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      Home  >  Daily News • General News  >  The next best thing

      The next best thing

      Attacking players, Tal


      Other than Tal, in your opinion, who are the top 5 greatest attacking players of all time?

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      Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
      Previous Article Dr. Frank Brady: “Profile of a Prodigy”
      Next Article Attacking chess

      About Author

      Susan Polgar

      Related Posts

      • Documentary about Mikhail Tal premiered in Riga

        April 4, 2016
      • Magician from Riga

        November 16, 2012
      • A rarely seen picture of Tal

        August 13, 2012

      33 Comments

      1. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 8:21 am

        Topalov, Kasparov, Rybka, Fritz and Shredder.

      2. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 8:40 am

        Anderssen, Tal, Fischer, Spassky and Kasparov

      3. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 8:43 am

        Anderssen, Alekhine,Fischer, Spassky and Kasparov: sorry by mistake of the finger added Tal previously.

      4. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 8:50 am

        Morphy and me… you should see me attack!! not that i win so much, but i attack viciously – often to no avail at all

      5. Alex Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:20 am

        Alekhine, Capablanca, Fischer, Kasparov, and Topalov.

      6. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:27 am

        Alekhine, Smyslov, Fischer, Kasparov, Anand

      7. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:29 am

        Topalov, Morozevich, Kasparov, Fischer and myself.

      8. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:50 am

        Shabalov, tal, kasparov, topalov, shirov

        greetings from germany

      9. Skuggin Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:54 am

        2.Alekhine
        3.Bronstein
        4.Kasparov
        5.Fischer
        6.Shirov

      10. Hayri K. Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:02 am

        1- Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov
        2- Bobby Fisher
        3- Anderssen
        4- Capablanca
        5- Garry Kasparov

        (never Topalov!)

      11. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:03 am

        Clear First: Steinitz
        then Kasparov, Capablanca, Lasker and Fischer

      12. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:09 am

        I notice all the blogger so far agrees on one person.

        Kasparov

      13. Hayri K. Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:14 am

        May be someone did not know about Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov who was my clear first choice in attacking category. Here is some stuff about this not so famous genius (from wiki)

        Nezhmetdinov was a fierce, imaginative, attacking player, capable of beating anyone in the world. FIDE awarded him the International Master title for his second-place finish behind Korchnoi at Bucharest 1954, the only time he was able to compete outside of the Soviet Union.

        Despite his extraordinary talent, he never was able to obtain the grandmaster title.

        Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, a strong positional and endgame player, suggested a possible reason for this in his interview by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in The Day Kasparov Quit:

        “Nezhmetdinov, . . . if he had the attack, could kill anybody, including Tal. But my score against him was something like 8½–0½ because I did not give him any possibility for an active game. In such cases he would immediately start to spoil his position because he was looking for complications.”

        Nezhmetdinov won a number of games against world champions and other world-class grandmasters such as Tal, Spassky, Bronstein, Polugaevsky, and Geller. He achieved a plus score in the 20 games he contested against World Champions.

        But in addition to his aforementioned dismal score against Averbakh, he could only score +0−3=2 each against excellent defenders Petrosian and Korchnoi.

        Some quotes about him:

        “Nobody sees combinations like Rashid Nezhmetdinov.” (Mikhail Botvinnik)

        Nezhmetdinov is “the greatest master of the initiative.” (Lev Polugaevsky)

        “His games reveal the beauty of chess and make you love in chess not so much the points and high placings, but the wonderful harmony and elegance of this particular world.” (Mikhail Tal)

        “Rashid Nezhmetdinov is a virtuoso of combinational chess.” (David Bronstein)

      14. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:33 am

        1. Fischer 2. Morphy 3. Tal
        4. Alekhine 5. Kasparov

      15. Hayri K. Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 11:50 am

        Here I wanted to add all 4 games between Nezhmetdinov and Mikail Tal. The overall score is 3-1 in Nezh’s favor! (all 4 games Nezh is white)

        I recommend to see all games especially first one came to me very beautiful.

