Masterpieces and Dramas of the Soviet Championships: Volume I, Volume II and Volume III

Sergey Voronkov’s three-volume history of the Soviet championships from 1920 to 1953 (2020, 2021 and 2022), told through games annotated mostly by the players themselves and checked by computer. Volume I (1920-1937, 534 pages, 107 games) covers the first ten championships and the Botvinnik-Levenfish match, and how Soviet chess lost its independence to Party loyalists led by Nikolai Krylenko. Volume II (1938-1947, 524 pages, 84 games and fragments, about 250 photos) deals with Krylenko’s downfall, the purges and the war. Volume III (1948-1953, 524 pages, 77 games and fragments, over 220 photos) covers the five championships of 1948-1952 and ends with the 1953 Botvinnik-Taimanov playoff, against a background of late Stalinism and anti-Semitism.

The ECF jury that gave Volume I its award in 2021 wrote that “The book reads like a novel describing how the championships were organised and played…” Raymond Keene, writing in TheArticle in 2022, recommended Volume III to “the student of Soviet life during the embers of the Stalin era.” The Armchair Warrior blog called Volume I “a magnificent book” in 2021. It is history first and a games collection second.

The Lubyanka Gambit

Sergei Grodzensky’s book (2022; first published in Russian in 2004) runs to 320 pages on players and composers in the USSR who were repressed by the authorities and executed or sent to the Gulag. Among them are Lazar Zalkind, Arvid Kubbel, Vladimirs Petrovs and, in the end, Krylenko himself, the man who had run Soviet chess. A section describes how chess was played in the camps. Grodzensky, a correspondence grandmaster whose father was sent to the Gulag, also recalls Solzhenitsyn, who was his schoolteacher, and Shalamov, his father’s close friend. There are 72 games and fragments and 145 computer-checked compositions. Peter Boll, reviewing it for the endgame-study association ARVES, praised the translation (“The English is perfect”) and wrote that “the tragic stories and tragic history in this book touched me deeply.” With that much composition material, it will mean most to readers who follow problems and studies.

Selected Games: Peter Romanovsky

Romanovsky (1892-1964) was Soviet champion in 1923, and again in 1927 jointly with Bogatyrchuk, and was a coach whose pupils included Averbakh. In this 384-page book (2021), the first half is Sergei Tkachenko’s biography of Romanovsky, which takes in nearly a year held captive in Germany after the 1914 Mannheim tournament, the Civil War and NEP years, and the Siege of Leningrad. The second half is Romanovsky’s own 1954 chess autobiography with 72 games, his notes updated with computer analysis by IM Grigory Bogdanovich. The Armchair Warrior blog called it a “moving book” in 2021. Half the book is biography, so it suits readers who want the life as much as the games.

Korchnoi Year by Year: Volume I, Volume II, Volume III and Volume IV

The complete four-volume life and games of Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016), by Hans Renette and Tibor Karolyi (2023 to 2025). Volume I (550 pages, 181 games and fragments) runs from his wartime childhood in Leningrad through 1968, the year he reached the Candidates final against Spassky. Volume II (1969-1980, 518 pages, 140 games and fragments) includes the 1974 Candidates final with Karpov, his defection in 1976 and the 1978 title match at Baguio. Volume III (1981-1991, 438 pages, 140 games and fragments) goes from Merano to the 1991 Candidates matches, and Volume IV (1992-2016, 528 pages, 208 games and fragments) takes him to his death at 85. The authors use interviews and sources in several languages, and the analysis turns up new findings: a 2025 ChessBase article credited Volume II as the first place to show Black’s last mistake in one of the 1978 Korchnoi-Karpov endings. Shortlisting Volume II in 2024, the ECF jury pointed to “the story of the many matches (Spassky, Petrosian) and disputes (Karpov, Baguio City)”. Reviewing Volume III for the ECF in 2024, Ben Graff wrote that “the only reason why you might not want to read this book right now is if you are yet to read volumes I and II” and want to read the series in order. With 669 games and fragments across more than 2,000 pages, the set is for readers who want to follow a career in full rather than dip into it, and the volumes are best read in order.

Petrosian Year by Year: Volume I and Volume II

Two volumes by Tibor Karolyi and Tigran Gyozalyan (2020 and 2022) on Tigran Petrosian, world champion from 1963 to 1969. Volume I (484 pages, 148 games and fragments) goes from his childhood and his Georgian and Armenian titles to the 1962 Curacao Candidates, with photos from private collections in Georgia and Armenia. Volume II (516 pages, 175 games and fragments) starts with the 1963 title match with Botvinnik and ends with his last games in 1983. Both summarize almost all his known games of each period and go round by round through his events. Reviewing Volume II on his Substack in 2025, GM Daniel Gormally wrote that “The chess analysis is spot-on, and they don’t over burden the reader with endless variations”, but he gave it 7/10: “My only issue with the book is that perhaps it could have been slightly shorter,” and he found the many notes on minor games made it a struggle to read at times.

Alexander Alekhine: The Russian Sphinx: Volume I and Volume II

Sergey Voronkov’s biography of Alekhine is planned in four volumes, and two have been published (2025 and 2026). Volume I (1892-1921, 471 pages, over 50 games and fragments) covers his childhood, his internment in Germany in World War I, his escape from execution in Odessa, his service under the Bolsheviks, his emigration in 1921 and his marriages. Volume II (1921-1934, 502 pages) covers his strongest years: exile in France and the title matches with Capablanca and Bogoljubov, with 84 games and fragments (46 not previously in books) and engine analysis by IM Dmitry Plisetsky. Volume I was on the 2025 ECF shortlist, where the jury called it “A large book which contains much extensive research material, which will appeal to an historian.” The Chess.com blogger simaginfan wrote that it “is not a rewrite of stuff you find in 2 minutes on google.” We have not yet found a published review of Volume II. Volume I is light on games for its length; for his games of the same years, see Tibor Karolyi’s Alekhine’s Remarkable Games, Volume I, below.

