Tal Book Competition and Bullet Chess

To win ‘The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal’ all you need do is...


...guess how many pocket chess set pieces are in the shot glass.


There are three sets involved so no more than 48.

Just a piece nonsense fun for me to pass on a doubler. If you want to give me
a headache then you can choose a number already taken because if two or more
are correct then I’ll have to think up a tie-breaker and that will be a right pain.
The closing date is 31st Jan Use the link at the bottom to enter a number. Good Luck!
(I have told Russ the number so it’s fair and the number does have a Tal connection.)


Staying with Tal here is an unheard melody Tal mentions in the book.

M. Tall - V. Smyslov, Candidates, 1959

And predictable as ever, a Red Hot Pawn example of the same matting pattern

speste - eek a mouse RHP 2014


Next the same pattern from the Black side where we see a blatant trap that was sprung.

woody65 - moregan RHP 2011



I have won one online Bullet Game (one minute each for the whole game.) Match this
with my 20 losses and I gave up on it. The games are often ugly with ridiculous moves
being played as both players trying to flag each other. This game is a wonderful exception.
Carlsen's Bishops tie up Caruana's pieces in what is being called ‘Carlsen’s Minute Waltz.'

F. Caruana - M. Carlsen, Speed Chess Championship 2022



The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 195905 use this link
to enter your guess. It's a great book, you have nothing to lose.