Mikhail ULYANOV Film Marshal Zhukov was married once and, as they say, forever. In his wife - his classmate at the Shchukin Theater School - he fell in love while still a student. But Alla was not free then - she was the wife of the famous actor Nikolai Kryuchkov, with

Mikhail TAL Everywhere they called him simply Misha and they understood who they were talking about. They loved him, isn't that happiness? On the chessboard, he was irreconcilable, but in life, it would seem, a harmless person. But at the same time he was smart and ironic. Chess was his passion, or rather, not chess.

Mikhail Gorkhover Let's start with the simplest questions. What did you play in Moscow courtyards during your childhood? I can definitely say what we played then. "Cossacks-robbers", "catch-up", and later "parish", "brute", where it was necessary to throw

Tal I used to play with Tal. Football. It was in 1972, on the beach, in the tiny Estonian town of Viljandi, where the next Ilmar Raud memorial was held. Although I was (and remain) a frail person, when he ran at me with the ball, I was scared - for him. Thin handles

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (July 30, 1947, Thal, Austria) “I have been thinking about a career as an actor for a long time. I knew that people used to find themselves in a different place because of their body structure. The question was how to replicate their success. For films about Hercules, now is not the best

Michael Michael arrived in Palestine at the age of thirteen with his sister Judit, 15, and his brother Chaim, 6. Their father, Israel Bogomolny, died after an operation in an Odessa hospital. A relative named Menis Teifel was in charge of transporting these three orphans to his brother

Mikhail Zhvanetsky and Mikhail Zadornov The story described above is clearly invented. By whom - I do not know, it is possible that by me. Mikhal Mikhalych and Mikhal Nikolaich are far from Chekhov's characters, they have no reason to quarrel, but they puff with envy of each other, each

REMEMBER

DON'T CARE

“Chess Paganini”, “demon”, “whirlwind from the Soviet Union”, “pirate of the chessboard”, “magician from Riga”, “great actor of the chess scene” ... Of the two dozen similar epithets received by the eighth world chess champion Mikhail Tal from of his enthusiastic admirers and journalists, “every queen” (a figure with unlimited possibilities, with a knight's move in reserve, according to Dahl's explanatory dictionary) seemed to me the most original and most accurately characterizing Tal's multifaceted personality.

Everything was allowed to him. According to Dostoevsky, this is a great sin, but not for Tal. “Misha, you understand that this does not happen,” his friends told him in response to his next victim in a space of black and white cells. “I know, but I really want to! ..” “I have one tendency, a weakness, call it what you want: I love paradoxical solutions,” Tal himself admitted in an interview with “Soviet Sport” in June 1987. - That the leg was longer than the hypotenuse, and twice two equals five.

On June 28, 1992, at three o'clock in the afternoon in the 15th city hospital in Moscow, at the age of 56, the great chess player of the century, "Mozart of Chess Art", the eighth world champion Mikhail Tal, died. It seemed that his favorite chess would always save this man, who had survived 12 most difficult operations in his life, from going to the place where the present, past and future merge into one river. But this time the miracle did not happen. “Profuse bleeding. Varicose veins of the esophagus "- even wizards do not live with such a medical diagnosis ... CAVALERIAN NUCKLE WITH HYPNOSIS

The appearance of Mikhail Tal in big chess, which took place in the late 50s - early 60s, had the effect of an exploding bomb. Hitherto little-known "hussar from Riga" managed to crush all recognized chess authorities with a dashing cavalry swoop and at the age of 23 became the youngest world champion, as they say, from the first call and in one breath. It was so improbable that many started talking seriously about Tal's hypnotic abilities and the cosmic origin of his combinations with the fantastic sacrifices of figures, as if coming to life under the arm of a genius "commander". And the almost mystical story of Tal's birth, which somehow became known to everyone, gave birth to another "clue" of his phenomenal victories ...

