INTRODUCTION by International Master Neboisa Illijn
… Compared to the first version of this wonderful work, this edition brings additions that grow, not only numerically, but especially in quality. As a coach, who commonly used the first edition of this work, “555 miniature studies“, I can appreciate, without the fear to be wrong, that we are dealing with a complex material, very useful for coaches who want to put “to work“ their students, in preparing them for high performance. For these reasons I consider that such a book must have its place in every coach`s library and, probably, in any chess lover`s library. Especially I would like to take this opportunity to thank to the son of the great Genrich Kasparian, Mr. Sergei Kasparian who, by his kindness, provided us his father`s manuscript and without whose goodwill is not known when this book might see the daylight. Sergei Kasparian is also a chess composition lover, which is why, at the end of this book, I introduced some of his most interesting studies.
From the author:
“There are lots of incomparable spiritual values in the world. These values are accumulated also in chess and they form an essential part of the culture of the human civilization. Chess composition, also known as “chess poetry”, created its values and its knowledge offers not only an esthetic satisfaction but it can be very useful to everybody who wants to learn chess. Chess composition appeared long time ago and it has its own history. The author does not want to present all the stages of its development. He only wants to emphasize how much chess composition is inculcated to the game itself, being a useful guide for the chess player.