        Rashid Nezhmetdinov- Mikhail Tal Baku 1961

        1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.O-O a6 8.f4 Qc7 9.g4 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.Bf3 Nc5 12.Qe2 e5 13.Nf5 g6 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Nh6 Ne6 16.Bg2 Bg7 17.Rxf6 Bxf6
        18.Nd5 Qd8 19.Qf2 Nf4 20.Bxf4 exf4 21.e5 Bxe5 22.Re1 f6 23.Nxf6+ Qxf6 24.Qd4 Kf8 25.Rxe5 Qd8 26.Rf5+ gxf5 27.Qxh8+ Ke7 28.Qg7+ Ke6 29.gxf5+ 1-0

        Rashid Nezhmetdinov- Mikhail Tal Moscow 1959

        1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Be3 Nf6 8.O-O Ne5 9.h3 b5 10.f4 Nc4 11.Bxc4 Qxc4 12.Qd3 d5 13.exd5 Qxd3 14.cxd3 b4 15.Ne4 Nxd5 16.Bd2 a5 17.Rac1 Ba6 18.Rfe1 g6 19.f5 Bg7 20.f6 Nxf6 21.Nd6+ Ke7 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 23.Rc7+ Kg8 24.Nxe6 Ne8 25.Rd7 Bf6 26.Rf1 Ng7 27.Rxf6 Nxe6 28.Rxe6 Bb5 29.Rc7 h5 30.Rxg6+ Kf8 31.Bh6+ Ke8 32.Re6+ Kd8 33.Rc5 Kd7 34.Rb6 Bxd3 35.Bf4 Rhf8 36.Rd6+ Ke7 37.Rc7+ Ke8 38.Bg5 Rf1+ 39.Kh2 Bb1 40.Rh6 1-0

        Nezhmetdinov- Mikhail Tal URS-ch Moscow 1957

        1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Ne7 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 b6 8.b4 Qc7 9.Nf3 Nd7 10.Be2 Nc6 11.O-O O-O 12.bxc5 bxc5 13.dxc5 Ncxe5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Qd4 f6 16.f4 Nc6 17.Qe3 Rd8 18.Rad1 e5 19.fxe5 fxe5 20.Bb5 Bb7 21.Qg3 Rd7 22.Rf2 Re8 23.h3 Ba8 24.Ba4 Bb7 25.Kh1 Ba8 26.Rf5 e4 27.Qxc7 Rxc7 28.Rfxd5 e3 29.Rd7 e2 30.Bb3+ Re6 31.Bxe6+ Kf8 32.Bxg7+

        1-0

        The only game Tal won is below:

        Rashid Nezhmetdinov – Mikhail Tal

        1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.a3 Nc6 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Be2 Bd6 9.Qd2 Be5 10.f4 Bxd4 11.Bxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Qxf4 13.g3 Qc7 14.e5 Nd5 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.O-O-O b5 17.Rhf1 Bb7 18.e6 dxe6 19.Qxg7 Rf8 20.Bh5 O-O-O 21.Rde1 Kb8 22.Rxf7 Rxf7 23.Qxf7 Bc8 24.Kd2 Qa5+ 25.Kd1 Qc7 26.Qf6 Qd6 27.Qd4 Rf8 28.Re5 Bd7 29.Be2 Be8 30.Bd3 Kb7 31.Rg5 Rf7 32.Qe5 Qxe5 33.Rxe5 Re7 34.Kd2 Kc6 35.Ke3 Kd6 36.Kd4 Bg6 37.Bxg6 hxg6 38.Rg5 e5 39.Ke3 Rg7 40.h4 Ke6 41.h5 Kf6 42.Rxg6+ Rxg6 43.hxg6 Kxg6 44.b3 Kf5 45.c4 dxc4

        0-1

      16. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 11:57 am

        Initial poster wanted to be funny, but … for some reason is totally wrong. Rybka and Shredder are likely the *least* attacking engines. Junior is probably the engine most able to create something speculative and interesting.

