Great Players of the Past: Mikhail Tal

[@notsogoodduck5580]

Ben: "who did petrosian beat to become world champion?" Kid: "uhhh... you?" Ben: "close"

[@chanky1000]

I don't know which answer was more hilarious - ben or magnus

[@DrMocktopus1]

“Fischer wouldn’t play that now, you know what the reasons are? He’s not alive.”😂😂

[@thomaswyss5828]

But his spirit, the spirit in which he played and understood is not. I use it as a chesstrainer.

[@thomaswyss5828]

Fisher was but a kid then. When Fischer is hyped, it is the 68-72 period..

[@_nemo171]

Classical Finegold.🤣😂🤣

[@briliantinoprihandikakhari6754]

the kids were silent LOL

[@xibal3405]

Your sense of humor will never get old

[@bhargavabhat9227]

It will never be shown in the great humor of the past

[@attaynez6043]

@@bhargavabhat9227 cuz it will always be the best

[@chad55009]

until it does. The truth hurts :D

[@sosa7k169]

@@chad55009 my new fav saying

[@SeddincY]

37:24 "And then he moved his pawn back, and they agreed to a draw." His delivery of that line as if it's something that really happened really made me cracked up. Ben never fails combining chess and comedy. I just love it

[@EvilSt0ner]

The kid going Noooooooo had me laughing

[@tonyennis1787]

When Tal was ill and in the hospital, Fischer was the only chess player who visited. he brought Tal some chess books to read.

[@GraemeCree]

Yeah, Fischer wanted to make sure he was really sick, and not up to something.

[@madanalym4165]

​@@GraemeCree😂😂

[@civil_leuthie]

8 minutes in, thinking "I swear I've heard this before" then I finally read the description. Kinda feel cheated, but watching the rest of it anyway.

[@Evilanious]

Always repeat!

[@nicholasdupont9097]

yeah I was so hyped for more tal (and more fischer a couple weeks prior!)

[@arnislapsa1619]

greetings from Latvia, Ben!

[@MordimersChessChannel]

The second game was played with white pieces by Hanging Pawns couple of months ago as his training. His opponent was probably the happiest person ever for getting into this variation :)

[@siIverspawn]

Took me several seconds to parse the Obi-van Benoni R2D2 joke. No chance to do that in real time.

[@ibazulic]

The more I think about it, the more I think Mikhail Tal is my favourite player of all. Not only he an amazing chess player, it seems he was very well liked as well. Rest in peace, Mr Tal.

[@1010tuta]

We absolutely love your lectures ben!

[@joeybashaw3909]

Tal was the chess Doc Holliday. "I'm your Huckleberry.."

[@Alex-xk6md]

Haha this guy is veey entertaining, love the dry humor, also loved your overview of english positions in yasser matches

[@swettyf745]

the hozier joke was genius

[@tobiass3540]

Would love to see a lecture about Ivanchuk. Some great attacking games to pick from. I know, he is still playing, but he was also playing in the past, so maybe that still works :)

[@Admiralmeriweather]

Ben did a whole lecture on Liñares 91

[@briliantinoprihandikakhari6754]

"He used to be young, oh, maybe that's not Tal" LMAO

[@GraemeCree]

One problem with Tal is that whenever he suffered any kind of reverse, people automatically blamed his health. Like when Polugaevsky knocked him out of the 1980 Candidates, everybody said "Oh, Tal must be sick again." It wasn't until the internet let you look it up and see that Tal was only +2-8=22 against Polugaevsky lifetime that you start to think maybe Polugaevsky did win that match fair and square after all.

[@haroldbeck4351]

For Ben's 'Great Players of the Present series it would be a lot of fun, if he did an episode on his old nemesis Ginger GM Simon Williams.

[@Chris.4345]

he’s about to haha

[@yosefcohen483]

27:13 is beautiful - the white rook that is about to be taken with 'check', is the piece supporting the queen to give mate. Rooks are good support beams.

