The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

E719420

book chess book

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is a classic autobiographical chess book in which former World Champion Mikhail Tal annotates his most brilliant games and reflects on his creative, attacking style.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal canonical	2
The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (English translation)	1
Zhizn i igry Mikhaila Tala	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8206387 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
Context triple: [Mikhail Tal, notableWork, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal]

A. Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Latvian-Soviet chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion renowned for his wildly imaginative, sacrificial attacking style and status as one of the greatest tacticians in chess history.
B. How Life Imitates Chess
How Life Imitates Chess is a book by Garry Kasparov that uses lessons from his chess career to explore strategy, decision-making, and leadership in life and business.
C. The Sicilian's Tale
"The Sicilian's Tale" is one of the narrative poems within Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's collection *Tales of a Wayside Inn*, presented as a story told by a Sicilian musician among the gathered characters.
D. Aron Chess
Aron Chess is a music industry figure best known as a founder of the influential American blues and rock ’n’ roll label Chess Records.
E. Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik was a Soviet chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in chess history.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
Target entity description: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is a classic autobiographical chess book in which former World Champion Mikhail Tal annotates his most brilliant games and reflects on his creative, attacking style.

A. Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Latvian-Soviet chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion renowned for his wildly imaginative, sacrificial attacking style and status as one of the greatest tacticians in chess history.
B. How Life Imitates Chess
How Life Imitates Chess is a book by Garry Kasparov that uses lessons from his chess career to explore strategy, decision-making, and leadership in life and business.
C. The Sicilian's Tale
"The Sicilian's Tale" is one of the narrative poems within Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's collection *Tales of a Wayside Inn*, presented as a story told by a Sicilian musician among the gathered characters.
D. Aron Chess
Aron Chess is a music industry figure best known as a founder of the influential American blues and rock ’n’ roll label Chess Records.
E. Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik was a Soviet chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in chess history.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (46)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	book ⓘ chess book ⓘ
author	Mikhail Tal ⓘ
contains	annotated games ⓘ autobiographical reflections ⓘ tournament anecdotes ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Soviet Union ⓘ
describesDiscipline	chess ⓘ
features	World Championship games ⓘ brilliancy games ⓘ
featuresPlayer	Mikhail Tal ⓘ
focusesOn	attacking chess ⓘ creative play ⓘ sacrificial play ⓘ
genre	chess literature ⓘ sports autobiography ⓘ
hasEnglishEdition	The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (English translation) ⓘ linked to: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
hasFormat	game collection ⓘ memoir ⓘ
hasPerspective	first-person ⓘ
hasReputation	one of the greatest chess books ⓘ
illustrates	initiative in chess ⓘ intuitive sacrifice concepts ⓘ practical calculation in complex positions ⓘ
includes	Tal's World Championship match experiences ⓘ Tal's early career games ⓘ Tal's reflections on opponents ⓘ
influenced	chess players' understanding of attacking play ⓘ later chess autobiographies ⓘ
isAbout	Soviet chess tournaments ⓘ World Chess Championship 1960 ⓘ psychology of over-the-board play ⓘ
language	Russian ⓘ
mainSubject	Mikhail Tal ⓘ
notableFor	classic status in chess literature ⓘ humorous narrative style ⓘ in-depth game annotations ⓘ insight into practical decision-making ⓘ
originalTitle	Zhizn i igry Mikhaila Tala ⓘ linked to: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
portrays	Mikhail Tal's chess career ⓘ Mikhail Tal's playing style ⓘ Soviet chess life ⓘ
publicationYear	1976 ⓘ
targetAudience	chess enthusiasts ⓘ chess players ⓘ
timePeriodCovered	mid-20th century chess ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mikhail Tal → notableWork → The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal ⓘ

subject linked to: The Magician from Riga

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal → originalTitle → Zhizn i igry Mikhaila Tala ⓘ

linked to: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal → hasEnglishEdition → The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (English translation) ⓘ