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My Great Predecessors #3
Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3
The battle for the World Chess Championship has witnessed numerous titanic struggles which have engaged the interest not only of the chess enthusiasts but of the public at large. The chessboard is the ultimate mental battleground and the world champions themselves are supreme intellectual gladiators.
This magnificent compilation of play from the 1960s through to the 1970s forms the basis of the third part of Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship. Garry Kasparov, who is universally acclaimed as the greatest chessplayer ever, subjects the play from this era to a rigorous analysis the examination being enhanced by the use of the latest chess software. This volume features the play of champions Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969) and Boris Spassky (1969-1972).
However, this book is more than just a compilation of play from the greats of this era. Kasparovs biographies of these champions place them in a fascinating historical, political and cultural context. Kasparov explains how each champion brought his own distinctive style to the chessboard and enriched the theory of the game with new ideas.
This magnificent compilation of play from the 1960s through to the 1970s forms the basis of the third part of Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship. Garry Kasparov, who is universally acclaimed as the greatest chessplayer ever, subjects the play from this era to a rigorous analysis the examination being enhanced by the use of the latest chess software. This volume features the play of champions Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969) and Boris Spassky (1969-1972).
However, this book is more than just a compilation of play from the greats of this era. Kasparovs biographies of these champions place them in a fascinating historical, political and cultural context. Kasparov explains how each champion brought his own distinctive style to the chessboard and enriched the theory of the game with new ideas.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2004
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427 people want to read
About the author
Garry Kasparov
161 books556 followersRussian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 18, 2009
There's this SF short story by Algis Budrys that I've always liked, called Nobody Bothers Gus. It's a superman story with a twist. The whole action takes place inside the space of about an hour, in the garden of Gus's nice little house. There's this government employee who's been given the unpleasant job of telling Gus that he's going to be served a forced purchase order, because they want to build a freeway through his land. The employee is nervous about delivering the message. Gus is a big, dangerous-looking dude with a broken nose, and the messenger is happy to accept a glass of lemonade and watch the baseball game before he explains exactly why he's there.
The reader rapidly becomes aware that Gus has superpowers. He borrows the government guy's pen, scrunches it up into a ball, rolls it out into a flat sheet, scratches the guy's name in it, and then turns it back into a pen. You can see the signature inside it. But instead of freaking out, the guy is unimpressed. You must practice a lot, he says brightly. Gus does a couple more things, same reaction.
It turns out that Gus's most impressive superpower is his anonymity. No matter what he does, people don't notice it. There are other supermen out there. Gus points to the TV screen, where the Yankees' new man is just coming up to bat. He asks the government guy if he's a baseball fan. He is. So, what does he think of Halsey? The guy shrugs. Okay, I guess, nothing special. Halsey has smashed every baseball record in existence since he started six months ago. But, somehow, this hasn't quite registered.
At the end of the story, the government guy has finally got what he came for, and he's getting up to leave. Gus asks him to wait a moment. He's a sports fan, right? Yes sir! Follows boxing too? Sure! So who's the world heavyweight champion? The guy immediately says. And who did he beat to win the title? It's on the tip of the guy's tongue, but he just can't remember! The reader recalls Gus's broken nose, and thinks, of course. But the government guy still can't come up with the name. Gus tells him it doesn't matter.
Ever since reading this story, I've wondered from time to time if it could be true. Suppose there were holes in the world that you walked past without really noticing? They wouldn't be invisible; you just wouldn't care much about them. When I read the third volume of Great Predecessors, it did cross my mind for a second that Tigran Petrosian might be one of the supermen. You probably never heard of him. (Well, exactly!) He was World Chess Champion for six years, from 1963 to 1969. He beat the great Botvinnik, who had held the title for all but two of the years from 1948 to 1963, and he made it look quite easy. A remarkable statistic from the qualifying tournament; Petrosian played fewer moves than any of the other competitors, and used less time on the clock, but he scored most points. He was phenomenally good at speed-chess, where you only get five minutes for the whole game. There was the time when the young Bobby Fischer was visiting Moscow, and beating all the grandmasters in quick games. They called in Petrosian to show him that the Soviets were still the best, and he apparently delivered. But Kasparov, surprisingly, doesn't give you any details.
