glasses in order to avert
Old Indian Defense - Misplaced Pages Continue
2144-823: The Old Indian to avoid certain anti-King's Indian systems, such as the Sämisch and Averbakh Variations. The opening is classified in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings with the codes A53–A55. The Main line, also known as the Ukrainian Variation, arises after 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4; White can also play 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+, but despite the displacement of Black's king, this has long been known to offer no advantage, e.g. 5...Kxd8 6.Nf3 Nfd7 ! , with Black often following up with some combination of ...c6, ...Kd8–c7, ...a5, ...Na6, and ...f6. Black's position
2211-633: The Soviet Union at six European Team Chess Championships (1957, 1961, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1980), winning team gold medals each time, and three board gold medals (1957, 1970, and 1977). He scored 14 wins, 20 draws, and three losses, for 64.9%. Tal played board nine for the USSR in the first match against the Rest of the World team at Belgrade , SFR Yugoslavia in 1970, scoring 2 out of 4. He was on board seven for
2278-473: The USSR in the second match against the Rest of the World team at London , United Kingdom in 1984, scoring 2 out of 3. The USSR won both team matches. He was an Honoured Master of Sport. From 1950 (when he won the Latvian junior championship) to 1991, Tal won or tied for first in 68 tournaments (see table below). During his 41-year career he played about 2,700 tournament or match games, winning over 65% of them. Naturally artistic, witty and impulsive, Tal led
2345-532: The analysis and play of three strong Soviet players in particular— Alexander Konstantinopolsky , Isaac Boleslavsky , and David Bronstein —helped to make the defence much more respected and popular. It is a dynamic opening, exceptionally complex, and a favourite of former world champions Garry Kasparov , Bobby Fischer , and Mikhail Tal , with prominent grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi , Miguel Najdorf , Efim Geller , John Nunn , Svetozar Gligorić , Wolfgang Uhlmann , and Ilya Smirin having also contributed much to
2412-514: The apex of Tal's style corresponds with the period (approximately from 1971 to 1979) when he was able to integrate the solidity of classical chess with the imagination of his youth. Of the current top-level players, the Latvian Alexei Shirov has been most often compared to Tal. In fact, he studied with Tal as a youth. Many other Latvian grandmasters and masters, for instance Alexander Shabalov and Alvis Vītoliņš , have played in
2479-508: The championship" and a "great talent" who strived for "sharp and complicated play". However, he was criticised by the media for taking unnecessary risks and having restricted creative views. Tal then went to play on board three at the students' championship in Sweden , scoring 6 out of 7. He became the youngest player to win the 1957 USSR Chess Championship , at the age of 20. He had not played in enough international tournaments to qualify for
2546-404: The classic couplet by Korney Ivanović Chukovsky : "Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the hippopotamus." I do not know from what associations the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD you drag
2613-408: The congenital deformity of ectrodactyly in his right hand (visible in some photographs). Despite this, he was a skilled piano player. Tal loved the game in itself and considered that " Chess, first of all, is art. " He was known to play numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely for the joy of playing. Tal was known as "The Magician from Riga", and his style of play
2680-598: The d4-d5 advance) 8.Nxd4 Nc6, the game transposes into the Accelerated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence . 5...0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6 8.Qd2 Rb8 leads to the Panno Variation of the Sämisch. Black prepares to respond appropriately depending on White's choice of plan. If White plays 0-0-0 and goes for a kingside attack, then 7...a6 prepares ...b7–b5 with a counterattack against White's castled position. If instead White plays more cautiously, then Black challenges White's centre with ...e5. The Averbakh Variation
2747-413: The form of a hypothetical conversation between Tal and a journalist (actually co-author Yakov Damsky). It offers a modest, self-deprecating view of his reputation for unerring calculation at the board: Journalist: It might be inconvenient to interrupt our profound discussion and change the subject slightly, but I would like to know whether extraneous, abstract thoughts ever enter your head while playing
Old Indian Defense - Misplaced Pages Continue
2814-486: The gaze of Tal, which could be intimidating. In response and as a joke, Tal wore large sunglasses which he borrowed from a member of the crowd. In 1960, at the age of 23, Tal defeated the strategically-minded Mikhail Botvinnik in a World Championship match, held in Moscow, by 12½–8½ (six wins, two losses, and thirteen draws), making him the youngest-ever World Champion (a record later broken by Garry Kasparov , who earned
