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Little Misha was excited. Botvinnik had come on a holiday to enjoy the seaside at Riga. "Botvinnik is here," he grandly announced to his parents. "I am going to challenge him."
His father looked at him quizzically. "Botvinnik is World Champion. He has beaten so many great players. Don't you know?" – "But he has not played with me!" protested Misha with the irreproachable logic of a 12-year-old.
"Mishenka, You have to go to school first," his mother quietly reasoned with him. His parents knew, Botvinnik was a big man and would not wish to be disturbed. Besides, the local hosts would not allow anyone to go near him.
Our little hero was disappointed. Some times parents are so… unreasonable. They don’t understand a thing. Why not ask Maestro to help? "Who is Maestro?" you ask. "You don't know Maestro? Surely, you are new to this place! Every one knows in Riga knows him. He is Alexander Koblentz. But I call him Maestro."
"They are not allowing me to beat Botvinnik," complained an indignant Misha to the Maestro. The wise teacher gave him an indulgent smile. Of course Misha was going to play with Botvinnik. But they were going to prepare first. Misha's parents trusted Maestro. He was a friend of the family. No one understood their parental concerns as well as he did. All arguments about Misha in the house ended with the same words,
“Ask Alik, Alik knows best.” They knew, he loved their Mishenka ever since he saw this lanky little boy with dark penetrating eyes.
But what about Big Misha... Botvinnik? He escaped! Otherwise our lion cub would have pounced on him, and he was still looking for prey. So who comes next? Vyacheslav Ragozin, the friend and sparring partner of Botvinnik himself.
The famous master from Moscow had crossed swords with the likes of Lasker and Capablanca, not to speak of national rivals, Levenfish, Romanovsky and Kan. And he was going to give a simultaneous display in Riga. The announcement was music to Misha's ears. Surely, he was going to beat Ragozin and then the master from Moscow would go to see Botvinnik and give him the bad news: "Mikhail Moiseyevich, there is a little boy in Riga and he is going to take away your crown."
It's time to stop daydreaming. The master from Moscow should not be kept "waiting". When Misha reaches the venue, the hall is already packed, waiting for the celebrity. Soon he arrives and there is thunderous response. People are craning their necks to see this legendary player who had beaten Lasker himself in the famous Moscow 1936 Tournament.
When Misha takes his seat at the display, he is given the black pieces. The master has the advantage of the first move, he is told. Misha shrugs his shoulders. Let him make the first move. Little Misha would make the last – checkmate! That would be nice...
Ragozin moves quickly and confidently, hardly taking notice of our little hero until he is struck by a bolt from the blue.
A shell-shocked Ragozin resigns. A star is born. The conversations above are a fictional representation. Everything else happened. Who is little Misha? Of course you know! 9th November is his birth anniversary.
Mikhail TalNovember 9, 1936 – June 28, 1992Mikhail Tal (Latvian: Mihails Tals) was a Soviet-Latvian chess grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion. Widely regarded as a creative genius and the best attacking player of all time, he played in a daring, combinational style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. Every game, he once said, was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem. Tal was often called "Misha", a diminutive for Mikhail, and "The magician from Riga". Both The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games (Burgess, Nunn & Emms 2004) and Modern Chess Brilliancies (Evans 1970) include more games by Tal than any other player. Tal was also a highly regarded chess writer. He also holds the records for both the first and second longest unbeaten streaks in competitive chess history. On May 28, 1992, dying from kidney failure, he left hospital to play at the Moscow blitz tournament, where he defeated Garry Kasparov. He died one month later. The Mikhail Tal Memorial is held in Moscow each year since 2006 to honour his memory. [Source: Wikipedia] |
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The Immortality of Mikhail Tal 09.11.2006 – Had he lived, had he not succumbed to chronic ill health and an excessive life style, today Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal, the "Magician from Riga", would have celebrated his 70th birthday – today, on the first free day of the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow. The greatest attacking player in history is sadly missed but never forgotten. In memoriam. |
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Mikhail Tal: Triumph and Tragedy (Part I) 28.06.2012 – Exactly 20 years ago, on June 28, 1992, one of the greatest and most popular champions of all time, Mikhail Tal, passed away. In a fitting conclusion to his own legacy of chess before all, the Magician from Riga had escaped from the hospital on May 28, where he was dying from kidney failure, to play in the Moscow Blitz championship where he faced Kasparov. A tribute by Prof. Nagesh Havanur. |
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Mikhail Tal: Triumph and Tragedy (Part II) 04.07.2012 – Twenty years ago one of the greatest and most popular champions of all time, Mikhail Tal, passed away. In a previous column Prof. Nagesh Havanur described how the Magician from Riga spent his final days. Today he describes the friendship and rivalry between Tal and another world-class player, GM Paul Keres. Two encounters between the two are presented as deeply annotated games. |
