WIXLIB

12The Life and Games ofMikhail Tai8th- 1 0th2nd!st9th- 1 2thI st1 st-2nd81hJ 174161 1 /158/ 174161 1/156273276 50 40 84 100 40 8!st-4th! st!st1 01151 01'2/ 1 51 21'2/1 558100 100 70 5I stI stI st61hJ9I Jlh/ 1 51 1 1'2/ 1 531hJ69'h.115489I600102575576th-7th8th-9th2nd-5th1 01 1441hJ951'2/ l l81h./1591'21 158I3452I32I47599International Tournament, Wijk aan Zee3rd-4thUSSR Club Team Championship, Thilisi, board I 2nd-4thBiel lnterzonal3rdlnterzonal Play-off v. Petrosian & Portisch6th-7th44th USSR Championship, Moscow61h./l l3'hJ61 2/ 1 931/21891 173I603I0!st4th-5th!st-2nd!st5th-7th1 1/1541hJ691 1 5I Jl/21171 11158/ 1 510367843034th-5th81/211520 1341530Leningrad lnterzonal, LeningradEuropean Team Championship, Bath, board 7Chigorin Memorial Tournament, Sochi4 l st USSR Championship, MoscowMatch Latvia v. Russian Federation, RigaInternational Tournament, Dubna1974International Tournament, Hastings, 1 973/4Olympiad, Nice, board 5International Tournament, LublinUSSR Club Team Championship,Moscow, board IInternational Tournament, HalleInternational Tournament, Novi SadMatch Yugoslavia v. USSR, Belgrade42nd USSR Championship, Leningrad1 st-2nd1975International Tournament, Las PalmasUSSR Team Championship, Riga, board IInternational Tournament, MilanAlekhine Memorial Tournament, Moscow43rd USSR Championship, Erevan2nd-4th1976751272 121977International Tournament, TallinnEuropean Team Championship, Moscow, board 4International Tournament, Las PalmasInternational Tournament, LeningradChigorin Memorial Tournament, Sochi45th USSR Championship, LeningradII32369681978International Tournament, BugojnoUSSR Club Team Championship, Semi-final,Mogilev, board 12

Tournament and Match Record46th USSR Championship, Tuilisi!st-2nd1 1/1750 128622!st14th- 1 5thJI/:z/ 1 61 2/ 1 821/:z/441/:z/814/ 1 77112/ 1 7I70 12II50 65 921551 1 107th- 1 0th2/391 1 55112/1 131/:z/6I5022I41/:z/61 0/ 1 57/1 17/991 1 31 11153535570 30 100 80 40 80 891 1 17/ 1 31 0/ 1 591 1 381 1 361/:z/81 0/ 1 5756545504I01 01 1 561/:z/ 1 35197/ 1462I201979International Tournament, TallinnInternational Tournament, MontrealYugoslavia v. USSR, Teslic, board IUSSR Team Championship, Moscow, board IRiag lnterzonal47th USSR Championship, Minsk132nd-3rd!st-2ndIII31980European Team Championship, Skara, board 2International Tournament, BugojnoUSSR Club Team Championship Semi-final,Jurmala, board IInternational Tournament, ErevanInternational Tournament, Tilburg24th Olympiad, Malta, board 34th6thI2II4828931981USSR Team Tournament, Moscow, board 7International Tournament, TallinnInternational Tournament, MalagaUSSR Team Championship, Moscow, board IInternational Tournament, LvovInternational Tournament, RigaI stI stI st1 st-2ndI st1982International Tournament, PorzInternational Tournament, Wijk aan ZeeInternational Tournament, ErevanInternational Tournament, MoscowMoscow lnterzonalOlympiad, Lucerne, board 5Chigorin Memorial Tournament, Sochi!st5th-9thI st1 st-2nd3rd-4th!stI44888300 IO1983Keres Memorial Tournament, TallinnInternational Tournament, JurmalaUSSR Team Championship, Moscow, board IInternational Tournament, Niksic!st-2nd5th-8th7th-8thII898I 12