"PIECE PEOPLE" - "PIECE" RELATIONSHIP

The first wife of the eighth world champion, dramatic actress and pop singer Sally (Shulamith) Landau, in her book "Mikhail Tal's Elegy" claims that from the very first appearance in Tali's house she understood: "Here live" piece people ", relations between whom do not fit into the framework socialist community ". I think that the adherents of the “capitalist community” are unlikely to dispute the fact of really “piece family relations” professed in the Tale house, since Misha's conception, from the point of view of Christian canons, was vicious. He had two fathers: a blood father - Robert and the husband of his mother Ida Grigorievna, the father of his elder brother Yakov - a well-known doctor in Riga, Nehemia Tal. And it was not a banal love triangle with secret dates and scenes of jealousy, but, probably, the only way out of the situation in their understanding, determined by a viral infection that led Nehemia to incurable impotence. Misha knew that he owed his birth to Robert who lived in their house, nevertheless he always considered Nehemiah his father, whom he loved infinitely. And for Robert, Misha was the son of Dr. Tal.

Two months before the birth of Mikhail Nekhemievich, the fabulous little mouse that lived on the Riga seaside almost broke a golden egg with its tail, from which a chess genius was supposed to emerge. But seriously, Ida Grigorievna herself talked about a huge rat that scared her so that she, being in the seventh month of pregnancy, lost consciousness from fear. Fears of doctors about the irreversible consequences of shock, thank God, did not come true: the birth went well. But when the newborn was brought to mother for the first time, she again, like that time on the Riga seaside, fainted from horror when she saw the twisted three-fingered hand of her son ...

BLACK AND WHITE DIAGNOSIS

At the age of six months, Misha, according to another family legend, almost died, catching the most complex form of meningitis with incessant convulsions and a temperature over 40. Remembering this, Sally Landau writes: “The doctor said that there is almost no hope, but with a favorable outcome after such diseases, great people grow up. " Bearing in mind that the best doctor in Riga was, according to knowledgeable people, Nehemia Tal, I would like to ask: was he not the author of that black-and-white, like a chessboard, diagnosis? But be that as it may, the most important thing is that Misha survived and really became first a child prodigy, and then a genius. At the age of three, he learned to read, at five - to multiply three-digit numbers in his mind and recite the pages of the books he had read by heart. At the age of seven he repeated his father's lectures on medical topics word for word, at twenty-seven he could recall without apparent effort a half dozen moves that had met in some game of the 1939 national championship. At thirty-seven, he freely commented on chess games in seven European languages \u200b\u200b...

Journalist Yaroslav Golovanov reports:

Once we sat with Misha in the company, drank. I fell into the hands of some kind of mathematical problem book, and I began to read it out loud, laughing at the pools, into which water flows in and out. More than an hour passed. Tal suddenly says for no reason:

What is "24"?

In the puzzle that you read, the answer is 24 tons! Check it out.

I checked. Exactly! But I read the problem more than an hour ago, and all this time Tal took an active part in the feast, joked around, I did not see him switch to this problem even for a minute.

WHAT IS OUR LIFE? A GAME…

The very attempt of an ordinary person to invade the territory of genius, and even more so to fit Tal's brightest life into two newspaper pages, looks blasphemous. I am perfectly aware of this, but, as they say, I am not the first and, I am sure, not the last.

Misha Tal met chess at the age of seven and since then never parted with it, considering it his world, in which he, in his own words, lived a full life and expressed himself to the end. “Chess needed Tal, and he was a huge and bright artist,” says another chess genius, the twelfth world champion Anatoly Karpov, who, by the way, Mikhail Nekhemievich helped to prepare for the matches with Viktor Korchnoi and Robert Fischer.

In 1953, 17-year-old student of the second (!) Course of the philological faculty of the Riga University Tal (he graduated from school at the age of 15) became the champion of Latvia, at 21 - the strongest chess player of the Soviet Union. The sensation in the chess world was not even caused by the final result of the 24th national championship, but by the style of play of its winner, which was distinguished by an extraordinary combinational brilliance, full of sparkling imagination, risk and romance. It was a challenge to the then luminaries of chess - Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov, who professed a viscous positional game.

The victory in the 1957 USSR Championship became for Tal that, figuratively speaking, the runway from which he began his rapid flight to the top of the world chess Olympus. Over the next two years, the "hussar from Riga" did not lose almost a single tournament. The unbeaten 28-round marathon streak, which ended with a triumph at the Candidates Tournament in Yugoslavia, gave Tal the right to challenge the world title in a match with the then crown owner Mikhail Botvinnik. And he seized the chance, playing with Mozart's ease: however, the score 12.5: 8.5 in his favor speaks for itself.

Journalist Lev Khariton says:

I remember well that match that was played in Moscow at the Pushkin Theater. Hundreds of chess amateurs who could not get into the auditorium watched the match progress from a huge demonstration board installed on Tverskoy Boulevard. I will never forget the famous sixth game. Tal, who played as Black, sacrificed a knight out of the blue immediately after leaving the opening. This was a challenge to Botvinnik, to all the followers of cold calculation, who tried to drive chess into the Procrustean bed of faceless algorithms. As if nothing had happened, Tal walked around the stage, and the renowned champion who defeated Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine, faced with a surprise, tried in vain to find a solution in his “trademark” position. The hand on Botvinnik's clock was moving inexorably forward, but he could not find an answer.

What was happening in the hall! The audience discussed the position aloud, shouts of "bravo!" Finally Botvinnik demanded that the chess table be moved backstage. Both grandmasters left the stage, and the audience was able to make noise in full force - like in a boxing match. Tal won this game, and despite Botvinnik's desperate resistance, the chess crown passed to the Riga resident, who at that time became the youngest world champion.

“The challenger played very tricky. He strove for the pieces to be carried all over the board. In this case, all the time it was necessary to count the options, and Tal did it best in those years ... "- this is how Mikhail Moiseevich himself explained his unexpected defeat a few years later .

"VOLGA" ON OUTSTANDING HANDS

The meeting of the eighth world champion with his countless admirers at the Riga railway station defies description, according to eyewitnesses. It was necessary to see it, and newsreel footage, in which an enthusiastic crowd was carrying a Volga car with Tal in it, in outstretched arms, went around the world. This was the pinnacle of the career of the 23-year-old chess player, who, by the way, became a father in the same 60 year: on October 12, he and Sally had a son, Gera. It seemed that Fortune smiled at Mikhail with all her radiant smile, and the future was seen as a wide open road with fans jubilant on the sidelines, ready for anything for the sake of their idol. But life, they say, has a plot, and plots, as you know, gravitate towards all kinds of surprises: further events developed in such a way that a star named Tal, alas, had to descend to a sinful earth ...

The blacksmith of his misfortune

Chess observer Anatoly Matsukevich, who once worked at Sovetsky Sport, told me that Tal, who often visited Moscow, usually stayed at the Sport Hotel, if possible in room 1313. In response to puzzling questions, he joked: “We ourselves are the blacksmiths of our misfortune.” Undoubtedly, Mikhail Nekhemievich himself initiated many problems that arose in his life. In particular, the so-called sports mode was a very conventional concept for him. Even close people were struck by the irrepressibility of Tal, a man by no means a heroic build, in taking alcoholic beverages, in which he apparently sought salvation.

But in fairness, I must say that not everything depended on him. The three-fingered right hand, which so frightened Ida Grigorievna in its time, looked nothing more than a natural mark of genius compared to the incurable congenital kidney disease that tormented him all his life. “From our first meetings, I drew attention to the fact that Misha was consuming some medicines in handfuls. Suddenly he turns pale, wrinkles - and a handful of capsules in his mouth, ”recalls Sally Landau. According to her, almost the day after the victory over Botvinnik, her husband began to experience wild pains ...

The son of Mikhail Nekhemievich Herman (now a well-known doctor who emigrated to Israel in 1990) is still convinced that it was not his father who lost the revenge match to Botvinnik, but his diseased kidney. When in the end it was decided to remove it and Tal ended up on the operating table in one of the Tbilisi hospitals, the most experienced doctors were amazed: why is this man still alive? “What they saw could in no way be called a kidney. It was a continuous molten necrotic mess ... ”- says Herman Mikhailovich.

However, Mikhail Tal himself absolutely could not stand talking about his health and more than once appealed to his fellow journalists with a request not to look in him for the reasons for his defeat in the rematch. “All the talk about the fact that I prepared less for it is absolutely untenable. I prepared very seriously, - he said in the above-mentioned interview to "Soviet Sport". - Nevertheless, I must say without false coquetry that I was absolutely not interested in the arithmetic result of the match: whether I will keep the crown or not. The Game was at the forefront. It was incredibly interesting for me to play with Botvinnik, whose fan I became as a boy in 1945. I was already a competent enough chess player to realize that Mikhail Moiseevich understands chess like no one else. Head taller than me. And only in the "spin" my chances were better. During both matches, I had the feeling of a sophomore examining a professor. Neither before nor after the match has this happened to me ... "

The fact that Mikhail Nekhemievich was not cunning is evidenced by the fact that, being the world champion in 1961, he did not refer to his illness and insist on postponing the match, moreover, he agreed to play in Moscow, on the “challenger's field” ...

