Chess Book Reviews

My Great Predecessors: by Garry Kasparov, Everyman Chess, London 2003-6. Five volumes at £25.00 each.

Volume 1 deals with Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine along with important contemporaries such as Tarrasch and Rubinstein. Volume 5 reaches Korchnoy and Karpov. The five volumes therefore cover all the World Champions from Steinitz (1885-1894) to Karpov (1975-1985) and the other major figures of chess during those 100 years.

The books contain a combination of vivid descriptions and anecdotes along with a world champion's deep analysis backed by the computer. If you think you will be getting the staple diet of books on the great players – uncritical hero worship – forget it. The number of classics games which are illuminated by a combination of Kasparov's thought and the computer's analysis is remarkable. Many old games have something new to be discovered.. For instance (in volume 1), the famous Pillsbury v Lasker brilliancy from St Petersburg, 1895 is put under the microscope and errors by both players, which lay undiscovered for 100 years, are revealed.

My Great Predecessors is a major work from the greatest chess player at the close of the 20 th century. It is also the first series of books to indelibly bear the marks of the new computer era of chess.

Gary Kasparov's on My Great Predecessors: Part 1 (Hardcover)


Gary Kasparov's on My Great Predecessors: Part 2 (Hardcover)


Gary Kasparov's on My Great Predecessors: Part 3 (Hardcover)


Gary Kasparov's on My Great Predecessors: Part 4 (Hardcover)


Gary Kasparov's on My Great Predecessors: Part 5 (Hardcover)