Vladimir (English) Владимир (Russian)
-  City[citation needed]  -
View of Vladimir
Location of Vladimir Oblast in Russia
Vladimir Location of Vladimir in Vladimir Oblast
Coordinates: 56°09′N 40°25′E / 56.15°N 40.417°E / 56.15; 40.417Coordinates: 56°09′N 40°25′E / 56.15°N 40.417°E / 56.15; 40.417
Coat of arms	Flag
City Day	The first Sunday of September[citation needed]
Administrative status (as of April 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Vladimir Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to	City of Vladimir[1]
Administrative center of	Vladimir Oblast[1]
Municipal status (as of August 2009)
Urban okrug	Vladimir Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of	Vladimir Urban Okrug[2]
Head[citation needed]	Sergey Sakharov[citation needed]
Representative body	Council of People's Deputies[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	308 km2 (119 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	345,598 inhabitants[3]
- Rank in 2010	51st
Population (2002 Census)	315,954 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2002	58th
Density	1,122 /km2 (2,910 /sq mi)[5]
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[6]
Founded	990 or 1108(see text)
Dialing code(s)	+7 4922[citation needed]
Official website
Vladimir on WikiCommons

Vladimir (Russian: Влади́мир; IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr]) is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, 200 kilometers (120 mi) to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population: 345,598 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[3] 315,954 (2002 Census);^[4] 349,702 (1989 Census).^[7]

Vladimir was one of the medieval capitals of Russia, and two of its cathedrals are a World Heritage Site. It is served by the Semyazino Airport, and during the Cold War Vladimir was host to Dobrynskoye air base.

History[link]

Foundation date controversy[link]

Assumption Cathedral was a venerated model for cathedrals all over Russia

The area occupied by the city of Vladimir has been inhabited by humans (at least intermittently) for approximately 25,000 years (see Sungir). Traditionally, the founding date of Vladimir has been acknowledged as 1108, as the first mention of Vladimir in the Primary Chronicle appears under that year. This view attributes the founding of the city, and its name, to Vladimir Monomakh, who inherited the region as part of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality in 1093. In 1958, the 850th anniversary of the city foundation was celebrated, with many monuments from the celebrations adorning the city squares.

In the 1990s, a new opinion developed that the city is older than this. Scholars reinterpreted certain passages in the Hypatian Codex, which mentions that the region was visited by Vladimir the Great, the "father" of Russian Orthodoxy, in 990, so as to move the city foundation date to that year. The defenders of the previously uncontested founding year of 1108 dispute the claims of those who support the new date, arguing that the new theory was fabricated in order to provide a reason to have a celebration in 1995.

The neighboring town of Suzdal, for instance, was mentioned in 1024, and yet its 12th century inhabitants alluded to Vladimir as a young town and treated its rulers with arrogance. In the words of a major chronicle, they said that the people of Vladimir were "their kholops and scions". In the seniority conflicts of the 12th and early 13th centuries, Vladimir was repeatedly described as a "young town" compared to Suzdal and Rostov. The Charter of Vladimir, the basic law of the city passed in 2005, explicitly mentions 990 as the date of the city's foundation.^[8]

Golden Age[link]

St. Demetrius' Cathedral is famous for its masterfully carved exterior, representing the Biblical story of King David. The photo was taken in 1912.

Regardless of which founding date is most accurate, the city's most historically significant events occurred after the turn of the 12th century. Serving its original purpose as a defensive outpost for the Rostov-Suzdal principality, Vladimir had little political or military influence throughout the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (1113–1125), or his son Yury Dolgoruky ("long arms") (1154–1157).

