A Keeper

The Complete Games of Mikhail Tal, Chess Assistant CD-ROM,
1999, $39.95

One of the most popular players to ever play the game of chess is
undoubtedly the late Mikhail Tal. Attacks whipped up out of
nowhere, breathtaking sacrifices, the essence of dashing play -
when on his game, he had it all. He was adored by players around
the world. Books about and by him continue to be popular; his
book about his winning the title from Botvinnik in 1960 - soon to
be released in an expanded fifth edition - is one of the classics of
chess literature.

Several years ago, the Bulgarian publisher Chess Stars brought out
a four-volume series collecting the games of the Latvian World
Champion. The games were presented Informant-style, but to
collect all four volumes, well over $100 could be spent. Now,
however, the producer of the popular Chess Assistant software has
released a compact disc that has the largest collection of Tal games
available, nicely supplemented with rare photographs and a special
section to test your tactical ability and compare it to that of the
Wizard from Riga.

We loaded the program easily onto our 300mz Windsows98 PC. A
minimum of 75mz, 16 MB of RAM and 30 MB of space on your
hard disk is recommended. Opening the program, and double-
clicking on the Contents icon, we came to the following screen:

Anyone who has even a passing familiarity navigating with
Windows will recognize this set-up. The games have been divided
into four sections, depending on the time period in which they were
played. This subdivides into a list of each year and then the
tournaments themselves. So, for example, opening the 1959 section
produces the following list: 26th USSR Championship; Latvian
Events 1959; Zurich, 1959; 6th USSR Teams Championship;
Candidates Tournament; and Riga. And double-clicking on any
event brings up the games from that event.

The entire program is driven by what is called Chess Assistant
Light, an abridged version of the chess database management
system. Thus, no other program is required to make full use of the
CD. You can perform searches, print games, or simply play
through the annotated games. There are 2,592 games in all and
each one is annotated. The manual states that "All the games are
deeply annotated by GMs Kochiev, Makarichev, Sveshnikov,
Yudasin and Petersburg IMs." Unfortunately, just who is
annotating which game cannot be determined.

Be that as it may, playing through the games is a delightful
experience. Here for example, is what the complete screen
(reduced in size for this review) of the 1950 game Liepin-Tal (0-1,
44) after 18 Be3. The current game position is diagrammed, and
the f-pawn is highlighted to indicate that it is going to be moved by
Black next. The window on the right contains the game score and
all variations and sub-variations of the annotations. These are in
turn color-coded for ease of use and reference. You may play
through the game itself without bothering with the annotations or
play through the annotations when you wish, jumping between the
two very easily. To see any given position, whether in the game
itself or in any variation, it is a simple matter of placing the cursor
on a move and the position appears, to be played out, studied,
whatever.

The program is driven by stand-alone, modified Chess Assistant
software. One of the most interesting functions this makes
available is the search function. You may search the database, or
any part thereof, several ways: Headers - names, colors, dates,etc.;
Positions - wholly or even only partially defined; Material - For
example, search for all endgames of R+4P v R+3P. These searches
may also be combined.

If all this were not enough, there are several other "bonuses" that
definitely enhance your enjoyment of the CD. 45 photographs are
included on the CD, and these appear when you click once on a
section header. Many of these photographs are quite uncommon
and have not been seen by many people, particularly in the West.
Furthermore, there is a second program, "Play as Tal", which will
pose tactical problems to solve. The positions are all from Tal's
games and are categorized by theme: Attack on the King, Correct
Intuitive Sacrifices, Tactical Blows and Endgame Technique; there
are further sub-categories in each. You can be timed, scored or
simply play through them for fun and practice.

Lest we forget just how spectacular the Latvian genius' play could
be, here is one of the games, with annotations, from the CD:

Gurgenidze-Tal, 1957 USSR Championship 1. d4  Nf6 2. c4  c5
3. d5  e6 4. Nc3  ed 5. cd  d6 6. Nf3  g6 7. e4  Bg7 8. Be2  O-O
9. O-O  Re8 10. Nd2  Na6 11. Re1 [a) 11. f4; b) 11. f3!  Nc7
12. a4  b6 13. Nc4 +=] 11...Nc7 12. a4  b6! [12...a6 13. a5  Rb8
14. Qb3 +=] 13. Qc2 [a) 13. Bf3  Nd7 14. Nc4  Ne5 = ; b) 13. h3!
 Ba6 14. Nb5?!  Bb5 15. Bb5  Nb5 16. ab  Qd7 =+; c) 13. Rb1!?]
13...Ng4! 14. h3? (See Diagram)

[a) 14. Bg4  Bg4 15. h3  Bc8! 16. Nf3  f5 17. Bg5  Qd7 =+; b)
14. Bg4  Bg4 15. Nc4] 14...Nf2!! 15. Kf2  Qh4! 16. Kf1 [16. g3?
 Bd4! 17. Kf3  Qh5! -+] 16...Bd4 17. Nd1  Qh3! 18. Bf3 [18. gh??
 Bh3#] 18... Qh2 19. Ne3 [a) 19. Nf2  Ba6! 20. Nc4  Nd5 21. ed
 Re1! 22. Ke1  Qg1! -+; b) 19. Nf2  Ba6! 20. Be2  Qh4 21. Nh3
 Bc8! 22. Nf3  Qh3! 23. Nd4  Qh1! 24. Kf2  Qh4! -+; c) 19. Nf2
 Nd5! 20. ed  Re1! 21. Ke1  Qg1! 22. Nf1  Ba6 -+] 19...f5!
20. Ndc4  fe 21. Be4  Ba6 [followed by 22...Re4 23.Qe4 Re8
24.Qe8 Ne8 -+; 22...Bc4 23.Nc4 Rf8 24.Bf3 Rf3! -+] 22. Bf3  Re5
23. Ra3 [23. Ke2  Rae8 24. Ra3  Qf4 25. Kd1  Bc4 26. Qc4  Be3]
23...Rae8 24. Bd2 [a) 24. Rd3  Nd5 25. Rd4  cd 26. Bd5!  Rd5
27. Qd3  Qh1! 28. Ke2  Qg2! followed by 29...de ; b) 24. Rd3  Nd5
25. Rd4  cd 26. Bd5!  Rd5 27. Nd5  Qh1! 28. Kf2  Qe1! 29. Kf3
 Rf8! 30. Bf4  Qf1! 31. Kg3  Bc4 -+] 24...Nd5! [24...Qf4!?]
25. Bd5! [25. Qc1  Ne3! 26. Be3  Re3 27. Rae3  Re3 28. Re3
 Qh1! 29. Ke2  Qc1 -+] 25...Rd5 26. Ke2 [a) 26. Re2  Qh1!
27. Kf2  Bc4 28. Qc4  Rf8! 29. Kg3  Be5! -+; b) 26. Rd3  Rf5!
27. Ke2  Qh5! 28. g4  Qg4#] 26...Be3 27. Re3  Bc4! 0-1 [a)
28. Qc4  Qg2! 29. Kd1 Qd2#; b) 28. Kd1  Re3 29. Re3 (29. Qc4
 Re1! 30. Ke1 Qg1!) 29...Qg2 -+] 

Last but not least, two built-in modules, Dragon and Crafty, may be
activated at any time in any position to give you the perspective of
a strong chessplaying computer. This is a particularly interesting
exercise when the silicon monsters are turned loose on positions
where Tal made an intuitive sacrifice.

We have reviewed many software programs over the years. Very
often, the software is installed, put through its paces, evaluated and
removed. Every once in a great while, however, we come across
something that we like enough not only to keep, but to use and
enjoy. Such is Chess Assistant's Complete Games of Mikhail Tal.
Yes, this one is a keeper...