        Regarding Nezhmetdinov – his queen sacrifice against Polugayevsky is really incredible….

      17. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 12:15 pm

        Susan I read that as a young chessplayer you wanted to play Tal and Misha drew his game so he could let you play him. What was it like to play the Magician from Riga? ; )

      18. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 12:44 pm

        Alekhine, Kasparov, Morphy, Topalov and Shirov in no order

      19. rgorn Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 1:29 pm

        Rudolf Spielmann should be added. Alekhine, Fischer and Kasparov don’t really qualify. They played quite rational.

      20. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 2:59 pm

        Remember Rudolf Rezso Charousek…

        [Event “Budapest”]
        [Site “Budapest”]
        [Date “1896.??.??”]
        [EventDate “?”]
        [Round “?”]
        [Result “0-1”]
        [White “D Hermann”]
        [Black “Rudolf Rezso Charousek”]
        [ECO “C55”]
        [WhiteElo “?”]
        [BlackElo “?”]
        [PlyCount “46”]

        1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bxd5 Qxd5
        7.Nc3 Qd8 8.O-O Bd6 9.d3 O-O 10.h3 f5 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Qe2 Qe8
        13.Be3 Qg6 14.Kh1 f4 15.Bd2 Nd4 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Ne4 f3 18.gxf3
        Bxh3 19.Rg1 Qh5 20.Rg5 Qh4 21.Kg1 Bh2+ 22.Kh1 Bf1 23.Qd1 Be2
        0-1

      21. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 4:38 pm

        1. R.Fischer
        2.A. Alekhine
        3.G. Kimovich
        4.M.Tal
        5.P.Morphy

      22. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 4:50 pm

        1. Rashid Nezhmetdinov
        2. Garry Kasparov
        3. Leonid Stein
        4. Bobby Fischer
        5. David Bronstein

      23. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 6:17 pm

        Morphy, Steinitz (the Austrian Morphy), Alekhine, Petrosian (ok, he didn’t always attack), Kasparov

      24. tcoem Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 9:43 pm

        Your sister Judith deserves a mention.

      25. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:53 pm

        Lasker
        Marshall
        Fischer
        Shirov
        Nezhmetdinov

        It was tough to leave out Spielmann, Alekhine, Morphy & Kasparov though.

      26. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 10:56 pm

        Carl Ernst Adolf Anderssen
        Robert Fischer
        Savielly Tartakower
        Mieczyslaw Najdorf
        Gary Kasparov

      27. Anonymous Reply
        January 25, 2008 at 11:52 pm

        Hayri K were you coaching at the British Championships, by any chance?
        Mark

      28. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 12:06 am

        I think Yefim Geller deserves an honorable mention.

      29. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 12:58 am

        Smyslov the great attacker? Great player, to be sure, especially in the endgame. But not an attacker.

      30. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 1:01 am

        Chigorin was a great attacker. There were many games where he literally sat down and blew Steinitz right off the board.

      31. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 2:48 am

        Morphy, Charousek, Alekhine, Fischer, Kasparov.

      32. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 5:00 am

        The crazy Bulgarian Lion Topalov.

      33. Anonymous Reply
        January 26, 2008 at 6:48 am

        I posted the 2nd and 3rd which should be considered as one. Any way it is nice to see people are mentioning about the great Nezhmetdinov and Charousek. Both of them are obviously attacking genious. And Morphy – what can be said more about him.
        But even after saying all these the listing has its own influence of not only attacks – which is offcourse true with many great other players like Shirov, topalov, ivanchuk, Judith and even Keres – it is the high quality attack from positions which would otherwise been played happily in some grudging manner – thats the essence of this listing and qulifies Anderssen, Alekhine, Fischer, Spassky and Kasparov.
        Alimuzzaman
        Bangladesh

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