14The Life and Games of Mikhail Tai1984European Club Championship, 1 983/4International Tournament, LvovUSSR Club Team Championship, Kiev, board IInternational Tournament, BugojnoUSSR v. Rest of the World, London, board 7International Tournament, AlhenaChigorin Memorial Tournament, SochiInternational Tournament, Titograd3167/ 1321461'2/ 1 32137/1 18/ 1461/'lll l2II2I5232 20 12I 22 90 22 40 1273rd1 st-2nd4th-6th4th-5th81/'l/ 1 4417101 1 591 1 36/ 1 181'2/ 1 54I5523I 90 60 JO0 88112nd-8th3rd1 st-3rd4th-5th1 st-2nd51/'lf971'2/l l91 1471/'l/98/ 141 0/ 1 44466363 20 72 60 3I 100 82nd-3rd6th4th-5thI st-4thI st7/1 16/ 1 11 0/ 1 571'2/1 38/ 1 1326350 8I 8I 8I 100 65th-7th4th- 1 5th1 0th- 1 3th7th3rd61'2/ 1361971/'l/ 1 651101 0/17I3324I II0 64 92 6I 124th-5th10th- 12thJ 1/'lf 541/'l/87/ 150202I5th-6th5th-9thI st-2nd4th-5th3rd1985Keres Memorial Tournament, TallinnUSSR Team Championship, Volgograd, board ITaxco InterzonalInternational Tournament, JurmalaNimzowitsch Memorial Tournament, NrestvedCandidates Tournament, Montpellier3rd-6th-1986European Club Championship, 1 985/6Reykjavik Open TournamentPetrosian Memorial Tournament, ErevanWest Berlin Open TournamentChigorin Memorial Tournament, SochiGoglidze Memorial Tournament, Tbilisi1987International Tournament, ReykjavikInternational Tournament, BrusselsSubotica InterzonalInternational Tournament, JurmalaInternational Tournament, Termas de Rio Hondo1988International Tournament, Wijk aan ZeeSaint John Open TournamentWorld Cup Tournament, BrusselsGoglidze Memorial Tournament, TbilisiWorld Cup Tournament, Reykjavik1989Seniors v. Juniors, CannesInternational Tournament, MarseillesWorld Cup Tournament, Skelleftei\35I 14

Tournament and Match Record151990Bundesliga 1989/90International Tournament, Tel AvivUSSR Club Team Championship, Podolsk,Semi-final, board 1New York Open TournamentGMA Tournament, MoscowManila InterzonalMoscow Open Tournament2nd-4th51/:z/ 1 071/:z/ I I24I09th-1 9th24th-34th29th-39th3rd-8th31/:z/551/:z/9511 I61/:z/ 1 361/:z/9230340 3I 5I 103 70 53rd-6thI st-3rd5166/ 1 I81'211 31991Bundesliga 1990/91International Tournament, San FranciscoInternational Tournament, Buenos AiresMoscow Open TournamentLeningrad Open Tournament58th USSR Championship, Moscow775 I 02 I 84 0 9not known4 I 42 839th-49th6195/1 I4th-1 0th4th- 14th8th- 10th11/:z/311911951/:z/ l I0563041330258-64288-135 106433561992B undesliga 1 991/92International Open Tournament, PorzInternational Open Tournament, SevilleInternational Tournament, BarcelonaMatches1954Match for the title of Soviet Master v. Saigin1960Match for the World Championship v. Botvinnik, Moscow1961Return Match for the World Championship v. Botvinnik,Moscow1965Quarter-Final Candidates Match v. Portisch, BledSemi-final Candidates Match v. Larsen, BledFinal Candidates Match v. Spassky, Tbilisi511z 211z51'2-41'24-7124

16The Life and Games ofMikhail Tai1966Training Match v. Bronstein1968Quarter-Final Candidates Match v. Gligoric, BelgradeSemi-final Candidates Match v. Korchnoi, Moscow1969Candidates 3rd place Match v. Larsen, Eersel2112- 11125112- 31124112-51h312112-5112031257430023307351970USSR Cup, Dnepropetrovsk:v. Bagirovv. Gufeldv. Savon1976Match v. Andersson, Stockholm1980Quarter-Final Candidates Match v. Polugaevsky, Alma Ata3-12112-Jll21 112-21h2I04112-31122112-511201983Interzonal Play-off Match v. Andersson, Malmo3-343-341985Candidates Play-off Match v. Timman, Montpellier1988Training Match v. Timman, Hilversum3112-211223

1 My First StepsDialogue between a chess player and a journalist(instead of an autobiography)Dramatis personae:A CHESS PLAYER. Mikhail TaiA JOURNALIST. Who knows, perhaps alias .JOURNALIST. Well now, 'Shall we begin ?'. Did you think, on first sittingdown at the chessboard, that you would at some time play a match for the WorldChampionship? Incidentally, what do you recall of your first game?CHESS PLAYER. Did I think . Probably not. Matches for the World Cham pionship are fairly rare events, and from the physical point of view it is simply notpossible for many chess fans to take part in them. I say fans, because, after all,even professionals are chess fans.But about my first game. When one ofus first plays chess, he is like a man whohas already caught a dose of microbes of, say, Hong Kong ' flu. Such a man walksalong the street, and he does not yet know that he is ill. He is healthy, he feels fine,but the microbes are doing their work.S omething similar, though less harmful, occurs in chess. You have just beenshown that the knight moves like the Russian letter r, the bishop diagonally, thecastle (note, the castle, not the rook) in a straight line, while the queen (once againnot the fyerz 1, but the queen! ) - likes her own colour. You lose the first game. Butat some time, if your father or elder brother or simply an old friend wants to bekind to you, then you win, and as a result feel very proud of yourself. A few dayspass, and suddenly you involuntarily begin to sense that, without chess, there issomething missing in your life. Then you may rejoice: you belong to that group ofpeople without a natural immunity to the chess disease .This is the way we all begin. And then - the same road; for some it is smooth,for others less so. But when you sit down to play a match for the World Cham pionship, then sometimes you recall that first game.I lost my first serious game. To my cousin. And when, for the first time inmy life, I fell into 'scholar's mate', it was a real tragedy, because at that time I'Fyerz' , derived from Indian, is the special Russian chess term for the queen Translator's note.

