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Tal-Botvinnik, 1960
“Mikhail Tal’s splendid account of his world championship match victory is one of the masterpieces of the golden age of annotation – before insights and feelings and flashes of genius were reduced to mere moves and Informant symbols. This is simply the best book written about a world championship match by a contestant. That shouldn’t be a surprise because Tal was the finest writer to become world champion.”
– International Grandmaster and popular chess columnist Andy Soltis.
In 1960 Mikhail Botvinnik was the pillar of “scientific” chess and the iron-willed champion of the world. The young attacking genius Mikhail Tal, the “Wizard of Riga,” put the magic back into the game by defeating Botvinnik with spectacular tactics in one of the most dramatic and celebrated world championship matches of all time.
This is Tal’s own classic work on the contest. In it he sets the stage and explains every one of the 21 games, telling both the on- and off-the-board story of this titanic clash of styles and thought.
Excerpts, including the Table of Contents and the Foreword, of most Russell Enterprises books are available at
– International Grandmaster and popular chess columnist Andy Soltis.
In 1960 Mikhail Botvinnik was the pillar of “scientific” chess and the iron-willed champion of the world. The young attacking genius Mikhail Tal, the “Wizard of Riga,” put the magic back into the game by defeating Botvinnik with spectacular tactics in one of the most dramatic and celebrated world championship matches of all time.
This is Tal’s own classic work on the contest. In it he sets the stage and explains every one of the 21 games, telling both the on- and off-the-board story of this titanic clash of styles and thought.
Excerpts, including the Table of Contents and the Foreword, of most Russell Enterprises books are available at
- GenresChessNonfictionGames
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
About the author
Mikhail Tal
56 books53 followersMikhail Nekhemyevich Tal (Latvian: Mihails Tāls; Russian: Михаил Нехемьевич Таль (1936 – 1992), was a Soviet Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion.
Михаил Нехемьевич Таль (латыш. Mihails 9 ноября 1936, Рига — 27 июня 1992, Москва) — советский и латвийский шахматист, гроссмейстер (1957), восьмой чемпион мира по шахматам (1960–1961). По образованию филолог.
Михаил Нехемьевич Таль (латыш. Mihails 9 ноября 1936, Рига — 27 июня 1992, Москва) — советский и латвийский шахматист, гроссмейстер (1957), восьмой чемпион мира по шахматам (1960–1961). По образованию филолог.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 1, 2017
This book has a mythic reputation in the chess community. The level of details, personal, and humorous, the truths and lies, in the notes to the games in this historic match are unparalleled in chess writing. Written by Tal himself in what turned out to be not the best year of preparation for a rematch. I can't imagine being world champion in your country's national game at 23. The parties must have been epic. What he left us by his winning the world championship playing "his way", and this book describing what he was thinking, what wouldn't work and what might have been, cannot be praised too much.
I was one of those low rated tournament chess players who thought Tal was really beyond understanding. I don't know how to sacrifice pieces unless it is a forced checkmate and could not really give anyone a good definition of "compensation". To my delight, this book is not filled with insane sacrifices (there are some really insane moves and even crazier variations), but generally the whole thing makes sense and there is more "simple and strong" chess here than I would have thought.
I was aided in my study by Jesse Kraai who re-sparked my interest in this book by including references, and (take note all you other David Foster Wallace fans) gasp footnotes which give moves from some of the games in his book: Lisa: A Chess Novel. If you are a chess player and haven't made time for Jesse's book you should.
Then the instigator became the instructor when I found that GM Kraai had produced a set of video lectures that viewed the games from the perspective of a modern Grandmaster 50 years later. The videos can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/50-Years-Tal-B...
I found the experience of playing through all the games and listening to and watching the ideas of a modern player who has a thorough grasp of the Tal book to be very fun and instructional. Tal's notes are terrific and so GM Kraai saying things like "I don't think I really believe Tal here, he's probably playing a joke on us." made me feel like I was in on the joke.
I would recommend this book over all the other world championship books I have ever seen (and many other chess books in general). And, as a bonus, if you want inspiration and/or instruction it's also out there for you.
I was one of those low rated tournament chess players who thought Tal was really beyond understanding. I don't know how to sacrifice pieces unless it is a forced checkmate and could not really give anyone a good definition of "compensation". To my delight, this book is not filled with insane sacrifices (there are some really insane moves and even crazier variations), but generally the whole thing makes sense and there is more "simple and strong" chess here than I would have thought.
I was aided in my study by Jesse Kraai who re-sparked my interest in this book by including references, and (take note all you other David Foster Wallace fans) gasp footnotes which give moves from some of the games in his book: Lisa: A Chess Novel. If you are a chess player and haven't made time for Jesse's book you should.
