Douglas Griffin on X: Ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal (b. Riga, 1936; d. Moscow, 1992), pictured at Wijk aan Zee, January 1988. (📷: #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Mikhail Tal v. Tigran Petrosian, 25th USSR-ch, Riga 1958, which featured the trademark positional exchange sacrifice by Petrosian, 31Rf4! Semyon Furman looks on. ('#Chess in the USSR', No.

Douglas Griffin on X: Wijk aan Zee, 19th January 1968. Viktor Korchnoi faces Mikhail Tal in what proved to be the last of eight(!) successive victories at the start of this 15-round

Douglas Griffin on X: Wijk aan Zee, 19th January 1968. Viktor Korchnoi faces Mikhail Tal in what proved to be the last of eight(!) successive victories at the start of this 15-round

Douglas Griffin på X: In the press room during 27th match-game Karpov-Kasparov, World-ch, Moscow 1984; Mark Taimanov & Mikhail Tal. (Photo: B. Dolmatovsky) #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Reykjavík World Cup, October 1988 - the 12th-round pairing of Boris Spassky and @Kasparov63. The game was drawn in 19 moves; in the post-game analysis, the players are

Douglas Griffin على X: Mikhail Botvinnik & Mikhail Tal, World Championship Return Match, Moscow 1961. (Photo credit: unknown.) #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Baku, 11th December 1961. The 16th round of the 28th USSR Championship. Ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal (Riga) makes his opening move v. Bukhuti Gurgenidze (Tbilisi). Tal won the

Douglas Griffin on X: Pictured at Wijk aan Zee, January 1982 - ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936-1992). (📷: #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Wijk aan Zee, 19th January 1982. Ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal (USSR) is pictured before play v. Vlastimil Hort (ČSSR) in the 4th round of the Hoogovens tournament. (Photo

Douglas Griffin on X: Surely one of the greatest photos of Mikhail Tal. Leipzig, 28th October 1960. The 1st round of the 14th Olympiad finals, the match USSR v. Bulgaria. The then-World

Douglas Griffin on X: Riga, of course, has a long and rich #chess history. 40 years ago this September, Mikhail Tal scored one of the greatest results of his later career, winning

Douglas Griffin on X: A photo of a frail-looking Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) taken, according to the archive, in 1991. The ex-World Champion was still mentally sharp, however - in 1992 he was

Douglas Griffin on X: Legends of the chessboard: Mikhail Tal v. @Kasparov63, in play at (I think) the Moscow TV tournament, 1987. (Photo credit: I. Utkin.) #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Hoogovens, Wijk aan Zee, 23rd January 1973. The 7th-round encounter between Mikhail Tal (USSR) & Hein Donner (Netherlands) is in progress. The ex-World Champion won this game in

Douglas Griffin on X: Wijk aan Zee, 16th January 1976. Pictured in play before their encounter in the opening round of the Hoogovens tournament - ex -World Champion Mikhail Tal (USSR) & Swedish