18The Life and Games ofMikhail Taiconsidered myself to be an experienced player. The fact is that my elders were ex tremely kind, and while learning I had many more 'victories' to my credit than de feats.And then this tragedy. The first in the whole of my 10 years .Then, for some completely different reason - it seems that I wanted to join adrama group - I entered the Riga Palace of Pioneers. In the corridor I suddenlynoticed a sign on one of the doors: 'Chess Section' . Excellent!, I thought. I'll goin and say to the man who is helping the others that my feelings have been hurt,and he will teach me and show me how to win.I went in. I wasn't shown anything straight away, but I stayed. I stayed, and be came fascinated, perhaps because I was very fortunate with my first chess teacher.His name, Yanis Kruzkop, will not be familiar to many chess players. But he hasdone a great deal for chess, since in all his pupils he has implanted, to put it stylis tically, a whole-hearted love for the game.After a few months of lessons I began winning against my elder brother.But - what a terrible thing - in doing so I did not feel any particular satisfaction,for I saw that he was not playing well. The time had come to seek stronger oppo nents .JOURNALIST. Would you recallfor us, please, all yourfirst games; the first ina tournament, the first against a master, the first to appear in print.CHESS PLAYER. Of course I first played against a master in a simultaneousdisplay. The young master Ratrnir Kholmov, who had just made a very successfulappearance in the 1 947 International Chigorin Memorial Tournament, came toRiga, and therefore we were all highly intrigued. I won in, as it then seemed tome, combinative style.Kholmov TaiRiga simul 1949-

My First Steps1918 axb5 l:.xf3 19 l:.xa7 'ilfxb5 20 gxf3 (20 l:.bl l:.xc3 !) 20.'i!fg5 21 bl l:tg80-1My first serious tournament was the Riga Youth Championship. At that time Ihad a fourth category rating, obtained at the Pioneers' Palace. It was a pretty lowrating, but according to some unofficial data I was considered to be a promisingplayer, and was allowed into the Championship.I started very well: three out of three. But then for the first, and, unfortunately,not the last time, I had to go directly from the tournament to hospital on accountof scarlet fever. And on the same day that this occurred, a mass match over 100boards was held in Riga between adults and young players. I played somewherearound board 45, and an indication of the way I was feeling canbe gained fromthe fact that I was mated as W hite in about 8 moves. Incidentally, it was one of mythree starting wins which first appeared in print, in the All-Union youth magazine'Zatyeynik.Tal - LeonovRiga Junior Ch Semi-final, 194919 l:.f6!A blockading sacrifice, by which W hite prevents 19.f5, while threat 19 'ilffS 20 l:.f4 i.d7 21 lLlg4 The pressure mounts. 21 .i.eS 22lLlf6 ! lLlxf6 23 exf6 l:.c7 24 fxg7 xg7 25 'i!fe5 1-0ening 20 l:.xh6.JOURNALIST. .Well? Did you cut the article out?CHESS PLAYER. No, I didn't - but I was very pleased with it!JOURNALIST. And had you reached the level where you would dream aboutgames or adjourned positions ?CHESS PLAYER. This happened to me even a little earlier, i n 1947, andturned out excellently! In one of the innumerable tournaments at the Pioneers'