2881-401: The match for health reasons. Yuri Averbakh claimed that Botvinnik would agree to a postponement only if Tal was certified unfit by Moscow doctors, and that Tal then decided to play. His short reign atop the chess world made him one of the two so-called "winter kings" who interrupted Botvinnik's long reign from 1948 to 1963 (the other was Smyslov, world champion 1957–58). His highest Elo rating
2948-471: The nickname "The Magician from Riga ". Both The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games and Modern Chess Brilliancies include more games by Tal than any other player. He also 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 (29 wins, 71 draws) between 9 August 2017 and 11 November 2018. In addition, Tal
3015-484: The opening. The main variations of the King's Indian are: The Classical Variation is 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5. A minor but still significant sideline occurs for White on move 6, with 6.Bg5, the Zinnowitz Variation, instead of 6.Be2 e5. The line was played several times by German Grandmaster Burkhard Malich in the 1960s and 1970s. It is currently unfashionable at master level; Black gets
3082-405: The opposite wing. The resulting unbalanced positions offer scope for both sides to play for a win. The earliest known use of the term " Indian Defence " was in 1884. The modern names "King's Indian Defence", " King's Indian Attack ", etc. arose in the mid-twentieth century and are attributed to Hans Kmoch . Until the mid-1930s, the King's Indian Defence was generally regarded as highly suspect, but
3149-441: The other participants. Tal played in a total of six Candidates' Tournaments and match cycles, though he never again earned the right to play for the world title. In 1962 at Curaçao , Netherlands Antilles , he had serious health problems, having undergone a major operation shortly before the tournament, and had to withdraw three-quarters of the way through, scoring just seven points (+3−10=8) from 21 games. He tied for first place at
3216-401: The position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations, and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting game, I could not refrain from making it. And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over
3283-542: The prestigious Chigorin Memorial in 1947, in a simultaneous exhibition . Tal used an imaginative combination to win his game at the age of 13. 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
3350-444: The record in 2018 with 100 games, although with far fewer wins than either of Tal's streaks (29 wins, 71 draws). Tal remained a formidable opponent as he got older. He played Anatoly Karpov 22 times, 12 of them during the latter's reign as World Champion, with a record of +0−1=19 in classical games and +1−2=19 overall. One of Tal's greatest achievements during his later career was an equal first place with Karpov (whom he seconded in
3417-495: The standings, and the results of the next day's final round would determine the victor. The night before these games, the two drank together until four in the morning. Tal was ready to play at 8.30 a.m. and won his game decisively, taking first prize. On 28 June 1992, Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of a hemorrhage in the esophagus . His friend and fellow Soviet grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko reported that "effectively his entire organism had ceased to function." Tal had
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#17327839789093484-412: The tension with 7.Nge2. Kasparov was a major proponent of this defence. The Sämisch Gambit arises after 5...0-0 6.Be3 c5. This is a pawn sacrifice, and was once considered dubious. As Black's play has been worked out, this evaluation has changed, and the gambit now enjoys a good reputation. A practical drawback, however, is that a well-prepared but unambitious White player can often enter lines leading to
3551-466: The theory and practice of this opening. In the early 2000s the opening's popularity suffered after Vladimir Kramnik began scoring excellently against it, so much so that Kasparov gave up the opening after several critical losses to Kramnik. However, Kramnik himself won a game on the black side of the KID in 2012, and current top players including Hikaru Nakamura , Teimour Radjabov , and Ding Liren play
3618-607: The title at 22). Botvinnik, who had never faced Tal before the title match began, won the return match against Tal in 1961, also held in Moscow, by 13–8 (ten wins to five, with six draws). In the period between the matches Botvinnik had thoroughly analysed Tal's style, and turned most of the return match's games into slow wars of maneuver or endgames , rather than the complicated tactical melees which were Tal's happy hunting ground. Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat, and his doctors in Riga advised that he should postpone
3685-677: 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 Soviet Union was dominant in world chess, and Tal had beaten several of the world's top players to win the tournament. Tal made three appearances for the USSR at Student Olympiads in 1956–1958, winning three team gold medals and three board gold medals. He won nineteen games, drew eight, and lost none, for 85.2 percent. He retained
