My Great Predecessors Vol.5

Three fascinating characters, far beyond their condition as chess players, were the great stars of the mental sport between 1975 and 2005. The youngest, Gary Kasparov, radiographs with his usual precision and brilliance the work of the other two, Víktor Korchnoi and Anatoli Karpov, who taught him so much. These three Ks have in common a novel-like life, and also represent three ways of understanding life in the defunct USSR: Korchnoi and the dissidents; Karpov and the old Kremlin guard; Kasparov and perestroika. But if we talk only about chess, the three are myths. Nobody questions that Karpov and Kasparov are among the five best of all time. Korchnoi was not world champion because his best years coincided with those of Bobby Fischer and Karpov, but even today, he fights with the elite in a feat of sports longevity. The reader will enjoy in these pages many of the most unforgettable battles fought on the board during the last quarter of the twentieth century, as well as the valuable contributions and interpretations of Kasparov. And, when you reach the last page, you will probably consider it unfair that chess does not start with K.