--- product_id: 12790451 title: "Life & Games of Mikhail Tal" price: "AR$88615" currency: ARS in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/12790451-life-and-games-of-mikhail-tal store_origin: AR region: Argentina --- # Life & Games of Mikhail Tal **Price:** AR$88615 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Life & Games of Mikhail Tal - **How much does it cost?** AR$88615 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.ar](https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/12790451-life-and-games-of-mikhail-tal) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Mikhail Tal, the 'magician from Riga,' was the greatest attacking World Champion of them all, and this enchanting autobiography chronicles his extraordinary career with charm and humor. Review: Great Book, Should Own... - This is a great book that everyone should own that cares about Chess. Tal was one of the most exciting players to ever play the game of Chess. He came at a time when matches were just home preperation and memorization. This was not the way to play the game and he shattered Botvinnik. At a time when he was thought almost impossible to even consider beating. Also it was the ultimate challenge of Science vs. Humanity. Would the almost machine like logician be the victor over the Magician... The book is very well written and a real joy to read. I actually bought an original copy from 1976 of this book as well. I still have it wrapped up and kept very well. I bought it after getting the the newer version just to have. The cover on that book is different than one used for this version. What makes this so great is that Tal has a style to his writing unlike anyone else. Also he seems to be a bit nuts and that always helps the enjoyment. He actually takes the role of a journalist asking himself questions. So that is a bit of an odd thing if you consider it. Still he tries to explain situations and even what he is thinking sometimes. He comes off as being a really human person which is important. He makes it clear that he is not a machine he is mortal. He does not try to elevate himself and disrespect anyone etc. Some of the stories are very interesting also. He talks about a game vs. Fischer that most likely he was gonna lose. He explains how Bobby wrote down the move in almost russian notation and showed him. Hoping to get some sort of reaction I suspect. Tal knowing this was the move that just about beat him explains his thought process. The way he reacts causes Fischer to actually change his move and ends up losing or drawing to Tal. This is rather interesting esp since I think Tal had a + score over Fischer. He talks about another game where his opponent planned to wear dark glasses. He hears of this and decides to don his own sunglasses. What happens next you will have to get book to read :). The popular Hippo story is also a favorite of many of his fans. He talks about other not so happy topics as well. I had wrote a really long review for this book some time ago. Yet for some reason it got deleted so hope this one works out better. I have some other books from Tal I have yet to review as well. Reason it takes so long to review them is there is so much to the books. Makes it very difficult to explain just how good the book is. Maybe I am biased cuz Tal is one of my favorite players. Yet I really do not use any of his openings or anything. Just from this book and other things I guess it helped create a strong liking. I am not sure I can really explain it. Yet I know there was and still is something very special about Tal. I regret that I never got to meet him in person etc. Still if your just into the pure chess side of things the book is also good. He did play lots of great players and his career spanned a long time. So consider with great care picking up this book. I enjoy just reading this book, him talking about the games though is priceless. Review: The best Chess Autobiography ever written! - This book was the first book I purchased from desertcart, and was the reason why I applied to have a credit card to order it online. It's true that Mikhail "Misha" Tal is my chess idol, but nevertheless I wouldn't be biased if I said that of the many chess books I have, I'v never seen a more enjoyable book than this one. The book is written in a form of an interview with a chess player (Tal), and he talks about his Chess career and personal life mixed together in a very witty funny-way that would force you to love him and his style, even if you weren't a chess player already. The Chess theories that Tal has used in the book to illustrate his chess games, might be old and outplayed now. And perhaps I made a mistake to buy an old games book, to learn some openings from it, still, I learnt a lot from his games and personality. Mind you there are four things that you need to know before buying this book: 1- The book is fairly old, as it was written in 1975, lots of the openings he played have changed in order a little bit, so make sure you analyze them right. The poor chap didn't even have the luxury of having Chess engines that time, and yet he was this brilliant. (I'm dead serious, you would think he's crazy in some games where he sacrifices material like crazy, so much like you're watching a thriller!). 2- Some of the cool games played by him, aren't exactly annotated. 3- The worse thing that broke my heart, is that he doesn't talk about his personal (romantic) life as I'v wanted. He mentions his wife and the birth of his son yes, but nothing about his personal problems that his 1st and 2nd wife talked about, nor his daughter Zhana. So you better know this fact from now on. He does mention though on how he grew up learning chess and how did meet and learn things from the other players, most notably his Trainer, Koblents. The latter is mentioned as his trainer in the World Championship final against Botvinnik, not GM Nezhmetdinov, which is very strange that the latter wasn't mentioned at all, despite how much Tal liked him? 4- Am not sure if reading, and using the book too much is the reason, but if you did that the pages might fall! I don't know about the other copies or publishes, but I have an Everyman Chess copy. Still, unlike one of the (1 star) reviewers, pages falling apart is a silly reason not to buy a true chess classic, such as this one. I still carry the book with me if I had to travel, and always read it again and again, you just never get board of this book about Tal. You would really believe that he was the best tactical player ever, and that he was indeed ahead of his time. To me, he is the best Chess player ever, on and off the chess board. The book would just show you what type of a modest, kind, witty personality Tal had, that made him the legend he is today. Finally, to me this is the best Chess book ever written as a review, if not, to many it's at least one of the best 5 Chess books ever written. A must to have in your collection of Chess books. Hope you'd enjoy it too. