The fight for the World Chess Championship has witnessed many titanic matches that have captured the interest not only of chess players but also of the general public. The chessboard is the ultimate mental battlefield, and the world champions are the highest intellectual duelists.

This wonderful collection of chess from the mid-20th century forms the basis of the second part of the highly anticipated definitive history of the World Chess Championship by Garry Kasparov. Garry Kasparov, who is recognized worldwide as the greatest chess player of all time, provides a rigorous analysis of the games of his early predecessors.

This volume includes the games of champions Max Euwe (1935-1937), Mikhail Botvinnik (1946-1957, 1958-1961, and 1961-1963), Vassily Smyslov (1957-1958), and Mikhail Tal (1960-1961). However, this book is more than just a collection of these champions' games. Kasparov's biographies place them within a captivating historical, political, and cultural context.

Kasparov explains how each champion brought their own unique style to the chessboard and enriched the theory of the game with new ideas.