Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal (1936-1992), Latvian chess player, who achieved international grandmaster status in 1957 and was world champion from 1960 to 1961. Tal was born in Riga, Latvia (in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). He joined the chess section of the Riga Pioneers boys’ club when he was eight years old. In 1949 he began to study under Alexander Koblencs, one of Latvia’s leading players.

Tal’s first major victory was in the Latvian championship of 1953. He then rapidly improved his standing in the chess world by winning the Soviet national championship in 1957 and 1958. In 1959 he won the candidates tournament held jointly in the three Yugoslavian cities of Bled, Zagreb, and Belgrade. His victory at the candidates tournament gave Tal the right to challenge the world champion, Soviet player Mikhail Botvinnik. Tal bested Botvinnik in 1960, and at age 23 he became the youngest world champion ever. (The record was eclipsed in 1985, when Russian Garry Kasparov won the title at age 22).

Kidney troubles plagued Tal throughout his chess career, and ill health hindered him in his defense of the title, which he lost to Botvinnik in 1961. After losing the world championship, Tal continued to be a strong international player. He played well in the candidates tournaments of 1962, 1965, 1968, and 1985, and he captured four more Soviet championships. He also played in the Chess Olympiad, an international team championship, seven times between 1958 and 1980. His career record in the competition was 59 wins, 31 draws, and 2 losses. Tal edited the Latvian chess journal Sahs (Chess) from 1960 to 1970. In 1988 he won the world championship in blitz (a form of chess played at a rapid pace). Four years later he died of kidney failure.