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #199,205 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #78 in Chess (Books) #166 in Board Games (Books) #16,936 in Biographies (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 473 Reviews | ## Images ![Life & Games of Mikhail Tal - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91rjOae9FHL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Book, Should Own... *by B***O on January 31, 2002* This is a great book that everyone should own that cares about Chess. Tal was one of the most exciting players to ever play the game of Chess. He came at a time when matches were just home preperation and memorization. This was not the way to play the game and he shattered Botvinnik. At a time when he was thought almost impossible to even consider beating. Also it was the ultimate challenge of Science vs. Humanity. Would the almost machine like logician be the victor over the Magician... The book is very well written and a real joy to read. I actually bought an original copy from 1976 of this book as well. I still have it wrapped up and kept very well. I bought it after getting the the newer version just to have. The cover on that book is different than one used for this version. What makes this so great is that Tal has a style to his writing unlike anyone else. Also he seems to be a bit nuts and that always helps the enjoyment. He actually takes the role of a journalist asking himself questions. So that is a bit of an odd thing if you consider it. Still he tries to explain situations and even what he is thinking sometimes. He comes off as being a really human person which is important. He makes it clear that he is not a machine he is mortal. He does not try to elevate himself and disrespect anyone etc. Some of the stories are very interesting also. He talks about a game vs. Fischer that most likely he was gonna lose. He explains how Bobby wrote down the move in almost russian notation and showed him. Hoping to get some sort of reaction I suspect. Tal knowing this was the move that just about beat him explains his thought process. The way he reacts causes Fischer to actually change his move and ends up losing or drawing to Tal. This is rather interesting esp since I think Tal had a + score over Fischer. He talks about another game where his opponent planned to wear dark glasses. He hears of this and decides to don his own sunglasses. What happens next you will have to get book to read :). The popular Hippo story is also a favorite of many of his fans. He talks about other not so happy topics as well. I had wrote a really long review for this book some time ago. Yet for some reason it got deleted so hope this one works out better. I have some other books from Tal I have yet to review as well. Reason it takes so long to review them is there is so much to the books. Makes it very difficult to explain just how good the book is. Maybe I am biased cuz Tal is one of my favorite players. Yet I really do not use any of his openings or anything. Just from this book and other things I guess it helped create a strong liking. I am not sure I can really explain it. Yet I know there was and still is something very special about Tal. I regret that I never got to meet him in person etc. Still if your just into the pure chess side of things the book is also good. He did play lots of great players and his career spanned a long time. So consider with great care picking up this book. I enjoy just reading this book, him talking about the games though is priceless. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The best Chess Autobiography ever written! *by H***I on January 28, 2011* This book was the first book I purchased from Amazon, and was the reason why I applied to have a credit card to order it online. It's true that Mikhail "Misha" Tal is my chess idol, but nevertheless I wouldn't be biased if I said that of the many chess books I have, I'v never seen a more enjoyable book than this one. The book is written in a form of an interview with a chess player (Tal), and he talks about his Chess career and personal life mixed together in a very witty funny-way that would force you to love him and his style, even if you weren't a chess player already. The Chess theories that Tal has used in the book to illustrate his chess games, might be old and outplayed now. And perhaps I made a mistake to buy an old games book, to learn some openings from it, still, I learnt a lot from his games and personality. Mind you there are four things that you need to know before buying this book: 1- The book is fairly old, as it was written in 1975, lots of the openings he played have changed in order a little bit, so make sure you analyze them right. The poor chap didn't even have the luxury of having Chess engines that time, and yet he was this brilliant. (I'm dead serious, you would think he's crazy in some games where he sacrifices material like crazy, so much like you're watching a thriller!). 2- Some of the cool games played by him, aren't exactly annotated. 3- The worse thing that broke my heart, is that he doesn't talk about his personal (romantic) life as I'v wanted. He mentions his wife and the birth of his son yes, but nothing about his personal problems that his 1st and 2nd wife talked about, nor his daughter Zhana. So you better know this fact from now on. He does mention though on how he grew up learning chess and how did meet and learn things from the other players, most notably his Trainer, Koblents. The latter is mentioned as his trainer in the World Championship final against Botvinnik, not GM Nezhmetdinov, which is very strange that the latter wasn't mentioned at all, despite how much Tal liked him? 4- Am not sure if reading, and using the book too much is the reason, but if you did that the pages might fall! I don't know about the other copies or publishes, but I have an Everyman Chess copy. Still, unlike one of the (1 star) reviewers, pages falling apart is a silly reason not to buy a true chess classic, such as this one. I still carry the book with me if I had to travel, and always read it again and again, you just never get board of this book about Tal. You would really believe that he was the best tactical player ever, and that he was indeed ahead of his time. To me, he is the best Chess player ever, on and off the chess board. The book would just show you what type of a modest, kind, witty personality Tal had, that made him the legend he is today. Finally, to me this is the best Chess book ever written as a review, if not, to many it's at least one of the best 5 Chess books ever written. A must to have in your collection of Chess books. Hope you'd enjoy it too. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An autobiography interesting for every reader *by B***A on December 30, 2024* One of the most enigmatic chess champions, Mikhail Tal, reveals his extraordinary life and career. The 100 complete games and nearly as many positions plus Tal's annotations make the book truly unique. However, how a gifted person builds on his many talents and interests to become an acclaimed chess master is a topic interesting not only for chess players. It is about the human effort and the innumerable impediments that a man should overcome including the problems of his own organism in order to accomplish his dream. ## Frequently Bought Together - Life & Games of Mikhail Tal - Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/12790451-life-and-games-of-mikhail-tal](https://www.desertcart.com.ar/products/12790451-life-and-games-of-mikhail-tal) --- *Product available on Desertcart Argentina* *Store origin: AR* *Last updated: 2026-09-09*