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| Posted by andy94 blitzbrain.com 10/30/2008 10:42:19 Play online chess |  Subject: The Magician from Riga.Message: I know some quotations on chess by him. "There are two kinds of sacrifices: sound ones and mine." "To play for a draw, at any rate with White, is to some degree a crime against chess." "They compare me to Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. He made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one!" Referring to his piece sacrifices: "They can only take them one at a time!" "If playing chess were made illegal by law, I would become an outlaw." And about Bobby Fischer: "It is also important to remember that Bobby Fischer was a real chess gentleman during games. He was always very fair and very correct." Unfortunately he suffered from bad health. He was a heavy drinker and a chain smoker. In 1962, in Curaçao, while he was admitted to hospital, he received a famous visit by Bobby Fischer. Anyway, I'm sure health problems destroyed Tal's career, but the question is: how much? | ||||||||||
| Posted by ionadowman blitzbrain.com 10/30/2008 12:18:47 Play online chess | I have long thought... Message: Ever since back in 1971 when I read P.H. Clarke's book "Tal's Best Games of Chess (1951-1960)" I have been a Tal fan. Over 100 years ago, H. N. Pillsbury once remarked that when making combinations, you make sure that "when the fire was out, it isn't out!" Well, Tal seemed to be able to ignite the dampest lump of vegetable matter at will. How I wish I could play as he did! I liked what little I've heard of his sense of humour as well. Sometime during the 1980s, Mischa won the World Blitz Championship. In receiving his prize, Tal welcomed the opportunity once more of becoming "ex-World Champion". In an interview for a chess magazine on one occasion, the subject of Tal's fondness for fiery fluids was touched upon, though rather obliquely. When asked whether he would play for a Russian team or the "Vodka" team, Tal rather thought he would choose the latter. Tal's caveat notwithstanding, probably he stands best in comparison with Em. Lasker than with anyone else. In Lasker's view, Chess was neither a science, nor an art, but a fight. I'm sure Tal approached the game in the same way. Such are my impressions of my all-time favorite player. Cheers, Ion | ||||||||||
| Posted by tag1153 blitzbrain.com 10/31/2008 12:14:34 Play online chess | An example of his magic..... Message:  gameknot.com ——— Chess: Karpov turns the screw — Karpov-Smyslov, Moscow 1972. White has come out of the opening with a certain spatial advantage. Now he has to find a plan. Warning: you're not looking for a sacrificial combination – this is Karpovian, it's all about subtlety and strategy. RB: I've nominated Karpov's Strategic Wins 1: The Making of a Champion by Tibor Karolyi (Quality Chess) for our book of the year award. It's a year-on-year account of Karpov's career from 1961 to 1985, nicely laid out and well annotated. Karpov's style is positional, unhurried and exceptionally deep. Constantly alert to the counter-stroke, he likes to make small improving moves. Some of Karpov's choices remain, even with the help of a chess computer, mysterious, as ... Posted by ionadowman | blitzbrain.com 10/31/2008 14:18:25 Play online chess Hi Thomas...Message: 'Just one round after the positional triumph over Khasin came one from a different mould. It amonf the first of Tal's games that I ever saw, and I well remember being amazed by its sheer ferocity. 'Furthermore it illustrates very clearly, even starkly, ... practical approach to the opening, attacking inclination, and wonderful skill on one side; on the other carelessness, lack of technique and overindulgence in combinative play and fantasy. And all the time you can feel [Tal's] spirit, determination and exuberance coming through. A game full of life and excitement.' P.H.Clarke "Mikhail Tal's Best Games of Chess". One regrets that a long time addiction to alcohol and tobacco - and morphine as well it seems - did so much to depreciate Tal's talent, finally to cut it short well before Tal reached 60 years of age. I recall with horror Tal crashing and burning at the Leningrad Interzonal in 1973, after having posted a record to rival Fischer's contemporaneous 20 World Championship cycle wins in a row. Tal had gone 80+ (83 I think) Master level games without a defeat. But then, maybe the sort of person who plays chess like that is the sort of person who is going to ply himself with dangerous organic chemicals. Who knows? Just as an aside, I guess in the world of sport we sometimes have to take the rough with the smooth. Though never a John McInroe fan, I could not help but admire his fighting qualities. Sure, his ranting and raving on the court was embarrassing and unpleasant to watch and hear. Yet it has always seemed to me