(in English known as Mikhail Tal: The Street-Fighting Years). The book describes the first 12 years of Mikhail Tal's chess career, from the beginnings in 1949 to his return world championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik in 1961. It contains 77 Tal's games and game fragments analyzed in detail, background information, anecdotes. The book was first published in Riga in 1963 in Latvian and Russian. In this revised edition there are Koblents' original notes updated using the computer technology by IM Valeri Bronznik. Alexander Koblents (Koblenz, Koblennc, Koblencs), 1916-1993, was Tal's coach for 16 years, was his second in the world champion matches against Botvinnik in 1960 and 1961. Koblents was 4x champion of Latvia, his first great international success was winning the tournament in Brno in 1937. 2 pictures. Further information about the book is available at publisher's website elkov.ru.