It was only under Dolgoruky's son, Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157–1175), that it became the center of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. Thus began the city's Golden Age, which lasted until the Mongol invasion of Russia in 1237. During this time Vladimir enjoyed immense growth and prosperity, and Andrei oversaw the building of the Golden Gates and the Cathedral of the Assumption. In 1164, Andrei even attempted to establish a new metropolitanate in Vladimir, separate from that of Kiev, but was rebuffed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.^[9]

Scores of Russian, German, and Georgian masons worked on Vladimir's white stone cathedrals, towers, and palaces. Unlike any other northern buildings, their exterior was elaborately carved with the high relief stone sculptures. Only three of these edifices stand today: the Assumption Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, and the Golden Gate. During Andrei's reign, a royal palace in Bogolyubovo was built, as well as the world-famous Intercession Church on the Nerl, now considered one of the jewels of ancient Russian architecture. Andrei was assassinated at his palace at Bogolyubovo in 1175.

Decline[link]

The main church of the Princesses' Convent was built by Ivan III of Moscow to replace an old crumbling church where the consorts of the Vladimir-Suzdal monarchs had been buried

Vladimir was besieged by the Mongol-Tatar hordes under Batu Khan, and finally overrun on February 8, 1238. A great fire destroyed thirty-two limestone buildings on the first day alone, while the grand prince's family perished in a church where they sought refuge from the flames. The grand prince himself managed to escape, only to fall at the Battle of the Sit River the following month.

After the Mongols, Vladimir never fully recovered, and even though the most important Rus prince (usually the Prince of Moscow, but sometimes of Tver or another principality) was styled the Grand Prince of Vladimir, the title had become merely an honorific symbol of majesty. From 1299 to 1325, the city was seat of the metropolitans of Kiev and All Rus, until Metropolitan Peter moved the see to Moscow. The Grand Prince of Vladimir were originally crowned in Vladimir's Assumption Cathedral, but when Moscow superseded Vladimir as the seat of the Grand Prince, the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, loosely copied by the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti from Vladimir's original, became the site where the grand princes were crowned. Even after the rise of Moscow though, Grand Princes of Moscow built several new churches in Vladimir, notably the Annunciation church at Snovitsy (ca. 1501), three kilometers north-west of the city, and a charming church in the Knyaginin nunnery (ca. 1505), with murals dating to 1648.

Remains of the prince-saint Alexander Nevsky were kept in the ancient Nativity abbey of Vladimir until 1703, when Peter the Great had them transferred to the Monastery (now Lavra) of Aleksandr Nevsky in St. Petersburg. The Nativity church itself (1191–1196) collapsed several years later, when an attempt was made to make more windows in its walls in an effort to brighten the interior.

Administrative and municipal status[link]

Administratively, along with seventeen rural localities, it is incorporated as the City of Vladimir—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] Municipally, the City of Vladimir is incorporated as Vladimir Urban Okrug.^[2]

Climate[link]

Vladimir experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

Sightseeing[link]

Modern Vladimir is a part of the Golden ring of the ancient Russian cities and a significant tourist center. Its three chief monuments, White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal, inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List, are the following:

1. The magnificent five-domed Assumption Cathedral was designed as a sepulcher of grand princes and dedicated to the holy icon Theotokos of Vladimir, which had been brought to the city by Andrew the Pious. The cathedral was constructed in 1158–1160, expanded in 1185–1189, and painted by the great Andrei Rublev and Daniil Chyorny in 1408. In 1810, they added a lofty bell-tower in Neoclassical style.
2. The warrior-like cathedral of St. Demetrius was built in 1194–1197 as a private chapel of Vsevolod the Big Nest in the courtyard of his palace and was consecrated to his holy patron, St. Demetrius. For all its formal unity, the cathedral represents a truly international project of Russian and Byzantine masters, Friedrich Barbarossa's masons, and carvers sent by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
3. The Golden Gate, originally a tower over the city's main gate, was built in 1158–1164. The gate acquired its present form after having been grossly reconstructed in the late 18th century, to prevent the dilapidated structure from tumbling down.

Other remarkable monuments of pre-Mongol Russian architecture are scattered in the vicinity. For more information on them, see Suzdal, Yuriev-Polsky, Bogolyubovo, and Kideksha.