In fact, it's remarkable how little Kasparov is able to say about Petrosian. He's brilliant at analyzing the other World Champions; once he's put them under the microscope, you almost feel you understand them too. But with Petrosian, it's just vague generalities. He was terribly good at manoeuvering. He spotted possible attacks and neutralized them before the opponent even realized that they might exist. (In his great period, Petrosian lost less than one game a year). Kasparov quotes the subdued Botvinnik, who says that Petrosian had the most subtle style of any of his opponents. Botvinnik felt as though his pieces were stuck in some kind of swamp; he just couldn't get them into contact with the enemy. It's only in the endgames that Kasparov starts to feel secure. He compares Petrosian's play with the optimal lines suggested by the computer, and says you often find that all of Petrosian's moves are perfect. That's quite unusual, even for a World Champion.
Of course, if I'm right I won't have convinced you. In fact, five minutes from now, you won't even remember what this review was about. Nobody bothers Tigran...
The reader rapidly becomes aware that Gus has superpowers. He borrows the government guy's pen, scrunches it up into a ball, rolls it out into a flat sheet, scratches the guy's name in it, and then turns it back into a pen. You can see the signature inside it. But instead of freaking out, the guy is unimpressed. You must practice a lot, he says brightly. Gus does a couple more things, same reaction.
It turns out that Gus's most impressive superpower is his anonymity. No matter what he does, people don't notice it. There are other supermen out there. Gus points to the TV screen, where the Yankees' new man is just coming up to bat. He asks the government guy if he's a baseball fan. He is. So, what does he think of Halsey? The guy shrugs. Okay, I guess, nothing special. Halsey has smashed every baseball record in existence since he started six months ago. But, somehow, this hasn't quite registered.
At the end of the story, the government guy has finally got what he came for, and he's getting up to leave. Gus asks him to wait a moment. He's a sports fan, right? Yes sir! Follows boxing too? Sure! So who's the world heavyweight champion? The guy immediately says. And who did he beat to win the title? It's on the tip of the guy's tongue, but he just can't remember! The reader recalls Gus's broken nose, and thinks, of course. But the government guy still can't come up with the name. Gus tells him it doesn't matter.
Ever since reading this story, I've wondered from time to time if it could be true. Suppose there were holes in the world that you walked past without really noticing? They wouldn't be invisible; you just wouldn't care much about them. When I read the third volume of Great Predecessors, it did cross my mind for a second that Tigran Petrosian might be one of the supermen. You probably never heard of him. (Well, exactly!) He was World Chess Champion for six years, from 1963 to 1969. He beat the great Botvinnik, who had held the title for all but two of the years from 1948 to 1963, and he made it look quite easy. A remarkable statistic from the qualifying tournament; Petrosian played fewer moves than any of the other competitors, and used less time on the clock, but he scored most points. He was phenomenally good at speed-chess, where you only get five minutes for the whole game. There was the time when the young Bobby Fischer was visiting Moscow, and beating all the grandmasters in quick games. They called in Petrosian to show him that the Soviets were still the best, and he apparently delivered. But Kasparov, surprisingly, doesn't give you any details.
In fact, it's remarkable how little Kasparov is able to say about Petrosian. He's brilliant at analyzing the other World Champions; once he's put them under the microscope, you almost feel you understand them too. But with Petrosian, it's just vague generalities. He was terribly good at manoeuvering. He spotted possible attacks and neutralized them before the opponent even realized that they might exist. (In his great period, Petrosian lost less than one game a year). Kasparov quotes the subdued Botvinnik, who says that Petrosian had the most subtle style of any of his opponents. Botvinnik felt as though his pieces were stuck in some kind of swamp; he just couldn't get them into contact with the enemy. It's only in the endgames that Kasparov starts to feel secure. He compares Petrosian's play with the optimal lines suggested by the computer, and says you often find that all of Petrosian's moves are perfect. That's quite unusual, even for a World Champion.