BLITZ WITH PAIN

Then in his life there were many more high-profile victories at the most prestigious tournaments, hundreds of brightest games worthy of textbooks on the art of chess. As part of the USSR national team, Tal became the winner of the World Olympiads, at the age of 52 he won the title of the first world blitz champion, but he did not manage to reach the top of Olympus again. Nevertheless, the dream remained to live in him even after, apparently, under the influence of illness and an unsettled family life, he became seriously addicted to alcohol. Moreover, some people to this day are sure that Tal during these years did not disdain drugs either. But this is not true: yes, there was an addiction to morphine in the postoperative period, but there was also a painful weaning from it in an exhausting struggle with intolerable, destructive pain. And addiction to cognac, coupled with almost round-the-clock smoking of the beloved "Kent", was just an alternative to morphine.

"SIDE OPTIONS"

I read somewhere that Tal's life was an eternal pursuit of two ladies - fame and a skirt. As for fame, I think it’s unlikely, since Mikhail Nekhemievich selflessly loved chess, and not himself in chess. But about the female sex, apparently, the truth. And this was surprising, because, according to the beautiful Sally, she “had never met another person in her life who was so indifferent to her own appearance. We even had to catch him for the nail clipping procedure, forcefully drive him into the bathroom. "

“Once,” Sally continues, “Mikhail admitted that his legs hurt all day. I looked and burst out laughing: he was shod in two different boots, and both - with his right foot ... "

Nevertheless, Tal's women were adored, and when he, as Sally claims, opened his mouth, they "just went mad." His numerous novels, which Tal himself called "side options that suddenly appeared in the party," eventually led to the disintegration of the family - they parted with Sally.

Then, in different years, Tal was accompanied by the soloist of the Berezka ensemble Mira Koltsova, pianist Bella Davidovich, film actress, Soviet film star Larisa Sobolevskaya ... There was even a marriage union with a young Georgian poetess, very short-lived, even though he was blessed by the then first secretary Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia Mzhavanadze.

And only after a meeting with a modest typist Angelina (Gelei), which happened one fine day in a Riga chess club, Tal found the "option" he was looking for. This woman (much younger than him, by the way), who became the mother of his daughter Jeanne and his third wife, remained with him until the end of his days.

FROM THE DOSSIER OF THE NEWSPAPER "SOVIET SPORT"

Tal Mikhail Nekhemievich.Outstanding Soviet chess player. Born on November 9, 1936 in Riga. Honored Master of Sports (1960). International Grandmaster (1957). "Daugava" (Riga). Eighth world champion (1960-1961). Eight-time winner of the World Chess Olympiads as part of the USSR national team (1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1980, 1982), as a rule, he took first places on his board. Three times he showed absolutely the best result at the Olympiads, in particular, in 1958 he scored 13.5 points out of 15 possible. Twice (1970, 1984) participated in the matches of the national teams of the USSR and the rest of the world. Six-time European champion (1957, 1961, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1980). For almost a quarter of a century (1962-1985) he remained among the contenders for the chess crown. Four-time champion of the USSR (1957, 1958, 1967, 1972). Winner of about 40 major international tournaments. Three-time world champion among students in the team competition. Winner of the first unofficial Blitz World Championship (1988). Chief editor of the journal "Shahs" (1960 - 1970). He was awarded the Orders of Friendship of Peoples (1961) and the Badge of Honor (1960).

VERBATIM

Garry KASPAROV, 13th world champion:

- Despite his super-short stay on the chess throne (also a record), Tal was one of the brightest stars in the chess sky. Combinations, sacrifices, inexhaustible optimism - all this was a reflection of Soviet society, which breathed a sigh of relief after the iron grip of Stalinism.

Lev KHARITON, journalist:

- Of course, the language of literature or cinema is more accessible than the language of chess, but I would venture to express the idea that in the silent movements of the pawns and pieces of the Riga “magician” there was a rebellious spirit, that desire to swallow at least a little spiritual oxygen, which was characteristic of the early 60s. It is symptomatic that as soon as the valves with clean air closed, Tal was replaced by others - and chess began to smell of machine mechanics.

P.S

In the early 70s, before Tal's kidney was removed in Tbilisi (at that time, the success of such an operation was 30 percent), the magazine "Chess in the USSR" prepared an obituary just in case. When everything worked out and Tal arrived in Moscow, someone from the editorial office showed him this text for the simplicity of his soul.

“I am the only person who read my obituary during his lifetime,” Mikhail Nekhemievich joked bitterly about this later. - Something there, by the way, was missed, and I managed to edit ...

He perfectly suited the stereotypes of a genius: a burning gaze, carelessness in appearance, complete concentration on the most important thing and inattention to the little things of life. Mikhail Tal occupied the world throne for a very short time, but he is still considered a real chess genius, the personification of their highest meaning as a game based both on excitement, improvisation, insight, and on a methodical calculation of options.

His main human achievement was that he remained optimistic and benevolent to those around him to the end, despite the suffering and ailments that accompanied him all his short life.

Not like everyone else

Originality accompanied him from birth - his right hand was three-fingered, which his friends jokingly called proof of Tal's alien origin. More practical biographers see the reason for this anomaly in the fact that his parents were blood relatives - a cousin and a sister, which is fraught with genetic failures.

Mikhail Tal was born on November 9, 1936 in Riga, in a family of doctors. As he later said: "I played with fate with black pieces." Her first move was dangerous: six months after birth, the boy fell ill with an infection similar to meningitis. Parents, as doctors, understood the scanty chances of survival, and they also knew that such inflammation affects the brain in an unexpected way, sometimes multiplying the efficiency of its work with a successful outcome of the disease. The child survived.

Shortened childhood

By the age of five, he could multiply three-digit numbers in his head, and he read from the age of three. The Tali family spent the war in evacuation, in the Perm Territory. The boy was immediately admitted to the third grade at the school, and Mikhail Tal was enrolled, as an exception, from the age of 15 at the Faculty of Philology at Riga University.

Tal's memory was phenomenal. The boy literally reproduced the texts of the book, which, as it seemed to others, he skimmed through in minutes. The information that he considered especially valuable remained in his memory forever.

At the same time, Mikhail did not consider himself a child prodigy. His boyish interests did not differ from the hobbies of his peers - he loved to play football and spent a lot of time running with the ball, despite the early detection of kidney pathology. But gradually the main meaning appeared in his life - chess.

The beginning of the way

At the age of 6, Mikhail Tal, whose biography will now forever be associated with this ancient game, first saw a board with figures. It happened when the child was at his father's work and was waiting in the waiting room of his doctor's office. Patients spent time playing chess while waiting for an appointment. His father showed him how the pieces move and introduced him to the basic rules. At first, the boy took the game calmly. Excitement, which later distinguished the future chess champion, boiled up in him when, at the age of 9, he received a "children's mat" from a visiting cousin.

At the age of 10, he began to go to the chess club at the Riga Palace of Pioneers. At the age of 12 he received the 2nd category, at the age of 14 - the first, at the age of 17 he became a master. Tal's first chess teacher, Janis Kruzkops, was himself a supporter of combinational, active play. In the case of Michael, this was combined with outstanding abilities and fiery temperament. The Tal-chess player was never afraid of risky continuation complicating the position. Tal's legendary "incorrect" sacrifices also largely come from his "pioneer" childhood.

Literature teacher

An interest in the study of literature and history, obviously, arose in Mikhail under the influence of his mother - Ida Grigorievna, who in her youth had an acquaintance with Ehrenburg, Picasso, and other humanitarians. The theme of the thesis, after the defense of which the young teacher Mikhail Tal was released from the university, was "Satire and humor in the works of Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov." Obviously, the brilliant sense of humor inherent in Tal, noted by everyone - both people who knew him for a long time, and barely familiar - had a solid foundation.

After receiving his diploma, he worked for some time at school, but by that time chess had become the main profession. Philological training greatly helped Tal in his journalism, in particular, when he edited the magazine "Chess" published in Riga, which was highly regarded all over the world.

Sally

They always looked for the imprint of the influence of supernatural, demonic forces in his play - Mikhail Tal's style was too bright, extraordinary, full of risk, boundless imagination and unpredictable intuitive insights. The losers sought an explanation for their failures in the master's hypnotic gaze, in his psychic abilities. Those who knew Mikhail better, these attempts brought a smile - the point was different.

It's just that Tal the chess player was a product of his general attitude to life. The desire to achieve success as soon as possible, to know the fullness of sensations, intemperance in desires and the means for their implementation accompanied him all his life.