The Wizard of Warsaw: A Chess Biography of Szymon Winawer

Tomasz Lissowski and Grigory Bogdanovich (2023; Russian original 2017) give about 300 pages to the Warsaw-born Winawer, a world top-10 player of the 1870s and 1880s whose name survives in the Winawer Variation of the French Defense. Lissowski’s biography of Winawer and his era, the first half of the book, is followed by Bogdanovich’s thematic study of his play, with 132 games and fragments in all. Reviewing it for the ECF in 2023, Ben Graff wrote: “It is his on the board life where The Wizard of Warsaw excels.” He also found that “Winawer the man inevitably remains something of an enigma,” which he put down to an era that left little record of players’ inner lives, a challenge “not fair to level at the authors.” The Chess.com blogger simaginfan noted that because the games half is arranged by theme, the order of Winawer’s development is lost. It is a book about 19th-century chess, not a source of French Defense ideas.

Coaching Kasparov, Year by Year and Move by Move, Volume 2

Alexander Nikitin (1935-2022) was Kasparov’s long-time coach. This volume (2020), subtitled The Assassin, covers 1982-1990: the title matches with Karpov and the Candidates matches against Beliavsky, Korchnoi and Smyslov. It has 264 pages and 39 annotated games, 20 of them previously unpublished 1982-83 training games against Kasparov’s coaches Vladimirov and Timoshchenko, annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco. Volume 1 (1973-1981) covers the earlier years; we stock Volume 2 only. Shortlisting both volumes as a pair for 2020, the ECF jury thought them of particular value to coaches, adding that “there is also much to interest the general reader.” The Chessentials reviewer (2023) found this part less compelling than the first and thought Nikitin “extremely subjective” about the Karpov matches. The games sit in a block at the end rather than in the narrative, so following the games alongside the story means turning back and forth.

Capablanca the Great Minimalist, Volume I: 1901-1918

The first of Cyrus Lakdawala’s planned three volumes of Capablanca’s games (2025), from the 1901 Corzo match to the 1918 Manhattan tournament. It has 337 pages, 156 newly annotated games and fragments and 168 exercises on calculation, combinations, planning and decision-making, so it works as a workbook as much as a games collection. Volume II (1919-1928) appeared in 2026; we do not stock it yet. Reviewing Volume I for the ECF in 2026, Ben Graff wrote: “For anyone wanting to improve, I am sure that this book would serve as an excellent training manual.” He added: “if you mainly want to learn about Capablanca the person, this may not be the book for you.”

Magnus Wins With White and Magnus Wins With Black

Zenon Franco’s move-by-move studies of Carlsen wins (both 2020), with questions for the reader and a summary of lessons after each game: 32 wins with White (242 pages) and 30 with Black (224 pages), the second with fewer attacking games and more endings. Nine of the White games and seven of the Black games are from 2019-20; nothing later is included. Reviewing both, the Grandmaster2b blog found that “Franco strikes a very good balance in these books between instructive analysis and long variations,” but warned that the series “may get a bit simplistic for higher rated players (perhaps 2200+ USCF or 2100+ FIDE).”

The Pawn Study Composer’s Manual

Mikhail Zinar (died 2021) first published this manual in Ukraine in 1990; this edition (2022) was revised by Sergei Tkachenko. It teaches how to compose pawn endgame studies through more than 400 examples: the basic tactical devices, study ideas such as underpromotion and domination, the artistic requirements, and a set of tests. It was on the ECF Book of the Year shortlist in 2023. Peter Boll, reviewing it for ARVES, found the examples clearly explained. Its purpose is composition, not practical play, though Boll thought a reader who works through it “may know all the finesses of Pawn Endgames.”

Pan Inspector: A Chess Biography of Yuri Sakharov

Mykola Fuzik (2026). 330 pages on the Ukrainian player and coach Yuri Sakharov (1922-1981), who played in six Soviet championship finals and won two Ukrainian titles. His father was executed in 1938, and Sakharov was arrested in 1951 and spent five years in the Gulag. There are 121 games and fragments, annotated by Sakharov himself, Korchnoi, Flohr, guest grandmasters, his former pupil Vladimir Sergeev and the author. Readers of Masterpieces and Dramas Volume III will have met him there.

Alekhine’s Remarkable Games, Volume I: 1902-1921

Tibor Karolyi (2026). 349 pages and 199 games and fragments, the first of three planned volumes. The publisher describes it as a companion to Voronkov’s The Russian Sphinx, and like Volume I of that series it ends in 1921. The games are analyzed with neural-network engines. It is a games collection, not a biography.

Hübner Year by Year, Volume I (1959-1979)

Hans Renette and Tibor Karolyi (2025), the authors of Korchnoi Year by Year. 534 pages and 159 games on Robert Hübner (1948-2025), from child prodigy to the 1970-71 Candidates, his first-board gold at Skopje 1972 and his shared first at the 1979 Rio de Janeiro Interzonal. The publisher says the analysis shows in particular that Hübner was “one of the world’s most resilient endgame players.” It is a long career study in the manner of the Korchnoi set.

The Original Arkhangelsk: Take Control of the Ruy Lopez as Black

Tibor Karolyi (2025). The only opening book here: 322 pages on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7, through 166 games and a number of suggested novelties. It suits a Black player willing to learn a sharp, theory-heavy line against the Ruy Lopez.