ChessWorld: Mikhail Tal

(born Nov-09-1936, died Jun-28-1992) Latvia

Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent. – Mikhail Tal

There are two kinds of sacrifices; correct ones and mine. – Mikhail Tal

Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine. – Mikhail Tal

First, how to sac my queen, then rook, then bishop, then knight, then pawns. – Mikhail Tal (on what he thinks about after his opponent moves)

I will not hide the fact that I love to hear the spectators react after a sacrifice of a piece or pawn. – Mikhail Tal

Tal develops all his pieces in the center and then sacrifices them somewhere. – David Bronstein

Even after losing four games in a row to him I still consider his play unsound. He is always on the lookout for some spectacular sacrifice, that one shot, that dramatic breakthrough to give him the win. – Bobby Fischer (on Tal)

Renowned for his aggressive, sacrificial playing style, Tal was also a noted chess journalist and author. His autobiography, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, annotates 100 of his greatest games.

Games
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[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Marks Pasman"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3
Nbd7 8.Bd3 Be7 9.O-O O-O 10.Kh1 b5 11.a3 Qc7 12.fxe5 dxe5
13.Nh4 Nc5 14.Bg5 Qd8 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.Rxf5 Nfd7 17.Bxe7 Qxe7
18.Nd5 Qd6 19.Qg4 g6 20.Raf1 f6 21.h4 Kh8 22.R5f3 f5 23.exf5
Qxd5 24.fxg6 Rxf3 25.g7 Kg8 26.Bxh7+ Kxh7 27.Rxf3 Ne4 28.h5
Ndf6 29.Qg6+ Kg8 30.h6 Ra7 31.Kh2 Re7 32.Rh3 Nh7 33.Rd3 Qa8
34.Qxe4 Qxe4 35.Rd8+ Kf7 36.g8=Q+ Kf6 37.Rd6+ Kf5 38.Qg6+ Kf4
39.g3+ Ke3 40.Rd3+ Qxd3 1-0

[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Bent Larsen"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4
Be7 8.Qf3 O-O 9.O-O-O Qc7 10.Ndb5 Qb8 11.g4 a6 12.Nd4 Nxd4
13.Bxd4 b5 14.g5 Nd7 15.Bd3 b4

16.Nd5! exd5 17.exd5 {The piece
sacrifice is a positional one, since it has been used to erect
an invisible barrier on the e-file. A number of squares on it
(e5 and e6) are controlled by white pawns, and a white rook
will soon be moved to e1. -- Iakov Damsky} f5 18.Rde1 Rf7
19.h4 Bb7 20.Bxf5 Rxf5 21.Rxe7 Ne5 22.Qe4 Qf8 23.fxe5 Rf4
24.Qe3 Rf3 25.Qe2 Qxe7 26.Qxf3 dxe5 27.Re1 Rd8 28.Rxe5 Qd6
29.Qf4! {With this simple tactic 29 ...Bxd5 30. Re8+ White
keeps his two extra pawns. The finish is straightforward. --
Damsky} Rf8 30.Qe4 b3 31.axb3 Rf1+ 32.Kd2 Qb4+ 33.c3 Qd6

34.Bc5! , Qxc5 35.Re8+ Rf8 36.Qe6+ Kh8 37.Qf7! 1-0

[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]

1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 e5 4.Ngf3 Nd7 5.d4 dxe4 6.Nxe4 exd4
7.Qxd4 Ngf6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.O-O-O O-O 10.Nd6 Qa5 11.Bc4 b5 12.Bd2
Qa6 13.Nf5 Bd8 14.Qh4 bxc4 15.Qg5 Nh5 16.Nh6+ Kh8 17.Qxh5 Qxa2
18.Bc3 Nf6 19.Qxf7 Qa1+ 20.Kd2 Rxf7 21.Nxf7+ Kg8 22.Rxa1 Kxf7
23.Ne5+ Ke6 24.Nxc6 Ne4+ 25.Ke3 Bb6+ 26.Bd4 1-0

[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Johann Hjartarson"]
[ECO "C97"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3
O-O 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Bd7 13.Nf1
cxd4 14.cxd4 Rac8 15.Ne3 Nc6 16.d5 Nb4 17.Bb1 a5 18.a3 Na6
19.b4 g6 20.Bd2 axb4 21.axb4 Qb7 22.Bd3 Nc7 23.Nc2 Nh5 24.Be3
Ra8 25.Qd2 Rxa1 26.Nxa1 f5 27.Bh6 Ng7 28.Nb3 f4 29.Na5 Qb6
30.Rc1 Ra8 31.Qc2 Nce8 32.Qb3 Bf6 33.Nc6 Nh5 34.Qb2 Bg7
35.Bxg7 Kxg7

36.Rc5 !! Qa6 37.Rxb5 Nc7 38.Rb8 Qxd3

39.Ncxe5! Qd1+
40.Kh2 Ra1 41.Ng4+! Kf7 42.Nh6+ Ke7 43.Ng8+! 1-0

[White "Mileika"]
[Black "Mikhail Tal"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.g3 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 6.a4 b4 7.b3 g6
8.Bg2 d6 9.e4 Bg7 10.Bb2 O-O 11.Ne2 Re8 12.Nd2 Nxe4 13.Bxg7
Nxd2 14.Bh6 Bg4 15.Be3 Nf3+ 16.Bxf3 Bxf3 17.Rg1 Nd7 18.Qd2 Nf6
19.Nf4 g5 20.Ne2 Re5 21.O-O-O Ne4 22.Qc2 Bxe2 23.Qxe2 Nc3 0-1

[White "Isaak Birbrager"]
[Black "Mikhail Tal"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nf3
Bg7 8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Na6 10.Nd2 Nb4 11.Be2 Re8 12.a3 Na6 13.Re1
Nc7 14.Qc2 Rb8 15.a4 b6 16.Nb5 a6 17.Nxc7 Qxc7 18.Ra2 Qe7
19.f3 Nh5 20.Nf1 f5 21.Bd3 f4 22.g4 Bd4+ 23.Kh1 Qh4 24.Re2 Qh3
25.Rg2 Qxf3 26.Nd2 Qe3 27.Nf1 Qf3 28.Nd2