Customer Reviews

World Chess Championship 1963, The (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics S.)

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petrosian beat botvinnik in moscow 1963 to become the 9th world chess champion. in this book international master bob wade annotates every game with great care and also takes into account the best soviet sources of information.for lovers of endings this book is a must-the fifth game -won by petrosian - is probably the most subtle endgame ever played in a world chess championship. i also very much liked the inclusion of training games played by botvinnik which otherwise might have been lost to chess history!

From 1948 until 1963 Mikhail Botvinnik, the iron man of soviet chess and chess board devotee of Josef Stalin, had maintained his grip on the supreme title, in spite of threats from the younger generations represented by Smyslov and Tal. Now in 1963 a new force arose. Tigran Petrosian was a super subtle strategist who could make even an extra half a square tell in the balance. In this match , which finally broke Botvinnik's dominance for good, Botvinnik was cast in the role of impatient aggressor while the younger challenger eventually triumphed by a combination of extreme patience and the most exquisite endgame play ever witnessed at world championship level.
Bob Wade OBE, Britain's expert on Soviet chess, was ideally placed to comment on the games of this extraordinary contest and to delve into the preparation methods and psychology of both sides. Soviet Chess, his classic work on chess in the USSR, is a companion volume in this series.

Soviet Chess expert Bob Wade collects and annotates the tough games of the Botvinnik-Petrosian 1963 World Championship. In this volume, the exciting tension between the aggressor Botvinnik and the patient and persitent Petrosian is clear throughout. Wade examines the games to expert level, providing a clear understanding of how Petrosian took the world title from a supposedly unbeatable champion. A fundamental work and a Hardinge and Simpole chess classic.