Not Bad For A Dead Man - Mikhail Tal vs. Suetin, 1969

Mikhail Tal's health problems plagued his career. In reading his biography, it often seems he was in the hospital as often as he was in the tournament hall, and being escorted from one venue to the other was not uncommon for Tal.

In 1969, Tal had a kidney removed, and although the operation was successful and lead to a resurgence in Tal's career, the Yugoslavian newspapers reported after the surgery that Tal had actually died. Tal was himself amused by this and quipped that the rumors of his death were exaggerated - possibly a quip he cribbed from Mark Twain who famously said the same thing after a false report of his own death.

In his next tournament, Tal won the following beautiful game against GM Alexey Suetin, and one of the spectators humorously observed, "Not bad for a dead man."

My notes are below. They are pretty concise because the game is so one-sided

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