Was Mikhail Tal the GOAT of chess?

Hey everyone, this is @Phantom_Beast23 and I've decided to start a blog series on some of my favorite chess players of all time! In this series, we'll be going over some very famous chess players and considering if they can be considered as one of the GOATS (Greatest Of All Time) of chess. I'll also be posting 2-3 games that the player played with annotations to help their case and at the end, we'll go over if they can be deemed "worthy" of the title.

Note, it's hard to say who was the ACTUAL GOAT of chess, though we are able to limit players based on statistics. They can help show how good actually a player was. Also, There were different eras of chess, some being harder than others, which can be hard to judge players based on their skill set, example being "Who's better, Anatoly Karpov or Paul Morphy" This is hard to say since Karpov's era was MUCH harder than Morphy's. The only way to actually find a true answer to this statement is to make both of them actually play games, which we'll sadly never get to see.

Anyways lets start

Image - Chess24.com

Mikhail Tal was a Latvian Chess player known for his "Sac, Sac Mate" Type of playing style. He was (and is) a favorite among a lot of chess players and fans. His play style was very intriguing towards a lot of people today which is why he's so popular and a favorite. He was known for being very quick minded and easily moody.

That showed in his play style as well, as he wasn't as tactical as Kasparov, or as Positional as Karpov. He easily improvised depending on his position. Like I said before, he was also known for his crazy and random sacs which would soon lead to a winning position, being up on material, or just mate.

A list of achievements Mikhail Tal achieved were:

 - In 1957, Mikhail Tal was give the title of GrandMaster by Fide.

 - In 1958, he won the Soviet Championship at Riga.

 - Won the World Championship match in 1960 by beating Mikhail Botvinnik, he was also the youngest person to be crowned as the World Champion as well!

Unfortunately, while Tal's play was getting recognized and better, his health wasn't. He had been suffering from illnesses for a long time. Smoking also had played it's part which ultimately led to Tal's death. It's indeed really sad as Tal was barely touching his peak at the time. I remember seeing this quote somewhere that went like:

"Had Mikhail led a good and healthy lifestyle, he could have DEFINITELY have reached his peak. But that wouldn't have made him the Mikhail Tal he is/was"

Image - pinterest.com

Here is a game that he played which I enjoyed looking at!

It was definitely a great game played by both sides. They both made major trades that shaped the outcome of the game, and possibly, the most important part of the games was about the 25th move which Tal offered a trade of queens. Botvinnik, seeing that if he didn't, he would be down some material thus accepting the trade. Tal probably saw a great continuation which is what he went on to play and ultimately, the trades leading to passed pawns, and also a very crowded position for white, is what ultimately led to Botvinnik's downfall.

Unlike some other famous masters such as Smyslov and Lasker, who preffered positional play, Tal was possibly the most ruthless player on the board, as he would make nonsense sacrifices that would lead to mate or winning positions. You never knew when he was going to make an incredible sac that wins material in 10 moves.

Here's a quote I like from Mikhail Tal

- “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” 

I made this as my location as it's honestly such a great quote which basically means that in Chess, you have to make the most beautiful but nonsensical moves to win at the higher level, despite what anyone says.

Image - newbythesapp.com

Here is a puzzle from one Mikhail Tal's older games, a beautiful one too!

I obviously wasn't able to solve this on my first try, though after a lot of thinking (and pressing the solution button too xD) I was able to get this beautiful puzzle. This was actually one of the patterns that Tal found from one of his previous games in the URS Leningrad against Karen Grigoryan in 1971. Just goes to prove how amazing Tal was.

Could Mikhail Tal be considered as one of the Greatest of All time? Definitely! His amazingly sharp play, along with his win rate and vision, made him stand out from the rest! It's honestly really sad we couldn't see him play more, as maybe, just maybe, we would figure out who the TRUE GOAT of chess is

Anyways, expect more players to be featured in this blog series. I'll be featuring my favorite players here and it'll be in this format with games, puzzles, background info, and more!

I also recently made a YouTube channel which can be found below!

Youtube - Not enough time due to school, but will start uploading soon

And as always, make sure to check my other Blogs, They're pretty good as I take my time and effort to do them! I also hope to get Top Blogger soon so your support would be much appreciated!

Thank you,

@Phantom_Beast23