Then the instigator became the instructor when I found that GM Kraai had produced a set of video lectures that viewed the games from the perspective of a modern Grandmaster 50 years later. The videos can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/50-Years-Tal-B...
I found the experience of playing through all the games and listening to and watching the ideas of a modern player who has a thorough grasp of the Tal book to be very fun and instructional. Tal's notes are terrific and so GM Kraai saying things like "I don't think I really believe Tal here, he's probably playing a joke on us." made me feel like I was in on the joke.
I would recommend this book over all the other world championship books I have ever seen (and many other chess books in general). And, as a bonus, if you want inspiration and/or instruction it's also out there for you.
December 30, 2017
Another great Tal book as he describes and annotates every game of the his match with Botvinnik, which he won to become world champion. Put this on the caro-kann shelf because they played six games in that opening and Tal's insights are particularly instructive. Could also be on a nimzo-indian and king's-indian shelves as those defenses were also tested multiple times.
March 25, 2024
This is widely considered one of the greatest chess books of all time. I launched a chess book club through my organization the Grand Rapids Chess Center and we had five participants walk through this book together. Tal walks the reader through a game-by-game analysis and commentary on his match with the great Botvinnik for the chess world championship in 1960.
His comments in each game were incredible. His tactical genius, practical play, and surprising universality as a chess player come to mind. Tal comes across as humble, almost lucky, despite his rather dominant performance in the event. This book is quite advanced and is not accessible for everyone but for anyone 1500+ this book is filled with great advice and educational benefit.
All chess enthusiasts with tournament experience should read this book. All chess enthusiasts interested in the history of the game should read this. All those looking for an exploration of the Caro Kan opening should read this book. A great work!
His comments in each game were incredible. His tactical genius, practical play, and surprising universality as a chess player come to mind. Tal comes across as humble, almost lucky, despite his rather dominant performance in the event. This book is quite advanced and is not accessible for everyone but for anyone 1500+ this book is filled with great advice and educational benefit.
All chess enthusiasts with tournament experience should read this book. All chess enthusiasts interested in the history of the game should read this. All those looking for an exploration of the Caro Kan opening should read this book. A great work!
September 2, 2019
Best book on a WC match. Period. Even better than Gligoric's book on Fischer-Spassky 1972.
February 13, 2022
Good:
* Great games.
* The annotations are extensive and funny at times.
* Time taken for each moves are given.
Bad:
* Long algebraic notation for moves.
* Some analyses are incorrect.
* Great games.
* The annotations are extensive and funny at times.
* Time taken for each moves are given.
Bad:
* Long algebraic notation for moves.
* Some analyses are incorrect.
December 30, 2020
You don't really "read" a chess book, especially one like this, and especially if you are an amateur chess player like me. You need to work play through the games an analysis more than once to absorb what is going on at the chessboard, as some of the ideas are profound. Tal is an excellent writer, and is great at explaining the main ideas behind his moves, which is great for an amateur like me. I read this book with the Forward Chess e-reader, which allows you to play through the games and variations on the e-chess board that follows along with the text. Lots smoother than setting up a board and playing through variations and sometimes getting lost in the variations, which I believe is probably a common amateur problem. The app includes includes a chess program, which helps if and when you miss a simple combination that is not shown to the very last move. Greta to read about how much psychological "tactics" were considered by Tal in this match, which he won to become the youngest world chess champion at the time.
What is truly great about this detailing of the games is that Tal speaks about strategies and ideas, as well as practical decisions about making moves that were sometimes not the best in terms of precision, but the best in terms of making decisions more difficult for his opponent, Botvinnik, the founder of the Soviet chess School. Also interesting is that Tal notes that when he discussed moves with Botvinnik, Botvinnik would describe general strategies have how he needed to set up his pieces. So, move first and think later might not be all there is to playing great chess at the highest level.
What is truly great about this detailing of the games is that Tal speaks about strategies and ideas, as well as practical decisions about making moves that were sometimes not the best in terms of precision, but the best in terms of making decisions more difficult for his opponent, Botvinnik, the founder of the Soviet chess School. Also interesting is that Tal notes that when he discussed moves with Botvinnik, Botvinnik would describe general strategies have how he needed to set up his pieces. So, move first and think later might not be all there is to playing great chess at the highest level.
September 4, 2013
How exactly do grandmasters think? Mikhail Tal's account of his struggle for the world championship title nearly a half-century ago is not merely an analysis of 21 thrilling games. It is an intimate view of the chessboard fantasies of a supreme tactical genius. Tal was pitted against Mikhail Botvinnik, the world's foremost "scientific" player, the defending title-holder and the dean of the Soviet school of chess. In the resulting clash of styles, Tal prevailed by a convincing margin. His victory was a vindication of unfettered imagination and a demonstration that chess can be scientific only in the way that Soviet socialism was scientific, which is to say not at all.
