On the morning of May 10, 1960, the spacious, newly built Riga Central Railway Station could not accommodate all those wishing to meet the Moscow train. That morning, the newly crowned world chess champion, 23-year-old Mikhail Tal, was returning from Moscow to Riga.
The day before, he had defeated the long-time titleholder, Grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik, and became the youngest world champion in the history of chess.
There was a real crowd at the platform. People filled all the halls and platforms, jostled on the stairs, climbed onto lampposts just to see Mikhail Tal. Enthusiastic fans carried their idol out of the train car and seated him in a "Volga" car that had been brought right to the train. At one point, the crowd even lifted the car with the winner and carried it along the platform.
The Latvian National Opera was also packed that day, where the young champion held a press conference. Mikhail was truly happy, joking and punning. "I have one tendency, a weakness, call it what you want: I love paradoxical solutions," the chess player confessed to the journalists. "For the leg to be longer than the hypotenuse, and two plus two to equal five."
In the late 50s and early 60s, chess was incredibly popular in the Soviet Union. Cities organized their own championships, schools had clubs, and newspapers published reports on matches. At the international level, the prestige of Soviet chess was repeatedly confirmed by world champion titles. And Mikhail Tal's play, risky and adventurous, reminiscent of no-holds-barred fights, captivated the public even more, especially the youth.
Major championships usually took place in public venues, with large audiences. The match between Tal and Botvinnik was held on the stage of the Pushkin Theater. At that time, thousands of people gathered in front of the theater on Tverskoy Boulevard, where a large chessboard as big as a screen displayed the game, and the crowd greeted each move with loud exclamations.
And something unimaginable was happening in the hall! The audience jumped from their seats, applauded, shouted "Bravo!" At one point, Botvinnik couldn't stand the noise and demanded to move the chess table backstage. The grandmasters finished the game without the spectators. But nothing bothered Tal that evening. After defeating Botvinnik, he became the eighth world chess champion.
When he was asked at the Riga press conference what he felt when the laurel wreath was placed on him, the champion replied: "I am very uncomfortable to admit, but first of all, I felt that it was heavy; I even bent a little under its weight. All other feelings came a little later," writes the magazine "Open City."
