Foreword:
This book is merely a "guide" to the history of 20th century chess. 

The material presented in this three-volume work is very diverse. Here there are analyses and compositions, pen-portraits and travel notes, and also creative problems.

A strong chess player operates within the framework of world chess, and so there are also articles concerned with the activities of FIDE, which is now of particular interest, since there is obviously a crisis in FIDE.

The readers' attention is drawn to the chapter Chess Cybernetics. If the development of this problem will be taken to its logical end, the previous and still existing condescending attitude to the game of chess will sink into oblivion...

The work is concluded by my memoirs (Achieving the Aim). Compared with the first edition they have been partly abridged (to avoid repetition) and partly augmented.

Whereas the first three books gave annotated games from 1925 to 1970, the present work is largely a collection of articles from periodicals, as well as extracts from my books.

To avoid repetition, these extracts are sometimes given in abridged form. Some articles are published here for the first time.

Translator's note:
Mikhail Botvinnik's "Analiticheskie i kriticheskie raboty" [Analytical and critical works] were originally published in four volumes between 1984 and 1987.

The first three volumes covered his best games, and an English translation of these has already been published by Moravian Chess (Botvinnik's Best Games Volumes 1, 2 and 3).

The fourth volume contained the author's collected writings, and for the present English publication this material has been divided among three books, of which this is the first.

These books will also include all Botvinnik's known games (apart from the 381 already published in the Best Games series), with annotations by Botvinnik where available.

The resulting six-volume series will therefore present a complete collection of Botvinnik's own game annotations and the best of his chess writings.

Ken Neat

Contents

Foreword 5
Pen-portraits and Sketches 7
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin 8
Emanuel Lasker 14
José Raul Capablanca 21
Max Euwe 29
Paul Keres 34
Nikolai Dmitrievich Grigoriev 37
Vladislav Vasilievich Ragozin 38
David Fedorovich Oistrakh 42
Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov 44
Abram Yakovlevich Model 46
Grigory Abramovich Goldberg 48
Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov 51
Boris Fedorovich Podtserob 54
Boris Borisovich Yuriev 57
Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov 61
Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov 62
Isaak Moiseevich Botvinnik 63
Emil Grigorievich Gigels 65
Creative Problems 66
Definition of a combination 67
My methods of preparing for competitions 69
Regarding three critiques 73
Is chess an art? 80
Without any paradoxes 88
How does a chess player develop? 90
FIDE Matters 94
On matches for the world championship 95
Suggestions for the conducting of world championship events 98
Once more on the question of world championship regulations 102
Difficulties in the chess world 104
What sort of person should the President be? 108
Is the FIDE President right? 111
At the Chess Summit 114
Spassky, Karpov and Butenko 116
After the match 118
The Candidates and Spassky 122
Miracles and reality 126
Before the match 128
What was it that happened in Reykjavik? 129
Fortune favours the strong 136
About the Candidates 139
On the eve of great events 142
Three Interzonals 147
Collected Games 1924-1941 151
Translator's notes 388
Index of Opponents 391
Index of Openings 394