Customer Reviews

Life & Games of Mikhail Tal

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I own the original edition of this book got in the 1970s. It's binding is now held together with duct tape, pages are falling out, margins are filled with scribbling... well, you get the point. I used to carry it with me everywhere I went, until I became afraid of losing pages. It was and is my favorite chess book. Tal is a great writer with a wry sense of humor and an incredible imagination. His games are among the most entertaining in the history of chess. Opening this book to any page will reveal something that will amuse, astonish or instruct. It was with great pleasure that I greeted the news that this classic was once again in print. Every chessplayer should own a copy. The new edition from Cadogan (the original was from RHM, now defunct), is in algebraic notation ( I prefer the descriptive in the original edition, but only because my eyesight has worsened, and the descriptive notation was larger ) and Tal's complete tournament and match record is included ( this volume covers his career up to 1975, but he played great chess up until his death in 1992 ). Not much else is different. This book ranks up with the greatest classics of the game (Bobby Fischer's 60 Memorable Games, Alekhine's Best Games of Chess, Timman's The Art of Chess Analysis and Kasparov's Fighting Chess). The re-release of this book around the same time as the publishing of Shirov's "Fire On Board", is the attacking player's dream. It has made my year.

I've been a chessplayer for 40 years (best rating was 2250 ELO) and I still enjoy Internet chess. During my chess life I have read dozens of chess books, mostly in openings which are quickly outdated. Not this book. This is a great book by one of the five all-time best chess players (the others being Kasparov, Fischer, Alekhine and Capablanca). It's a book I return very often, simply for enjoying myself. In Chess, beauty does not lie in winning a game, but in the ideas and the conceptions that are required for the battle. Mikhail Tal had it all: an amazing mind, and the free-thinking that illuminates the lifes of lesser mortals. And the book is exceptionally well-written and well commented. I agree with other reviewers: this is probably the best chess book ever written.

This book is pervaded with a literary and anecdotal air that is rarely found in Chess literature (and, as I see it, is much needed). One gets the sense that he is reading the work of a man who deeply loved life and who took great pleasure in those little disjoint stories of which it is comprised whether or not they occured at the board. This book reads like a true biography with brilliantly annotated games acting as much welcomed photographs. Upon seeing the position from Tal's 1959 Interzonal game against Fischer, anyone interested in Tal will be captivated to hear Tal speak of how he tricked Fischer into losing a won position. The games and stories presented in this volume compliment each other masterfully. Quite simply, this is one of the greatest chess books ever written: In it one finds both great chess and great comedy. One must conclude that Tal was not only a master of chess but also of the pen!

This book, as many of the other reviewers have commented, is enjoyable to read in its own right even without the games. Tal comes across as self-effacing and amusing, for the most part; the inclusion of things like a diagram showing Tal blundering away a queen against Averbakh in a blitz game is a refreshing change from the egomania that seems to run rampant in high level chess. The book is broken up into nine chapters representing Tal's breakdown of his chess life into various eras. Each chapter has prose discussion of major events that Tal played in that time period, with lots of anecdotes and interesting asides. In these sections he occasionally inserts diagrams and partial game scores, with minor commentary.
The latter half of each chapter is dedicated to games and their annotation. All in all there are 100 annotated games. I have not, by any means, thoroughly studied all of them. But I have looked at a fair number, and the quality of the annotation is generally quite good. Tal employs the same clear writing style in his annotations that he does in the prose sections, and it makes for good reading. The games can frequently be difficult to follow for a mediocre player like myself, but they certainly look cool.
Many players stronger than myself say that careful study of this book will improve your play. After reading it, I found myself occasionally making sacrifices with absolutely no justification whatsoever, so it definitely did something. I plan to try to work through it thoroughly when I am a stronger player, but at the moment I feel I'm not making the best use of its lessons. Right now I'm giving Alekhine's best games a try instead.
As a final comment, I see many people have had problems with the binding. While it certainly doesn't look very sturdy, I have read the entire book and haven't had any pages fall out. Admittedly I'm not keeping it spread open doing long analysis sessions, so it might be more of a comment on me than on the book.

Easily the best autobiographical chess work I've seen. Tal's love of chess oozes from each page, and his light-hearted approach to a serious game is refreshing. The games are interesting, sometimes amusing, and always instructive.

I only have one issue with this printing, and that's the horrible binding. The spine cracks easily if the book isn't held gingerly, and pages will fall out shortly thereafter. Very shoddy, especially in a book of this price. I still recommend it, because its content is so fantastic, but handle it with care.

This book has it all, Tal's autobiography told as a fictional interview, key positions of some games that are interesting to analyze and complete games with a thorough analysis.