Modern Vladimir[link]

Lenina Avenue in Vladimir

Economy[link]

Vladimir is home to several electrical and chemical factories, several food processing plants, two large thermal power stations, and the headquarters of the 27th Guards Missile Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces. Tourism related to the historical sites is a major contributor to the city economy.

Education[link]

Vladimir is home to the following education establishments:

• Vladimir State University
• Vladimir Judicial Institute of the Ministry of Justice
• Vladimir Business Institute
• The American Home English & Russian Language School

Vladimir is also home to the Federal Centre for Animal Health and Welfare.

Transport[link]

Vladimir is linked to Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod by railway and the M7 highway. Local transport includes buses, trolleybuses,fixed-route minivans, and taxis. Taxi and some minivan service is available 24 hours a day.

Sports[link]

The city association football team, FC Torpedo Vladimir, currently plays in the Football Championship of the National League (former Russian First Division), having entered the second level of Russian professional football after seventeen years of competing in Russian Second Division and Russian Third League. Vladimir VC (previously known as Skat and Dinamo Vladimir) represents the city in Volleyball Major League B – Zone Europe.

Vladimir is also home to Polaris-Vladimir ice hockey club, which competes in regional hockey competitions and Russian minor leagues, and both male and female Luch table-tennis teams.

International relations[link]

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Vladimir is twinned with:^[11]

• Anghiari, Italy
• Baotze, China
• Bloomington-Normal, United States
• Campobasso, Italy
• Canterbury, United Kingdom
• Cebu, Philippines^[12]
• Chongqing, China
• Erlangen, Germany
• Kerava, Finland
• Kardzhali, Bulgaria
• Nara, Japan
• Sarasota, United States
• Trento, Italy
• Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic
• Jelenia Góra, Poland

Notable people[link]

• Valentin Afonin, association football player
• Nikolai Andrianov, gymnast
• Vladimir Artemov, gymnast
• Aleksey Batalov, actor
• Mikhail Lazarev, admiral
• Yuri Levitan, radio announcer
• Alexey Prokurorov, cross-country skier
• Yuri Ryazanov, gymnast
• Vasily Shulgin, politician
• Mikhail Speransky, statesman
• Aleksandr Stoletov, physicist
• Nikolai Stoletov, general
• Sergei Taneyev, composer
• Dmitri Vyazmikin, association football player
• Denis Yevsikov, association football player
• Nikolay Zhukovsky, scientist
• Anna Loginova, fashion model

References[link]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Законодательное Собрание Владимирской области. Закон №130-ОЗ от 10 декабря 2001 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Владимирской области и о порядке его изменения», в ред. Закона №24-ОЗ от 27 апреля 2011 г «О внесении изменений в статьи 8, 9 Закона Владимирской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Владимирской области и о порядке его изменения"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования (13 декабря 2001 г.). Опубликован: "Владимирские ведомости", №232, 13 декабря 2001 г. (Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast. Law #130-OZ of December 10, 2001 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Vladimir Oblast and on Procedures for Its Change, as amended by the Law #24-OZ of April 27, 2011 On Amending Articles 8, 9 of the Law of Vladimir Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Vladimir Oblast and on Procedures for Its Change". Effective as of the day of the official publication (December 13, 2001).).
• Законодательное Собрание Владимирской области. Закон №189-ОЗ от 26 ноября 2004 г. «О наделении статусом городского округа муниципального образования город Владимир Владимирской области», в ред. Закона №108-ОЗ от 10 августа 2009 г «О внесении изменений в Закон Владимирской области "О наделении статусом городского округа муниципального образования город Владимир Владимирской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования (1 декабря 2004 г.). Опубликован: "Владимирские ведомости", №333, 1 декабря 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast. Law #189-OZ of November 26, 2004 On Granting Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the City of Vladimir of Vladimir Oblast, as amended by the Law #108-OZ of August 10, 2009 On Amending the Law of Vladimir Oblast "On Granting Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the City of Vladimir of Vladimir Oblast". Effective as of the day of the official publication (December 1, 2004).).

