Michail Tal'

                                                                                                  Known in the chess world as "the wizard of Riga", Tal' is still considered by many to be the greatest attacker in the history of chess. His natural talent for combination play allowed him to snatch the world title from Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960, at the age of twenty-four, becoming the youngest world champion in history until the 1985 edition, when the record was taken from him by Garri Kasparov, who became champion at the age of twenty-two. Since 2006, the Mikhail Tal Memorial, a prestigious tournament named after him, has been held in Moscow. In 2021, a blitz tournament took place in Riga during the FIDE Grand Swiss on the occasion of the eighty-fifth anniversary of his birth. Michail Tal' became passionate about chess when he saw it being played in the waiting room of his doctor father's office and began to study it seriously around the age of ten. Tal' was among the very few great masters (perhaps the only one) to have obtained this title without first having passed the intermediate level of international master. In fact, FIDE decided to ignore the rules and granted him the title immediately after his victory in the 24th Soviet championship in Moscow 1957: at the time the youngest winner in the history of the USSR championships. He was a formidable flash player: in the important blitz tournament in Castelnuovo (Yugoslavia) in 1970 he placed second behind Fischer, ahead of Korčnoj, Petrosyan, Smyslov, Bronštejn, Reshevsky and others. In the lightning world championship in Saint John (Canada) in 1988 he achieved, at the age of fifty-two, a sensational success: he won ahead of Kasparov, Karpov, Vaganian and other very strong grandmasters. Tal' participated with the Soviet Union in eight chess Olympiads from 1958 to 1982. He played 101 games, with an overall result of +65 =34 –2. His percentage of 81.2 percent is the best of anyone who has participated in at least four Olympics. He won 15 medals: 13 gold (5 individual and eight team) and two individual silver. He participated in 21 Soviet championships (he won 6); only Geller and Tajmanov surpassed him, with 23 participations. The world championship took place in Moscow, a best of 24 matches. Tal reached the 12.5 points needed to win after 21 games. According to FIDE rules, Botvinnik had the right to challenge the new champion in a rematch. It was the 1961 world championship where Botvinnik won. Tal' holds or has held some notable chess records: Soviet championships won: 6 from 1957 to 1978 (tied with Mikhail Botvinnik). the youngest winner of a Soviet championship: 20 years old (Moscow 1957).  best overall individual result at the Olympics: 81.2% (+65 =34 -2), ahead of Karpov (80.1%) and Petrosyan (78.8%). unbeaten record (surpassed in the 2004-05 period by Sergej Tivyakov): 95 consecutive matches without defeat (from 23 October 1973 to 16 October 1974). Tal' also tried his hand at the blind game a few times. In 1968 he held a blind simultaneous match on 10 boards, with the result of +6 =4, of which a 10' film is available on YouTube, commented on ChessBase.