Mark Taimanov RIP
Mark Taimanov ( 7,Feb 1926—28,Nov 2016)
After the death of Korchnoi and then Dvoretsky earlier this year, there is more sad news in the chess community. One of the strongest Russian grandmasters[pullquote]“The versatility of his talent is mind-boggling.”-Kasparov[/pullquote] never to have won the World Championship, the enigmatic Mark Taimanov, died yesterday at age 90 in St. Petersburg. Taimanov’s chess career goes back to the 1940’s. In the late 60’s, especially, he was considered one of the top-10 players by Botvinnik, who often wrote glowing commentary about his talent.
And talent is what Taimanov had and then some! His mother, a gifted musician in her own right, inspired Taimanov to study music and he soon become a famous concert pianist. Along with his first wife ,Lyubov Bruk, he formed a duo whose musical recordings were in wide demand.
Another of Taimanov’s talents had to do with his ability to charm women many years his junior. He married not less than 4 times, and at age 78 he even fathered twins! He is quoted to have confided a short time before his death: ”Women are my greatest passion. Music and chess only follow next…”
Taimanov with his 4th wife, Nadezhda, and two children, Masha and Dima.
Readers can find numerous sites online that review the life of this brilliant artist, I recomment the article published on Chess24 as an excellent starting point.
And then there was just one…
Zurich, 1953