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Active: 1154 users

"Thank you for recognizing me"

Blogs > shostakovich
Post a Reply
shostakovich
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Brazil1429 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-06 21:01:14
September 06 2012 19:59 GMT
#1
I am an amateur sports chronicler here on Brazil. I also love sports journalism, and I always try to write stories that have both fiction and fact. I felt like sharing this one.

English isn't my natural language, so if you find any mistakes, please PM me so I can fix. Thank you.

Thank you for recognizing me

The famous Moscow Blitz Chess Tournament was my objective. My opponents demanded me a special preparation. The advent of computers made chess databases easily accessible, greatily reducing the necessary time to be in perfect shape. More than ever, the ability to calculate became a fundamental skill for the player.

And I was very confident. Little by little, chess was becoming my second nature. To calculate answers to the challenges offered by the opponents was like breathing. One by one, I solved everything that was offered to me.

But then a old man that I didn't immedialy recognized sat down in the other side of the table. He was my last opponent. His appearance was of sickness and tiredness. It was horrible. But his eyes kept the flame that identifies and defines something as human.

Early on the first movements I was already in trouble. That old man was agile. His game was different from everything: it was spectacular, dramatic, devoted to attack. In no time, the old man's cavalry was threatening my king.

The pandemonium was unleashed in the hall. The world champion was cornered by a sick old man. While the audience watched everything in awe, I felt like in heaven. It was a gigantic pleasure to analyze and calculate the challenges offered by the old man. He went to the point of sacrificing a piece to get into a labyrinthine position that few would dare, fearing they wouldn't be able to find the exit. I manage to defend my pieces, but the time in my clock ended. The old man won. The reason is very simple: while I calculate chess, he simply sees it. His vision was out of this world. The form of a player is momentary; the class, eternal.

I shake his hands, happy to have experienced that. And so I recognized him. I'd never forget the touch of that hand. For it was Misha's hand - whom I greeted when I was only ten - that showed me for the first time what is chess when played by grandmasters. At that time, defeated by him, I felt both an overwhelming pressure that made me want to stay away from him and a desire to be always by his side. It was him, Misha, the magician of Riga.

I called him by the name. Tired, he said "thank you." "For what?" I replied. "For recognizing me"

[image loading]
Picture source. Tal playing Kasparov. Tal was 55 years old.


PS: One month before dying by liver failure (in June 28th, 1992), Mikhail Tal ran away from the hospital where he was to play the Blitz Chess Tournament in Moscow. There, he played his last match and won against Garry Kasparov.

*****
Facultyadjutant
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Sweden1876 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-06 20:54:11
September 06 2012 20:44 GMT
#2
God, why did you have to bring this back


This is one of the saddest things in the world, nearly broke down when I read it for the first time T.T
#1 FAN OF TERRY THE INTERN - NONY AND IDRA NUMBER #1, EVERY DAY. AXIOM MANOR - Axiom: Ryung, Alicia, Heart and Crank under the Don TotalBiscuit and the Donnesa Genna Bain- Join the family http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=396090#2
Stancel
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
Singapore15360 Posts
September 06 2012 20:55 GMT
#3
PS: One month after dying by liver failure (in June 28th, 1992), Mikhail Tal ran away from the hospital where he was to play the Blitz Chess Tournament in Moscow. There, he played his last match and won against Garry Kasparov.


before dying

Thanks for sharing this - I enjoy and play chess occasionally, but now I'm curious about these tournaments, might look for videos sometime.
ffxiv enjoyer
]343[
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States10328 Posts
September 06 2012 21:42 GMT
#4
Great story! (Bar a few little English errors, but that's ok.)
Tal was certainly one of the greatest attackers of all time, but I didn't know he could beat Kasparov around the height of his reign... (admittedly it's blitz, but still)

Game is here; video is
+ Show Spoiler [here] +
Writer
shostakovich
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Brazil1429 Posts
September 06 2012 22:02 GMT
#5
On September 07 2012 06:42 ]343[ wrote:
Great story! (Bar a few little English errors, but that's ok.)
Tal was certainly one of the greatest attackers of all time, but I didn't know he could beat Kasparov around the height of his reign... (admittedly it's blitz, but still)

Game is here; video is
+ Show Spoiler [here] +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWuO6ozOmZA

My apologies. I never really studied english as I did portuguese or greek. My mother teaches english, so I grew up speakin portuguese and english. I learned I what know mostly alone, playing videogames with a dictionary by my side. When you have the chance, could you PM me and point the mistakes?

Here's another photo of Tal, playing chess with Bobby Fischer at the hospital.

[image loading]
docvoc
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States5491 Posts
September 06 2012 22:20 GMT
#6
This was an amazing read. Thank you for this. This was absolutely one of the best blogs i've seen, ever.
User was warned for too many mimes.
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