Tal Mikhail. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

Everyman Chess, 2012. — 496 p. — ISBN 978-1-85744-202-1, 978-1-85744-820-7, 978-1-85744-905-1.Mikhail Tal, the 'magician from Riga,' was the greatest attacking World Champion of them all, and this enchanting autobiography chronicles his extraordinary career with charm and humor. Dazzling games are interspersed throughout with anecdotes and witty self-interviews, and in typically objective fashion he related both the downs and ups of his encounters. An inveterate smoker and drinker, Tal's life on the circuit was punctuated by bouts in the hospital with kidney problems, but nothing could dull his love for chess and his sheer genius on the chessboard. His illustrious tournament record, up to his death in 1992, is included here in full, along with 100 complete games and nearly as many positions. Tal's annotations in this book are a world apart from ordinary games collections. No reader could fail to be swept along by his passion and vitality as he sets the scene for an encounter and then recounts every psychological twist and turn.Editor’s Foreword
Acknowledgements
Tournament and Match Record
My First Steps
A Young Master
The Road to the World Championship
World Champion
Unwell Again
Recovered
A Candidate Again
My ‘Death’ and my New Life
Recent Events
Index of Opponents
Index of Openings