Series of chess books
My Great Predecessors
is a series of
chess
books written by former
World Champion
Garry Kasparov
et al. The five volumes in the
My Great Predecessors
series are about the players who preceded Kasparov in being official World Champions. The series of books continued with the
Modern Chess
volumes that covers developments in the 1970s and Kasparov's games with
Anatoly Karpov
. The series is being extended with three volumes of
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov
, covering his other games. The books contain historical details, but for the most part the books are made up of
annotated
games.
Chess journalist Dmitry Plisetsky helped with the books and Kasparov thanks some other chess players in the prefaces of each of the volumes. The books were translated into English by Ken Neat.
My Great Predecessors
[
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]
My Great Predecessors
comprises five volumes:
- Part I starts with a chapter about some of the unofficial world champions (before 1886), though much of the commentary focuses on
Adolf Anderssen
and
Paul Morphy
. It then covers the first four official world champions:
Wilhelm Steinitz
,
Emanuel Lasker
,
Jose Raul Capablanca
, and
Alexander Alekhine
.
- Part II covers the fifth through eighth world champions:
Max Euwe
,
Mikhail Botvinnik
,
Vasily Smyslov
, and
Mikhail Tal
. Euwe briefly interrupted the reign of Alekhine, while Smyslov's and Tal's respective interruptions to Botvinnik's long reign were similarly brief.
- Part III covers the ninth and tenth champions,
Tigran Petrosian
and
Boris Spassky
. Petrosian ended Botvinnik's reign in 1963. Spassky challenged Petrosian unsuccessfully in 1966, but defeated him in their 1969 rematch.
- Part IV starts by covering some strong Western players who were not world champions:
Samuel Reshevsky
,
Miguel Najdorf
, and
Bent Larsen
. The primary focus of this volume is the eleventh World Champion
Bobby Fischer
.
- Part V covers World Championship contender
Victor Korchnoi
and the twelfth World Champion
Anatoly Karpov
. Korchnoi and Karpov played three matches in the World Championship, in
1974
,
1978
, and
1981
. The first match was in the
Candidates Tournament
to determine who would challenge Fischer in
1975
. Fischer refused to defend his title, making the 1974 Karpov versus Korchnoi match a
de facto
World Championship match.
Modern Chess
[
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]
The
Modern Chess
series covers
chess opening
developments in the 1970s, all of Kasparov's five
World Championship
matches with Karpov, and his other games with Karpov.
- Part One
covers the revolution in chess openings of the 1970s in the wake of Fischer. The book covers new ideas in the
Hedgehog system
, several lines of the
Sicilian Defense
, the
Grunfeld Defense
, the
Caro-Kann Defense
, the
Ruy Lopez
, the
French Defense
, the
Nimzo-Indian Defense
, and others. Complete games are used to illustrate these opening ideas. The book ends with the opinions of 28 experts.
- Part Two
covers all of the games between Karpov and Kasparov himself through 1985, including their aborted
match in 1984
and their
1985 match
in which Kasparov became the thirteenth World Champion. Four early games between the two players are included as well as all 48 games of their first match and all 24 games of their second match.
- Part Three
covers the
1986 match
and the
1987 match
between Karpov and Kasparov. It includes all 24 games of the 1986 match, all 24 games of the 1987 match, and three games played between the two matches (two were
blitz
games).
- Part Four
includes the 24 games of the
1990 match
against Karpov and 42 of their other games through 2009.
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov
[
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]
- Part I: 1973?1985
This volume covers 100 games starting from his early days. It ends with a few of the games from his 1984 match with Karpov (the endings only).
- Part II: 1985?1993
This volume covers the period of being the
FIDE
World Champion. It includes 100 games from matches and tournaments.
- Part III: 1993?2005
Covers the period after being FIDE World Champion.
Reception
[
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]
My Great Predecessors
received lavish praise from some reviewers (including
Nigel Short
),
[1]
while attracting criticism from others for historical inaccuracies and analysis of games directly copied from unattributed sources. Reviewing
My Great Predecessors Part I
, chess historian
Edward Winter
said, "The absence of, even, a basic bibliography is shocking in a work which claims to be 'Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship', and a lackadaisical attitude to basic academic standards and historical facts pervades the book."