Further reading[link]

• Craft Brumfield, William (2004). A History of Russian Architecture. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98394-3. 

External links[link]

• Official website of Vladimir (Russian)
• Vladimir travel guide from Wikitravel
• Tourist information on Vladimir
• The American Home in Vladimir

v t e Cities and towns in Vladimir Oblast Administrative center: Vladimir Alexandrov Gorokhovets Gus-Khrustalny Kameshkovo Karabanovo Kirzhach Kolchugino Kosteryovo Kovrov Kurlovo Lakinsk Melenki Murom Petushki Pokrov Raduzhny Sobinka Strunino Sudogda Suzdal Vladimir Vyazniki Yuryev-Polsky

v t e Golden Ring of Russia Alexandrov Bogolyubovo Gorokhovets Gus-Khrustalny Ivanovo Kideksha Kostroma Moscow Palekh Pereslavl-Zalessky Plyos Rostov Sergiyev Posad Suzdal Tutayev Uglich Vladimir Yaroslavl Yuryev-Polsky

Mikhail Tal
Full name	Latvian: Mihails Tāls Russian: Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal
Country	Soviet Union (Latvia)
Born	November 9, 1936 Riga, Latvia
Died	June 28, 1992[1] (aged 55) Moscow, Russia
Title	Grandmaster (1957)
World Champion	1960–61
Peak rating	2705 (January 1980)

Mikhail Tal (Latvian: Mihails Tāls; Russian: Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, Michail Nechem'evič Tal, [mʲixʌˈiɫ nʲɪˈxɛmʲɪvʲit͡ɕ ˈtal]; sometimes transliterated Mihails Tals or Mihail Tal; November 9, 1936 – June 28, 1992)^[1] was a Soviet-Latvian chess Grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion.

Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played in a daring, combinational style.^[2] His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. Every game, he once said, was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem.^[3] He was often called "Misha", a diminutive for Mikhail, and "The magician from Riga". Both The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games (Burgess, Nunn & Emms 2004) and Modern Chess Brilliancies (Evans 1970) include more games by Tal than any other player. Tal was also a highly-regarded chess writer.

He holds the records for both the first and second longest unbeaten streaks in competitive chess history.^[4] Many authorities consider him to have been the greatest attacking Grandmaster in the history of chess.^[5] On May 28, 1992, dying from kidney failure, he left hospital to play at the Moscow blitz tournament, where he defeated Garry Kasparov. He died one month later. The Mikhail Tal Memorial is held in Moscow each year since 2006 to honour his memory.

Early years[link]

Tal was born in Riga, Latvia, into a Jewish family. He was from the very beginning of his life blessed with much talent and cursed with ill-health. Tal learned to read at the age of three, and was allowed to start university studies while only fifteen. At the age of eight, Tal learned to play chess while watching his father, a doctor and medical researcher. Shortly thereafter he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. His play was not exceptional at first but he worked hard to improve. Alexander Koblents began tutoring Tal in 1949, after which Tal's game rapidly improved, and by 1951 he had qualified for the Latvian Championship. In the 1952 Latvian Championship Tal finished ahead of his trainer. Tal won his first Latvian title in 1953, and was awarded the title of Candidate Master. He became a Soviet Master in 1954 by defeating Vladimir Saigin in a qualifying match. That same year he also scored his first win over a Grandmaster when Yuri Averbakh lost on time in a drawn position. Tal graduated in Literature from the University of Riga, writing a thesis on the satirical works of Ilf and Petrov, and taught school in Riga for a time in his early twenties. He was a member of the Daugava Sports Society, and represented Latvia in internal Soviet team competitions.

He married 19-year-old Russian actress Salli Landau in 1959, divorcing in 1970. (In 2003, Landau published in Russia a biography of her late ex-husband.)