[@nicholasdupont9097]

god dammit, got so excited for an ostensibly new Tal lecture.

[@gavinjones8543]

Love that domination of Fischer by good'ol zugs!.. Im sure he took it well and congratulated Tal like a true gentleman.

[@f.d.3289]

19:24 "If you play the Obi-Wan Benoni, you should play R2 to D2. Right? You agree? Say 'no'."

[@filipsand3290]

Thanks Ben, great lecture..

[@tiagohello]

Great video! Thank you so much! ❤

[@FrankBakulov]

19:30 Obi van Benoni & R2D2 is another brilliant joke from Ben Finegold.

[@Dropbear2024]

I've had this position many times but never at the same time 💀never change ben

[@asileris2804]

You are the man Ben, thanks for this

[@shikaru1730]

You said you read alot of tal books as a kid, did you ever read tals winning chess combinations by tal and victor khenkin? Thoughts on the book if you have?

[@roqsteady5290]

I had that book. Not sure how much Tal had to do with it though. Was a competent tactics book.

[@yosefcohen483]

Just like lady gaga - Tal was born sick. Thx GM Finegold. Any other pop-stars references? You're so awesome. Not half as awesome as your nemesis - GingerGM, but still.

[@brianjacob8728]

that stare after the putative queen sac on the pawn was CLASSIC. lmao.

[@scottscheule]

I know I’ve seen it before. I don’t care. I’m going to watch and pretend it’s new.

[@survivaloftheidiots6239]

ben is on fire as of late

[@johnjable33]

Is this a joke, or are you lucky enough to be viewing these lectures for the first time?

[@Al.2]

23:08 I love it 😂

[@Halibut86]

Tal is the man! My only question would be if he is actively looking for these long sequences resulting in forced mate / loss of material every move or if this was rehearsed preparation

[@michaels4255]

Maybe some preparation, but probably not all. Sometimes Tal's attacks were later found to be unsound (which suggests those attacks at least were not prepped), but the positions were so complex that his opponents could not find the defense in time control.

[@MrHeroicDemon]

Ahh I love ben's teaching style, and explaining fast rather than slow at times with humor. Always thanking him for shortening and having a laugh. They should pay this guy. I love tal's style, It's my favorite, I regularally do piece sac's for pawns to open the king for a good attack. I did it twice in a row, 3 piece sac, bishop bishop knight, and bishop knight and rook, both into check mates with queen. Very awesome feeling, but its on lichess, dont hate me.

[@jorgerosero1745]

“He played the King’s Indian every game, even after he died, before he was born and when he was white” I died on this line

[@InvigoratedSewerRat]

Im sitting here snickering at those relentless puns.

[@roqsteady5290]

6:30 Plus score against almost everyone, except Korchnoi.

[@MatthewThornhillTheDoctor]

i watch your videos to remind me that i am bad at chess. thanks!

[@footyking265]

Great lecture!

[@StratteraCapsules]

Was this reuploaded? I feel like I watched this awhile ago? Very memorable lecture!

[@srinivasarameshkotikalapud1838]

How much is it to sponsor a lecture?

[@GMBenjaminFinegold]

Email [e-mail] for info on sponsoring lectures! - Ben’s Editor

[@kevinstrand4596]

mainly and so forth

[@luke46219]

7:32 maybe that's not Tal... yeah, I think it was Short. I'll see myself out.

[@inspectorlunge3887]

27:28

[@imaginitivenickname6770]

I wouldn’t see the hanging pawn 30:20

[@animalntelligence3170]

How do we know that Tal's hand was not the next step in evolution? How can you simply call a physical characteristic of the possessor of one of the greatest minds in history a "deformity" ?? I am serious.

[@animalntelligence3170]

@@willywonka7812 I did say I was serious and if the "next stage in evolution" thing was somewhat fanciful, I see no reason to bring up something that the World Champ found embarassing. He was a very great man who overcame a lot to create some beautiful chess and I who among us is perfect physically let alone mentally?