[2]
International Master
John L. Watson
said that
Predecessors
"must be recommended as an ambitious, interesting work by (I believe) the greatest player in history. It clearly delights and inspires some of its readership regardless of its weaknesses, and is a book that most players will want to own, if only for the story-like narration of events and chess developments. For these reasons alone, I would call it a significant book, perhaps even one of this year's best. But for some reason we have been led to believe that
Predecessors
is a masterpiece, belonging to the class of great books if not transcending them. In reality it is something less grandiose: a valuable book with numerous weak spots."
[3]
Reviewing
My Great Predecessors Part I
, International Master
William John Donaldson
said the book "represents good value if one lowers one's expectations and views it as a very reasonably priced hardback game collection rather than the definitive historical guide to the early World Champions. It is too bad that Kasparov and Plisetsky didn't hire
Winter
to fact check the book. It could have been much better and one hopes more care is taken with upcoming volumes."
[4]
Through suggestions on the book's website, some of the book's criticisms were addressed in following editions and translations.
[
citation needed
]
The books have received several awards from the
English Chess Federation
, which said: "... Kasparov’s mammoth series has set new standards for writing about chess history."
[5]
English Chess Federation Book of the Year Awards
[
edit
]
- 2003:
My Great Predecessors, Part I
- best book
[6]
- 2004:
My Great Predecessors, Part II
- runner-up for best book
[7]
- 2005:
My Great Predecessors, Part IV
- best book
[8]
- 2006:
My Great Predecessors, Part V
- short list of the best books
[9]
- 2007:
Modern Chess
, Part One - short list of the best books
[10]
Book data
[
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]
- Kasparov, Garry
(2003).
My Great Predecessors, Part I
.
Everyman Chess
. p. 454.
ISBN
978-1-85744-330-1
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2003).
My Great Predecessors, Part II
. Everyman Chess. p. 480.
ISBN
978-1-85744-342-4
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2004).
My Great Predecessors, Part III
. Everyman Chess. p. 332.
ISBN
978-1-85744-371-4
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2004).
My Great Predecessors, Part IV: Fischer
. Everyman Chess. p. 496.
ISBN
978-1-85744-395-0
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2006).
My Great Predecessors, Part V
. Everyman Chess. p. 480.
ISBN
978-1-85744-404-9
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2007).
Modern Chess, Part One: Revolution in the 70s
. Everyman Chess. p. 416.
ISBN
978-1-85744-422-3
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2008).
Modern Chess, Part Two: Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985
. Everyman Chess. p. 424.
ISBN
978-1-85744-433-9
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2009).
Modern Chess, Part Three: Kasparov vs Karpov 1986-1987
. Everyman Chess. p. 432.
ISBN
978-1-85744-625-8
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2010).
Modern Chess, Part Four: Kasparov vs Karpov 1988-2009
. Everyman Chess. p. 432.
ISBN
978-1-85744-652-4
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2011).
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part 1: 1973-1985
. Everyman Chess. p. 520.
ISBN
978-1-85744-672-2
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2013).
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part II: 1985-1993
. Everyman Chess. p. 495.
ISBN
978-1-78194-024-2
.
- Kasparov, Garry (2015).
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part III: 1993-2005
. Everyman Chess. p. 500.
ISBN
978-1-78194-183-6
.
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"
"My Great Predecessors" - Nigel loved it!"
. Chessbase. 15 September 2003
. Retrieved
2012-01-29
.
- ^
Kasparov and His Predecessors by Edward Winter
Edward Winter,
Chess Notes
, 2003
- ^
My Great Predecessors Part 1
John Watson, jeremysilman.com, 2003
- ^
My Great Predecessors Part 1
John Donaldson, jeremysilman.com, 2003
- ^
"English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2006"
. Archived from
the original
on April 9, 2008
. Retrieved
January 29,
2009
.
- ^
BCF Book of the Year 2003
Archived
January 7, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
BCF Book of the Year 2004
Archived
March 5, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
BCF Book of the Year 2005
Archived
August 2, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
BCF Book of the Year 2006
Archived
April 9, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
BCF Book of the Year 2007
Archived
July 5, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Alburt, Lev
(April 2009). "The Epic Rivalry: Kasparov Ascends the Throne".
Chess Life
.
2009
(4): 42?43.
Review of
Modern Chess
, part 2