Of course, if I'm right I won't have convinced you. In fact, five minutes from now, you won't even remember what this review was about. Nobody bothers Tigran...
June 19, 2025
More than 3 years in the reading. This is the penultimate volume of the set. Next comes the book on Fischer, very much the starting point for my chess journey, so super pumped for that. But, since each volume is a huge time investment I will give myself a break, with some easier chess books from the library first!
I've found this one the most satisfying of the three because the players are those I grew up reading about most often and because of the building anticipation of reaching the player I personally consider to have been the most far above his competitors.
I've found this one the most satisfying of the three because the players are those I grew up reading about most often and because of the building anticipation of reaching the player I personally consider to have been the most far above his competitors.
August 20, 2025
The analysis and the commentary is top notch as always, especially the more contemporary in Kasparov's youth e.g. Tolush, Petrosian and Spassky. I don't follow all the lines, because they are just so many and it is almost impossible to follow without a board. There are many games that are of historical importance and yet I never heard of them, so this book is also good in that sense, that it gives a proper sense of which tournament in that player's life is important, why did he lose such and such game on this match, and so on.
December 28, 2020
I liked the Spassky chapter best so far. Perhaps because Kasparov sees similarities in their respective styles and has personally encountered him and learnt some hard lessons.
It seems as if this chapter has a more personal touch than the previous ones. My only misgivings are about the elaborate computer analyses that often accompany the games.
Sometimes Kasparov doesn't check his own analysis and sometimes he adds a question mark when Stockfish chooses the move as best.
It seems as if this chapter has a more personal touch than the previous ones. My only misgivings are about the elaborate computer analyses that often accompany the games.
Sometimes Kasparov doesn't check his own analysis and sometimes he adds a question mark when Stockfish chooses the move as best.
October 15, 2018
Just when you thought that Kasparov couldn't improve upon this already amazing series, he does so with aplomb. Now he is covering those he who are closer in time to his ascendancy to the chess throne and he does not disappoint. While this is till "before his time", the proximity of Petrosian and Spassky are closer than those of the previous volumes and although he had a closer relationship with his teacher, Mikhal Botvinnik, he was able to observe these players as they were closer to their peaks.
Although I have read several books on Tigran Petrosian, the info contained within is quite illuminating, especially when one such as Kasparov is providing the analysis of the games and providing nice anecdotes as a backdrop. However, Spassky was more of a mystery to me, as my only real exposure to him was via the Fischer/Spassky match that I watched as a youngster on a black and white television, fascinated by the commentary of Shelby Lyman. Who knew that this would set in motion a lifelong love of chess. But I digress... Spassky was otherwise an enigma. In the west there was little known about him, as compared to the likes of Petrosian, Botvinnik, Smyslov and Tal. Kasparov does a great job providing much needed backstory into the rise of Spassky to the role of World Champion and provides insight into his character and work ethic.
This is yet another brilliant volume in the series and I can't help but think it is only going to get better when he delves into the games and lives of Fischer and Karpov.
Highly recommended!
Although I have read several books on Tigran Petrosian, the info contained within is quite illuminating, especially when one such as Kasparov is providing the analysis of the games and providing nice anecdotes as a backdrop. However, Spassky was more of a mystery to me, as my only real exposure to him was via the Fischer/Spassky match that I watched as a youngster on a black and white television, fascinated by the commentary of Shelby Lyman. Who knew that this would set in motion a lifelong love of chess. But I digress... Spassky was otherwise an enigma. In the west there was little known about him, as compared to the likes of Petrosian, Botvinnik, Smyslov and Tal. Kasparov does a great job providing much needed backstory into the rise of Spassky to the role of World Champion and provides insight into his character and work ethic.
This is yet another brilliant volume in the series and I can't help but think it is only going to get better when he delves into the games and lives of Fischer and Karpov.
Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews