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.
For people unfamiliar with the game of chess, they can often be intimidated or bored by the prospect of trying it, but we know more about the game than we recognize, and we often "play" the game more than we realize. Luckily, the rules and strategies have been covered by several experts in books, and beyond that, the elements of the game can be understood through literature like that of Machiavelli. Learn more about this fascinating game with these book picks.
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