Attack with Mikhail Tal [Paperback]

Mikhail Tal (Author), Iakov Damsky (Author), Ken Neat (Translator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857440439
• ISBN-13: 978-1857440430
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is as advanced as attacking manuals get, but well worth the effort., July 5, 2006

By 

Andre E. Harding (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Attack with Mikhail Tal (Paperback)

There comes a point in a tournament chess player's development when they are familiar with the "standard" tactical [and positional] themes: they know to go for the kill on, say, f7/f2 against a king stranded in the center (to me a "stranded" king is a stronger precondition for an early attack than an "uncastled" one). They can find (or at least know when to look for) "King's Field" sacrifices and combinations. They can find "Mate in X" when the position requires it.

To me, this brilliant work is about COMPENSATION for sacrificed material in the form of much greater COORDINATION of one's forces than the opponent has of his. And often, the disparity of coordination that pops up is not immediate; rather, the attacking side has a greater ABILITY to develop/coordinate their pieces in the ensuing battle. The opponent's pieces may find themselves sealed off on one flank, or unable to rush to the defense in time.

The thread running through Rudolph Spielmann's THE ART OF SACRIFICE IN CHESS (which I reveiewed previously) is the notion of COMPENSATION when the sacrifices are not of a decisive nature. Upon looking at his examples, the reader can rationalize the material investment as being entirely justified.

With ATTACK WITH MIKHAIL TAL, however, this notion of COMPENSATION is much less clear for, I suspect, most of us. The 8th World Champion (1960) was adept at "Making it Work." The defensive resistance put up by Morphy's opponents was, generally, pathetic. By contrast, Tal stormed his way to the top by hacking to pieces many of the greatest chess players the world has ever seen (for example, he went 4-0 against Bobby Fischer in the 1959 Candidates Tournament, and beat Mikhail Botvinnik by 4 points in the 1960 World Championship Match).

The attacking prowess of the Magician from Riga becomes understandable when reading this work, because he and Damsky explain the thought process behind it so well. All of this said, it takes a great amount of study and boldness to try and integrate this into one's own play! I know I certainly haven't been able to do it yet, but will continue to try!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attack!!!, May 16, 2005

By 

Murtuza Hashim "hashimm4" (Vienna, Va United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Attack with Mikhail Tal (Paperback)

This book is structured into nine chapters.

1. Enemy King in the center - shows how to keep the king in the center and to attack it.

2. Breakthrough in the Center - The theme still revolves around trapping the enemy king in the center for material sacrifice.

3. The Assault Ratio - Shows how to tear apart the enemy fortress

4. Invasion trajectories - Shows how to attack on the diagonals

5. Lines of Communication - Shows how to break the enemies lines of communications to set up an attack.

6 Outposts - Shows how a piece outpost beyond the 4th rank is a thorn in the enemies army.

7. Eliminating Defenders - Shows how to get rid of those pesky defenders when attacking.

8. At the Royal Court - Shows how to break apart a castled position.

9. Destroying the Fortress walls - summs up with bxh7+ and double bishop sacrifices when the enemey pawn cover has not been touched. Also nxf7 and nxg7 sacrifices.

There is a chapter missing on queenside sacrifices, but alas the magician from riga passed away before completing the book, so it's not his fault.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tal's thinking is revealed, July 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Attack with Mikhail Tal (Paperback)

When playing over the games of Mikhail Tal's, it is often very difficult to understand where he finds his ultra-aggresive moves. In this book, Tal almost scientifically shows how to think in this fashion. This is a book that belongs on every serious chess player's shelf, and it should be read and re-read whenever a player even thinks of playing positionally.