Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Latvian Soviet chess grandmaster who was the eight world chess champion. He was known for his creative, daring, combinatorial, and explosive style, as well as for being the best attacking player of all time. He was nicknamed "The Magician from Riga" due to his improvisation, unpredictability, and intuitiveness. Tal holds the records for the first and second longest undefeated streaks in the history of competitive chess, for when he played 95 consecutive games without a loss. He also won the International Chess Tournament five times, the Soviet Championship a record six times, and represented the Soviet Union on eight Olympiad teams. Tal was additionally a highly acclaimed chess writer. He authored several books including the very popular “The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.”