Table of Contents
Key to Symbols used 6
Publisher's Foreword 7
Compiler's Foreword Oleg Stetsko 9
A Soviet Chess Romantic Oleg Stetsko 11
The 1950s
1 The 1950s, Tal - Lev Aronin, Moscow 1957 27
2 Central congestion, Paul Keres - Tal, Moscow 1957 33
3 Flaming initiative, Tal - Efim Geller, Riga 1958 37
4 Turning tables, Boris Spassky - Tal, Riga 1958 41
5 Offside rule, Tal - Oscar Panno, Portoroz Interzonal 1958 48
6 Typical Sicilian sacrifices, Tal - Lev Polugaevsky, Tbilisi 1959 55
7 "Active" king, Josef Kupper - Tal, Zurich 1959 59
8 Trick and treat, Tal - Vasily Smyslov, Bled 1959 61
9 Knight or racehorse, Tal - Svetozar Gligoric, Zagreb 1959 66
10 Original zugzwang, Tal - Robert Fischer, Zagreb 1959 70
11 Psychological duel, Robert Fischer - Tal, Belgrade 1959 74
12 Modesty embellishes virtue, Tal - Svein Johannessen, Riga 1959 76
The 1960s
13 The 1960s, Tal - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow (1) 1960 81
14 Stunned spectators, Mikhail Botvinnik - Tal, Moscow (6) 1960 88
15 Botvinnik's territory, Tal - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow (11) 1960 99
16 Creative achievement, Tal - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow (19) 1960 111
17 French immodesty, Robert Fischer - Tal, Leipzig Olympiad 1960 116
18 Two evils, Tal - Wolfgang Unzicker, Stockholm 1960/61 120
19 Two knights, Tal - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow (8) 1961 122
20 Répéter la defense, Tal - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow (12) 1961 125
21 Queen sacrifice, Roman Toran - Tal, Oberhausen 1961 129
22 Cursed variation, Tal - Fridrik Olafsson, Bled 1961 132
23 Into the storm, Tal - Bruno Parma, Bled 1961 136
24 Undue passivity, Jan Hein Donner - Tal, Bled 1961 140
25 Intrepid pawn, Tal - Dieter Mohrlok, Varna Olympiad 1962 144
26 Najdorf kiss, Tal - Hans Hecht, Varna Olympiad 1962 147
27 Unsuitable blockades, Arkady Novopashin - Tal, Yerevan 1962 151
28 Pawn avalanche, Tal - Theodor Ghitescu, Miskolc 1963 156
29 Fat goose, Tal - Istvan Bilek, Miskolc 1963 159
30 Pleasant surprise, Tal - Svetozar Gligoric, Moscow 1963 163
31 Right rook, Tal - Nikola Padevsky, Moscow 1963 167
32 Centralized rooks, Freysteinn Thorbergsson - Tal, Reykjavik 1964 170
33 Tactical duel, Larry Evans - Tal, Amsterdam Interzonal 1964 173
34 Endgame beauty, Vasily Smyslov - Tal, Moscow 1964 177
35 Mutual oversight, Tal - Evgeny Vasiukov, Kiev 1964 184
36 Critical positions, Tal - Lajos Portisch, Bled (2) 1965 188
37 Battering ram, Tal - Lajos Portisch, Bled (4) 1965 193
38 Immobilized knights, Tal - Lajos Portisch, Bled (8) 1965 198
39 Double finesse, Tal - Bent Larsen, Bled (2) 1965 201
40 Dubious variation, Tal - Bent Larsen, Bled (6) 1965 205
41 Enticing variation, Tal - Bent Larsen, Bled (10) 1965 210
42 Deflection, Tal - Bjorn Brinck-Claussen, Havana Olympiad 1966 216
43 Tempting sacrifices, Tal - Miroslav Filip, Moscow 1967 220
44 Winawer win, Tal - Jan Hein Donner, Wijk aan Zee 1968 223
45 Storm clouds, Tal - Svetozar Gligoric, Belgrade (9) 1968 226
46 Resonating pawn ending, Tal - Viktor Korchnoi, Moscow (1) 1968 232
47 Poetry to prose, Tal - Bukhuti Gurgenidze, Alma-Ata 1969 237
48 Uncompromising struggle, Bent Larsen - Tal, Eersel (5) 1969 242
The 1970s
49 The 1970s, Tal - Miguel Najdorf, Belgrade (3) 1970 247
50 Combative ruse, Tal - Vladimir Bagirov, Dnepropetrovsk (2.3) 1970 252
51 Illusory defence, Vitaly Tseshkovsky - Tal, Sochi 1970 258
52 The old Tal, Tal - Paul Keres, Tallinn 1973 262
53 Achilles' heel, Boris Spassky - Tal, Tallinn 1973 265
54 Too optimistic, Bent Larsen-Tal, Leningrad 1973 269
55 One "right" step, Tal - Laszlo Szabo, Sochi 1973 273
56 Attack and defence, Tal - Lhamsuren Myagmarsuren, Nice (ol) 1974 276
57 Transformations, Tal - Mark Dvoretsky, Leningrad 1974 281
58 Old malady, Tal - Michael Stean, Moscow 1975 285
59 Time to sacrifice, Tal - Ulf Andersson, Stockholm (5) 1976 288
60 Challenge accepted, Tal - Gennady Kuzmin, Leningrad 1977 293
61 Successful entrechat, Mihai Suba - Tal, Sochi 1977 296
62 Crazy finale, Tal - Adrian Mikhalchishin, Tbilisi 1978 300
63 Exchange of fire, Alexander Beliavsky - Tal, Tbilisi 1978 304
64 Decisive tempo, Boris Spassky - Tal, Montreal 1979 307
65 Unusual rook, Tal - Robert Hubner, Montreal 1979 311
66 French complications, Tal - Lajos Portisch, Montreal 1979 314
67 Sowing the wind, Tal - Dragoljub Velimirovic, Teslic (1) 1979 318
68 Foreign outpost, Lev Polugaevsky - Tal, Riga Interzonal 1979 324
The 1980s
69 The 1980s, Tal - Boris Spassky, Tilburg 1980 329
70 Pound of Flesch, Tal - Janos Flesch, Lvov 1981 333
71 Miles worse, Tal - Anthony Miles, Porz 1981/82 336
72 Darkest squares, Tal - Yuri Anikaev, Moscow 1982 338
73 Spurious counterplay, Tal - Murray Chandler, Sochi 1982 341
74 Anti-draughts, Tal - Peter Szekely, Tallinn 1983 344
75 Exchanged smiles, Tal - John Nunn, London (3) 1984 347
76 Almost 100% useful, Tal - Lubomir Ftacnik, Naestved 1985 351
77 Battle of Kulikovo, Tal - Johann Hjartarson, Reykjavik 1987 354
78 Vaganian inspiration, Tal - Andrei Sokolov, Brussels 1988 359
79 7th rank devastation, Tal - Jonathan Speelman, Reykjavik 1988 363
80 Impermissible luxury, Tal - Eduard Meduna, Bundesliga 1989 366
Biographical Sketch Igor Berdichevsky 369
Books about Tal 373
Tournament and Match Record 374
Index of Openings 382
Index of Opponents 384
