lichess.org
Donate

Tal or Nehzmedinov?

Tal of course but Nezhmetdhinov was very good.

I dont think he ever became grandmaster right?
Tal played every game in aggressive sacrificial style.and paradoxically he had a longest streak being unbeaten(around 250 games?)! But Nehzmedinov-Polugayevski 1958 is my favourite game of all time.
Tak was brilliant player but when they played some friendly match (one of game of this match is in Super Nezh book) Nezh won 3.5: 0.5 and Tal later said he had lose last game too. Nezhmetdinov never use his chance to go higher probably to WC, Tal was better tournament player.
If you want to read Tal's own comments on the subject, check out his chapter in the book Learn From the Grandmasters.
In Nezhmetdinov’s favor, he did have a plus lifetime score against Tal(3-1?), but as other posters have mentioned, Tal was far and away the superior tournament player, both in Soviet championships and international events. Verdict: Tal was better. However, in the case of Nezhmetdinov, a few additional thoughts.
1. A formal match between Nezh and Tal would have been intriguing.
2. YouTube has a great three part documentary on the life and chess of Nezh. Highly recommended.
3. David Bronstein, in his book The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, pays tribute to a unique accomplishment by Nezhmetdinov: Nezh gave blindfold simuls in chess and checkers at the same time. Cool, huh?
"I have a small book with a violet cover in front of me. It is a collection of games, but you would seek in vain to find the author's name amongst the strongest players the world has produced. Rashid Nezhmetdinov from Kazan never came into this category, yet a knowledge of this book cannot fail to bring great pleasure to anyone who loves chess.

"With the passage of time tournament tables tend to lose interest but some games played in these tournaments live forever, and in this respect Nezhmetdinov is one of the most richly endowed players. I have played four games with the Tatar master and the score is +3-1 in his favour. Moreover, my solitary win was the result of a silly mistake by my opponent in a position he should never have lost.

"Amongst his three victories, one gained the prize as the most brilliant in the USSR Championship at Baku 1961. Another produced an interesting endgame attack which led to an annihilation of Black's position. I wish to direct the reader's attention to the third victory in which Nezhmetdinov gave me a lesson along the lines of the difference between a deep and a superficial judgement of a position. (RN-MT 1957 USSR Championship)"

--Tal (in Learn from the GMs)

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.