The Life and Games ofMikhail Tai20Palace I adjourned a game against Krapivner, a second category player, in what Ithen considered to be a hopeless position. That evening I tried everything I couldin the position, for the resumption was the following morning. I could find noth ing, and so I decided that I would go in and resign. But during the night I dreamedabout some unintelligible idea connected- I remember this clearly- with the ad journed game. On resumption I thought for some10 minutes, and found it!But then, unfortunately, I dropped below 'that level', and never again in my lifehave I dreamed about an adjourned game.Then, by-passing the third category, I succeeded in gaining the second cate gory rating in my next tournament, and I now began to take a real interest in chess.And if we are still talking about 'firsts', then I must recall my first departure fromRiga to the 'International', as we then proudly considered it, Tournament of Pio neers' Palaces of the three Baltic Republics. We had to travel to Vilnius, the capi tal of Lithuania.Our team was the youngest there. I, for instance, was only12 years old. And in1 6- 1 7my first game against the Estonians my opponent was a very adult-lookingyear old. Evidently the Estonian players had come only t o win, which would ex plain the fact that their team was not altogether made up of Pioneers. And it wasnot at all surprising that the Riga team took last place, while on second board Iscored only one point out of four. But it was this point that proved decisive, sinceI won against the Estonian player, and as a result the home team took first place.Probably because of this, for the first time in my life, I was awarded the prize forthe most interesting game of the event, although I was highly sceptical about myPeterthe First - was very fine, but terribly heavy. And when it was presented to me, itcreative success. The prize - a luxurious edition of Aleksei Tolstoy's bookseemed only slightly easier to drag it back to the table where our team was sitting,than it had been to win the award-winning game .In the next year,1 949, I took part in official All-Union events for the first time,when I played for the Latvian youth team in the Championship of the Soviet Un ion. Incidentally, during the six years that my age allowed me to take part in youthevents, I progressed from the last to the first board in our team. In my first game- it was in the match with Byelorussia- I won, but this success proved to be myonly one. I recall a curious encounter from the tournament with the Lithuaniancandidate master Mendeleevsky, which at one point shook my youthful belief inthe irreproachability of the elite.The point is that a year earlier in the Match-Tournament for the World Cham pionship, Botvinnik had sacrificed a pawn in the Slav Defence, and had won verynicely against Euwe. At that time I frequently played this opening, and duringthe game I established the fact that Mendeleevsky and I were conscientiously

21My First Stepsfollowing the steps o f Botvinnik and Euwe. In addition, I recalled very well thatthe theorists had condemned the pawn capture, and had recommended anothermove instead. In particular, Botvinnik had stated this in his notes to the game.And at the board I thought for a very long time, trying to disprove Botvinnik, be cause I thought to myself: surely Euwe, such an expert on theory, couldn't havemade a mistake. In the end, 'boldly' following the Dutch Ex-World Champion, Ialso obtained a lost position, and lengthy thought led to my first loss on time and,thank God, this was the only one in all my years of chess.JOURNALIST. Does this mean that your 'single combat' with the WorldChampion began at this point? Or should account be taken of the summer of1948, when you set off with a chessboard to play against Botvinnik, who had ar rived on holiday ?CHESS PLAYER. This story is widely known, and I always smile, howevermany times I hear it. But it is evidently time to explain that it is merely a story. Itis true that Botvinnik, after winning the World Championship, took a holiday bythe sea at Riga. I knew about this and wanted to play against him, but there thetruth ends. W hen I told my family of my intentions they gently dissuaded mefrom issuing a challenge to the World Champion. But then your journalistic col leagues heard about it, and immediately 'placed' a chessboard under my arm, sentme off to play Botvinnik, and- how can there be any intrigue without women! introduced into the act a woman, who barred my way at the World Champion'sdoor.In the following Youth Championship of the country I was already playing ona higher board for Latvia, and on this occasion I was taught an instructive lesson.We had to play a preliminary match with our contemporaries from the RussianFederation, for which we travelled to Yaroslavl. My opponent was a strong player,the very likeable Victor Golenishev, a future master. Our first game progressedwith changing fortunes, and was adjourned in an ending slightly inferior for me.But analysis disclosed that I could obtain by force a position with a knight againsttwo bishops, and nothing else on the board.Only relatively recently, eighteen months to two years previously, had Ilearned to give mate to a lone king with two bishops, and, naturally, did not sus pect that, having a knight, I would face any difficulties. Therefore, when this po sition was reached, I began trying to catch my opponent's eye, expecting an offerof a draw. But play went on, and still no offer, and after 10-12 moves I began tosense that it was not at all so simple. In the end I lost the game, and only managedto gain my revenge 11 years later in my second match with Botvinnik, when Iwon a similar ending ( 17th Match game, 1961 -Translator's note).

22The Life and Games ofMikhail TaiA striking example of the benefit of youth tournaments !On that occasion, in Yaroslavl, we did not reach the final. But in the followingyear, as a result of a very interesting trip to Kishinyev - I had never before been sofar away from home, and people looked at us as foreigners - we reached the final,since we defeated the Moldavian lads. There I played what was evidently the firstsuccessful ending in my life. Everyone thought that the bishop ending where Iwas a pawn up would be a draw, but we managed to find an interesting bishop ma noeuvre which gave White a forced win.Tai GitermanUSSR Junior Team Ch, 1951-44 'iti f3 i.f7 45 i.b7 i.g8 46 'iti e3 i.f7 47 i.f3 i.g8 48 'iti d3 i.a2 49 i.e2i.d

1992, and the chess world is a much poorer place for his absence. I was delighted to be asked by Cadogan Books to work on a new edition of his classic book The Life and Games of Mikhail Ta i, which covers his career up to 1975. This is one of those rare c