Personality[link]

His first wife, Salli Landau, described Mikhail's personality:

Misha was so ill-equipped for living... When he travelled to a tournament, he couldn't even pack his own suitcase... He didn't even know how to turn on the gas for cooking. If I had a headache, and there happened to be no one home but him, he would fall into a panic: "How do I make a hot-water bottle?" And when I got behind the wheel of a car, he would look at me as though I were a visitor from another planet. Of course, if he had made some effort, he could have learned all of this. But it was all boring to him. He just didn't need to. A lot of people have said that if Tal had looked after his health, if he hadn't led such a dissolute life... and so forth. But with people like Tal, the idea of "if only" is just absurd. He wouldn't have been Tal then."^[6]

Soviet champion[link]

Tal first qualified for the USSR Chess Championship final in 1956, finishing joint fifth, and became the youngest player to win it the following year, at the age of 20. He had not played in enough international tournaments to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, but FIDE decided at its 1957 Congress to waive the normal restrictions and award him the title because of his achievement in winning the Soviet Championship.^[7]

Tal made three appearances for the USSR at Student Olympiads, from 1956–1958, winning three team gold medals and three board gold medals. He won nineteen games, drew eight, and lost none, for 85.2 percent.^[8]

He retained the Soviet Championship title in 1958 at Riga, and competed in the World Chess Championship for the first time. He won the 1958 Interzonal tournament at Portorož, then helped the Soviet Union win their fourth consecutive Chess Olympiad at Munich.

World champion[link]

Tal won a very strong tournament at Zürich, 1959. Following the Interzonal, the top players carried on to the Candidates' Tournament, Yugoslavia 1959. Tal showed superior form by winning with 20/28 points, ahead of Paul Keres with 18½, followed by Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Bobby Fischer, Svetozar Gligorić, Friðrik Ólafsson, and Pal Benko. Tal's victory was attributed to his dominance over the lower half of the field;^[9] whilst scoring only one win and three losses versus Keres, he won all four individual games against Fischer, and took 3½ points out of 4 from each of Gligorić, Olafsson, and Benko.^[10]

In 1960, at the age of 23, Tal thoroughly defeated the relatively staid and strategic Mikhail Botvinnik in a World Championship match, held in Moscow, by 12½–8½ (six wins, two losses, and thirteen draws), making him the youngest-ever world champion (a record later broken by Garry Kasparov, who earned the title at 22). Botvinnik, who had never faced Tal before the title match began, won the return match against Tal in 1961, also held in Moscow, by 13–8 (ten wins to five, with six draws). In the period between the matches Botvinnik had thoroughly analyzed Tal's style, and turned most of the return match's games into slow wars of maneuver or endgames, rather than the complicated tactical melees which were Tal's happy hunting ground.^[11] Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat, and his doctors in Riga advised that he should postpone the match for health reasons. Yuri Averbakh claimed that Botvinnik would agree to a postponement only if Tal was certified unfit by Moscow doctors, and that Tal then decided to play.^[12] His short reign atop the chess world made him one of the two so-called "winter kings" who interrupted Botvinnik's long reign from 1948 to 1963 (the other was Smyslov, world champion 1957–1958).

His highest Elo rating was 2705, achieved in 1980. His highest Historical Chessmetrics Rating was 2799, in September 1960. This capped his torrid stretch which had begun in early 1957.

Later achievements[link]

Soon after losing the rematch with Botvinnik, Tal won the 1961 Bled supertournament by one point over Fischer, despite losing their individual game, scoring 14½ from nineteen games (+11 −1 =7) with the world-class players Tigran Petrosian, Keres, Gligorić, Efim Geller, and Miguel Najdorf among the other participants.

