Mikhail Tal was a controversial World Champion. I had very good personal relations with him and I was really surprised when in 1985 in Tallinn when we first met on chess board he did not press me much as White and the draw was agreed very quickly. I had feeling back then that he just did not want to beat the rising Estonian star and just gave me a draw. Tal was avid blitz player and he won the World blitz Championship in Canada in 1988. Tal’s nickname was the “magician from Riga”, so it was not big surprise that Latvian Chess Federation president Aris Ozolins organized the event on 10. of November in Riga in honor of Tal’s birthday which was on 9th of November. Many top players were missing, because of the short notice of the event. Still Latvian leader Kovalenko, Latvian German blitz specialist Daniel Fridman who was the Liepaja festival this summer and yours truly Jaan Ehlvest were present. Total 134 players took part of the event. The time control was three minutes plus two second increment. I started with three wins, but then I slowed down making few draws where my game was up and down mode. In round 9 I faced one of the leaders pre – tournament favorite Igor Kovalenko. This game I managed to keep under control from the start to the finish.
During the blitz tournament the most important thing is to keep the balance. Immediately after this game I lost to local blitz specialist Verners Putka. I had excellent position after the opening, but I started to play to deep and finally I lost.
After this disaster I managed to win the last three games and shared the second place with Putka. Third place on tiebreak. Overall very nice event and good place to check your form.
Jaan Ehlvest
