Party, biography, photos, statistics. Mikhail Tal, the eighth world chess champion. A short, fragile youth with big black eyes, a phenomenal memory and unique intuition proved to the chess world that 2x2 = 5 (!). A genius of attacks and combinations, he always acted in accordance with S. Tartakower's postulate - “sacrifice in order not to become a victim!”. For Tal, chess matter in battles is nothing, beauty is everything! He melted the "chess Antarctica", took millions of fans into voluntary chess captivity. In the life of Tal, there was no everyday life, the game of chess for him has always been a holiday. Truly the gigantic strength of the spirit again and again prevailed over the hardships of the flesh. He did not think about the future, giving joy to his contemporaries, and his descendants left his creativity - an imperishable bible of chess combinations.

Honored Master of Sports, International Grand Master of the ICCHF, Honored Trainer of Russia Gennady Nesis talks about the creative path of the FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman. Of particular interest is that the fruitful collaboration between the author and the hero has been going on for 17 years, marked by many successes of Alexander Khalifman. The author also shares with readers his thoughts on the role of the coach in the process of preparing players, comments on games illustrating the creative biography of the world champion. The book will undoubtedly be useful and interesting to a wide range of chess lovers.

Second, revised edition. We bring to your attention the biography of the first Russian world chess champion, a man of surprisingly bright and at the same time tragic fate of Alexander Alekhin Alekhin (1892-1946). Written on a strictly documentary basis, with the involvement of new, previously unknown sources discovered by the author in the archives of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, the book traces the life of the genius chess player throughout its entire length - from birth in Moscow to the mysterious death in a hotel in a small Portuguese town Estoril.

Dmitry Plisetskiy's comment: - In the new edition of the 1st volume of the book by Garry Kasparov & quot; My great predecessors & quot; a number of historical facts were clarified and comments on all (!) 148 parties were thoroughly revised. Many previous estimates have changed in the games of Andersen, Morphy, Steinitz, Chigorin, Tarrash, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine ... For example, in such famous games as the 7th game of the match Lasker - Steinitz (1894) or Pilsbury - Lasker (Petersburg 1896) , and indeed in all key parties of the match Capablanca - Alekhine (Buenos Aires 1927). Garry Kasparov’s five volumes & laquo; My great predecessors & raquo; has no analogues in chess literature: the 13th world champion talks about the fate and work of the twelve previous champions and their rivals, about a century and a half struggle for world championship. Exploring the famous games under the microscope of powerful computer programs, the author changes many previous estimates and, in essence, summarizes the development of chess in the 20th century. The first volume is about & laquo; uncrowned kings & raquo; past and the first four official world champions & mdash; Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. Here is the second edition, radically supplemented and revised. 48 pages of artwork on coated paper. & nbsp;

The book tells about the life and career of one of the most original grandmasters - Anatoly Lutikov. The original presentation of the material allows you to use the book as a textbook chess game.

In the fifth book of the series, the Petersburg grandmaster Alexander Khalifman tells readers about rare answers that Black can apply after 1.e4. With the exception of Alekhin’s defense, the remaining debuts in this book are practically not used by the world's leading chess players. Nevertheless, the author devoted quite a lot of analysis to these principles, which were not entirely correct from the point of view of modern theory. After all, a practitioner chess player must be prepared for even the most unexpected opening "surprises" of an opponent.

In the sixth book, Petersburg Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman tells readers how to fight against the French defense. After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5, he recommends the most principled move as the struggle for the opening odds - 3. Кс3. Further, such answers of Black as 3 ... Kc6, 3 ... de and 3 ... Kf6 are dealt with in detail.

In the seventh book of the series, Petersburg GM Alexander Khalifman continues his story about how to fight against the French defense. After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Kc3 Black’s most popular answer is analyzed in detail - 3 ... Cb4.

The Astrel publishing house continues to release a new series - Encyclopedia of Chess Olympus, dedicated to the life and work of all world chess champions from Steinitz to Kramnik. The authors are famous Russian writers and historians of chess Isaac and Vladimir Lindera. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhin (1892–1946) is the 4th world chess champion (1927–35, 1937–1946). Among the greatest chess players of all time, Alexander Alekhin is distinguished by the scale of his creative heritage and the aesthetic appeal of the game. From 1908 to the last years of his life, he participated in 94 tournaments, in 64 of them came out the winner and in 12 occupied second places. He played 26 matches (including 5 in the world championship) and was the only chess champion in history who died undefeated. Alekhin influenced the chess life of dozens of countries and peoples due to his vivid performances in tournaments, matches, touring tours, as well as literary works.

In the 8th volume of the series, the St. Petersburg grandmaster Alexander Khalifman talks about the methods of playing white against the most popular debut in modern tournament practice - the Sicilian defense. The author analyzes both a number of rare black answers on the second and third moves, and the actual Paulins system today. It is calculated on chess players of any qualification - from beginner to grandmaster.