that what within McInroe that made him capable of extraordinary winning or saving shots was also responsible for his flying off the handle when he misliked an umpire's call. McInroe called on a good deal of emotion in his play. That was his style. What the connection might be between Tal's fiery chess play, fantasy and imagination and his overindulgences, I wouldn't have the foggiest. I'll leave that to the psychoanalysts. Cheers, Ion ——— Winning in long run requires motivation — Chess is a worthy pursuit for all seasons of life; 6- and 7-year-olds can play a pretty good game. In recent years, chess players in their early teens have become grandmasters. And a 20-year-old, Magnus Carlsen, is the highest-rated chess player in the world. Meanwhile, 82-year-old Viktor Korchnoi is still capable of winning tournaments, though not at the same level as before. When do chess grandmasters reach their peak? The ballpark figure used to be 35. But two chess players in their early 40s — the champion, Viswanathan Anand; and the challenger, Boris Gelfand — will face off for the world title in the summer. Gelfand embraces the age factor. He sees no decline in his ... Posted by ionadowman | blitzbrain.com 11/02/2008 01:06:35 Play online chess In a game I recently annotated... Message: For a game just as wild and of the same stamp, I would commend you to an earlier annotated game in my list: "Die Hard: It's always too early to resign" between ian_want and nathanman22. To be sure there are several mistakes in the game, but there are some brilliant moves as well that shine all the brighter(especially White's astonishing endgame Q sac that ought at least to have saved the game). But for sheer overall entertainment it's a hard game to go past. Cheers, Ion ——— Chess: European Players Are Well Paid for Team Play — The difference between the game in the United States and Europe is easy to illustrate by comparing two team competitions currently under way. The European Club Cup, which ends Sunday in Slovenia, features many of the world’s best chess players, among them Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler, Teimour Radjabov and Ruslan Ponomariov. They have no particular loyalty to their chess clubs. They are playing because they are being paid, often quite well. And the clubs with the deepest pockets, like OSG Baden Baden in Germany and Tomsk-400 in Russia, are the only ones with a legitimate chance to win the chess tournament. Compare that to the setup of the United States Chess League, which just finished its fifth week of ... Posted by ccmcacollister | blitzbrain.com 11/02/2008 13:56:14 Play online chess ION .... Message: Tobacco? Well its nice to relax after a day of someone poking a cold plastic tube ... lets rephrase that and just say you'd just about rather have the stones stay IN, even if it is like sliding a jagged jellybean .... well never mind again there. Suffice to say, the steady knaw may be ignored, its those totally untimed stilletto-like pokes of back to front joy that play havoc with the analysis tree :)) ——— Rule change raises hopes of Vishy Anand meeting Magnus Carlsen — A change to the world chess championship candidates rules has raised hopes that India's Vishy Anand, the holder, will meet Norway's Magnus Carlsen, 20, who tops the chess rankings, in a 2012 or 2013 title match. The 2011 candidates in Kazan was settled by knock-out, where Russia's Alex Grischuk controversially made quick draws in the long classical games to reach the final via blitz tie-breaks. Subsequently, elite chess grandmasters voted for an all-play-all format. APAs were used from 1950 until 1962, when Bobby Fischer claimed that his Soviet rivals had arranged results to minimise the American's chances. The chess tournament was replaced by matches, in which Fischer famously destroyed ... Posted by ccmcacollister | blitzbrain.com 11/02/2008 14:12:58 Play online chess PS ... Message: ——— Good at Chess? A Hedge Fund May Want to Hire You — Boaz Weinstein’s opening move on Wall Street came as a result of chess. Mr. Weinstein, now a star hedge fund manager, was trying to get a summer job at Goldman Sachs in 1991, when he was just 18. After being told there was nothing available, he stopped in a bathroom on the way out and ran into David F. Delucia, then the head of corporate bond trading. Mr. Delucia, who is ranked as an expert by the United States Chess Federation, had played Mr. Weinstein, ranked as a master by the chess federation, many times. He arranged for a series of interviews until Mr. Weinstein got an internship on a Goldman trading desk. Mr. Weinstein is not alone among Wall Streeters who have a chess ... Posted by ionadowman | blitzbrain.com 11/02/2008 20:38:31 Play online chess Craig...Message: But what you say does seem to confirm my earlier guess about why Tal seemed sometimes to lose control of his pieces. Cheers, Ion |