Mikhail Tal

The legendary Mikhail Tal was the finest ever exponent of attacking chess. His all-out sacrificial style took him all the way to the World Championship title. Dogged by ill-health, Tal's reign was a short one, and he was never able to regain his crown, but Tal remained an outstanding player right up to his death in 1992. His departure has taken away one of the chess world's most charismatic figures; a player who excited chess passions wherever he went. In this, his last book, written together with Russian sports journalist Iakov Damsky, Tal shows how to unleash devastating attacks in all kinds of positions.

Mikhail Tal, the 'magician from Riga,' was the greatest attacking World Champion of them all, and this enchanting autobiography chronicles his extraordinary career with charm and humor.

“Mikhail Tal’s splendid account of his world championship match victory is one of the masterpieces of the golden age of annotation – before insights and feelings and flashes of genius were reduced to mere moves and Informant symbols. This is 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.”– International Grandmaster and popular chess columnist Andy Soltis.In 1960 Mikhail Botvinnik was the pillar of “scientific” chess and the iron-willed champion of the world. The young attacking genius Mikhail Tal, the “Wizard of Riga,” put the magic back into the game by defeating Botvinnik with spectacular tactics in one of the most dramatic and celebrated world championship matches of all time.This is Tal’s own classic work on the contest. In it he sets the stage and explains every one of the 21 games, telling both the on- and off-the-board story of this titanic clash of styles and thought.Excerpts, including the Table of Contents and the Foreword, of most Russell Enterprises books are available at

In 1960, on his very first attempt, 23-year-old Mikhail Tal became the youngest chess champion in history. No one has yet surpassed his extraordinary tactical ability. This exceptional manual, first published in the early 1980s, is based on diaries kept by Tal's coach and includes a fully revised algebraic version of the classic text. It shows how Tal achieved his greatness and gives modern readers a glimpse of the development of a true chess genius.

English (translation)

English, Russian (translation)

Text: English, Russian (translation)

This anthology, which was originated in the Soviet Union by Yakov Estrin, 7th World Correspondence Champion, and Isaac Romanov, grandmaster and trainer, contains writings by all 13 official World Chess Champions. The essays illustrate those aspects of the game chosen as important by each champion and include the story of Euwe's two title matches, the relation of Bobby Fischer's television interview, work by Lasker and Capablanca, and a discussion by Victor Malkin on chess psychology. This English edition also contains a specially written essay by Botvinnik in which he reveals his impressions of the first 3 Karpov-Kasparov matches.

Each of the chess grandmasters featured in this new edition has selected two games for one that he has found instructive and one of his own. An excellent manual, reset in algebraic notation, and updated with contributions by leading players of the 1990s.Beginner

Gli scacchi sono un gioco antichissimo e affascinante. Per iniziare basta una scacchiera, i pezzi, un avversario e... un buon manuale! Una guida sicura e ragionata per impadronirsi di tutti i colpi vincenti degli scacchi. Con gli errori da evitare e l'esempio dei grandi campioni. Grazie a spiegazioni chiare, esempi concreti ed esercizi con soluzioni il lettore viene accompagnato passo passo all'interno dei segreti del gioco degli scacchi. Tutto quello che vi serve per iniziare a giocare a scacchi è stato raccolto in sole 31 lezioni, una al giorno per un mese. E dopo aver appreso le basi, potrete imparare molto di più con le Lezioni avanzate del Volume 2! Due insegnanti d' Mikhail Tal è l'ottavo Campione del mondo, detto "il Mago di Riga" per le sue giocate geniali. Il Maestro Internazionale Nikolaj Zhuravlëv è un grande esperto di didattica per principianti.

Every volume of Chess Informant offers a selection of the best games played by the world's greatest chess players. Over 90% of the games are annotated by the players who played them. The classification code system facilitates the search by openings and variations, and the system of annotation signs and symbols is perfectly understandable to everyone. There are also the most interesting endings, combinations, studies, the ten best games and the ten most important theoretical novelties from the previous volume, tournament crosstables and thorough indexes of players and annotators.

, x, 234 pages, with chess diagrams throughout

Former world chess champion Mikhail Tal's report on the match for the world chess championship between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio, Philippines 1978.

The 1966 World Championship Match was one of the hardest fought and most exciting matches of this series. It was played under the traditional rules of a 24 game match, time limit was 40 moves in 2½ hours, and if a 12-12 tie the champion would retain his title. This was a significant factor since the Botvinnik-Bronstein match and the first Botvinnik-Smyslov Match had both ended in a 12-12 tie. There were political implications in this because the Soviets claimed that this was due to the superiority of the Soviet System. The Soviets said, “All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others!” Botvinnik was declared to be “First Among Equals”. Spassky had qualified to play in the match for the World Championship by defeating Keres (6-4), Geller (5½-2½) and Tal (7-4) in candidates matches Bobby Fischer has refused to compete in this world championship cycle, after publishing an article in Sports Illustrated magazine entitled “The Russians Have Fixed World Chess”. Fischer claimed that the top Russians had agreed to draws in all their games against each other to save their energies to play against Fischer.

