Mikhail Tals Best Games 1: The Magic of Youth 1949-1959
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Quality Chess UK LLP
Published:30th Apr '14
Should be back in stock very soon
Mikhail Tal is one of the most celebrated chess players of all time. The eighth World Champion not only won the title at a record young age, but did so using a ferocious, high-risk attacking style. Tal's spectacular games, along with his charming personality and witty sense of humour, endeared him to the chess public like no other player. Cutting-edge chess analysis is complemented by the engaging story of Tal's career and other life events. The book also contains numerous anecdotes from famous players who share their memories of Tal. In this, the first of three volumes, Karolyi explores Tal's early life and career up to the end of 1959, including his victory in the formidable Candidates tournament where he earned the right to challenge Botvinnik for the world title."
"Another nice touch is that Karolyi has asked many of Tal's opponents about the games they played with Tal and their impressions of Tal, which adds an extra human dimension to the book.
But of course, the most important thing about all these books are the games and the analysis and for both I have only the fullest admiration. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Karolyi's annotations is that he doesn't only focus on brilliant Tal attacks, but also spends a lot of time on many of the weird and wonderful endgames that arose as a result of his sacrifices.
It feels a little bit like overdoing things to give 5 stars to a set of three books, but if any Best Games collection has ever deserved it, then this one has! Don't waste any time: get down to the bookshop and enjoy!" -- GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess
"Each game offers a nice mix of explanatory prose and key variations as needed. Karolyi uses strong modern engines to analyze the games but stays in control and doesn't let them take over.
I give Mikhail Tal's Best Games 1 – The Magic of Youth a strong positive recommendation. This is a book that can be enjoyed by readers over a wide rating spectrum and deserves a large audience." -- IM John Donaldson
"While Karolyi includes many of Tal's most famous sacrificial efforts, he also analyses more ‘workman-like' games, including no small number of his endgames… The image of Tal we get through these books is of a much more well-rounded player than commonly thought.
Karolyi also spends a lot of time, and obviously spent a lot of effort, contextualizing each game. In some cases he sheds light on the identity of Tal's opponent, while in others he sketches the situation Tal found himself in while playing the game. Many personal anecdotes are relayed, and the book is much richer for it." -- John Hartmann
"It taught me a lot about Tal's life, character and games (and I already considered myself knowledgeable on the subject). Tibor Karolyi has certainly gone the extra mile, not only with the excellent analysis, but also with his research in other directions. Collecting the memories of Tal's opponents was a wonderful idea, adding plenty of colour to the work." - Sean Marsh, CHESS magazine
"Karolyi tells a lot about the life of the young Tal with numerous anecdotes and brilliant analysis." -- Bab Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad
ISBN: 9781907982774
Dimensions: 238mm x 170mm x 18mm
Weight: 749g
448 pages