Tal played in a total of six Candidates' Tournaments and match cycles, though he never again earned the right to play for the world title. In 1962 at Curaçao, he had serious health problems, having undergone a major operation shortly before the tournament, and had to withdraw three-quarters of the way through, scoring just seven points (+3 −10 =8) from 21 games. He tied for first place at the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal to advance to matches. Then in 1965, he lost the final match against Boris Spassky, after defeating Lajos Portisch and Bent Larsen in matches. Exempt from the 1967 Interzonal, he lost a 1968 semi-final match against Viktor Korchnoi, after defeating Gligoric.

Poor health caused a slump in his play from late 1968 to late 1969, but he recovered his form after having a kidney removed. He won the 1979 Riga Interzonal with an undefeated score of 14/17, but the next year lost a quarter-final match to Lev Polugaevsky, one of the players to hold a positive score against him. He also played in the 1985 Montpellier Candidates' Tournament, a round-robin of 16 qualifiers, finishing in a tie for fourth and fifth places, and narrowly missing further advancement after drawing a playoff match with Jan Timman, who held the tiebreak advantage from the tournament proper.

From July 1972 to April 1973, Tal played a record 86 consecutive games without a loss (47 wins and 39 draws). Between October 23, 1973 and October 16, 1974, he played 95 consecutive games without a loss (46 wins and 49 draws), shattering his previous record. These are the two longest unbeaten streaks in modern chess history.^[4]

Tal remained a formidable opponent as he got older, he played reigning champion Karpov 20 times with a record of 19 draws and one loss (at Bugojno, 1980).

One of Tal's greatest achievements during his later career was an equal first place with Karpov (whom he seconded in a number of tournaments and world championships) in the 1979 Montreal "Tournament of Stars", with an unbeaten score of (+6 −0 =12), the only undefeated player in the field, which also included Spassky, Portisch, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Hübner, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Lubomir Kavalek, Timman and Larsen.

Tal played in 21 Soviet Championships,^[13] winning it a record six times (1957, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978), a number only equalled by Botvinnik. He was also a five-time winner of the International Chess Tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, with victories in 1971, 1973, 1977, 1981, and 1983.

Tal also had successes in blitz chess; in 1970, he took second place to Fischer, who scored 19/22, in a blitz tournament at Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, ahead of Korchnoi, Petrosian and Smyslov. In 1988, at the age of 51, he won the second official World Blitz Championship (the first was won by Kasparov the previous year in Brussels) at Saint John, ahead of such players as Kasparov, the reigning world champion, and ex-champion Anatoly Karpov. In the final, he defeated Rafael Vaganian by 3½-½.

On May 28, 1992, at the Moscow blitz tournament (which he left hospital to play), he defeated Kasparov. He died one month later.

Team competitions[link]

In Olympiad play, Mikhail Tal was a member of eight Soviet teams, each of which won team gold medals (1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1980, and 1982), won 65 games, drew 34, and lost only two games (81.2 percent). This percentage makes him the player with the best score among those participating in at least four Olympiads. Individually, Tal won seven Olympiad board medals, including five gold (1958, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974), and two silver (1960, 1982).^[8]

Tal also represented the Soviet Union at six European Team Championships (1957, 1961, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1980), winning team gold medals each time, and three board gold medals (1957, 1970, and 1977). He scored 14 wins, 20 draws, and three losses, for 64.9 percent.^[8] Tal played board nine for the USSR in the first match against the Rest of the World team at Belgrade 1970, scoring 2 out of 4. He was on board seven for the USSR in the second match against the Rest of the World team at London 1984, scoring 2 out of 3. The USSR won both team matches. He was an Honoured Master of Sport.^[14]

From 1950 (when he won the Latvian junior championship) to 1991, Tal won or tied for first in 68 tournaments (see table below). During his 41-year career he played about 2,700 tournament or match games, winning over 65% of them.

Tournament and match wins (or equal first)[link]

1950–66[link]

1967–79[link]

1981–91[link]

Score with some major Grandmasters[link]

Only official tournament or match games have been taken into account. '+' corresponds to Tal's wins, '−' to his losses and '=' to draws.

