"We are all very talented chess players, but only Misha Talj is a genius," Tigran Petrosyan, the 10th world chess champion, often told fellow grandmasters.
... Mihail Nekhmejevich Talj was born in Riga in 1936. He took his first chess "steps" in the dark Castle of the Pioneers, and his first significant success was sharing second-third place at the Latvian Championship (1954). In the same year, by defeating the experienced master and multiple champion of Belarus Saygin, he won the title of master of sports of the USSR.
He entered the "big Soviet scene" in 1956, making his debut at the 23rd championship of the USSR. In strong competition, he took a high fifth-seventh place.
And yet, it was only the introduction to a fascinating series of tournament successes and results in the following years.
Leningrad, 1957 and the 24th championship of the USSR-A. Among the participants - Bronstein, Keres, Boreslavski, representatives of the "new wave" - Korchnoi, Petrosyan... a total of 22 participants who passed the "thick sieve" of the Soviet semi-finals and the previous championship. At the end of the tournament, a sports sensation - Talj is the first, ahead of Bronstein and Keres. He defeated the three closest competitors with 3,5: 0.5! Sports luck or…?
... Or the full extent of an extraordinary talent. The 1958th championship of the USSR unequivocally confirms this. Talj celebrates in his native Riga, in the Palace of Science, in front of Petrosajn, Bronštajn, Averbach... The success was all the greater because this championship was also a qualifying one - the four best placed earn the right to perform at the inter-zonal tournament Portorož, XNUMX, a selection competition for the world championship. Talj, now the grandmaster, is the first and favorite of the tournament - the course of the competition confirms that.
"Wizard from Riga" wins with 13,5 points from 20 games ahead of Gligorić, Benke, Petrosjan, Olafson, Fischer. The aforementioned "six", along with Smislov and Keres, will decide who will be Mihail Botvinik's challenger already next year.
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade or the "Yugoslav marathon", as they have already called this Candidates Tournament, was also one of the most exciting. It was played in four rounds and Talj completed the brutal distance of 28 rounds, finishing with 20 points, 1,5 points ahead of the closest follower, Keres. He lost to the "eternal second" Keres with a high score of 3:1, but he conceded three draws from 16 games to four eminent grandmasters - Gligorić, Benke, Fischer and Olafson, one of which was awarded in the last round! Only one obstacle separates him from the throne of the world champion - Botvinik.
...From today's perspective, when chess is "exiled" and from daily newspapers, it is difficult to revive the atmosphere that reigned before the match Botvinik - Talj, which will be surpassed in drama and interest by the "match of the century" Fischer - Spassky. Fifty-year-old Botvinik sovereignly ruled post-war chess with a one-year break. Rare performances and separation from chess on the one hand, and Talj's elemental strength on the other - did their job - after seven games Talj led 3:0 with four draws! At the end of the convincing 12,5 : 8,5 and the new chess king.
In those years, FIDE still allowed the world champion - in case of losing the title - the right to a rematch. Botvinik thus "returned" the title in the match with Smislov and used that right against Talj. The rematch was scheduled for March 1961 in the premises of the Moscow theater "Estrada". The main actors agree with the start date, but not the doctors. Two weeks before the start of the match, the medical commission found that Talja's health condition does not allow the match to start on that date. But something unexpected happens. The world champion declares that "doctors are not prophets and they cannot predict how he will feel in a few weeks". And so, the rematch starts "on time" but now Botvinik, after seven games, leads 3:1 with three draws! In the end, he skillfully brings the match to an end with a high score of 13:8.
Wounds from defeat are best healed by victory, but the 1962 Kirosao Candidates Tournament was not the happiest page in Talje's glittering career. Due to serious health problems, he is forced to leave the tournament before the end. The first place is won by Petrosjan, who definitively dethrones Botvinik.
At the next inter-zonal tournament in Amsterdam, in 1964, Talj plays much more successfully - he shares first-fourth place with Larsen, Smislov and Spassky. In the quarter-finals he defeated Portis 5,5:2,5, in the semi-finals Larsen 5,5:4,5, but in the final he lost to Spassky 7:4.
