Sunday, November 25, 2007

Old In Chess II

Death of a Magician

"We phoned each other quite often and a few days before I was to leave for the Olympiad in Manila, I received a letter from Misha. It went as follows:

Dear Genna,

I am sorry to say that, for the moment, I cannot do the story on the tournament which I promised you - I have been feeling very poorly. Monday I will be treated in Moscow in another of my perennial appointments with the doctors. Probably there will be an operation soon, but I will have plenty of time and facilities for writing. I wish you and your entire, least russified (let's put it this way) team every possible succes.

Warm regards,

Misha


This was the last I heard from Misha. But before he was admitted to hospital he played another blitz tournament in Moscow, beating Kasparov and claiming third place behind Kasparov and Bareev, but ahead of Smyslov, Dolmatov, Vyzhmanavin, and Beliavsky.

Some days later, on June 28, 1992, Mishal Tal died in that Moscow hospital."



Genna Sosonko, New in Chess 1992/5

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If entertainment is the criteria then Tal was the greatest of all time. He suffered with illness for many years - otherwise would have been world champion for much longer.