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| Posted by andy94 sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 10/30/2008 10:42:19 Play online chess |  Subject: The Magician from Riga.Message: I know some quotations on chess by him. "There are two kinds of sacrifices: sound ones and mine." "To play for a draw, at any rate with White, is to some degree a crime against chess." "They compare me to Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. He made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one!" Referring to his piece sacrifices: "They can only take them one at a time!" "If playing chess were made illegal by law, I would become an outlaw." And about Bobby Fischer: "It is also important to remember that Bobby Fischer was a real chess gentleman during games. He was always very fair and very correct." Unfortunately he suffered from bad health. He was a heavy drinker and a chain smoker. In 1962, in Curaçao, while he was admitted to hospital, he received a famous visit by Bobby Fischer. Anyway, I'm sure health problems destroyed Tal's career, but the question is: how much? | ||||||||||
| Posted by ionadowman sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 10/30/2008 12:18:47 Play online chess | I have long thought... Message: Ever since back in 1971 when I read P.H. Clarke's book "Tal's Best Games of Chess (1951-1960)" I have been a Tal fan. Over 100 years ago, H. N. Pillsbury once remarked that when making combinations, you make sure that "when the fire was out, it isn't out!" Well, Tal seemed to be able to ignite the dampest lump of vegetable matter at will. How I wish I could play as he did! I liked what little I've heard of his sense of humour as well. Sometime during the 1980s, Mischa won the World Blitz Championship. In receiving his prize, Tal welcomed the opportunity once more of becoming "ex-World Champion". In an interview for a chess magazine on one occasion, the subject of Tal's fondness for fiery fluids was touched upon, though rather obliquely. When asked whether he would play for a Russian team or the "Vodka" team, Tal rather thought he would choose the latter. Tal's caveat notwithstanding, probably he stands best in comparison with Em. Lasker than with anyone else. In Lasker's view, Chess was neither a science, nor an art, but a fight. I'm sure Tal approached the game in the same way. Such are my impressions of my all-time favorite player. Cheers, Ion | ||||||||||
| Posted by tag1153 sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 10/31/2008 12:14:34 Play online chess | An example of his magic..... Message:  gameknot.com ——— Chess World of Karpov and Kasparov — Standing next to each other, side by side, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov made a last minute effort to sway the FIDE elections their way. One day before the vote, during the press conference in the Siberian town of Khanty-Mansyisk, they were trying to explain how they will change the chess world. Karpov was running for the FIDE presidency and Kasparov supported him. They still had a small chance to win. In the last six month they criscrossed the world, talking about the wonderful game of chess and what could be done to make it more popular. The next day, Sept. 29, the FIDE delegates re-elected Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who promptly announced that he defeated two world chess champions. What ... Posted by ionadowman | sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 10/31/2008 14:18:25 Play online chess Hi Thomas...Message: 'Just one round after the positional triumph over Khasin came one from a different mould. It amonf the first of Tal's games that I ever saw, and I well remember being amazed by its sheer ferocity. 'Furthermore it illustrates very clearly, even starkly, ... practical approach to the opening, attacking inclination, and wonderful skill on one side; on the other carelessness, lack of technique and overindulgence in combinative play and fantasy. And all the time you can feel [Tal's] spirit, determination and exuberance coming through. A game full of life and excitement.' P.H.Clarke "Mikhail Tal's Best Games of Chess". One regrets that a long time addiction to alcohol and tobacco - and morphine as well it seems - did so much to depreciate Tal's talent, finally to cut it short well before Tal reached 60 years of age. I recall with horror Tal crashing and burning at the Leningrad Interzonal in 1973, after having posted a record to rival Fischer's contemporaneous 20 World Championship cycle wins in a row. Tal had gone 80+ (83 I think) Master level games without a defeat. But then, maybe the sort of person who plays chess like that is the sort of person who is going to ply himself with dangerous organic chemicals. Who knows? Just as an aside, I guess in the world of sport we sometimes have to take the rough with the smooth. Though never a John McInroe fan, I could not help but admire his fighting qualities. Sure, his ranting and raving on the court was embarrassing and unpleasant to watch and hear. Yet it has always seemed to me that