Mikhail Tal - Early Years

Early Years

Tal was born in Riga, Latvia, into a Jewish family. He was from the very beginning of his life blessed with much talent and cursed with ill health. Tal learned to read at the age of three, and was allowed to start university studies while only fifteen. At the age of eight, Tal learned to play chess while watching his father, a doctor and medical researcher. Shortly thereafter he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess club. His play was not exceptional at first but he worked hard to improve. Alexander Koblents began tutoring Tal in 1949, after which Tal's game rapidly improved, and by 1951 he had qualified for the Latvian Championship. In the 1952 Latvian Championship Tal finished ahead of his trainer. Tal won his first Latvian title in 1953, and was awarded the title of Candidate Master. He became a Soviet Master in 1954 by defeating Vladimir Saigin in a qualifying match. That same year he also scored his first win over a Grandmaster when Yuri Averbakh lost on time in a drawn position. Tal graduated in Literature from the University of Riga, writing a thesis on the satirical works of Ilf and Petrov, and taught school in Riga for a time in his early twenties. He was a member of the Daugava Sports Society, and represented Latvia in internal Soviet team competitions.

He married 19-year-old Russian actress Salli Landau in 1959, divorcing in 1970. (In 2003, Landau published in Russia a biography of her late ex-husband.)