Play Chess Against Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal (1936-1992), the Magician from Riga, world champion at 23, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

Play Tal now

Portrait of Mikhail Tal — Mikhail Tal, 1936-1992.

Black · Mikhail Tal10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Mikhail Talhistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentMikhail TalStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Mikhail Tal remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Mikhail Tal1936-1992

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Tal, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

Start game locks these settings and begins the selected clock. Change setup unlocks them for a new game.

About Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal thinking at the chessboard in 1973

Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) was the eighth world champion and the most beloved attacking player in chess history. In 1960, at 23, he blew Mikhail Botvinnik off the board with sacrifices that seemed to defy calculation, becoming the youngest champion the game had seen. Ill health dogged him for decades, yet he won six Soviet titles, set a record 95-game unbeaten streak and, at 51, took the World Blitz Championship ahead of a field with Kasparov and Karpov. He is still the most quoted player in chess: there are two kinds of sacrifices, he said, correct ones and mine.

World champion at 23Beat Botvinnik 12.5 to 8.5 in 1960, the youngest champion up to that time

6x USSR championSix Soviet titles between 1957 and 1978, a record he shares with Botvinnik

95 games unbeatenWent a full year without defeat in 1973-74, a record streak at the time

World blitz champion 1988Won the blitz crown in Saint John ahead of a field with Kasparov and Karpov

1936
Born in Riga
Mikhail Tal was born on 9 November 1936 in Riga, Latvia. A brilliant, sickly boy, he devoured chess books as fast as anyone could supply them.
1953
Latvian champion
Won the championship of Latvia as a teenager and began to climb the Soviet chess ladder.
1957
Soviet champion at 20
Won the USSR championship in Moscow, the youngest Soviet champion in history up to that point.
1959
Candidates winner
Won the Candidates tournament in Yugoslavia ahead of Keres, earning the right to challenge Botvinnik.
1960
World champion
Beat Botvinnik 12.5 to 8.5 in Moscow, at 23 the youngest world champion the game had seen.
1961
Rematch lost
A fully prepared Botvinnik took the rematch 13 to 8, and Tal's reign ended after one year.
1974
95 games unbeaten
Completed a year-long run without defeat, 95 games, a record streak for its time, while his kidneys failed him.
1979
Montreal co-winner
Shared first with Karpov at the Montreal super-tournament, ahead of a field of the world's best.
1988
World blitz champion
Won the World Blitz Championship in Saint John, Canada, at 51, ahead of a field including Kasparov and Karpov.
1992
Death in Moscow
Died on 28 June 1992. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal remains the most loved chess autobiography ever written.