what within McInroe that made him capable of extraordinary winning or saving shots was also responsible for his flying off the handle when he misliked an umpire's call. McInroe called on a good deal of emotion in his play. That was his style. What the connection might be between Tal's fiery chess play, fantasy and imagination and his overindulgences, I wouldn't have the foggiest. I'll leave that to the psychoanalysts. Cheers, Ion ——— Plenty of Fighting Spirit on Final Day of Pearl Spring — Magnus Carlsen of Norway had already clinched first place at the Pearl Spring chess tournament in Nanjing, China, but there was still a lot to play for, so all the games on the final day were hard-fought and two of them were decisive. The most important game of the day, in terms of the standings and the prize money, was between Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion, and Etienne Bacrot of France. They were tied for second place. Anand had White and opened with his d pawn. Bacrot used the Nimo-Indian Defense and achieved a solid position out of the opening, though Anand had the bishop pair — a potentially long-term advantage. Bacrot began to play loosely, opening up his ... Posted by ionadowman | sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 11/02/2008 01:06:35 Play online chess In a game I recently annotated... Message: For a game just as wild and of the same stamp, I would commend you to an earlier annotated game in my list: "Die Hard: It's always too early to resign" between ian_want and nathanman22. To be sure there are several mistakes in the game, but there are some brilliant moves as well that shine all the brighter(especially White's astonishing endgame Q sac that ought at least to have saved the game). But for sheer overall entertainment it's a hard game to go past. Cheers, Ion ——— Chess: Magnus Carlsen snaps slump in China — Magnus Carlsen defeated three elite chess grandmasters to take the lead in the Pearl Spring double round robin in Nanjing, China. The Norwegian chess star scored 5-2 in the first seven rounds of the 10-game tournament. Carlsen had fallen to second in the world chess rankings because of poor performances in two recent events, but he has regained an estimated eight of the 24 rating points he lost. World chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India and French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot were Carlsen's closest rivals, with scores of 4-3. Bacrot upset Anand in the first cycle but lost the rematch. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who has not completely recovered from losing the 2010 world championship match against ... Posted by ccmcacollister | sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 11/02/2008 13:56:14 Play online chess ION .... Message: Tobacco? Well its nice to relax after a day of someone poking a cold plastic tube ... lets rephrase that and just say you'd just about rather have the stones stay IN, even if it is like sliding a jagged jellybean .... well never mind again there. Suffice to say, the steady knaw may be ignored, its those totally untimed stilletto-like pokes of back to front joy that play havoc with the analysis tree :)) ——— Nakamura Poised to Defend Title at Cap d’Agde — Hikaru Nakamura of the United States has worked his way into the world’s chess elite (he is ranked No. 15), but as good as he is at slow chess, his real forte is at faster time controls. He is generally considered to be among the top three or four in the world at blitz chess (where each player has five minutes or less for the entire game) and he also seems to be among the world’s best at rapid chess, in which each player has about 25 minutes per game. Two years ago, he won the Cap d’Agde Rapid chess tournament in France in a field that included Magnus Carlsen of Norway (now No. 1 in the world), Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (who Nakamura beat in the finals) and Anatoly Karpov of Russia, the former ... Posted by ccmcacollister | sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 11/02/2008 14:12:58 Play online chess PS ... Message: ——— Chess Champion's Class Act — Vishy Anand is the most versatile world chess champion. After all, he won world championships in classical matches, knockouts, rapids and blitz and dominated the advanced chess in which players are able to consult the computers. In this respect, no other world chess champion comes even close. But the Indian superstar is also a class act and gives credit where credit is due. Twice this year, Anand turned a favorite defense of his former coach, Artur Yusupov, into gold. "It was a pleasure to have Artur Yusupov working as my second, both personally and professionally," Anand writes in the preface to Yusupov's excellent book Boost your Chess 2, Beyond the Basics, published by Quality Chess. Yusupov was ... Posted by ionadowman | sleepingdogsliethemovie.com 11/02/2008 20:38:31 Play online chess Craig...Message: But what you say does seem to confirm my earlier guess about why Tal seemed sometimes to lose control of his pieces. Cheers, Ion |