---
product_id: 13707732
title: "Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 Paperback – July 3, 2001"
brand: "mikhail tal"
price: "¥8923"
currency: JPY
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/13707732-tal-botvinnik-1960-paperback-july-3-2001
store_origin: JP
region: Japan
---

# Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 Paperback – July 3, 2001

**Brand:** mikhail tal
**Price:** ¥8923
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- **What is this?** Tal-Botvinnik, 1960 Paperback – July 3, 2001 by mikhail tal
- **How much does it cost?** ¥8923 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Considered a masterpiece, but it is flawed.
  

*by C***1 on Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2019*

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.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    One of my favorite chess books
  

*by G***R on Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2020*

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 Great Chess Book, Even After 55 Years
  

*by S***N on Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2014*

I bought this book in 1972 and loved it. Strangely, "Tal-Botvinnik 1960" was not considered among the ranks of great chess books back when I first found it. In fact, the few comments I could find on it in the chess magazines at the time implied that Tal was slightly embarrassed by the book and considered it somewhat of a youthful indiscretion. I never understood why. Perhaps it was because some of his comments about Botvinnik didn't follow the "Party Line". Or maybe it was his  loss in the re-match a year later that made him slightly embarrassed about his analysis of Botvinnik in the first match.  I am glad to see that it is now considered by many to be the best book ever written on a World Championship match.  I agree.I lost my treasured paperback black covered "Tal-Botvinnik 1960" book in approximately 1995 during a move. It was falling apart on me by then. I never got around to replacing it. On a whim, I typed the title into Amazon a few months ago and found the Kindle edition. The Kindle edition is identical to my original paperback copy. The notation is algebraic (no longer descriptive like my original copy -- and no longer figurine as one earlier review of the Kindle edition complained). The Kindle edition has no extra games at the end of the book. Neither did my original black copy.Tal's pre-match analysis at the beginning of the book is entertaining enough to be worth the minimal price of the Kindle edition all by itself. Tal gives no long-winded analysis of Botvinnik's games nor any "deep" analysis of numerous various that might arise. Instead, he provides a relatively short analysis of his approach to the match. For example, Tal comments on Botvinnik's recent games and concludes that Botvinnik "had not recently gone in for any voluntary intensification of the struggle, and in those cases where he was caught up in a combinational 'storm', he was less sure of himself." Tal also notes that Botvinnik seemed to give "most of his consideration to strategic questions, not being distracted by different tactical variations", and that Botvinnik sometimes could not cash-in on his advantage because he didn't engage in the "sharp tactical play" that was needed. This gives you a good idea of Tal's strategy against Botvinnik in the match, namely, to try to makes the games intense, sharp, and tactical. And many of them were.I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did over the years, and as I do now on my iPad (Kindle App).

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