Chess Greats
And the lessons we can learn from them
The purpose of this section is to have a repository of games from great players of the past which can inspire club members, particularly the younger ones who are still developing their own styles and are looking for ideas on how they can develop. The hope is that some of the the club's best players will contribute selections of games of their favourite players and that we'll build up a range of instructive games showing how they played and what their strengths were. (Any members who woudl like to contribute please contact me.) Having an idea of how chess has developed through the years is also useful in giving you a perspective on how you can develop in your own game.
The first entry is a development of an old feature I had on the last version of the site; on the games of Mikhail Tal, probably the greatest attacking player of all time and certainly the most attractive player to watch. Even if you never play a sacrifice like one of his, studying his games will show you the importance of fast development, centralising, and opening lines to your opponents king.
I've selected 20 of his games and shown them in playable form on the two connected pages and also rewritten and enlarged the description of his chess life. I may add more games when time allows.