Tal-Botvinnik 1960: Match for the World Chess Championship

This is considered the greatest book on a world championship match ever written, at least by one of the participants. I found it to be both great in some ways, but stunning by how bad Tal’s analysis actually is at times (I read every line using Stockfish 10 at the same time). At one point, his intended line actually leaves Botvinnik with a mate in one! Frankly, I suspect that had Botvinnik played a bit more leading up to this, he probably would have won since his mistakes were often in good positions. He seemed very rusty.I am going to base this review on the quality of Tal’s work, and not the publisher, who is normally outstanding, but I did find lines that were missing the end of the translated text.Analysis aside, the “great” is simply that it is amazing to hear exactly what Tal was thinking throughout the match, and he does not hold back. In addition, as an old USCF Master, myself, who recently took up chess again, there are often positional things that are very subtle that come up in his thoughts that I found valuable. There is much to learn from his words more than any of his analysis.To be frank, his analysis is riddled with blunders, and at least once, a gross positional misjudgment, which shocked me (and I am not talking about 5.gf in game 3). The biggest hole in his analysis came in game 20 (p.187) when in the notes after move 16, he recommended 16.Rg1 Nf2; 17.Bc2 Qc4; 18.Qh7 ed “with a very sharp game”. Yes, sharp for one more half-move…19.Qe7 mate.The gross positional judgment error was in game 8 (p.84), and it was also a match-tactics error too. Tal had been worse up to this point, and dead lost at more than one point in the game. He probably should have been happy to equalize, and calm things down especially with a three-point lead in the match; but on move 33, he avoided 33…Bc4!; 34.Bc4 Kg7-f6 and does not even mention it. Any strong player should immediately recognize that the resulting position after the 34.Bc4 recapture is at least equal, and is it MUCH easier to play with black even though he is down one pawn (temporarily two). The Nc5 is a monster, and white’s pawns are all incredibly weak (b6, c3, e3, h4 and h2). Black surely wins back h4 soon, a6 is passed and secure, and even if it does not go anywhere for a while, white always has to carefully consider any endgame transitions (trades) since it may become the winning rook pawn as was the h-pawn later for white in this very game. I short, after 33…Bc4!, black would have had a great game. Instead, Botvinnik played 34.Rdc1? when 34.Rd4 kept a big advantage since 34…Bc4 is again best, however, 35.Rc4 and the rook is much more active since the tactics here favor white. 34.Rd4 Nc3?; 35.Bd3 Bc4; 36.Rc4 Nd5; 37.Kf2 Rf8; 38.Rd4 Nb6; 39.Rd6 Na4; 40.Rd5 winning f5 and the game since white’s pieces are so active, and the connected center pawns supported by the K are much stronger than b7 and a6. In addition, the B is much stronger at slowing the black q-side from a distance while also supporting its own passers; and can even sacrifice itself from long distance should one of the black pawns get close to queening. (there were alternatives earlier, but losing f5 is game). The other main line is 34.Rd4 Bc4; 35.Bc4 Rbc8; 36.Kg2 and white is much better since 36…Nc3?; 37.Bd3 Ne4; 38.Be4 fe (38…Re4?; 39.Re4 fe; 40.Kg3 Rc5; 41.Rd1! Rc3; 42.Kg4 Re3; 43.Rc1+- as the rook, king and pawns combine to make threats against the black king); 39.Rdd1 and black is still down a P, and white’s are much safer than black’s here (Kg3 coming Rg8, and challenge the file). Tal would ultimately lose this game, and the next one, after passing up 33…Bc4, which let Botvinnik back into the match.I found numerous places that at the bottom of a page, there was text missing that was in the original Russian book. Here is one: On page 79, “With correct play, the modest text move should give Black a”, and it just stops. I did not go looking for the game to give you an exact page reference, but in one of the other games, Tal is commenting on the amount of time Botvinnik used on an obvious opening move, and in the Russian text he said that he probably would have like to have had that time back later in the game when it got complex. The main point of what he was saying was just missing. Russell Enterprises, the publisher of this book, is really one of THE best publishers out there (along with Quality Chess and New in Chess), but this one book somehow had this one flaw creep into it. It does not really affect the overall content.

