Editing Mikhail Tal (section)

==Early years==
{{AN chess|pos=secright}}
Tal was born in Riga, Latvia, into a [[Jewish]] family.{{sfn|Sosonko|p=21}} According to his friend [[Gennadi Sosonko]], his true father was a family friend identified only as "Uncle Robert";{{sfn|Sosonko|p=22}} however, this was vehemently denied by Tal's third wife Angelina.<ref>{{cite web |title=ВДОВА ВОСЬМОГО ЧЕМПИОНА ėМИХАИЛА ТАЛЯ АНГЕЛИНА: "ДО МЕНЯ СО ВСЕМИ СВОИМИ ЖЕНЩИНАМИ МИША ЖИЛ НЕ БОЛЬШЕ ДВУХ ЛЕТ, А СО МНОЙ – 22 ГОДА. НАВЕРНОЕ, ПОТОМУ, ЧТО Я НЕ СТЕРВА" |trans-title=Angelina, widow of eighth world champion Tal: "Before me, Tal didn't live with any woman for more than two years, but with me, 22 years. Probably because I'm not a bitch." |url=http://www.facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/index.html |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123072603/http://www.facts.kiev.ua/archive/2009-11-20/101796/index.html |archive-date=23 November 2009}}</ref> Uncle Robert had been a taxi driver in [[Paris]] in the 1920s and had lost all his family in [[World War II]]. His mother, Ida Grigoryevna, was the eldest of four sisters; Tal frequently visited the [[Netherlands]] to see his aunt, Riva, and another of his aunts settled in the [[United States]] but visited Riga.{{sfn|Sosonko|p=22}}

{{Chess diagram small
|tleft
|Kholmov vs. Tal, 1949
|  |  |  |  |kd|  |  |rd
|pd|bd|  |  |  |pd|  |
|  |  |pd|  |pd|  |  |pd
|  |pd|  |  |qd|  |  |
|pl|  |pd|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |pl|rd|  |bl|  |
|  |  |ql|  |  |pl|pl|pl
|rl|  |  |  |  |rl|kl|
|Play continued 18.axb5 Rxf3 19.Rxa7 Qxb5 20.gxf3 Qg5+ 21.Kh1 Rg8 {{chessAN|0–1}}{{sfn|Tal|p=18}}
|reverse=true
}}
As a child, Tal joined the [[Latvian Academy of Sciences#Building|Riga Palace]] of [[Pioneer movement|Young Pioneers]] chess club. In 1949, he played [[Ratmir Kholmov]], a young master who had recently competed in the prestigious [[Chigorin Memorial]] in 1947, in a [[simultaneous exhibition]]. Tal used an imaginative combination to win his game at the age of 13.{{sfn|Tal|p=18}}<ref name="YoutubeChessSchoolTal1949">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82plo8S6Rdo|title=How good was Tal when he was 12? Kholmov vs Tal|author=Chess School (youtube)|date=19 April 2012 |via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

[[File:TalRiga.JPG|thumb|right|Tal lived in this apartment building in Riga.]]

[[Alexander Koblencs|Alexander Koblents]] began tutoring him in 1949, after which Tal's game rapidly improved, and by 1951 he had qualified for the [[Latvian Chess Championship|Latvian Championship]]. In the 1952 Latvian Championship, Tal finished ahead of his trainer. Tal won his first Latvian title in 1953, and was awarded the title of Candidate Master. He became a Soviet [[Chess master|Master]] in 1954 by defeating Vladimir Saigin in a qualifying match. That same year he also scored his first win over a grandmaster when [[Yuri Averbakh]] lost on time in a [[Draw (chess)|drawn]] position. Tal graduated in [[Literature]] from the [[University of Latvia]], writing a thesis on the satirical works of [[Ilf and Petrov]], and taught school in Riga for a time in his early twenties. He was a member of the Daugava Sports Society, and represented Latvia in internal Soviet team competitions.

In 1959, he married 19-year-old Salli Landau, an actress with the Riga [[Young Spectator's Theatre|Youth Theatre]]; they divorced in 1970. In 2003, Landau published a biography in [[Russian language|Russian]] of her late ex-husband.