[@animalntelligence3170]

@@willywonka7812 someone calling him "The Claw" meant to be offensive. My last word.

[@vibovitold]

what would be the benefit of this mutation? why would natural selection favor it? if there is a good reason, then it will favor it, and the mutation is going to become prevalent in the gene pool. that's how you find out if something is beneficial or not. what we do know is that it hasn't happened over the last 200 thousands years or so,.

[@innosanto]

Lets do all great players again

[@euclideszoto997]

Korchnoi had an impressive record against Tal.

[@vorpalinferno9711]

Who wants to see Tal vs Doofus?

[@gosukiwi]

haha I love when he stares at the camera

[@randyreal5871]

The Claw 😀

[@PsychedelicRealities]

Go Ben!

[@paulmitchell5349]

Tal 's magic has never been replicated. Not even Fischer. Too much of cigarettes or booze or food can kill a person early.............................Ben.

[@h0wnr681]

It's okay, I don't think Ben eats cigarettes

[@_nemo171]

Except for one thing.

[@gustafcederborg9744]

Lol

[@vibovitold]

"Not even Fischer" I'm not sure about that "even". This wasn't Fischer's playing style at all. Fischer steered towards clear cut, "rational" positions. He didn't particularly like speculative, hyperaggressive play. He didn't appreciate Alekhine, for example ("in a sense his whole method of play was a mistake").

[@davidgoble8891]

I really enjoy Ben's dry humor 😂

[@roninsaito2928]

@10:02

[@pirds102010]

Nobodys laughing, but I do often :D

[@nicholasdupont9097]

Holy hell 37:34

[@GraemeCree]

Mednis labeled 12... Bf6 as the losing move.

[@xaosIncorporeal]

Harry Nelson Pillsbury, short lived but certainly an American genius between Morphy and Fisher

[@GraemeCree]

He was a world class player, certainly. I don't know if that makes him a genius, though (other world class players will tell you it does). Of course, these days, doing "this" before you borrow from the bank is genius, so the whole concept of genius has been dumbed down somewhat.

[@camreese]

Repost

[@_nemo171]

Confusing the audience.

[@dw3yn693]

My GOAT

[@unjust7156]

Ben, I just got banned on your Twitch stream after sending my very *first* message, which was "play moore". That was during your break, after your 20-0 streak on today's Titled Tuesday.(grats btw, loved every second even tho I was banned) I requested an unban, but nothing. Just wanted to let you know your mods aren't very nice. 'Capeych' was my username.

[@nicholasdupont9097]

I got banned years ago for inviting him to join my Krazy Knights Klub.

[@stefanosias7422]

Tal reminds me of Morphy

[@andriyandriychuk]

Wizard from Riga!

[@davidgriffiths7696]

Botvinnik I knew it

[@brianerpelding]

That's the move you would have played,right? Ya 😅

[@pirds102010]

"He looked like he died a few years ago" Haha :D

[@fireballxl-5748]

50k in 1988 was equal to 130k in 2023.

[@nimzomitch]

Mmmm consolidation content! Etcetera.

[@_nemo171]

Mainly etcetera.

[@riverajavieri]

❤🤭👏👏👍👍

[@lukemarks3281]

Ben crappin on tal way too much there to start it off lol

[@timothymiller806]

1.25x Ben is pretty chipper

[@Ericapires12]

TAl🎉

[@RainerErhart-nd5xf]

Man you talk Shit Like me Obi one benoni 😂now i Just need to play as good chess as you to become Brothers 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@electorofsaxony7646]

Instant click

[@scottrackley4457]

Gonna admit, the first videos I didn't particularly take to your delivery. Then you aged well and I got the joke. Well, not exactly well, you need to go up a shirt size.

[@gavinjones8543]

Great lecture wasted on an audience of children... Maybe thats where the acerbic, sense of humour developed!?..

[@Derkalerk]

Tal was white. Thank you capn obvi

[@kerryfry1857]

I like smoking ❤

[@conradnoel]

Sorry but this is like watching paint dry….