In the next FIDE world champion cycle that starts in 1967, Talj, as a finalist of the previous cycle, directly participates in candidate matches. In the quarter-finals he wins with 4,5:3,5 against Gligorić, but in the semi-finals he meets Viktor Korchnoi. "Terrible Victor", as he was called, reminds the chess public that his score with Talje when he was the world champion was 5:5 - five games were recorded by Korchnoi, five were drawn by Talje. From then until the start of their match in 1968, the score changed - 9:1 for Korčnoi, plus 18 draws! The tradition continued - in the semi-finals, Korčnoi won 2:1 with seven draws.
The seventies of the last century briefly revived the hopes of numerous Talje fans. He wins the first places at the tournaments in Sukhumi and Wyck an Zee, wins the championship of the USSR in 1972, performs extremely successfully at the Olympics in Skopje - as many as 80 games end without defeat! The drop in form comes at the most inconvenient time - at the inter-zonal tournament in Leningrad in 1973, he was only eighth - tenth (with Gligorić and Tukmanov). He was much more successful in Bil (1976), when he shared second place with Petrosjan and Portiš, but lost in the three-match. The inter-zonal tournament Riga, 1979 is also Talje's "swan song". He wins with 2,5 points ahead of Polugajevski, but loses to him in the match with 5,5 : 2,5.
"Young Talje" will also be reminded of his performance at the Montpellier Candidates Tournament in 1985. In a battle with opponents twenty years younger, he takes a high fourth place, with only half a point less than the winners of the tournament, Yusupov, Vaganjan and Sokolov. That last official appearance for the World Championship organized by FIDE Manila, in 1990 - two years before his death - finished at the 50% mark.
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In Montenegro, Talj had many fans - friends. He also played in two tournaments, Nikšić in 1983 and Titograd in 1984, and a match in accelerated chess with grandmaster Božidar Ivanović. At the supertournament in Nikšić, he shared seventh and eighth place, and at the tournament in Titograd, he was third. He defeated Grandmaster Ivanović in a match in accelerated chess, but in "classical chess" he had a great rival in the "eternal Montenegrin champion" - the games in Lucerne 1982 (Olympics), Nikšić 1983, Bugojno 1984, Titograd 1984, Manila 1990 ended in a draw. Ivanovic celebrated in Tallinn (1979), Talj got his revenge in Saint John in 1988. ...From the chess legacy of the favorite "Kaisa" of the inimitable Mihail Talj, we convey his effective victory over Šamković.
In the kingdom of Kaise: Talj against Šamković
Chess on the pages of "Art"? In the "society" of poetry, essay writing, literary and film criticism... Perhaps the best answer was given by the poet Brana Petrović: "By flying to the moon, man got closer to the gods." Playing chess, he has been with them for a long time". ... From the chess legacy of one of the favorites of "Kaisa", the inimitable Mihail Talj, we show his effective victory over Šamković.
KARO-KAN DEFENSE
Talj-Shamkovic USSR Championship, Baku, 1982. Comments: VM. D. Marović 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 de4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nc3 Quite an unusual move in this place. ...e6?! Black could use the opportunity to develop the "white field" and draw Nb6. 7.Bd3 c5 8.De2 cxd4 9.Nxd4 10.Nb3 Bd6 ?! On e7, the hunter stands better, because he is less exposed. Such is the lesson of this party. 11.Bg5 a6 12.0-0-0 Qc7 13.Kb1 0-0 14.Se4 Re5 ? This "active" move allows a strong attack. Of course, other possibilities also leave black in a painstaking defense. 15.f4 ! Bxf4 16.Nxf6 + Nxf6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qg4 + Kh8 19.Thf1 Le5 20.Bxh7 ! 20.Rxf6 Rg8 21.Qh5 Rg7 22.Th6 is not enough due to f5. 20…f5 21.Qh4 Kg7 22.Rf3 On Qg5 + the king returns to h8. 22… Re8 22…Rf6 23.Rg3 + Qxg3 24.Qxg3 + is also hopeless. 23.g4! f4 24.g5 Kf8 Black keeps reviving his hopes of salvation, but the next tactical strike is a harbinger of collapse. 25.Rxf4! Bxf4 26.Qh6 + Ke7 27.Qf6 + Kf8 28.g6 Bh6 29.Rf1 Black surrenders.
(Editor: Nebojsa Knežević)
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