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Title: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal Author: Tal, Mikhail Publisher: Cadogan Chess Genre: Biography/Game collection Level: Advanced beginner, intermediate, advanced |
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Contains: 100 complete games, all won by Tal, annotated by him; 93 positions lightly annotated and assimilated in the “interviews” (more on that in a minute). The Book is a chess autobiography of Tal covering his career from his childhood, through his conquering of the World Championship in 1960 and until the time of the writing (1975). Tal separates his career to nine chapters in a chronological order. Each chapter starts with an “interview” between an anonymous “Chess Player”, Tal himself, and an anonymous “Journalist” who, I think, is also Tal though some say the journalist is Tal’s friend, Yakov Damsky. |
What is it good for? This is the inspirational book for tacticians and tacticians-to-be. Try to guess the next move of Tal in theses games and after reading through a few of these you will start sacrificing like crazy. The book is also most enjoying for less ambitious readers who just want to read fiery games in the leisure of their armchair. Lovers of chess history and anecdotes will find the “interviews” jolly.
The Good Things:
- Unbelievable games. Just the best of the “Magician of Riga”.
- Tal was also a chess journalist and a fabulous writer; his annotations are deep and full of humor.
- Great tactics exercises (if you cover the moves)
The Bad Things:
- The binding falls apart.
Quote: “Just in the middle of this calculation somebody brought me a cup of coffee. Fischer instantly made his move and I, for the moment forgetting my calculated variation made the text-move ‘a tempo’. What a pity![…] Conclusion: Drink your coffee only when it is your opponent’s move”.
The Bottom Line: One of my all time favorites. Tal was a giant player and a great chess writer. This book is a riot.
Grade: 10/10
Review written by Chessbug.
