Mikhail Tal's Best Games 3 - The Invincible by Tibor Karolyi

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In this, the third and final volume of his landmark series, award-winning author Tibor Károlyi concludes his investigation into the life and career of Mikhail Tal, the most entertaining and popular world champion of all time.

This book covers the final two decades of Tal’s life and games, from 1972 until his death in 1992. Despite being more than a decade removed from his world title reign, the early 1970s saw Tal rewrite chess history with two record-breaking unbeaten streaks. Other highlights include victory in the Montreal 1979 Tournament of Champions, and winning the World Blitz Championship in 1988.

Despite Tal’s unbeaten streaks and more mature playing style, his attacking flair did not desert him, and the reader will find many more delightful sacrifices and creative gems from one of the most remarkable careers in chess history. As in the previous volumes, insightful chess analysis and biographical research is complemented by anecdotes from famous players who share their memories of Tal “The Invincible”.

International Master Tibor Károlyi was Hungarian Champion in 1984 and is renowned as both an author and a trainer. He won the Guardian Book of the Year prize in 2007.

ISBN: 978-1-907982-81-1 - 544 pages - Published 27 September 2017

Reviews

"Another nice touch is that Karolyi has asked many of Tal's opponents about the games they played with Tal and their impressions of Tal, which adds an extra human dimension to the book.

But of course, the most important thing about all these books are the games and the analysis and for both I have only the fullest admiration. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Karolyi's annotations is that he doesn't only focus on brilliant Tal attacks, but also spends a lot of time on many of the weird and wonderful endgames that arose as a result of his sacrifices.

It feels a little bit like overdoing things to give 5 stars to a set of three books, but if any Best Games collection has ever deservd it, then this one has! Don't waste any time: get down to the bookshop and enjoy!"

GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess

"The title references Tal’s two lengthy undefeated streaks of 95 and 86 games in the early 1970s. One might think a player with Tal’s reputation as a hyper-aggressive attacking madman would preclude such streaks, but as Karolyi explains Tal was a much more knowledgeable player in the 1970s than when World Champion. The tactical brilliance which won him so many fans was still there, but reinforced by a greater understanding of the game which caused him to temper some of his more audacious gambles.

All three volumes in this series feature well-annotated games, overviews of all the tournaments Tal played in, plenty of biographical material, tournament results and a number on indexes... I give this series my highest recommendation."

IM John Donaldson

"Károlyi's monograph about Mikhail Tal is one of the most extensive and detailed to have been published. The volumes are ideal reference works and wonderful, carefully analysed game collections."

Harry Schaack, KARL magazine

"Older chess players are delighted when they hear the name of Tal, but some younger ones have no idea who he was. So it is good that he should be rescued from oblivion through the trilogy by Tibor Karolyi, which is completed with The Invincible."

Bab Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad