Douglas Griffin on X: Brussels, 1987. @JamesPlaskett, Mikhail Tal

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: 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: 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

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: 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: Legendary grandmasters Mikhail Tal and David Bronstein. (Photo credit: B. Dolmatovsky, via #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: At the demonstration board, the 8th World Champion, Mikhail Tal (b. Riga, 9th Nov 1936; d. Moscow, 28th June 1992.) (Photo via #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: Mikhail Tal was born 87 years ago today. A reminder that translations of his annotations to a selection of his later games, as published in the contemporary Soviet #

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

Douglas Griffin on X: Brussels, 1987. @JamesPlaskett, Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Genna Sosonko. (Photo source: #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: A couple of photos of the 8th World Champion, Mikhail Tal. USSR, late 1970s. (Photo credits: L. Tugalev.) #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: A couple of photos of the 8th World Champion, Mikhail Tal. USSR, late 1970s. (Photo credits: L. Tugalev.) #chess / X

Douglas Griffin on X: Mikhail Tal, pictured in play v. Garry Kasparov in the 5th round of the Moscow Interzonal tournament, 5th September 1982. The game, an early example of the 5.Bg5