Answers.Body: <p>Edward Winter, the chess historian, at the end of <a href="https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/tal1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">his page about Mikhail Tal</a> asks the same question:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>As shown in A Unique Chess Writer, page 171 of Dimitrije Bjelica’s
  Wonderful world of chess quotes Mikhail Tal:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>‘There are two kind of sacrifices – the corrects ones, and mine’s.’</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Before being tossed into the Bjelica mangling machine, the Tal quote
  was something like:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>‘There are two kinds of sacrifices – sound ones, and mine.’</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>We write ‘something like’ because other wordings can be found, such as
  ‘two types of sacrifice’, but the above version is what Anthony Saidy
  gave on page 303 of the June 1973 Chess Life &amp; Review. However, he
  merely reported there that Tal ‘once said’ it.</p>
  <p>Chess literature teems with things that players purportedly ‘once
  said’, ‘said on one occasion’, ‘used to say’, ‘liked to say’ and other
  vague variants, but what is the truth about the remark ascribed to
  Tal? When did he say, or write, such a thing, and in which language?
  When was it first recorded in print? What was the context? Did it
  relate to a specific game? What indication, if any, did Tal give that
  such a statement was made in jest (or, as anecdotalists like to say,
  ‘with a twinkle in his eye’)?</p>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/tal1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Edward Winter</a></li>
  </ul>
  </blockquote>
  <p>So earliest source for this quotation is Saidy's article in Chess Life &amp; Review, but even this one is based on &quot;once said&quot;.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-01-18T10:39:53.850Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-01-18T10:39:53.850Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matija Sirk
Body: <p>&quot;<strong>There are two types of sacrifices in chess, sound ones and my own.</strong>&quot;</p>
  <p>I have often encountered this amusing quotation often attributed to Tal in my reading and in online discourse. I have often wondered whether a reliable written source referrence to this quotation actually exists.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-12-26T08:16:37.763Z
Comments.Text: The "standard" (googlable) formulation is 'Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine.' Could be a translation issue. (Couldn't find a source for neither, though)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-12-26T13:05:52.600Z
Comments.Text: I did some searching and, from what I can tell, there is no "reliable written source".  If it does exist, it's probably in Russian or maybe Latvian. That would make searching hard, and raise translation issues.  Maybe there is a Russian speaker here who can help?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Peter Flom
Tags: <history><reference-request><quotations><tal>
Title: What is the source of this famous quote often attributed to Mikhail Tal?
ThreadText: # What is the source of this famous quote often attributed to Mikhail Tal?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-12-26)
  
  "**There are two types of sacrifices in chess, sound ones and my own.**"
  
  I have often encountered this amusing quotation often attributed to Tal in my reading and in online discourse. I have often wondered whether a reliable written source referrence to this quotation actually exists.
  
  **Tags:** history, reference-request, quotations, tal
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: The "standard" (googlable) formulation is 'Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine.' Could be a translation issue. (Couldn't find a source for neither, though)  
  > **username_2**: I did some searching and, from what I can tell, there is no "reliable written source".  If it does exist, it's probably in Russian or maybe Latvian. That would make searching hard, and raise translation issues.  Maybe there is a Russian speaker here who can help?  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2024-01-18. Score: 2
  
  Edward Winter, the chess historian, at the end of [his page about Mikhail Tal](https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/tal1.html) asks the same question:
  
  > As shown in A Unique Chess Writer, page 171 of Dimitrije Bjelica’s
  > Wonderful world of chess quotes Mikhail Tal:
  >
  > > ‘There are two kind of sacrifices – the corrects ones, and mine’s.’
  >
  > Before being tossed into the Bjelica mangling machine, the Tal quote
  > was something like:
  >
  > > ‘There are two kinds of sacrifices – sound ones, and mine.’
  >
  > We write ‘something like’ because other wordings can be found, such as
  > ‘two types of sacrifice’, but the above version is what Anthony Saidy
  > gave on page 303 of the June 1973 Chess Life & Review. However, he
  > merely reported there that Tal ‘once said’ it.
  >
  > Chess literature teems with things that players purportedly ‘once
  > said’, ‘said on one occasion’, ‘used to say’, ‘liked to say’ and other
  > vague variants, but what is the truth about the remark ascribed to
  > Tal? When did he say, or write, such a thing, and in which language?
  > When was it first recorded in print? What was the context? Did it
  > relate to a specific game? What indication, if any, did Tal give that
  > such a statement was made in jest (or, as anecdotalists like to say,
  > ‘with a twinkle in his eye’)?
  >
  > * [Edward Winter](https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/tal1.html)
  
  So earliest source for this quotation is Saidy's article in Chess Life & Review, but even this one is based on "once said".
  
  
  ---
  
  