Playing style Mikhail Tal

tal s gravestone, showing death date of 1992 27 vi (27 june 1992)

tal loved game in , considered chess, first of all, art. known play numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely joy of playing.

known magician riga , tal archetype of attacking player, developing extremely powerful , imaginative style of play. approach on board pragmatic—in respect, 1 of heirs of ex-world champion emanuel lasker. sacrificed material in search of initiative, defined ability make threats opponent must respond. such intuitive sacrifices, created vast complications, , many masters found impossible solve problems created on board, though deeper post-game analysis found flaws in of conceptions. famous sixth game of first world championship match botvinnik typical in regard: tal sacrificed knight little compensation prevailed when unsettled botvinnik failed find correct response. tal s style of play intimidating james eade listed tal 1 of 3 players contemporaries afraid of playing against (the others being capablanca , fischer). however, while capablanca , fischer feared because of extreme technical skill, tal feared because of possibility of being on wrong side of soon-to-be-famous brilliancy. although tal s sacrifices formidable, of best players of time successful in defeating them, contributing negative record against of top players of time. these included spassky, petrosian, polugaevsky, korchnoi, keres, smyslov, , stein. (tal has positive record against fischer 4 wins 1959 candidates tournament.)

although playing style @ first scorned ex-world champion vasily smyslov nothing more tricks , tal convincingly beat many notable grandmasters trademark aggression. prevailing against tal s attack required extraordinary ability. notable adopted more sedate , positional style in later years; many chess lovers, apex of tal s style corresponds period (approximately 1971 1979) when able integrate solidity of classical chess imagination of youth.

of current top-level players, latvian alexei shirov has been compared tal. in fact, studied tal youth. many other latvian grandmasters , masters, instance alexander shabalov , alvis vitolins, have played in similar vein, causing speak of latvian school of chess .

tal contributed little opening theory, despite deep knowledge of systems, sicilian , ruy lopez in particular. aggressive use of modern benoni, particularly in years, led complete re-evaluation of variation. variation of nimzo-indian defence bears name.