Judit Polgar - How I beat Fischer's record

 Boris Spassky is the most underappreciated World Champion in chess history, remembered as the Soviet who lost to Bobby Fischer in 1972. In this two-volume work, biographer extraordinaire Tibor Karolyi puts the focus on Spassky’s brilliant career and life story.

Born in 1937, Spassky barely escaped with his life when evacuating from the Siege of Leningrad as a young boy. This book tells the story of how that boy subsequently learned to play chess and rose through the Soviet ranks to become the strongest player in the world in the late 1960s.

International Master Tibor Karolyi is a renowned author and trainer from Hungary. His biographical works for Quality Chess have received glowing praise from readers and reviewers. 344 pages

Drawing on new research, this biography of William Steinitz (1836–1900), the first World Chess Champion, covers his early life and career, with a fully-sourced collection of his known games until he left London in 1882. A portrait of mid-Victorian British chess is provided, including a history of the famous Simpson’s Divan.

Born to a poor Jewish family in Prague, Steinitz studied in Vienna, where his career really began, before moving to London in 1862, bent on conquering the chess world. During the next 20 years, he became its strongest and most innovative player, as well as an influential writer on the game. A foreigner with a quarrelsome nature, he suffered mockery and discrimination from British amateur players and journalists, which eventually drove him to immigrate to America. The final chapters cover his subsequent visits to England and the last three tournaments he played there. A4 afmeting - 415 bladen

UITVERKOCHT

Akiba Rubinstein is universally considered one of the strongest chess players who never won the world crown. From a modest upbringing in the Polish city of Lódz, he rose to become the principal challenger to the world champion Emanuel Lasker in the years leading up to the First World War. Although their world title match failed to take place, mainly due to the outbreak of wartime hostilities, Rubinstein's legacy has remained equal to that of any world champion.

His best games are conspicuous for their power and clarity and reveal his deep positional comprehension, brilliant combinational abilities, and virtuosic endgame technique. Rubinstein also pioneered many innovative and pragmatic ideas in all phases of the game that continue to influence the theory and praxis of modern chess.

Initially published in Russian, Akiba Rubinstein by Yuri Razuvaev and Valery Murakhveri is widely acclaimed as one of the most outstanding chess books of the latter part of the twentieth century. This work comes up repeatedly when today's top chess players name books that have significantly influenced their understanding of the game.

After an in-depth biographical chapter, most of the book consists of detailed annotations to more than 60 of Rubinstein's finest games against players like Alekhine, Bogolyubov, Capablanca, Euwe, Lasker, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Schlechter, Spielmann, Tarrasch, Tartakower, and other prominent masters. Grandmaster Razuvaev's copious notes to the games are distinguished by his clear and insightful explanations that are revelatory and highly instructive to keen players of all abilities. Akiba Rubinstein is universally considered one of the strongest chess players who never won the world crown. From a modest upbringing in the Polish city of Lódz, he rose to become the principal challenger to the world champion Emanuel Lasker in the years leading up to the First World War. Although their world title match failed to take place, mainly due to the outbreak of wartime hostilities, Rubinstein's legacy has remained equal to that of any world champion.

His best games are conspicuous for their power and clarity and reveal his deep positional comprehension, brilliant combinational abilities, and virtuosic endgame technique. Rubinstein also pioneered many innovative and pragmatic ideas in all phases of the game that continue to influence the theory and praxis of modern chess.

571 PAGES Hardcover

Le voilà donc, ce deuxième tome tant attendu - et juste à temps pour Noël. On y (re)découvre les carrières et les parties de Max Euxe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov et Mikhail Tal, avec des exposés plus brefs sur quelques-uns de leurs principaux challengers (Keres, Bronstein, Geller). Comme on pouvait l'espérer, on retrouve ici un Kasparov plus impliqué, tant dans l'historique (puisqu'il s'agit de joueurs qu'il a pu connaître, et pour certains affronter) que dans les analyses. Inutile d'en dire beaucoup plus : c'est de la belle ouvrage, en dépit des quelques défauts inhérents à la formule (parties souvent très connues et parti-pris simplificateur sur le plan historique - 100 pages sur Euwe, mais rien sur Reshevsky, Fine, Boleslavsky ou Najdorf...). On attend en tous cas avec impatience le troisième tome - mais patience, aucune date n'est encore annoncée.