When preparations were underway for the most important fight with Botvinnik, who was deciding the fate of the world champion title, he conducted a whole operation to conquer the heart of the Riga beauty Sulamith Landau. Both goals were achieved: Sally became his wife and he became the world champion.

The path to Olympus

Tal's rapid ascent to the chess top, as well as his imminent acquisition of the ex-prefix to his world title, are legendary pages in the world. crown. In the future, he won the All-Union Chess Championship 5 more times.

The next stages of the way to the chess Olympus were international tournaments. This was followed by victories in the Interzonal Candidates Tournament in Portoroz, Slovenia (1958) and at the 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich (1958). Tal won the international chess tournament in Zurich (1959) and the Candidates Tournament that took place in Yugoslavia the same year, among which were all the then stars in this sport: Smyslov, Gligoric, Petrosyan, F. Olafson, Keres and fifteen-year-old

The match for the title of world champion took place from March 15 to May 7, 1960 and ended in an early victory for 24-year-old Tal, who won 6 games, lost 2 and was the first to reach 12 and a half points.

The youngest world champion

Young and charismatic, witty and intelligent, with an unprecedentedly bold and energetic style of play, Tal became an idol of chess fans around the world. When the surprise of the unexpected appearance of the "upstart" passed from the professional masters, when they got to know the new champion better, the feeling of sympathy for him became widespread and universal. Even a misanthrope and sociopath, well-known among grandmasters and the chess public, easily spent the whole day alone with Tal, playing blitz.

In Riga Tal was greeted by a huge crowd, carrying a car with a young champion in their arms from the station. He willingly met with chess lovers of all ages in Riga and throughout the Union. Soon in the USSR there were few of those who were unfamiliar with the surname Tal. Mikhail Nekhemievich also earned respect for the fact that he did not change his place of residence even in the most severe times, he never allowed himself to indiscriminately criticize the country where he was born, although the courage of his statements abroad aroused constant interest in him from government agencies - at one time he was restricted to travel abroad.

Subsequent life

In the course of preparations for the rematch with Botvinnik in the spring of 1961, Tal's renal problems worsened. He was even offered to ask to postpone the match, but out of respect for his opponent he agreed to all Botvinnik's conditions. As a result, Tal was not ready for a new fight for the title and lost.

Subsequently, he repeatedly entered the fight for the world chess crown, but to no avail. He participated in A. Karpov's team preparing him for the matches with Korchnoi and Fischer, making a significant contribution to his gaining the title of champion.

Despite his growing health problems, he did not want to slow down the pace of his life. After the birth of a son, a divorce from Sally, second and third marriages, the birth of a daughter, he remained a dear person for everyone with whom he met on the path of life, behaving innocently and simply with women. He did not want to be deprived of simple and natural pleasures - tasty but harmful food, good alcohol, smoked a lot ... True, sometimes this was explained by the need to drown out constant pain. To relieve pain, I had to resort to strong medicines.

Gone undefeated

In 1988 M. Tal won the World Shorter Chess Championship and became the first World Blitz Champion. In his creative biography in the 1970-80s, there were periods when a winning streak in various tournaments consisted of 90 games in a row, which is an impressive achievement for any master.

Tal also won the last official game in classical chess tournaments, it happened on May 5, 1992 in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bhis opponent was Vladimir Akopyan. And shortly before his death, he literally escaped from the hospital to participate in the Moscow blitz championship, where he defeated the then world champion Garry Kasparov. This was his last chess tournament. He passed away on July 28, 1992.

Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal remained in history not only as a genius chess player, one of the last romantics of this ancient game, but also as an outstanding person in his personal qualities, about whom many people keep good memory in our country and abroad.

Sally Landau and Mikhail Tal

Wilrajk, a quiet area of \u200b\u200bAntwerp. Here, on a street lost among the old chestnuts, in an apartment too big for one, behind tightly curtained windows lives Sally Landau, the beloved wife of the great Mikhail Tal. But outward well-being is deceptive - in her heart Sally never left her Russia, never said goodbye to the sad memories of love and separation. She never parted with Misha. And Tal himself could not let her go - every night he comes to his wife in a dream ...

I was born into a very poor family in Vitebsk, in the homeland of Chagall. A cyanotic and lifeless was born - for three hours the doctors brought me to my senses, until, to everyone's relief, I finally gasped. I was immediately sent to be raised by my grandparents, as my parents-artists constantly traveled to the theater. When the war began, Vitebsk was terribly bombed. Residents fled in all directions, and my grandmother, picking me up in her arms, rushed in a maddened crowd to the station. I remember how we barely squeezed into a boxcar among bagmen, soldiers, screaming and moaning people. I remember the crush. Stuffiness. Screams. Cry. Parents at that time toured in Kharkov, and we could not warn them in any way about a hasty flight. My grandmother kept saying: “Mom and Dad will definitely find us,” but for me these words were an empty phrase. After all, I called my grandmother mom, and I saw my own mother sporadically. So I wondered: why is she telling me about the second mother? Grandma is near, so everything will be fine ... The train rushed to distant Siberia.

At the age of six, I entered a music school in Tashkent, and my dad, for joy, bought me a glass of soda water - a huge gift! While my parents were at the theater, I cleaned the house, and then sat on the windowsill and sang to the whole yard. Children and adults gathered under the windows and clapped. Sometimes my father and mother took me with them to the "left concerts", and I sang with the orchestra. Of course, I felt like an adult, I even made remarks to the accompanist: “Uncle Schwartz, not that key, one note higher, please ... Thank you.”

One day my mother gave me bread cards so that I could go for rations for the whole family. And here I stand in line and draw attention to a poor old woman. So I felt sorry for her that I left the line and handed her the cards. Every single one.

At home, naturally, my mother gave me a scolding, even beat me in my hearts. But the punishment was interrupted by a sudden visit from that same old woman. It turns out that she followed me all the way.

“I will pray for this girl all my life,” she said to her mother, holding out the cards. I don’t know if it’s not through the prayers of that unfortunate woman, but I have escaped death more than once ...

The war is over. After long ordeals around the country, you ended up in Vilnius, managed not to lose your gift. They worked at the Russian Drama Theater, then at the Riga Youth Theater. Became a popular artist, singer. They performed on the stage.

It was a wonderful time. It is somehow embarrassing to evaluate myself, but I will dare to admit that in those years I had a bright appearance. For fiery red curls and golden eyes I was nicknamed Shulamith. I had many boyfriends, I constantly received marriage proposals ... but I refused everyone. The glory of a freedom-loving girl with a rebellious disposition went about me. But I, of course, did not deprive myself of the pleasure of attending social events. And then one day my friends invited me to celebrate the New Year in the luxurious Astoria restaurant - in those years the main bohemian town of Riga, known for its high cost. In “Astoria” on that memorable night of 59th I met Mikhail Tal.

- What impression did he make on you?

None. Friends, as if by agreement, introduced him to me all evening: "Meet our famous Mikhail Tal ...", "Our future world champion ...", "Our living genius ..." Of course, I heard about the existence of a famous chess player , but for me he himself, like his regalia, was an empty phrase. After all, I, too, was loved and popular, moreover, spoiled by the attention of men. What are these ephemeral, distant chess and future champion to me? ..

The New Year's holiday was going on merrily, everyone danced and laughed. In the morning they carelessly fled to their homes, and a few days later a friend called me. He said: “You know, Tal liked you very much” and gave me an invitation from him to visit. So for the first time I crossed the threshold of his amazing house, and met Misha's parents - Ida and Robert.

It immediately became clear - all love here is focused on the adored son. He was indulged in everything, and, as I found out later, it was no accident - his parents loved him as they love a sick child who managed to survive a fatal illness.

Our meeting was difficult. Everyone was embarrassed, not knowing what topic to talk about, the words sounded on duty and out of tune. And suddenly Misha turns to me: “They say you sing beautifully, Sally. Please sing something for us. "

I shrugged. She sat down at the piano. She played Rachmaninoff's Elegy at random. While playing, Misha did not take his eyes from me, full of surprise and admiration. Did we then think that this wondrous melody would become our leitmotif for the rest of our lives? Wherever fate threw us, Misha always called me from the other end of the world, sick, surrounded by women, new families, and began the conversation with precisely these words from Rachmaninov's "Elegy": "I did not tell you all the words ..."

And then what?

Misha literally started bombing me on the phone. We started dating. He really turned out to be the way his friends imagined him - amazing, extraordinary, brilliant.

