He perfectly fit the stereotypes of a genius: a burning look, carelessness in appearance, complete concentration on the most important thing and inattention to the little things in life. Mikhail Tal occupied the world throne for a very short time, but is still considered a true genius of chess, the personification of their highest meaning as a game based both on excitement, improvisation, insight, and on the methodical calculation of options.
His main human achievement was that he remained optimistic and benevolent towards others to the end, despite the suffering and ailments that accompanied him throughout his short life.
Not like everyone else
Eccentricity accompanied him from birth - his right hand was three-fingered, which his friends jokingly called proof of Tal's alien origin. More practical biographers see the reason for this anomaly in the fact that his parents were blood relatives – cousins, which is fraught with genetic failures.
Mikhail Tal was born on November 9, 1936 in Riga, in a family of doctors. As he said later: "I played with fate with black pieces." Her first move was dangerous: six months afterAt birth, the boy contracted an infection similar to meningitis. Parents, as doctors, understood the meager chances of survival, and they also knew that such inflammation affects the brain in unexpected ways, sometimes greatly increasing its efficiency in the case of a successful outcome of the disease. The child survived.
Shortened childhood
By the age of five, he could multiply three-digit numbers in his head, and had been reading since the age of three. The Tal family spent the war in evacuation, in the Perm Territory. The boy was admitted to school immediately in the third grade, and Mikhail Tal was enrolled at the University of Riga, at the Faculty of Philology, as an exception, from the age of 15.
Tal's memory was phenomenal. The boy literally reproduced the texts of the book, which, as it seemed to others, he skimmed through in minutes. The information that he considered especially valuable remained in his memory forever.
At the same time, Mikhail did not consider himself a child prodigy. His boyish interests did not differ from those of his peers - he loved to play football and spent a lot of time running with the ball, despite an early pathology in the kidneys. But gradually the main meaning appeared in his life - chess.
The start of the journey
At the age of 6, Mikhail Tal, whose biography will now forever be associated with this ancient game, saw a board with pieces for the first time. It happened when the child was at work with his father and was waiting in the waiting room of his doctor's office. Patients spent time playing chess while waiting for an appointment. His father showed him how the pieces move and introduced him to the basic rules. At first the boy reacted to the gamecalmly. Excitement, which later distinguished the future chess champion, boiled up in him when, at the age of 9, he received a “childish checkmate” from his cousin who came to visit.
From the age of 10, he began to go to the chess club at the Riga Palace of Pioneers. At the age of 12 he received the 2nd category, at 14 - the first, at the age of 17 he became a master. Tal's first chess teacher, Janis Kruzkops, was himself a supporter of combinational, active play. In the case of Mikhail, this was superimposed on outstanding abilities and a fiery temperament. Tal the chess player was never afraid of risky continuations that complicate the position. Tal's legendary "incorrect" victims are also largely from his "pioneer" childhood.
Literature teacher
Interest in the study of literature and history, obviously, arose in Mikhail under the influence of his mother - Ida Grigorievna, who in her youth had an acquaintance with Ehrenburg, Picasso, and other humanities. The theme of the thesis, after the defense of which the young teacher Mikhail Tal was released from the university, was "Satire and humor in the works of Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov." Obviously, the brilliant sense of humor inherent in Tal, noted by everyone - both people who knew him for a long time, and those who barely knew him - had a solid foundation.
After receiving his diploma, he worked for some time at the school, but by that time chess had become his main profession. Philological training helped Tal a lot in his studies in journalism, in particular, when he edited the magazine "Chess" published in Riga, which was highly valued all over the world.
Sally
In his gamealways looking for an imprint of the influence of supernatural, demonic forces - too bright, extraordinary, full of risk, boundless imagination and unpredictable intuitive insights was the style of Mikhail Tal. The losers sought an explanation for their failures in the hypnotic gaze of the master, in his psychic abilities. Those who knew Mikhail better, these attempts caused a smile - it was something else.