3752-572: The title of champion at the 1958 USSR Chess Championship , and competed in the World Chess Championship 1960 for the first time. He won the 1958 Interzonal tournament at Portorož , Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , then helped the Soviet Union to win the 13th Chess Olympiad , being its fourth consecutive victory in Munich , West Germany . In 1959, Tal won a very strong tournament at Zürich , Switzerland . Following
3819-479: The view to subsequently challenge it. In the most critical lines of the King's Indian, White erects an imposing pawn centre with Nc3 followed by e4. Black stakes out their own claim to the centre with the Benoni -style ...c5, or ...e5. If White resolves the central pawn tension with d5, then Black follows with either ...b5 and queenside play, or ...f5 and an eventual kingside attack. Meanwhile, White attempts to expand on
3886-482: The world championship match as "simply the best book written about a world championship match by a contestant. That shouldn't be a surprise because Tal was the finest writer to become world champion." New Zealand Grandmaster Murray Chandler wrote in the introduction to the 1997 reissued algebraic edition of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal that the book was possibly the best chess book ever written. One amusing anecdote frequently quoted from Tal's autobiography takes
3953-534: Was 2705, achieved in 1980. His highest Historical Chessmetrics Rating was 2799, in September 1960. Soon after losing the rematch with Botvinnik, Tal won the 1961 Bled supertournament in SFR Yugoslavia , by one point over Fischer, despite losing their individual game, scoring 14½ from nineteen games (+11−1=7) with the world-class players Petrosian, Keres, Gligorić, Efim Geller , and Miguel Najdorf among
4020-402: Was a brilliancy by the late Ukrainian -American grandmaster Eduard Gufeld , who called it his " Mona Lisa ": The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings ( ECO ) classification of variations of the King's Indian are: Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion . He
4087-487: Was a highly regarded chess writer. Tal died on 28 June 1992 in Moscow , Russia . The Mikhail Tal Memorial chess tournament has been held in Moscow annually since 2006. 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
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#17327839789094154-461: Was a member of eight Soviet teams, each of which won team gold medals (1958, 1960 , 1962 , 1966 , 1972 , 1974 , 1980 , and 1982 ), won 65 games, drew 34, and lost only two games (81.2%). This percentage makes him the player with the best score among those participating in at least four Olympiads. Individually, Tal won seven Olympiad board medals, including five gold (1958, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974), and two silver (1960, 1982). Tal also represented
4221-579: Was also a five-time winner of the International Chess Tournament in Tallinn , Estonian SSR , with victories in 1971, 1973, 1977, 1981, and 1983. Tal also had successes in blitz chess ; in 1970, he took second place to Fischer, who scored 19/22, in a blitz tournament at Herceg Novi , SFR Yugoslavia, ahead of Korchnoi, Petrosian and Smyslov. In 1988, at the age of 51, he won the second official World Blitz Championship (the first
4288-520: 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 grandmaster when Yuri Averbakh lost on time in a drawn position. Tal graduated in Literature from the University of Latvia , writing a thesis on the satirical works of Ilf and Petrov , and taught school in Riga for
4355-404: Was feared because of the possibility of being on the wrong side of a soon-to-be-famous brilliancy. Although Tal's sacrifices were formidable, his style of play was very risky, contributing to his negative record against world-class defensive players. These included Spassky, Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Korchnoi, Keres, Smyslov, and Stein. (Tal has a positive record against Fischer with his four wins from
4422-587: Was very aggressive and involved heavy calculation. His approach over the board was very pragmatic—in that respect, he is one of the heirs of ex-world champion Alexander Alekhine . He often sacrificed material in search of activity and initiative which is defined as the ability to make threats to which the opponent must respond. Many masters found it difficult to refute Tal's ideas, looking at how many problems he created, though deeper post-game analysis found flaws in some of his calculations. The famous sixth game of his first world championship match with Botvinnik
4489-464: Was won by Kasparov the previous year in Brussels , Belgium ) at Saint John , Canada, ahead of such players as Kasparov, the reigning world champion, and ex-champion Anatoly Karpov. In the final, he defeated Rafael Vaganian by 3½–½. On 28 May 1992, at the Moscow blitz tournament (which he left the hospital to play), he defeated Kasparov. He died one month later. In Chess Olympiad play, Mikhail Tal
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