Party, biography, photos, statistics. Mikhail Tal, the eighth world chess champion. A short, fragile youth with big black eyes, a phenomenal memory and unique intuition proved to the chess world that 2x2 = 5 (!). A genius of attacks and combinations, he always acted in accordance with S. Tartakower's postulate - “sacrifice in order not to become a victim!”. For Tal, chess matter in battles is nothing, beauty is everything! He melted the "chess Antarctica", took millions of fans into voluntary chess captivity. In the life of Tal, there was no everyday life, the game of chess for him has always been a holiday. Truly the gigantic strength of the spirit again and again prevailed over the hardships of the flesh. He did not think about the future, giving joy to his contemporaries, and his descendants left his creativity - an imperishable bible of chess combinations.

The best games with detailed commentary

Parties, biography. photo, statistics. Series: Encyclopedia of Chess Olympus The name of Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), the first world chess champion, creator of the positional game doctrine, was deduced in gold letters on the tables of the world chess history. For 64 years of irrepressible, eternally bubbling life Steinitz symbolically filled all 64 cells of the chess planet. He showed himself to be a great and uncompromising fighter, a true chess artist, a philosopher and a converter. For two decades (1866-1886) Steinitz was considered the king of chess in Europe, and then he was worthy of an official world title for eight years (1886-1894).

Parties, biography, photo, statistics ... Robert James Fisher (born 1943) - 1st world chess champion (1972-75). His life is a challenge to society, traditions, conventions. Professional to the marrow of bones, he always wanted the cause of his life - a chess game - the society appreciated. Making high demands on himself, he believed that he had the right to present them to the conditions of chess creativity. In the era of "total" football he demonstrated real total chess - hard pressing all over the board, not a second of respite, constant threats, buildup of pressure, power in every plan, every maneuver, every holo! His aggressiveness and pressure crushed and demoralized the will of those not accustomed to similar competition of competitors.

The Astrel publishing house continues to release a new series - Encyclopedia of Chess Olympus, dedicated to the life and work of all world chess champions from Steinitz to Kramnik. The authors are famous Russian writers and historians of chess Isaac and Vladimir Lindera. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhin (1892–1946) is the 4th world chess champion (1927–35, 1937–1946). Among the greatest chess players of all time, Alexander Alekhin is distinguished by the scale of his creative heritage and the aesthetic appeal of the game. From 1908 to the last years of his life, he participated in 94 tournaments, in 64 of them came out the winner and in 12 occupied second places. He played 26 matches (including 5 in the world championship) and was the only chess champion in history who died undefeated. Alekhin influenced the chess life of dozens of countries and peoples due to his vivid performances in tournaments, matches, touring tours, as well as literary works.

Party, biography, photos, statistics. Mikhail Botvinnik (1911 - 1995) - man-era! He was born under the last Russian emperor Nicholas II, and died under the first president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. He received instructions from the second world champion Emanuel Lasker and gave lessons to the fourteenth champion Vladimir Kramnik himself. While studying at school, he did not know the slide rule, and at a respectable age he played chess with a computer. Botvinnik was not yet 25 years old when he became one of the living symbols of a great power and remained it for the next 60 years. His remarkably solid nature was mixed up with a mixture of communist education, the Spartan regime and an innate sense of intelligence. He was one in two persons - the Champion and the Scientist. Doctor of chess and grandmaster of electrical engineering. The main advantages of Botvinnik - iron will, a scientific approach, a clear vision of the goal. Botvinnik accumulated the best features of the Soviet chess school. And at the same time, this school embodied many of the priorities it proclaimed. Botvinnik devoted thirty years of his life to the creation of an “artificial intelligence” - a chess program, not only a “master playing by virtue”, but also “thinking like him.” "Pioneer" was his pride, and his pain, and his "blue bird". Botvinnik's multivolume legacy is a classic of world chess, his life is an example of disinterested service to chess art.