De tous les champions du monde, Mikhaïl Tal, "le magicien de Riga", fut le plus grand attaquant. Dans cette autobiographie, il retrace sa carrière extraordinaire avec charme et humour. De santé fragile, la vie de Tal sur le circuit échiquéen fut ponctuée par de fréquents séjours à l'hôpital à cause de problèmes rénaux chroniques. Cependant, aucun ennui de santé ne put jamais émousser son amour pour le jeu d'échecs et son génie sur l'échiquier. Tal analyse ses parties captivantes en les jalonnant d'anecdotes qu'il raconte à un interviewer imaginaire. Sans faux-semblants, il évoque les hauts et les bas de ses rencontres contre tous les meilleurs joueurs du monde avec beaucoup d'objectivité. Les annotations de Tal sont particulièrement pénétrantes et le lecteur apprendra beaucoup en écoutant Tal expliquer comment il préparait ses rencontres, puis l'entendre raconter les rebondissements psychologiques durant celles-ci. Ce premier tome contient l'autobiographie de Tal de sa jeunesse jusqu'à sa conquête du titre mondial en 1960. Un second tome contiendra la suite de sa carrière à partir de la perte de son titre. Une oeuvre qui a fait date dans la littérature échiquéenne.

Robert J. Fischer won the world chess championship by beating Boris Spassky in 1972, having previously eliminated Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian. His victory and subsequent refusal to defend the title have become landmarks in contemporary chess. Twenty years on, Fischer has come back to the board to prove that he is still king of chess. All his games played in competition have been collected in three volumes and analyzed by renowned experts, among them two world champions in their own right.

Mikhail Tal is one of the most celebrated World Champions in chess history, who confounded his opponents and dazzled chess fans around the world. Seemingly breaking every rule in the book, yet also breaking records with his accomplishments, Tal truly was The Chess Alchemist. In this unique book, Oleg Stetsko has compiled 80 of Tal’s most interesting games, as annotated by the Magician himself in a variety of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the very first time here.

The main part of this book consists of the 21 games of the Spassky-Fischer World Championship Match annotated exclusively by Soviet grandmasters. Many of the games are annotated by several grandmasters whose notes are are followed by the respective grandmaster's initials. For example the first game of the match features notes by Botvinnik (B), Bronstein (Br), Kotov (K), and Smyslov (S). The annotators are listed at the end of the games.In addition to the main part of the book all of Fischer's candidate matches on the way to qualify for the World Championship Match are given in the latter part of the book. All are annotated by Soviet masters and grandmasters.

An introduction to the rules and strategy of chess. In English and Russian

Gli scacchi sono un gioco antichissimo e affascinante. Per iniziare basta poco: una scacchiera, i pezzi, un avversario e... un buon manuale! Due insegnanti d'eccezione: Mikhail Tal è l'ottavo Campione del mondo, detto "il Mago di Riga" per le sue giocate geniali. Il Maestro Internazionale Nikolaj Zhuravlèv è un grande esperto di didattica per principianti. Una guida sicura e ragionata per impadronirsi di tutti i colpi vincenti degli scacchi. Con gli errori da evitare e l'esempio dei grandi campioni. Grazie a spiegazioni chiare, esempi concreti, esercizi con soluzioni: il lettore viene accompagnato passo passo all'interno dei segreti del gioco degli scacchi. 44 lezioni avanzate su apertura, mediogioco e finale. Con oltre 800 esercizi e soluzioni!

На страницах журнала «Шахматы в СССР» регулярно выходил раздел «Школа совершенствования». В каждом номере журнала печатались лекции, посвященные различным проблемам шахмат: актуальным дебютным идеям, стратегии и тактике середины игры, типичным приемам эндшпиля и т. п. Среди авторов лекций были такие известные шахматисты, как Таль, Керес, Бронштейн, Котов, Тайманов, Авербах, опытные тренеры Романовский, Константинопольский, Симагин, Юдович и другие.В итоге набралось 24 лекции, и собранные вместе они представляют собой прекрасный материал для шахматного совершенствования. Любой шахматист, проштудировавший этот учебник, не только повысит свою квалификацию, но и существенно разовьет общее понимание шахмат.Каждую лекцию сопровождают специально подобранные задания, позволяющие не только закрепить полученные знания, но и выяснить, в какую силу вы играете: 40% «попаданий» соответствуют третьему разряду, 60% — второму, 80% — первому.

Mikhail Tal’s games from 1963 to 1972 are comprehensively compiled in Volume 2 of a four-volume set that includes over 2700 of his games, all with expert annotations for in-depth study.

De tous les champions du monde, Mikhaïl Tal, "le magicien de Riga", fut le plus grand attaquant. Dans cette autobiographie, il retrace sa carrière extraordinaire avec charme et humour. De santé fragile, la vie de Tal sur le circuit échiquéen fut ponctuée par de fréquents séjours à l'hôpital à cause de problèmes rénaux chroniques. Cependant, aucun ennui de santé ne put jamais émousser son amour pour le jeu d'échecs et son génie sur l'échiquier. Tal analyse ses parties captivantes en les jalonnant d'anecdotes qu'il raconte à un interviewer imaginaire. Sans faux-semblants, il évoque les hauts et les bas de ses rencontres contre tous les meilleurs joueurs du monde avec beaucoup d'objectivité. Les annotations de Tal sont particulièrement pénétrantes et le lecteur apprendra beaucoup en écoutant Tal expliquer comment il préparait ses rencontres, puis l'entendre raconter les rebondissements psychologiques durant celles-ci. Ce second tome contient l'autobiographie de Tal après la perte de son titre de champion du monde en 1961. Une oeuvre qui a fait date dans la littérature échiquéenne.