Mikhail Tal vs Alexander Koblents

Alexander Koblencs Born 3 September 1916, Riga – Died 9 December 1993,(aged 77) Berlin was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61 World Champion Mikhail Tal.

Koblencs won the Latvian Championship four times (1941, 1945, 1946, 1949).

In 1944/45, he took 2nd, behind Paul Keres, in Riga (Baltic Chess Championship). In 1945, he took 14th in Moscow (14th USSR-ch).

1961, he took 3rd in Palanga (Baltic Rep. ch, Iivo Nei won).[2][3]

As a trainer, he started to work with young Mikhail Tal in 1949, and coached him through his meteoric rise from the mid-1950s. Most prominently, he coached him in his World Chess Championship matches in 1960 and 1961 against Mikhail Botvinnik.