Can anyone of us pinpoint the thinking Algorithm of Mikhail Tal?

Question

I have read how grandmasters think, but I do not play like them. I have read about their systems of thinking, and other things, and how to emulate any of the top GMs; but I would like to see if there are a list of steps where Tal's style can be copied? True, if you imitate some of his games you may copy his style somewhat. and this applies to Fischer / Kasparov and all.

But Mikhail Tal had a style which was not only daring, but he had a charisma to intimidate his opponents with his thinking, sacrifices and moves.

I want to list out particularly his thinking system.

1. Tal sees a move he likes. 2. He calculates some variations. 3. If good, Tal plays the move. — Dag Oskar Madsen, Apr 07 '17 at 21:30
according to Bronstein, "How does Tal win? He develops all his pieces to the center and then sacrifices them somewhere." — M.M, Apr 11 '17 at 01:10
Voting to leave this open; the top answer is objective and (AFAICT) correct. — Glorfindel, Dec 07 '21 at 10:42

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 22 '20 at 18:37

5

Tal didn't really have an algorithm. He played on intuition:

Many sacrifices do not require any concrete calculation at all.

A glance at the resulting position is sufficient to realize the sacrifice is correct.

Source: Tal, as quoted in The wisest things ever said about chess by GM Soltis

edited Mar 22 '20 at 18:37

PhishMaster

32,397
4
102
174

answered Apr 07 '17 at 08:41

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 22 '20 at 18:38

@SethProjnabrata:I think above all he loved tactics.It's about playing a lot of tactics, memorizing them, and the pattern recognition would make him "see" what could work or not in a new position...memory became imagination....and bluff because one point is better than 1/2 which is better than 0. If you want to TRY to play like Tal, try practising a lot of tactics, but it's not always easy, because it requires a lot of concentration, and if you do that all days during say one month or more, you will "see" combinations in every game(the majority won't works, but some will do)...maybe it won't be the same style as Tal, but it will nevertheless worth the cost when you will see a nice trick that will make you happy.

Can anyone of us pinpoint the thinking Algorithm of Mikhail Tal?

2 Answers2