In the second half of the 20th century, chess was wildly popular in the Soviet Union, and Mikhail Tal was one of the brightest grandmasters of that time. He became the eighth world champion. He was nicknamed "Chess Paganini" for his original and exciting style of play.
Biography: early years
Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal was born on November 9, 1936 in Riga. He has Jewish roots. Parents were cousins and brothers to each other. Probably, consanguinity was the reason for the anomaly of intrauterine development of Mikhail: he was missing two fingers on his right hand. My father worked as the chief neurologist in Latvia.
There is a stain in Tal's biography that he tried to hide. According to rumors, his biological father was a completely different person, a family friend and subsequently the second husband of Tal's mother - Robert Papirmeister. Mikhail himself and a narrow circle of his acquaintances knew about this. However, after Tal's death, his widow and daughter denied this assumption.
When Mikhail was barely 1, 5 years old, he suffered a severe form of meningitis. The disease has left a serious imprint on his health. It will fail Tal all his life, but he never grumbled about fate.
The absence of two fingers on his right hand did not prevent Mikhail from mastering the piano. He started playing chess at the age of nine. A bit late by modern standards. However, in just a couple of years, he went from a beginner player to a rising chess star.
At the age of thirteen, Mikhail entered the youth team of the Latvian SSR, and four years later became the champion of the republic.
Career
In 1957 Tal, having defeated the strongest chess players in the country, became the champion of the Union. The following year, he consolidated the result and received the right to play in the interzonal tournament. Mikhail passed it brilliantly, as well as the championship of the applicants. Thanks to these victories, in 1960 Tal got the right to play in the World Cup. In the final, his opponent was Mikhail Botvinnik himself, whom he idolized and considered an idol in the world of chess. The tournament was held at the Moscow Pushkin Theater. Before that Botvinnik and Tal had never met on the board.
Mikhail's desperate style of play was too tough for the reigning world champion. Tal celebrated the victory ahead of schedule with a score of 12, 5: 8, 5 points. He became the youngest world champion in the history of chess, the eighth in a row. Only in 25 years famous Garry Kasparov will "surpass" him.
A year later, Mikhail “lost” the champion's crown. He will be defeated many times on the board, but that did not stop him from entering chess history as a flamboyant player with a beautiful combinational style. Tal's games are still invariably versed in chess textbooks.
In 1961, Mikhail began to have health problems. The chess player was tormented by terrible kidney pains. At that time, colic was very difficult to stop. The attacks were repeated almost daily. Tal had to participate in tournaments while on injections.
Soon, doctors found out that Mikhail had a rare congenital pathology: a third kidney and a third ureter. At the end of the 60s, the chess player will fall under the surgeon's knife. After the operation, he will feel better and even sunbathe as before. But Mikhail could not return the champion crown.
Personal life
Mikhail Tal was officially married three times. Sally Landau became his first wife. Then she was already a very famous theater actress and pop singer, was a member of the popular Eddie Rosner ensemble, collaborated with Raymond Pauls. Sally enjoyed great success with the male half of the Union. Tal had to make a lot of efforts to get her to agree to become his wife. Their relationship was rocky, but Sally gave up in the end.
Tal and Landau's wedding took place in 1959, a few months before Mikhail's championship. Soon after Tal's triumph, family life went downhill. By that time, Landau was already pregnant. Despite this, the chess player's house was turned into a courtyard. There were always people in it. Tal loved to organize tournaments right in his own home, as well as teach the game to the pioneers.
In October 1960, the son of Hera was born. The upbringing of the child fell on Sally's shoulders, since Mikhail was passionate about chess. He adored his wife and son, but at the same time allowed himself to have fleeting romances with other women. Tal was not shy and did not hide it. He took his mistress with him to every tournament. When the party called him for a conversation, he said that no one could stop him from meeting women. In response, the chess player was forbidden to leave the Union. After 11 years of marriage, Sally filed for divorce.
Tal was not alone for long. In the early 70s, he married again. A little-known actress from Georgia became his second wife. The marriage with her lasted only a few days.
Soon Mikhail met Angelina Petukhova. The meeting took place in her native Riga, where she worked as a typist in the local magazine "Chess". Their romance was impetuous, after a couple of months they got married. In 1975, daughter Jeanne was born.
Angelina, unlike Sally, became a housewife. For a while, she managed to keep her husband in control. However, his polygamy still prevailed. Tal continued his adventures on the side, as during his marriage with Sally. Soon Angelina emigrated to Germany with her daughter. Tal remained in the Union.
In the early 90s, Marina Filatova was constantly with Mikhail. It is known that she is from Leningrad. The chess player's friends openly disliked her, but it was Marina who was with him in the last days of his life.
Tal died in 1992 in a Moscow hospital. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Riga.
