{"product_id":"masterpieces-and-dramas-of-the-sergey-voronkov-9785604176931","title":"Masterpieces and Dramas of the Soviet Championships: Volume I (1920-1937)","description":"\u003cp\u003e*****English Chess Federation Book of the Year 2021*****\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his three-volume treatise, leading Russian chess historian Sergey Voronkov vividly brings to life the long-forgotten history of the Soviet championships held in 1920-1953. Volume I covers the first 10 championships from 1920-1937, as well as the title match between Botvinnik and Levenfish. The key contestants also include world champion Alekhine and challenger Bogoljubov, lesser-known Soviet champions Romanovsky, Bogatyrchuk, Verlinsky, and Rabinovich, and names that today will be unfamiliar yet were big stars at the time: Riumin, Alatortsev, Makogonov, Rauzer, Ragozin, Chekhover, and many others.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book can be read on many levels: a carefully selected collection of 107 of the best games, commented on mostly by the players themselves, supported by computer analysis. A detailed and subtly argued social history of the Soviet Chess School and of how chess came to occupy such an important role in Soviet society. A discussion of how the chess community lost its independence and came to be managed by Party loyalists. A portrayal of how the governing body and its leader, Nikolai Krylenko, strived to replace an entire generation of free-thinking chess masters with those loyal to the state. A study of how the authorities' goals changed from wanting to use chess as a means of raising the culture of the masses to wanting to use chess to prove the superiority of the Soviet way of life. Or a sometimes humorous, often tragic history of talented, yet flawed human beings caught up in seismic events beyond their control who just wanted to play chess. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is illustrated with around 170 rarely seen photos and cartoons from the period, mostly taken from 1920s-1930s Russian chess magazines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Garry Kasparov highlights in his foreword \u003cem\u003e\"this book virtually resembles a novel: with a mystery plot, protagonists and supporting cast, sudden denouements and even 'author's digressions' - or, to be exact, introductions to the championships themselves, which constitute important parts of this book as well. These introductions, with wide and precise strokes, paint the portrait of the initial post-revolutionary era, heroic and horrific at the same time. I've always said that chess is a microcosm of society. Showing chess in the context of time is what makes this book valuable even beyond the purely analytical point of view.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sergey Voronkov\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 5604176931\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9785604176931\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Limited Liability Company Elk and Ruby Publis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/09\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 536\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.64lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.08d","brand":"Sergey Voronkov","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43993578701055,"sku":"9785604176931","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a3c3b28d-5de9-4c7c-83fb-d5204eeba421.jpg?v=1683325118","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/masterpieces-and-dramas-of-the-sergey-voronkov-9785604176931","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}