Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. Widely regarded as a creative genius and one of the best attacking players of all time, Tal played in a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability. It has been said that "Every game for him was as inimitable and invaluable as a poem". He was often called "Misha", a diminutive for Mikhail, and he earned the nickname "The magician from Riga". Both The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games and Modern Chess Brilliancies include more games by Tal than any other player. In addition, Tal was a highly regarded chess writer. He also previously held the record for the longest unbeaten streak in competitive chess history with 95 games between 23 October 1973 and 16 October 1974, until Ding Liren's streak of 100 games between 9 August 2017 and 11 November 2018.