Mikhail Tal

Tal – Simagin · 1956 · 1–0

23rd Soviet Championship, Moscow 1956 — the 19-year-old Tal's Soviet-final debut, a Caro-Kann won in the sharp style of the attacker who would take the next two Soviet titles.

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Bobotsov – Tal · 1958 · 0–1

World Student Team Championship, 1958 — one of Tal's most famous positional queen sacrifices: 11...Nxd5 12.Qxa5 Nxe3 gives up the queen for two minor pieces and a Sämisch King's Indian attack Bobotsov cannot hold.

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Tal – Panno · 1958 · 1–0

Portorož Interzonal 1958 — from the event Tal won at 21 to reach the Candidates; a wild Ruy Lopez decided by the double sacrifice 28.Rxg7+ Kxg7 29.Bh6+.

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Tal – Smyslov · 1959 · 1–0

Candidates Tournament 1959 — a celebrated 26-move Caro-Kann miniature that crushes former World Champion Vasily Smyslov on Tal's way to the title match.

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Tal – Fischer · 1959 · 1–0

Candidates Tournament 1959 — one of four wins the 22-year-old Tal scored over the young Bobby Fischer that year, here outplaying Fischer's King's Indian.

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Tal – Botvinnik · 1960 · 1–0

World Championship 1960, Game 1 — Tal opens the match by beating World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik's French Winawer, on the way to becoming, at 23, the youngest World Champion to that time.

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Botvinnik – Tal · 1960 · 0–1

World Championship 1960, Game 6 — the most famous game of the match and a Tal signature: the intuitive knight sacrifice 21...Nf4! shatters Botvinnik's position from a King's Indian.

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Toran Albero – Tal · 1961 · 0–1

European Team Championship, Oberhausen 1961 — Tal sacrifices his queen (18.Nf7+ Qxf7 19.Bxf7) and hunts the white king to mate with rook, two bishops and a knight.

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Tal – Hecht · 1962 · 1–0

Varna Olympiad 1962 — a much-admired attacking win over West Germany's Hans-Joachim Hecht from a Queen's Indian, long anthologized among Tal's finest games.

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Tal – Tringov · 1964 · 1–0

Amsterdam Interzonal 1964 — a 17-move gem: Tringov grabs the b2-pawn and is overrun, Tal offering the queen with 13.Qd6! and finishing 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 16.Ng5+ 17.Qe6+.

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Tal – Larsen · 1965 · 1–0

Candidates semifinal, Bled 1965 — the tenth and final game, which Tal won to take the match: a celebrated attack that rips open the Sicilian with 16.Nd5 and the exchange sacrifice 21.Rxe7, mate looming after 34.Bc5.

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Tal – Suetin · 1970 · 1–0

Goglidze Memorial, Tbilisi — a 21-move Sicilian miniature finished by the queen sacrifice 20.Qxe5, textbook Tal against a strong grandmaster.

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Tal – Petrosian · 1974 · 1–0

USSR Team Championship 1974 — a rare 23-move demolition of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, one of the hardest players in history to beat, capped by 23.Bxf7+.

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Tal – Karpov · 1987 · 1–0

SWIFT tournament, Brussels 1987 — Tal, past 50, crushes former World Champion Anatoly Karpov in 30 moves of a Caro-Kann with 27.Bxg7 and a mating attack.

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Tal – Hjartarson · 1987 · 1–0

Reykjavik 1987 — a late-career sacrificial masterpiece: from a Closed Ruy Lopez Tal breaks through with the knight sacrifice 39.Nxe5 and a knight hunt, 41.Ng4+ 42.Nh6+ 43.Ng8+.

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Tal – Speelman · 1988 · 1–0

World Cup 1988 — a crackling attack over England's leading grandmaster Jonathan Speelman, finished by the queen breakthrough 31.Qxf6+ and 34.Rf7.

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