Emilio de Armas

Tal vs Fischer Emilio de Armas

This book is a collection of the thirteen chess games played by Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer against each other during their career. "Tal was absolutely unique. His playing style was of course unrepeatable. He was the only one I knew who didn't calculate the variants, he saw them. He was a man in whose presence others sensed their mediocrity. He led a very unusual life. He didn't think of anything. He lived here and now, and this enormous energy was always around him. The positive energy. Tal was one of the few completely positive people I knew, he wasn't contentious. Chess is a very contentious game by its nature, and he wasn't. ... The result meant much to him, but bad results weren't such drama for him as for other players. Tal was an artist, he deemed any game worthy if it was interesting. Nevertheless, he was an immensely strong player; until the very end he was dangerous for any partner. He didn't even seek the truth in chess, he sought beauty." -Garry Kasparov "He [Tal] is always on the look-out for some such spectacular sacrifice. He is not so much interested in who has the better game, or in the essential soundness of his own game, but in finding that one shot, that dramatic break-through that will give him the win." -Bobby Fischer