March 26, 2020
Mikhail Tal walks the reader through some of the most complex and exciting chess games ever played during his 1960 world chess championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik. The games themselves are excellent. The two players are near opposite. Tal plays a brand of chess that is unhinged and exciting, whereas Botvinnik is calculated and cautious. However, the most interesting aspect of this book is the mental chess match taking place between Tal and Botvinnik and the age-old question of when to trust your opponent.
December 31, 2021
The annotations are a bit above my level, to put it mildly, but many of the games are quite fun to play through and Tal's comments on the psychology and emotions of the match are worth the price of admission.
March 12, 2023
“Tal - Botvinnik 1960” is one of the best books in all of chess literature. Written by the “Magician From Riga”, Mikhail Tal, it covers his match against the legendary Mikhail Botvinnik for the title of World Champion.
Tal was one of the most interesting players of all-time, the master of crazy sacrifices - some sound… some not! His games are always interesting to play through, as you never know what is going to happen next. Fortunately, his thought process is collected in this book and we are privy to what he was thinking as he played throughout the tournament. I was very surprised at how easy he made it look in defeating Botvinnik - one of the all-time greats.
Lots of interesting games with great annotations, and back stories, by one of the more beloved and fascinating players in the history of Chess.
Considered to be one of the top essential chess books ever written… and it would be hard to argue otherwise!
Tal was one of the most interesting players of all-time, the master of crazy sacrifices - some sound… some not! His games are always interesting to play through, as you never know what is going to happen next. Fortunately, his thought process is collected in this book and we are privy to what he was thinking as he played throughout the tournament. I was very surprised at how easy he made it look in defeating Botvinnik - one of the all-time greats.
Lots of interesting games with great annotations, and back stories, by one of the more beloved and fascinating players in the history of Chess.
Considered to be one of the top essential chess books ever written… and it would be hard to argue otherwise!
July 6, 2021
Want to give it a higher rating, however huge parts of the analysis are missing along with some key moves making it hard to follow the games let alone the variations, talk has a nice righting style however, the bad copy I have has ruined the experience for me.
April 19, 2023
Good book, quick and easy read. Though, books about one set of people and one match can get old quick. The history of themselves and their lives takes a back seat to the chess itself which isn’t for me exactly but if someone likes chess a lot then I would recommend this book totally.
3.5/5
3.5/5
July 23, 2018
best chess commentary ever...prove me wrong
September 4, 2018
Tal writes with characteristic enthusiasm about his besting of the machine like Mikhail Botvinnik. The game analysis is a bit more manageable than Kasparov's Great Predecessors, for reference.
March 26, 2019
One of my Dream Books Finally I found ✌️
November 15, 2013
such a wondrous book annotated by the late "wizard of Riga" himself.
this is an account of a titanic struggle, the 1960 WCM between Tal & Botvinnik which Tal won.
It has parallels to the current match in that Tal won game one, then several draws, then broke thru for another win. at these high levels, as Tal notes, a one or two point lead becomes enormous.
Tal was a brilliant and exciting player who came to tournaments until his relatively recent demise. his attacking style presaged Fischer, and like Fischer, even though Tal was only Champion for three years, we must rank him among the very greatest of all time.
this volume is a look inside the mind of a genius at his absolute height.
this is an account of a titanic struggle, the 1960 WCM between Tal & Botvinnik which Tal won.
It has parallels to the current match in that Tal won game one, then several draws, then broke thru for another win. at these high levels, as Tal notes, a one or two point lead becomes enormous.
Tal was a brilliant and exciting player who came to tournaments until his relatively recent demise. his attacking style presaged Fischer, and like Fischer, even though Tal was only Champion for three years, we must rank him among the very greatest of all time.
this volume is a look inside the mind of a genius at his absolute height.
January 26, 2009
I actually read an earlier edition of this book, the original translation from the Russian by Hanon W. Russell, back when I used to play chess more or less compulsively (except for occasional social encounters, I gave up the game in the late 1970s). This is one of two books (along with Bobby Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games") that captivated me with more than just the quality of the play or the depth of analysis, but with insightful, personalized glimpses into the nature of competition and the actual thought processes that result in the creation of brilliant games.
April 9, 2012
I felt like as I was Tahl playing Botvinnik myself. What a way to tell stories from within the chess board!
May 24, 2013
Received this book as a pimply faced freshman in high school at my 2nd chess tournament whilst playing blitz against a master. He though it would improve my game and he was right!
June 18, 2017
Tal's writing (and games!) deserve five stars but this English edition is otherwise marred by poor typesetting, especially with respect to diagrams.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews