THE
MAGIC OF MIKHAIL TAL
by Joe Gallagher
Few
players have captured the public imagination like the former World Champion
Mikhail Tal. With his unique attacking style, he dazzled the chess world on the
way to becoming the youngest ever World Champion (at that time) in 1960, winning
friends around the world for both his entertaining play and engaging personality.
Although Tal’s championship reign was brief, he continued to delight his many
fans with brilliant sacrificial games until his death in 1992.
In
this book Grandmaster Joe Gallagher takes a fresh look at Tal’s games and
career, focusing on the previously neglected period from 1975 to 1992 during
which he played some of his most accomplished chess. Despite periodic bouts of
ill-health Tal occupied a place in the world’s top ten for most of this period,
winning many top-class events and securing dozens of wonderful victories, many
of which are annotated in detail here.
Grandmaster
Joe Gallagher is one of the most successful players on the European tournament
scene. He has written numerous critically and publicly acclaimed books on all
aspects of the game. His most recent books include The Trompowsky and c3
Sicilian and he was also a co-author of the definitive openings work Nunn’s
Chess Openings.