Health problems[link]

Naturally artistic and impulsive,Tal led a dissolute personal life of drinking, and chain smoking, all of which was an embarrassment to the Soviet authorities. His already fragile health suffered as a result, and he spent much time in hospital, including an operation to remove a kidney in 1969.^[15] He was also briefly addicted to morphine due to intense pain.^[16] On June 28, 1992,^[1] Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of kidney failure. But his friend and fellow Soviet grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that "in reality, all his organs had stopped functioning."^{[17][not in citation given]} Tal had the congenital deformity of ectrodactyly in his right hand (visible in some photographs). Despite this, he was a skilled piano player.

Playing style[link]

Tal's gravestone, showing a death date of "1992 27 VI" (June 27, 1992)

Tal loved the game in itself and considered that "Chess, first of all, is Art." He was known to play numerous blitz games against unknown or relatively weak players purely for the joy of playing.

Known as "The Magician from Riga", Tal was the archetype of the attacking player, developing an extremely powerful and imaginative style of play. His approach over the board was very pragmatic – in that respect, he is one of the heirs of ex-World Champion Emanuel Lasker. He often sacrificed material in search of the initiative, which is defined by the ability to make threats to which the opponent must respond. With such intuitive sacrifices, he created vast complications, and many masters found it impossible to solve all the problems he created over the board, though deeper post-game analysis found flaws in some of his conceptions. The famous sixth game of his first world championship match with Botvinnik is typical in that regard: Tal sacrificed a knight with little compensation but prevailed when the unsettled Botvinnik failed to find the correct response.

Although his playing style at first was scorned by ex-World Champion Vasily Smyslov as nothing more than "tricks", Tal convincingly beat virtually every notable grandmaster with his trademark aggression. Viktor Korchnoi and Paul Keres are two of the very few with a significant plus record against him. It is also notable that he adopted a more sedate and positional style in his later years; for many chess lovers, the apex of Tal's style corresponds with the period (approximately from 1971 to 1979) when he was able to integrate the solidity of classical chess with the imagination of his youth.^[18]

Of the current top-level players, the Latvian-born Spaniard Alexei Shirov has probably been most influenced or inspired by Tal's sacrificial style. In fact, he studied with Tal as a youth. Many other Latvian grandmasters and masters, for instance Alexander Shabalov and Alvis Vitolins, have played in a similar vein, causing some to speak of a "Latvian School of Chess".^[19] Tal contributed little to opening theory, despite a deep knowledge of most systems, the Sicilian and the Ruy Lopez in particular. But his aggressive use of the Modern Benoni Defense, particularly in his early years, led to a complete re-evaluation of this variation at the time, though it is seldom seen in top-class tournament play in the 21st century.

Notable chess games[link]

• Mikhail Tal vs Alexander Tolush, USSR Championship, Moscow 1957, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E81), 1–0 In a critical last-round game, Tal spares no fireworks as he scores the win which clinches his first Soviet title.
• Boris Spassky vs Mikhail Tal, USSR Championship, Riga 1958, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E26), 0–1 Spassky plays for a win to avoid a playoff for an Interzonal berth, but Tal hangs on by his fingernails before turning the tables in a complex endgame; with the win, he captures his second straight Soviet title.
• Mikhail Tal vs Vasily Smyslov, Yugoslavia Candidates' Tournament 1959, Caro-Kann Defence (B10), 1–0 A daring piece sacrifice to win a Brilliancy Prize game.
• Robert James Fischer vs Mikhail Tal, Belgrade, Candidates' Tournament 1959, Sicilian Defence, Fischer-Sozin Variation (B87), 0–1 In 1959, Bobby Fischer was too young and inexperienced to meet Tal with success. Still, their games from this time are full of interesting tactics.
• Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Tal, World Championship Match, Moscow 1960, 6th game, King's Indian Defence, Fianchetto Variation, Classical Main line (E69), 0–1 An excellent sample of Tal's style from the first Botvinnik-Tal match. Tal sacrifices a knight for the attack and Botvinnik is not able to find a good defence in the given time; his 25th move is a mistake spoiling the game for him.
• Istvan Bilek vs Mikhail Tal, Moscow 1967, King's Indian Attack, Spassky Variation (A05), 0–1 A risky counterattack is crowned with success, winning the Brilliancy Prize.
• Boris Spassky vs Mikhail Tal, Tallinn tt 1973, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Leningrad Variation (E30), 0–1 A game fuelled with tactics from its first moves. Black attacks in the centre and then starts a king chase.
• Mikhail Tal vs Tigran Petrosian, Moscow 1974, Pirc Defence (B08), 1–0 Tal destroys perhaps the greatest defensive player of all time in a miniature.

