Masterpieces and Dramas of the Soviet Championships

<p>*****English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2021*****</p><p></p><p>In his three-volume treatise leading Russian chess historian Sergey Voronkov vividly brings to life the long-forgotten history of the Soviet championships held in 1920-1953. Volume I covers the first 10 championships from 1920-1937 as well as the title match between Botvinnik and Levenfish. The key contestants also include world champion Alekhine and challenger Bogoljubov lesser-known Soviet champions Romanovsky Bogatyrchuk Verlinsky and Rabinovich and names that today will be unfamiliar yet were big stars at the time: Riumin Alatortsev Makogonov Rauzer Ragozin Chekhover and many others.</p><p>This book can be read on many levels: a carefully selected collection of 107 of the best games commented on mostly by the players themselves supported by computer analysis. A detailed and subtly argued social history of the Soviet Chess School and of how chess came to occupy such an important role in Soviet society. A discussion of how the chess community lost its independence and came to be managed by Party loyalists. A portrayal of how the governing body and its leader Nikolai Krylenko strived to replace an entire generation of free-thinking chess masters with those loyal to the state. A study of how the authorities' goals changed from wanting to use chess as a means of raising the culture of the masses to wanting to use chess to prove the superiority of the Soviet way of life. Or a sometimes humorous often tragic history of talented yet flawed human beings caught up in seismic events beyond their control who just wanted to play chess.</p><p>This book is illustrated with around 170 rarely seen photos and cartoons from the period mostly taken from 1920s-1930s Russian chess magazines.</p><p>As Garry Kasparov highlights in his foreword <em>this book virtually resembles a novel: with a mystery plot protagonists and supporting cast sudden denouements and even 'author's digressions' - or to be exact introductions to the championships themselves which constitute important parts of this book as well. These introductions with wide and precise strokes paint the portrait of the initial post-revolutionary era heroic and horrific at the same time. I've always said that chess is a microcosm of society. Showing chess in the context of time is what makes this book valuable even beyond the purely analytical point of view.</em></p><p>Check out the publisher's website for special deals on this and other books!</p>