Botvinnik's Complete Games 1924-1941 And Selected Writings (Part I) - Botvinnik - $62.95

Hardback,2010, 396 pages

Foreword:
This book is merely a "guide" to the history of 20th century chess. The material presented in this three-volume work is very diverse. Here there are analyses and compositions, pen-portraits and travel notes, and also creative problems. A strong chess player operates within the framework of world chess, and so there are also articles concerned with the activities of FIDE, which is now of particular interest, since there is obviously a crisis in FIDE. The readers' attention is drawn to the chapter Chess Cybernetics. If the development of this problem will be taken to its logical end, the previous and still existing condescending attitude to the game of chess will sink into oblivion... The work is concluded by my memoirs (Achieving the Aim). Compared with the first edition they have been partly abridged (to avoid repetition) and partly augmented. Whereas the first three books gave annotated games from 1925 to 1970, the present work is largely a collection of articles from periodicals, as well as extracts from my books. To avoid repetition, these extracts are sometimes given in abridged form. Some articles are published here for the first time.

Translator's note:
Mikhail Botvinnik's "Analiticheskie i kriticheskie raboty" [Analytical and critical works] were originally published in four volumes between 1984 and 1987. The first three volumes covered his best games, and an English translation of these has already been published by Moravian Chess (Botvinnik's Best Games Volumes 1, 2 and 3). The fourth volume contained the author's collected writings, and for the present English publication this material has been divided among three books, of which this is the first. These books will also include all Botvinnik's known games (apart from the 381 already published in the Best Games series), with annotations by Botvinnik where available. The resulting six-volume series will therefore present a complete collection of Botvinnik's own game annotations and the best of his chess writings. Ken Neat

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Smyslov's Best Games, Volume I: 1935-1957

Volume 1 1935 - 1957: 140 annotated games, together with an article describing Smyslov's career and his approach to chess.

From the Preface: "For more than half a century I have been taking part in chess competitions. With the leading masters of different generations I have played thousands of games, only a limited number of which have found their way into these two volumes.

"In them I wanted to reflect my best creative achievements, where logic of thought enables an artistic impression to be created, and to reflect my view on chess as an opportunity for the human spirit to aspire to the heights of a genuine art.

"Whether I have succeeded in this aim, it is for the reader to judge. I achieved the greatest success in my chess career in 1957, when I defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in a match for the world championship.

"In the return match with Botvinnik, fate was not on my side. However, chess did not lose its fascination for me, and quarter of a century later, now at a more advanced age, I again contested the final candidates match for the world championship with the young Garry Kasparov.

"The curve of my successes has been uneven, but my style of play has not undergone any significant changes.In my play I rely on experience, knowledge and calculation, but more than anything on intuition, on that feeling for position that enables it to be evaluated correctly and deeply, as long as the passion for a struggle is burning.

"Of course, over this period of half a century chess has changed. By the last decade of the 20th century an information explosion had occurred in all fields of human knowledge, and this was reflected in the play of the best chess players, to the aid of whom came a powerful compiler of collective experience - the computer.

"Now I most often meet players who are armed not with books, but with a chess machine, enabling a quick reply to be given about the present state of an opening variation, or about an opponent.

"And yet books will never lose their instructional value, since the general laws of the game remain unchanged. A philosophical axiom of the theory of Wilhelm Steinitz was excellently expounded by Emanuel Lasker in his Chess Manual.

"When an advantage has been gained, you must seek a combinative solution to the problem and take energetic measures, as otherwise the advantage will disappear.

"A position changes with every move, and grasping its slightest changes, on which evaluation and concrete calculation depend, is a great skill in the practical struggle at the board.

"I hope that these two volumes of my best games will help the reader to understand a little better how to find his way through the endless variations of the labyrinth of Caissa."

Smyslov's Best Games. Volume 2: 1958-95

The second and final volume in the autobiographical series chronicling the career of the seventh world champion. 186 deeply annotated games are nicely complemented by crosstables, match tournament results and indexes.

2 Volume Set - $125.90 (less 30%)