Soviet Outcast by Grigory Levenfish

Descripción

Soviet Outcast by Grigory Levenfish was twice Soviet Champion and drew a match with the great

Botvinnik, yet despite his skills, he was never a favoured son of the Soviet Union. Rejected for

selection to key events and the only Soviet grandmaster to be denied a stipend in later life, Levenfish

was a Soviet Outcast.

Soviet Outcast by Grigory Levenfish

Levenfish describes in vivid detail the atmosphere of pre- and post-revolutionary Russia, giving first-

hand impressions of some of the most famous names in early-twentieth-century chess, such as

Lasker, Rubinstein, Alekhine and Capablanca – all of whom were personally known to him. Some of

the stories stay long in the memory: descriptions of the hardships endured by players in the first

USSR Championship that took place in the difficult years of the Civil War; of idyllic trips to the

Caucasus and Crimea; of grim struggles for survival in the winter of 1941.

Grigory Levenfish

Soviet Outcast comprises Levenfish’s annotations to 79 of his finest games, translated from his

Russian autobiography, plus extensive bonus material including several games compiled from other

sources, mostly with annotations by Levenfish himself, as well as a 30-page Afterword by GM Jacob

Aagaard. This is the first time Levenfish’s memoir has been published in English.

 

“Levenfish’s life story and games are well worth reading about! As always with players of that

generation, their early exposure to chess seems so haphazard and lacking in guidance, I find it hard

to understand how they became such good players.

I enjoyed this book greatly. Levenfish’s play makes a very strong impression: dynamic, concrete and

not afraid of complications. I’ll definitely write a number of his ideas in my thematic notebook!”

Soviet Outcast by Grigory

Sample pages