Writings[link]

Tal was a prolific and highly respected chess writer, serving as editor of the Latvian chess magazine Šahs ("Chess") from 1960 to 1970. He also wrote four books: one on his 1960 World Championship with Botvinnik, his autobiography The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, Attack with Mikhail Tal coauthored by Iakov Damsky, and Tal's Winning Chess Combinations coauthored by Viktor Khenkin. His books are renowned for the detailed narrative of his thinking during the games. American Grandmaster Andrew Soltis reviewed his book on the world championship match as "simply the best book written about a world championship match by a contestant. That shouldn't be a surprise because Tal was the finest writer to become world champion". New Zealand Grandmaster Murray Chandler wrote in the introduction to the 1997 reissued algebraic edition of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal that the book was possibly the best chess book ever written.

One amusing anecdote frequently quoted from Tal's autobiography takes the form of a hypothetical conversation between Tal and a journalist (actually co-author Yakov Damsky). It offers a modest, self-deprecating view of his reputation for unerring calculation at the board:

Journalist: It might be inconvenient to interrupt our profound discussion and change the subject slightly, but I would like to know whether extraneous, abstract thoughts ever enter your head while playing a game?
Tal: Yes. For example, I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of possible variations; but when I began to study hard and work through them, I found to my horror that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the infamous "tree of variations", from which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable rapidity.
And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the classic couplet by Korney Ivanović Chukovsky: "Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the hippopotamus".^[20] I do not know from what associations the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder.
After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: "Well, just let it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on ... of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations, and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting game, I could not refrain from making it.
Journalist: And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the position for 40 minutes, made an accurately-calculated piece sacrifice.

— Mikhail Tal, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.

• Tal, Mikhail, Iakov Damsky and Ken Neat (tr.) (1994). Attack with Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-043-9. 
• Tal, Mikhail (1997). The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-202-4. 
• Tal, Mikhail (2001). Tal–Botvinnik, 1960. Russell Enterprises. ISBN 1-888690-08-9. 

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Burgess, Graham; Nunn, John; Emms, John (2004). The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games (2nd ed.). Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1411-5 
• Evans, Larry (1970). Modern Chess Brilliancies. Fireside. ISBN 0-671-22420-4 

Further reading[link]

• Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. New York: Dover. pp. 76–91. ISBN 0-486-28674-6. 
• Tal, Mikhail (2nd Revised edition (1997)). The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. Everyman. ISBN 0-486-28674-6. 
• Clarke, Peter H. (1991). Mikhail Tal – Master of Sacrifice. B.T.Batsford Ltd. ISBN 0-7134-6899-8. 
• Gallagher, Joe (2001). The Magic of Mikhail Tal. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-266-0.  This covers Tal's career post 1975, and can therefore be seen as a sort of sequel to Tal's own autobiography and games collection, which covers his career up to that point.
• Kasparov, Garry (2003). My Great Predecessors, part II. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-342-X 
• Winter, Edward G. (ed.) (1981). World chess champions. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024094-1. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mikhail Tal

• Mikhail Tal player profile at ChessGames.com
• A biographical article on Tal
• Review of CD book about Tal
• Kasparov interview about Tal

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