I remember that when my rating was 1500 USCF I got a book which had some games by Tal that were not analyzed and I couldn't understand a thing. It was funny, because with other players I could find some sense in the games, but with Tal, half the moves were unexplainable to me. This book helped me understand some of his games, and when you see the reason behind some of his moves explained and the analysis to support it, you will be awed! Although now I am a player rated 1800, there are still some sacrifices that are very tough to swallow, like the masterpiece in which Tal sacrifices his queen for a knight without any immediate compensation (a reviewer claims it is a queen for a bishop and another reviewer says there is no such game...well, it is a queen for a knight!).

This book will fascinate you, I guarantee it! And you will open your mind to new tactical combinations and sacrifices that you had not considered in your wildest dreams!

This is the only chess book I have seen that is written as literature. Most of the book takes on the form of a witty self interview between a fictional reporter and a Chess player (Tal himself). The games and annotations are simply enchanting; Tal's anecdotes are sure to put a smile on your face. This is a truly excellent book that will improve your chess while it entertains you as well.

Mikhail Tal's autobiography is unique among chess literature. It combines Tal's self-effacing humorous style with his analysis of the games that made him one of the greatest combinational players of all time. He discusses his meteoric rise to attain the world championship and without any complaint, discusses how he lost it in the shortest period of time of any world champion. But most of all, are his games, his daring sacrifices, and his ability to pull wins from thin air (hence the nickname "the Wizard of Riga"). One thing a chess reader should not do is attempt to analyze Tal's games with a chess engine like Fritz, for Tal made many mistakes. His brilliance lies in the fact that his chess ideas were so complicated and beautiful that they overwhelmed opponents whose minds could not operate at pentium processor speed. Probably players in the intermediate to advanced range will find the book most enjoyable. However, the beginner will derive great benefit just from getting to know Tal. In any event, this book is a must have for any chess library.

I bought "The Life and games of Mikhail Tal" on the advice of many chess authors who have mentioned it in their works. I felt that if many Grandmasters rate it as the best chess book ever written, I probably wouldn't be dissapointed. I wasn't. The book is at once a superb peice of annotations and an insightful look into the life of one of the most beloved figures in chess history. It is a rare treat to be transported so vividly into the situations during some of the most famous games of modern chess, from the viewpoint of one of the players. Enjoy!

This is a great book that everyone should own that cares about Chess. Tal was one of the most exciting players to ever play the game of Chess. He came at a time when matches were just home preperation and memorization. This was not the way to play the game and he shattered Botvinnik. At a time when he was thought almost impossible to even consider beating. Also it was the ultimate challenge of Science vs. Humanity. Would the almost machine like logician be the victor over the Magician... The book is very well written and a real joy to read. I actually bought an original copy from 1976 of this book as well. I still have it wrapped up and kept very well. I bought it after getting the the newer version just to have. The cover on that book is different than one used for this version.

What makes this so great is that Tal has a style to his writing unlike anyone else. Also he seems to be a bit nuts and that always helps the enjoyment. He actually takes the role of a journalist asking himself questions. So that is a bit of an odd thing if you consider it. Still he tries to explain situations and even what he is thinking sometimes. He comes off as being a really human person which is important. He makes it clear that he is not a machine he is mortal. He does not try to elevate himself and disrespect anyone etc. Some of the stories are very interesting also. He talks about a game vs. Fischer that most likely he was gonna lose. He explains how Bobby wrote down the move in almost russian notation and showed him. Hoping to get some sort of reaction I suspect. Tal knowing this was the move that just about beat him explains his thought process. The way he reacts causes Fischer to actually change his move and ends up losing or drawing to Tal. This is rather interesting esp since I think Tal had a + score over Fischer. He talks about another game where his opponent planned to wear dark glasses. He hears of this and decides to don his own sunglasses. What happens next you will have to get book to read :). The popular Hippo story is also a favorite of many of his fans. He talks about other not so happy topics as well. I had wrote a really long review for this book some time ago. Yet for some reason it got deleted so hope this one works out better. I have some other books from Tal I have yet to review as well. Reason it takes so long to review them is there is so much to the books. Makes it very difficult to explain just how good the book is. Maybe I am biased cuz Tal is one of my favorite players. Yet I really do not use any of his openings or anything. Just from this book and other things I guess it helped create a strong liking. I am not sure I can really explain it. Yet I know there was and still is something very special about Tal. I regret that I never got to meet him in person etc. Still if your just into the pure chess side of things the book is also good. He did play lots of great players and his career spanned a long time. So consider with great care picking up this book. I enjoy just reading this book, him talking about the games though is priceless.