How Tal died

How Tal Died  __ 

In the November CHESS you gave tribute to Mikhail Tal. This was badly tarnished by your implication that he died as a result of alcohol and tobacco. This is inaccurate and disgusting. Tal, in his youth, contracted a serious in-flammation of the kidneys known as nephritis, which had nothing to do with bad habits. He spent most of his life sick, going in and out of hospitals for treatment. If he had been healthy, I have no doubt that he would have been world champion for much longer than he was. Thouh not the best, he was probably the most creative chess genius of all time. He was also a kind and gentle man. Mischa died of kidney disease, not booze and cigarettes. You have insulted his memory.

Victor I. Spear M.D.
Santa Rosa, California

Editor's note:

Mikhail Tal's official cause of death was recorded as laryngeal haemorrhage _ almost certainly linked directly to his heavy smoking. Tal had also suffered more than one heart attack and, by the end of his life, as his friend Genna Sosonko says in New in Chess Magazine, No 5 1992, ''all his organs had stopped functioning". In the late 60s he was hooked on morphine and throughout his life he drank to excess _ vodka, cognac, rum, whisky etc. Tal compounded his kidney problem with a damaging life-style that eventually destroyed him.

March 1997 CHESS
Volume 61 No 12

recalled from one of chess magazines.