At the Crossroads of Chess History On March 24, 1946, the fourth world chess champion, Alexander Alekhine, passed away. He was the first – and still the only – champion to die while holding the title. To select a new champion, a powerful quintuple round-robin was held in The Hague and Moscow. The five strongest players of the era, including one former world champion, two future world champions, and two perennial contenders, took part in a grueling two-month, 25-round tournament. “The match-tournament of 1948 in The Hague and Moscow was one of the most important events in the history of chess. It produced a new world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, and it was also the start of a new era in which the championship would be regulated by FIDE by means of an intricate system of qualification tournaments that would function with only small changes for decades.” (From the Foreword by Hans Ree) Max Euwe, the fifth world champion, wrote a splendid account of this historic event. It includes a review of all previous encounters between the participants, background information, as well as all the games of the tournament, deeply annotated by Euwe. This fascinating account is finally available in English. You are invited to follow Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov, Sam Reshevsky, Paul Keres and Max Euwe as they battle for the title and the chess world starts its journey through the post-World War II era and the beginning of the Soviet hegemony.

The Patriarch of Soviet Chess From the mid-1930s to the early 1960s, one man towered above all other chessplayers. That was the sixth world chess champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. His calm, deep analytical approach, supplemented by careful attention to his mental and physical conditioning served him well throughout his career. Now, in the sixth volume of the World Chess Champions Series by Isaak and Vladimir Linder, you will learn all about the chess advances and achievements of the Patriarch of Soviet chess, about his life and scholarly pursuit, and his contributions to the various phases of the game – opening, middlegame and endgame. Botvinnik was no less influential when he assumed the role of teacher. Graduates of his school included such powerful players as Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Sergei Tiviakov and Alexei Shirov. This book presents almost 150 of Botvinnik’s best games and endings, with fresh annotations by German grandmaster Karsten Müller, along with crosstables and many archival photographs. We invite you on journey to explore the life and games of one of the greatest and most influential world champions ever.

The Gentleman Champion The fifth book of the World Chess Champions series focuses on the life and career of the Dutchman Max Euwe. This soft-spoken professor of mathematics rocked the chess world in 1935 when he defeated the seemingly irresistible force, Alexander Alekhine, to become world champion. Many chessplayers thought this was an upset of the first magnitude. Hardly. Euwe was at his prime and the best in the world at the time. In fact, Euwe posted a plus score against Alekhine in the four games they played between the 1935 and 1937 matches. As noted by Andy Soltis in his foreword, “These pages are rich in detail, and not just about Euwe. There are extensive mini-biographies of Alekhine, Botvinnik, Bogoljubow, Spielmann, Capablanca, Paul Keres, Géza Maróczy, Flohr, Vera Menchik and Réti – as well as less known players such as Edgard Colle, Jan Hein Donner and Salo Landau. The photos and drawings – and those caricatures – are also remarkable.” The venerable fifth world champion was also a first-class arbiter, author and chess diplomat. As an author, he is regarded as one of the two or three finest chess writers for the average player. He was also president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at the time of the Fischer-Spassky title match in 1972. Were it not for Euwe’s persuasive, patient handling of the difficult negotiations between the Russians and Americans, it is very likely that the match would not have taken place at all. Join Russian historians Isaak and Vladimir Linder as they take you on a journey exploring the life and games of the gentleman world champion, Max Euwe.

Grandmaster Alexander Panchenko (1953-2009) was one of the most successful chess trainers in the Soviet Union, and later in Russia. Panchenko ran a legendary chess school that specialised in turning promising players into masters. The secret of his success were his dedication and enthusiasm as a teacher combined with his outstanding training materials. ‘Pancha’ provided his pupils with systematic knowledge, deep understanding and the ability to take practical decisions. Now, Panchenko’s classic Mastering Chess Middlegames is for the first time available in translation, giving club-players around the world access to this unique training method. The book contains a collection of inspiring lessons on the most important middlegame topics: attack, defence, counterplay, realising the advantage, obstructing the plans of your opponent, the battle of the heavy pieces, and much more. In each chapter, Panchenko clearly identifies the various aspects of the topic, formulates easy-to-grasp rules, presents a large number of well-chosen examples and ends with a wealth of practical tests. The brilliance of Alexander Panchenko’s didactic method shines through in this book. It is hard to give better advice for ambitious chess players than to follow this tried-and-tested and highly instructive road towards mastering the chess middlegame.

In many 1.d4 openings, Black has trouble getting his bishop on c8 into play. Former Russian Chess Champion Alexey Bezgodov presents a radical solution to this nagging problem; liberate your bishop right away and put it on f5 on the second move! Play 2...Bf5! against either 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 will surprise your opponent and is also a great way to support your development, because the bishop takes control of the important square e4. If White does not immediately take decisive action, then within a move or two he can relinquish any hopes on an opening advantage. Alexey Bezgodov has found some great antidotes to White's most dangerous reactions in sharp and attractive lines. To test your understanding of his system he has included more than 100 exercises. After studying the fresh ideas and the clear explanations presented in The Liberated Bishop Defence chess players of almost every strength will enjoy the flexibility of a surprising, effective and universal weapon against 1.d4.

A crucial decision spared chess Grandmaster David Bronstein almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis--one fateful move cost him the world championship. Russian champion Mark Taimanov was a touted as a hero of the Soviet state until his loss to Bobby Fischer all but ruined his life. Yefim Geller's dream of becoming world champion was crushed by a bad move against Fischer, his hated rival. Yuri Averbakh had no explanation how he became the world's oldest grandmaster, other than the quixotic nature of fate. Vasily Smyslov, the only one of the five to become world champion, would reign for just one year--fortune, he said, gave him pneumonia at the worst possible time. This book explores how fate played a capricious role in the lives of five of the greatest players in chess history.