The Russians Play Chess
About this book
A clear pattern has evolved in the world of chess—the overall superiority and depth of the Russian chessmasters. This book was prepared by Irving Chernev, one of our country's leading experts, in an effort to point out the causes and factors contributing to this decisive supremacy of the Soviet aces over American and other players. Chernev has put together a remarkable anthology of games—chosen from among thousands of top-flight matches involving Russian masters. Fully annotated and diagrammed, they provide a unique, analytical view of the emergence of Soviet dominance, while illustrating the winning styles of about 40 prominent players. There are over 50 instructive games by such greats as Botvinnik, Keres, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Flohr, Ragozin, Tolush, and many others. For this new edition, Chernev has included an additional section containing analyses of six games played in recent years by Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal, and Bronstein. Here are examples of the artistic endgame, the brilliant Queen sacrifice, the extended combination (one splendid combination by Botvinnik is carried out successfully for over twenty moves!), the imaginative attack, the beautiful trap, etc. in games which help to make clear why the Russians have attained the top rank in international play. These games offer a treasure-trove of ideas in chess strategy; a study of them will be of inestimable value to chess players of every level.