It's just that Tal the chess player was a product of his general attitude to life. The desire to achieve success as soon as possible, to know the fullness of sensations, unrestraint in desires and means for their realization accompanied him all his life.
When preparations were underway for the most important duel with Botvinnik, who decided the fate of the world champion title, he carried out a whole operation to win the heart of the Riga beauty Shulamith Landau. Both goals were achieved: Sally became his wife, and he became the world champion.
Road to Olympus
Tal's rapid ascent to the top of the chess, as well as his soon acquisition of the prefix ex- to his world champion title, are legendary pages in the world history of chess. In 1957, a young resident of Riga became the USSR chess champion, ahead of the venerable David Bronstein and Paul Keres, contenders for the world crown. In the future, he won the All-Union Chess Championship 5 more times.
The next stages of the way to the chess Olympus were international tournaments. Victories followed in the Interzonal Candidates Tournament in Portorož, Slovenia (1958) and at the 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich (1958). Tal wonthe international chess tournament in Zurich (1959) and the Candidates Tournament that took place in Yugoslavia the same year, among which were all the then stars in this sport: Smyslov, Gligoric, Petrosyan, F. Olafson, Keres and fifteen-year-old Robert Fischer.
The match with Mikhail Botvinnik for the title of world champion took place from March 15 to May 7, 1960 and ended in an early victory for 24-year-old Tal, who won 6 games, lost 2 and was the first to reach 12 and a half points.
The youngest world champion
Young and charismatic, witty and intelligent, with an unprecedentedly bold and energetic style of play, Tal became the idol of chess fans around the world. When the professional masters lost their surprise at the unexpected appearance of the “upstart”, when they got to know the new champion better, the feeling of sympathy for him became widespread and universal. Even the misanthrope and sociopath Bobby Fischer, well-known among grandmasters and the chess public, easily spent the whole day alone with Tal, playing blitz.
In Riga, Tal was met by a huge crowd, carrying a car with a young champion from the station. He willingly met with chess lovers of different ages in Riga and throughout the Union. Soon there were few in the USSR who were unfamiliar with the name Tal. Mikhail Nekhemievich also earned respect by the fact that he did not change his place of residence even in the most severe times, he never allowed himself to indiscriminately slander the country where he was born, although the courage of his statements abroad aroused constant interest in him from state structures - onetime he was not allowed to travel abroad.
The Afterlife
In the spring of 1961, the preparations for the rematch with Botvinnik were interrupted by an exacerbation of Tal's kidney problems. He was even offered to ask to postpone the match, but out of respect for his opponent, he agreed to all the conditions of Botvinnik. As a result, Tal was not ready for a new fight for the title and lost.
Subsequently, he repeatedly entered the fight for the world chess crown, but to no avail. He participated in A. Karpov's team in preparing him for matches with Korchnoi and Fischer, making a significant contribution to his gaining the champion title.
Despite his increasing he alth problems, he didn't want to slow down. After the birth of his son, his divorce from Sally, his second and third marriages, the birth of his daughter, he remained a dear person to everyone he met along his life path, behaving with women ingenuously and simply. He did not want to be deprived of simple and natural pleasures - tasty but unhe althy food, good alcohol, smoked a lot … True, sometimes this was due to the need to drown out constant pain. To relieve pain, I had to resort to strong medicines.
Gone undefeated
In 1988, M. Tal wins the world chess championship with shortened regulations and becomes the first world blitz champion. In his creative biography in 1970-80 there were periods when the unbeaten streak in various tournaments consisted of 90 games in a row, which is an impressive achievement for any master.
Tal also won the last official game in classical chess tournaments, it happened on May 5, 1992 in Barcelona, his opponent was Vladimir Hakobyan. And shortly before his death, he literally escaped from the hospital to participate in the Moscow Blitz Championship, where he beat the then world champion Garry Kasparov. It was his last chess tournament. He passed away on July 28, 1992.
Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal went down in history not only as a brilliant chess player, one of the last romantics of this ancient game, but also as an outstanding person in his personal qualities, of whom many people here and abroad keep good memory.