Misha was indifferent to the fact that I had my own world, profession, theater, rehearsals. One morning he locked the front door with a key and declared in an ultimatum: he would not let me into the theater again, he would not allow me to work, so that I had no good reason not to sit with him around the clock. I laughed. I thought, joking. She replied with a smile: if he won’t let go, we will quarrel seriously and for a long time. But he seemed not to hear me at all and did not seem to be afraid of my threats. Then I explained more strictly: personal independence, my work, music are important to me. This is my air, my soul, and I am not going to give it up under any circumstances! "Even for my sake?" - specifies. "Yes," I answer, "even for your sake."

Then Misha went to the first-aid kit, scooped out some pills: “Look, if you don’t do as I ask, I’ll drink them all. If they don't work, I'll throw myself out of the window. " I hit him on the arm, the pills scattered: “Once such a conversation has begun, go away. Immediately. Leave forever. " Either I was scared, or I really went to principle, but complete dissolution in another person, love slavery - all this was not for me.

- And he left?

- And you?

And I went to rehearsal at the theater as if nothing had happened. True, my head was pounding all the time: it's all over between us. Misha then went to the tournament, I went on tour with the troupe ... I heard rumors that Misha had won first place in Switzerland, that he had a connection with the pianist Bella Davidovich, and it seemed like it was going to a wedding ...

And then one fine evening our mutual friend with Misha complained: "You shouldn't have left Tal." His words touched me. And for no apparent reason, I suddenly betray: “Oh, well, it's all nonsense! I just have to call - and Tal will drop everything and immediately rush in! " The interlocutor chuckled: “Hardly. Now he seems to have a different life beginning, why should he rush to you? "

And I already started up, even making some kind of childish bet. The buddy agrees. I dial Misha's number. I hear his voice and, as if nothing terrible had happened between us, I say: “I am with the theater on tour in Vilnius. Will you come? "

And Misha came.

- And you got married?

I didn't want to lose my freedom, turn into an ordinary chess wife ... But Misha organized our marriage in such a way that I found out about it at the very last minute. Previously, after submitting an application to the registry office, one had to wait three months. Therefore, when Misha and I gathered to go to this public organization, I hoped that I would have a lot of time ahead, that everything would not happen soon.

After that conversation, Misha became restricted to travel abroad. Perhaps it was then that he was at a loss for the first time: how was this, after all, he was used to controlling his life, like a chess field, and suddenly such a force majeure out of the blue! And in my face, for the first time, he met a figure rebellious to his ingenious logic. Misha didn't feel the difference between chess and life at all. Rather, he confused one with the other. The figures on the board were absolutely alive for him, real, sometimes more real than the people around him. And he believed that this board, however, like life itself with people, was under his control. He can move the pieces at will. He once said about me: “Do not forget, for me you are forever the most important figure. Queen. People like you cannot be sacrificed. And you cannot exchange it. "

A difficult situation was developing - Misha had to take part in international tournaments, but he could not go anywhere. Then Ida had an adventurous idea - what if I filed for divorce myself? Moreover, she even suggested that I write a letter of repentance for reliability and take all the blame on myself - they say, I am a very bad wife, all the time in the theater, on the stage, I work and work, completely abandoning my household duties. It is difficult for Misha, so I am asking for a divorce, because I am not able to create a normal family life.

- Did you write?

I wrote. And then the two of us went and filed for divorce. It seemed to me that it would be better for Misha - I would free him from the "triangle", he would get the opportunity to travel abroad again and play for the honor of the country.

- What was Tal like in everyday life?

Misha was completely indifferent to his own appearance. He forgot to take care of himself, cut hair, nails, even wash. I myself turned on the water for him, made foam and almost kicked him into the bathroom, and he stood, confused, and asked: "And in what sequence should I wash?"

Once Misha complained that it was difficult for him to walk: “I can hardly move my legs! They hurt so much, I can't move without pain! " I looked down and ... laughed. Misha mixed up his shoes, put on different ones, in my opinion, not even his own. If he needed to call, he went into the booth, put everything from his pockets on the shelf - money, keys, passport. He called, spoke, then left, happily forgetting about his things. He was then called by strangers and offered to return his passport in exchange for an autograph. He could break loose and go to Kamchatka to play chess with the pioneers. Tal in general was constantly in his special inner universe. Once he told me that chess is his world, not a fortress, not a house, but a world without which he could not exist. I think all his absurdities are a direct consequence of this.