Health Problems
Naturally artistic, witty and impulsive, Tal led a bohemian life of chess playing, heavy drinking and chain smoking, which on more than one occasion created an embarrassment for the Soviet authorities. His already fragile health suffered as a result, and he spent much time in hospital, including an operation to remove a kidney in 1969. He was also briefly addicted to morphine due to intense pain. On June 28, 1992, Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially of a haemorrhage in the oesophagus.But his friend and fellow Soviet grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that "in reality, all his organs had stopped functioning. Tal had the congenital deformity of ectrodactyly in his right hand (visible in some photographs). Despite this, he was a skilled piano player.
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