At Long Last, An Original Tal Set

Through the good offices of a dear friend, I have finally acquired an original Tal set. The Tal set evolved a great deal from the time it first appeared in Tallinn, Estonia in a 1940 photo of Paul Keres and Vladas Mikenas playing in a goodwill match between Estonia and Lithuania prior to their formal annexation into the Soviet Union later that year. Mike Ladzinski owns a specimen of this version in his collection.

Throughout the forties, it was used in the Baltic region, including Leningrad. Several photos of Paul Keres depict him playing with it. 

In this photo, Keres is playing a simultaneous exhibition with sailors of the Soviet Battleship October Revolution, docked in Tallinn harbor in 1946. Close inspection of the pieces suggests that the design has already begun to evolve.

In the fifties, use of the design migrated south to Georgia SSR, where the sets literally became national treasures. The version of the set I have obtained is the one used in the 1959 USSR Championship held in Tbilisi, Georgia SSR. Here is a well known photo of Petrosian from his game with Yuri Averbakh at the 1959 Championship.

The next photo is a close-up of the pieces in the Petrosian picture.

With this background in mind, here are some shots of my original Tal set, circa 1959.

The kings are 10 cm. tall, and the pieces are very heavily weighted. Interestingly, the weights are actually nailed into the pieces. While it appears that the finials of the white Queen and Bishops are by design the same color as the pieces, the fact is that the black paint on them has worn off through years of club use.

The design continued to evolve through the Yerevan USSR Championship of 1962, at which the iconic photo on the cover of Tal's autobiography was taken, the photo that has given the design its name. This 1962 depiction of the design is the one that Phil Pajakowski and I collaborated with NOJ to reproduce back in 2016.

Tal sets continued in use for years, at least as late as 1979, when one appeared in this photo of Ubilava (L) and Vitolinsh (R) from Tbilisi.

Congratz! That's a very interesting history behind that beautiful set. Learned something about Soviet pieces, thanks!

I noticed this line "Yerevan USSR Championship of 1962". There was also this chess olympiad in Yerevan in 1996. Do you perhaps know if the city Yerevan had a significant meaning back in those days?

wonderful images.

Chess long has been popular in Armenia, and many major tournaments have been held there over the years. Petrosian, of course, was Armenian. The Chess House in Yerevan bears his name.

Many thanks, Martin.

 And Kasparov is half-Armenian too. More info here -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_in_Armenia

Thank you for the history lesson! Those are very powerful looking bases indeed. 

This vintage Tal set looks much better than both Noj and House of Staunton version. Great chess set!

Thanks mister! I just read the link, I'm quite impressed I must say!

I've still got the chess set that I played Tal with back in 1988. Does that make it a Tal set?

Very Nice Chuck ,  Such a rare Holy Grail !

Lovely Chuck, just absolutely lovely. What an acquisition. 

And thank you, as always, for the walk through a little bit of chess history, 

You're very welcome.

Many thanks!

Not in the sense collectors use the term, but you can call your set whatever you like. Congrats, by the way. You should post the game score and a photo or two of your set.

Thanks, Richard. My pleasure.

Many thanks, Manuel!

@cgrau  Do the Tal sets have a nautical history in the beginning? Which might explain the wide chunky bases and heavy weights? Or just an evolution of style and aesthetics through the years.

Wow. That is right up there in my absolute top dream sets. And this is probably as close as I will ever get   Congratulations!