Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal, (born November 9, 1936, Riga, Latvia—died June 28, 1992, Moscow, Russia), Latvian chess grandmaster who in 1960, on the age of 23, turned the youngest world chess champion when he upset the defending champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, by a rating of 121/2 to eight1/2.
Tal, who realized to play chess on the age of six, was identified for his complicated and audacious strikes. He turned a nationwide grasp and Latvian champion in 1953, at age 16. In 1957, the yr he graduated from Riga University, he turned a world grandmaster and gained the primary of his six titles as champion of the usS.R. He established his proper to problem Botvinnik with spectacular victories within the 1958 interzonal and 1959 candidates’ tournaments, each held in Yugoslavia. He turned significantly sick with kidney illness shortly earlier than he misplaced to Botvinnik in a 1961 rematch. Despite persevering with bouts with liver and kidney illnesses, he gained 5 extra Soviet titles (1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, and 1978) and quite a few worldwide competitions, notably the high-speed world blitz championship in Canada in 1988.
Tal was the most effective and wittiest writers of the world champions. Two of his books, translated as Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (1976) and Tal-Botvinnik 1960 Match for the World Championship (1970), are treasures of chess literature.