Soviet Chess Primer (Chess Classics)

Product Information

This new edition of a timeless classic includes an original foreword from the 2nd World Champion, Emanuel Lasker, as well as an introduction from the most celebrated chess trainer of modern times, Mark Dvoretsky. It is quite notable that Lasker opines, “The perfecting of technique alone is a thankless task. What it perfects is a dead capability, suited to winning games against ignorant opponents and nothing else – where as the faculty of thinking and conceiving plans remains constantly alive and can bring benefit in the most unexpected manner, not only in chess but in life itself.” The Soviet Chess Primer is a modern English translation of Ilya Maizelis’s classic introduction to the game, which was simply titled “Chess” in the original Russian publication. It has been read by generations of players, including, most notably, Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, who each provide accolades for the book cover. Maizelis is said to have had a close relationship with Emanuel Lasker, and even translated Lasker’s Manual of Chess into Russian. The second world champion wrote the foreword to the original publication, “The Meaning of Chess,” in which he gives a brief historical account of the game and describes the virtues of playing. For instance, he writes “A chessplayer is greatly benefited, and his culture enhanced, by the fact that he accustoms himself to struggle in the very process of playing, and that he trains himself to form indispensable plans on the basis of much experience.” You seem to be caught in the trap of constantly trying to figure out what the best books and openings are and not actually doing anything.

The famed Soviet school of chess has produced hundreds of grandmasters and dozens of world champions. Thousands of chess coaches teach their students using "the Soviet training method." Now let me ask you a simple question. It is a well-known fact that the Soviet team won practically every single event it played. I am talking about chess olympiads, European and world championships, etc. Botvinnik’s example and teaching established the modern approach to preparing for competitive chess: regular but moderate physical exercise; analysing very thoroughly a relatively narrow repertoire of openings; annotating one’s own games, those of past great players and those of competitors; publishing one’s annotations so that others can point out any errors; studying strong opponents to discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity about one’s own strengths and weaknesses." Then he asked me if I could guarantee that I would win a medal in the World Junior Championship. I immediately remembered a similar situation that happened before the final Candidate match of 1974 between Karpov and Korchnoi. The winner was going to play the world championship match vs. Fischer. Ilya Maizelis’s masterpiece is the definitive introduction to the game of chess. It has inspired generations of Russians to take up the game, including arguably the two greatest players of all time, the 12th and 13th World Champions.

Wikipedia citation

Most Quality Chess titles are original works, but from time to time the company puts out translations of older classics not available in English. This book, which was first published in the mid-1930s, has been continuously in print since then, appearing in several updated editions. Many chess authors promise to reveal "the hidden secrets of the Soviet chess school," and yet, somehow I haven't seen the biggest secret revealed. I thanked him for his trust into my abilities. To be fair, I indeed won the junior boardahead of Ivanchukthe year before (1987) as well as the year later (1989), where I scored 12.5 out of 13 games. Still I insisted that I would prefer to play in the World Junior Championship. However, in the last decade, the Russian team (which consists of the players who were raised and trained by the same Soviet chess machine) hardly won any Olympiads, despite of being heavy favorite in every single one of them.

However, readers who already have some familiarity with the game will benefit a lot from its discussions of ideas which are fairly simple to understand but often difficult to apply in real games. For example, simple tactics like pins and forks are easy enough for even absolute beginners to understand. However, where this book shines is that it provides enough examples (of increasing complexity) that reading the book will help the reader begin to recognize when those tactics might become relevant. Chess is largely a matter of pattern recognition, and this book will help you start to recognize the patterns. After our colonel greeted me, he asked where I would prefer to play: in the World Junior Championship,which was supposed to take place in Adelaide, Australiain about a month, or in the team Army Championship, which was scheduled at exactly the same time in Riga. Late at night when I am tired, like now, I feed yellow trolls with big noses. I'm starting to troll myself, now. The main contribution of the Soviet School of Chess was not the style of players but their emphasis on rigorous training and study of the game, i.e. considering chess a sport rather than an art or science." Wikipedia gives it a try: " chess experts in the USSR described the Soviet School of Chess as a fast-paced, daring style of play best exemplified by the young generation of postwar players."You seem to waste a lot of time making off-topic comments...more than most. You should use that time study chess instead...unless the comment is useful and not off-topic. At the end of 1980s, I was drafted to the Soviet army and sent to the city of Novosibirsk, which was located in the Siberian Military District. Taking the opportunty, let me assure you my dear readers that contrary to popular belief, there are no bears on the streets of Siberian cities. From the other side I knew that if I miss what could have been the opportunityof my whole life, I would never forgive myself for being a coward. So, trying to compose myself I said: "Thank you sir!" -- hoping that my trembling voice didn't give up my emotional state.