The really amazing thing about this book is Tal’s personal move-by-move insights and analysis of the games of this match. Game One is a very exciting Winawer variation of the French Defense. His knight sacrifice in Game Six was risky and speculative, but very much in line with his style.Reading this book almost felt like having a personal teaching session with this great grandmaster. For USCF class A-B players like me, this book is best read with a chess board set up in front of you, and make the moves on the chessboard as you read the book. Read through the games slowly and play out much of the analysis on the board for the most rewarding experience. I went through this book at about two games a week.60 years after this match, this book still holds up well. In this day and age, when many computer programs routinely take down grandmasters, it is somewhat amazing to see the quality of play in sharp games in an age when it all had to be done by human brain power.It wasn’t until 1988 that a computer first defeated a sitting grandmaster in over the board play at standard time controls, that was Deep Thought versus Bent Larsen in round 3 of the Software Toolworks Open in Long Beach, California, and Mikhail Tal was at that tournament, still playing high level chess 28 years after his brief reign as world champion.For any serious class-level chess player, I highly recommend this book. You won’t be disappointed.

A good read for chess people and a nice insight to Tal's ponderings as he came up to and played these incredible games. Should be read in conjunction with a book about Tal to truly capture the moment and see Tal as not only a great chess master but a fascinating character and person. I would also advise the reader to look into Botvinnik to understand this interesting character and Tal's nemesis (?). Nemesis is maybe a bit strong, but these two were also politically, and I suspect socially, diametrically opposed. Botvinnik, in my view, was a soviet apparatchik and master manipulator behind the scenes of chess in Russia. There is a great tale woven around the period that Tal and Botvinnik faced each other across the board, that, if your interested, adds considerable colour to this book

At the outset it should be emphasised that the one star rating is for this published edition of the book rather than for the book itself.Tal’s incomparable book is a masterpiece - arguably the greatest ever chess book and certainly the best ever account of a chess match - which makes the publisher’s shoddy treatment of it all the more inexcusable.This title has been available in English since 1970 and is now in it’s 7th edition. One might reasonably expect that as a title goes through a number of editions that it would improve in the process. But not so with this title which has disimproved and, in this latest edition, has been butchered by the publisher.An early edition of this title had a useful appendix containing all Tal:Botvinnik games played outside this 1960 match. That’s not in this 7th edition.The 4th edition, which changed game notation from descriptive to algebraic, marked the only useful change of any significance made by the publisher.Much is now known of Tal’s life and career and an appropriately informative preface might usefully be provided. But instead this 7th edition provides a cursory Foreword and superficial Remembrance that don’t add value and which both read as if they were dashed off in a few minutes.Comparing the 4th and 7th editions shows 1) the number of diagrams has not improved, 2) the photo content has not improved (if anything it’s now poorer), 3) the paper quality is worse, 4) the layout is worse, and 5) TAL’S CONTENT HAS BEEN BUTCHERED. Integral to Tal’s account of the 1960 match is a detailed and very interesting afterword in which he discusses the results and key points of the match. This integral part of Tal’s book (which is in the 4th edition) has been cut without any explanation or even notice. This butchering of Tal’s masterpiece, presumably to save the publisher a little money on paper costs, is literary vandalism.Tal’s marvellous book deserves much better treatment. Shame on the publisher.

Some mistakes in the version I received, e.g. moves missing, lines of text missing. Only for that reason is it 4 stars, instead of 5 stars. A very enjoyable read, highly recommend going through the games in chronological order, it feels like you are inside the head of Tal as he is playing the match

An truly excellent chess book,written by a great player.Comprehsive analysis and insight to a world championship final.Quality print and diagrams.My only criticism is the long form figurine algebraic notation,which is annoying.e.g.Nb1-Nc3.Not necessary for chess players,and disrupts readers concentration.

I was delighted to have the book installed on my Kindle within minutes after Yasser Seriwan mentioned it in a YT lecture . The Father of Russian Chess and 'correct play' was up against Tal representing the complete opposite. The book is an interesting insight into the match strategy of Tal as well as his analysis of the games. They show how much home preparation B had up his sleeve but how Tal was then able to prepare surprises. The depth of what the players see over the board is explained, this is usually a great deal. In most of these lines the positions are unusually (for Tal) quiet making the calculation of long variations over the board even more amazing. Several times he concludes his position after much thinking to be lost and so embarks on a dubious line which occasionally worked for him. Also of interest is that the clock times are given after each move. Not an easy read, but it is as if Tal is speaking to you, across the years, from Russia in 1960.

Number one chess book about a world chess championship match.