After the world chess champion Magnus Carlsen collected two more world titles last week in Dubai, winning the FIDE Rapid and Blitz championships, new comparisons were inevitable. Now he might be compared to a horse or a long distance runner, I thought.
The famous horse I had in mind was Secretariat, one of the best thoroughbreds of the last century, having swept the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes – in record times in 1973. The long-distance runner was Emil Zátopek, winning three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, in the 5 km and 10 km races, and the marathon.
Carlsen evoked comparisons from an early age. In January 2004 in the Washington Post, I called the 13-year-old Carlsen the Mozart of Chess for the splendid finish of his game against Sipke Ernest at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
With a conclusion like this Magnus was soon being compared to Mikhail Tal, the most imaginative world champion.
In 1956, two magnificent players appeared on the chess horizon: the 13-year-old Bobby Fischer created "the game of the century" against Donald Byrne at the U.S. Championship in New York and Tal played a dramatic, nail-biting game against Alexander Tolush in the last round of the Soviet Championship in Leningrad. Next year, both Fischer and Tal won the championships of their countries for the first time. In 1960 Tal became the world champion.
Several commentators, including Garry Kasparov, tried to dissect the amazing Tal-Tolush game with the help of the computers, but even the machines were confused by the wild play and showed different solutions.
I saw the power of Tal's imagination in the Dutch town of Eersel in 1969. Misha played Bent Larsen for the right to be the first reserve in the upcoming Candidates matches. While my ten-game match against the Dutch champion Hans Ree was going rather well (and I eventually won 7-3), Tal was losing to Larsen.
No matter how the matches were going, we would often meet with Misha after the games in the hotel pub filled with smoke from cheap cigars and talk about chess. One evening I was showing him a King's Gambit game I played in Czechoslovakia shortly after he became the world champion. I thought he would be pleased to see how his wonderful rook move 18.Re1 from his game against Tolush was interpreted elsewhere. Not so.
I didn't even reach the key position when Tal suddenly covered the pieces with his hand and said: "Don't tell me what you've played. I know what you did!" And without hesitation, the magician from Riga placed my bishop on a square where it could have been taken by the queen and bishop. It was perhaps not the best move, but it was shocking and surprising.
I showed the position recently to an enthusiastic Czech club player Vaclav Chladek and he came up rather quickly with the same move Tal suggested. But he admitted he was looking for something extraordinary or even ridiculous. Tal's move didn't cross my mind during the game: my brain was seeking something else. The computers later found another bishop sacrifice.
I was visiting Boris Spassky in Paris when we learned the sad news that Misha Tal died on Sunday, June 28, 1992. Twenty-two years later Tal's name and his creations are as popular as ever.
Quality Chess launched a trilogy Mikhail Tal's Best Games, written by the Hungarian IM Tibor Karolyi. The first volume The Magic of Youth covers Tal's play from 1949 till 1959. The author selected great games, scrutinized them with computers and delivered new comments. He also sought input from Tal's opponents, friends and coaches, creating a vivid picture of Tal as a person. Among many books written about Tal, Karolyi's work is stands out.
Carlsen's image by Anastasiya Karlovich
Original column here – Copyright Huffington Post
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