Партии, биография, фото, статистика. Василий Васильевич Смыслов (р. 1921) стал в 36 лет седьмым в истории шахмат чемпионом мира (1957-58). Шесть предыдущих шахматных королей брали заветный рубеж с первой попытки. А те, кто не смог осилить действующего чемпиона, в дальнейшем, как правило, не проявляли своих амбиций, оставаясь в роли "великих неудачников". Вопреки сложившейся традиции, Смыслов первым вошел в одну реку дважды и сумел повторить звездный путь. Когда он, наконец, завоевал титул сильнейшего шахматиста планеты, создалось впечатление, что это тот самый "корабль", у которого нет уязвимых мест, напротив, все говорило о его "комфортабельности и благоустроенности". Увы, на каждый шахматный "титаник" находится рано или поздно свой шахматный "айсберг". Им стал для Смыслова тот, которого он еще недавно так блестяще победил, - Ботвинник. Уже через 12 месяцев Василий Смыслов стал экс-чемпионом мира. Но "калиф на год" оставался грозным шахматным бойцом еще долгие и долгие годы. Еще одним способом его самовыражения стала музыка. Красивый баритон, как и шахматный талант, унаследовал он от отца. Не случайно он повторял: "Чемпионами не становятся, а рождаются!". Внешне он не производит впечатление опасного бойца - типичный скромный интеллигент, с неторопливой походкой и загадочной улыбкой. Это для непосвященных, а вот для шахматного фантазера Д. Бронштейна образ Смыслова порой ассоциировался с поступью медведя, напролом бредущего по шахматным дебрям, и горе тому, кто нечаянно попадется на его дороге!

The Dutch grandmaster Genna Sosonko is a talented writer, one of the best authors of the famous New in Chess magazine. After the success of the book “I Knew Capablanca”, published in 2001 in St. Petersburg, thousands of Russian readers became aware of his name, previously familiar only to chess fans. The new book continues and significantly complements the first. Along with portraits of Tal, Botvinnikov, Capablanca, Levenfish, Polugaevsky, Geller, it included essays about Ava, Miles, Timman, Flora, Korchnoi, Lutikov, Vaganyan, Bagirov, Gufeld, Baturinsky ...

Grandmaster Carlos Torre – like a chess comet; his genius flashed dazzlingly and quickly went out in the chess firmament! He – the author of the most famous “mill” in the history of chess, the 2nd world champion Emanuel Lasker fell into its merciless millstones. The authors spoke about the life and work of the Mexican genius (the book contains 25 commentated games by K. Torre). Torre’s book “How a Chess Player is Formed” is presented, an essay by international master Yaroslav Prizant about Torre’s attack in modern practice. In the section "Play like Torre" – 36 instructive examples from his practice to solve. Finally, there is an interview with Carlos Torre, conducted by Gabriel Velasco in 1977. Working with the book will give readers not only aesthetic pleasure, but will also help improve their skills.

Notes from the master of 120 selected games. Paulsen system in tournament practice of a master

Second, revised edition. We bring to your attention the biography of the first Russian world chess champion, a man of surprisingly bright and at the same time tragic fate of Alexander Alekhin Alekhin (1892-1946). Written on a strictly documentary basis, with the involvement of new, previously unknown sources discovered by the author in the archives of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, the book traces the life of the genius chess player throughout its entire length - from birth in Moscow to the mysterious death in a hotel in a small Portuguese town Estoril.

The story of the struggle of the American single genius with the Soviet hegemony in chess. The book contains all 158 games played by the eleventh world champion Robert Fisher against the Soviet chess players. But the book’s uniqueness is different: for the first time almost all the secret documents on the "Fisher problem" are gathered together for the first time, many of which have never appeared in print. These are materials from the archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Sports Committee, as well as the & quot; official & quot; letters analyzing the personality and creativity of Fisher, written at the request of the leadership of the leading grandmasters of the country. The book is illustrated with rare photographs and drawings.