Mikhail Tal - The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

EVERYMAN CHESS

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First published in 1997 by Gloucester Publishers plc, (formerly Everyman Publishers plc), Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London, EClV OAT

Copyright 1997 Gloucester Publishers plc.

Reprinted 1998, 1999, 2000, 01, 02, 03 Twice, 05, 07 Twice, 09, 10, 11

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Print ISBN: 978 1 85744 202 1
ePUB ISBN 9781857448207
Kindle ISBN 9781857449051

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Mikhail Tal was a remarkable man. His brilliant successes in the years leading up to his World Championship victory excited the chess world; his very name became synonymous with brilliance and attacking flair.

Misha had a warm and engaging personality without a hint of malice. His enthusiasm for the game he loved was unquenchable. In his later years he was afflicted by severe health problems which would have crushed a lesser man, but he never complained about his difficulties and continued to play chess right up to his death. Misha hated to postpone a game; even if he had to slip out of his doctors grasp, he would try to make it somehow. Despite his fragile appearance, his attacking powers and astonishingly quick sight of the board remained intact.

My last visit to him was in May 1992, just after he had returned from Barcelona, his last major tournament. He showed me his fine win against Lautier, but was so weak that he had to lie on his back and dictate the moves and analysis blindfold to me, while I played them over on a board. He died on 28th June 1992, and the chess world is a much poorer place for his absence.

I was delighted to be asked by Cadogan Books to work on a new edition of his, classic book The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, which covers his career up to 1975. This is one of those rare chess books which is not only splendidly instructive, but also conveys a real impression of the authors personality.

There was relatively little for me to do apart from convert the moves to algebraic notation. I corrected some obvious misprints and errors (the incorrect diagram for the game fragment and the missed mate in one in the analysis of game 90 are typical examples). In some cases there were errors caused by misprints, for instance the accidental omission of moves. I have corrected these without comment. Likewise, in about 20 academic cases, I have tidied up the end of a variation. I do not doubt that Tal would have agreed to these changes had he still been alive to go over the proofs. If there was any doubt about the analysis, or if the change was in any way significant, my remark appears as a footnote.

To avoid confusion, I should explain that footnotes which are marked Editors note and Translators note are transcribed from the RHM edition. The unattributed footnotes are mine and appear for the first time in this edition.

John Nunn
Chertsey, June 1997

The chess world owes Cadogan Books plc a debt of gratitude for undertaking the monumental task of bringing this classic work by Mikhail Tal back into print. Since being first published in 1976 by RHM, and never reprinted due to the subsequent collapse of the publisher, a whole generation has grown up who have never even seen a copy. Yet The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is quite probably the greatest chess book ever written. I am sure that everybody involved in the initial edition will be delighted that Tals masterpiece is once again available to lovers of chess world-wide.

In this respect we must thank David Levy (the original editor), and everyone else involved in RHMs pioneering original edition. All of the game annotations are by Tal himself, except for games 8, 11-13, 16-18, 23 and 29 (done jointly by Tal and Koblents, his Latvian trainer) and games 87, 88 and 92 (done jointly by Tal and Kirilov).

For this marvellous new algebraic version, Grandmaster John Nunn spent weeks transcribing the material from descriptive notation, checking the text and deciphering unintelligible variations. Ken Neat (who did so much fine translation work on the original version) has retranslated games 33 and 34 from Russian especially for this edition, and has also fully updated Tals tournament and match record.

Murray Chandler
London, June 1997

Tal, Mikhail Nekhemyevich, born 9th November 1936 in Riga. Eighth Champion of the World, six times USSR Champion, International Grandmaster, Honoured USSR Master of Sport. Holder of the Orders Decoration of Honour and Friendship of Peoples. Journalist. Member of the Daugava Sports Society, Riga. Died 28th June 1992, in Moscow.