Most chess writers are either good or useless. For example, a Nunn book is always worthwhile, and sometimes excellent (though he writes for advanced audiences). Gallagher is another favorite of mine--I haven't seen an opening book of his that isn't worth getting (by the way, I'm going to avoid detailing the seemingly endless line of really good English chess writers: Peter Wells and Danny King are just two of many). John Watson is, in my opinion, one of the all-time great chess theorists (a really impressive chess thinker). Writers like John Donaldson and Edward Winter (who's becoming more and more vituperative as the years march on--by the way, I consider this to be a plus!) are our two gurus of correctness (at times it's a bit dull, but you can count on every word they utter as being well researched and 100% on target). Burgess, though not as good a player as these others, is a world-class opening researcher, and somehow cranks out one solid effort after another. (I could fill several more pages with "thumbs up" names, but this was supposed to be just a brief illustration).

Writers I'm not fond of are (and this is just my opinion. Others may strongly disagree) Schiller (the quality doesn't go in before the name goes on), Gufeld (he can be very entertaining, but most of his recent opening monographs are in the "crank them out for profit" category. By the way, his book on his life and games, My Life in Chess, is excellent), and...well, two lawsuits are about all I can handle at the moment.

This apparent Christmas list of writers leads me to the real point of my review: Andrew Soltis. I have a love-hate relationship with Mr. Soltis. While working for Chess Digest, he wrote one horrible opening book after another, scrambling for his check with as much speed as possible. That's the evil Soltis. The heroic Soltis is a completely different animal. This Soltis has imagination and the rare ability to actually teach (as shown by his books: Grandmaster Secrets/Endings, Pawn Structure Chess, and The Art of Defense in Chess). In fact, the "good" Soltis also commands respect as a top-flight researcher, as we previously saw in his Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion.

When I received Soltis' latest work, Soviet Chess 1917-1991, my first thought was, "Who wrote this, Andy or his evil twin?" However, since he usually does a credible job on non-opening related projects, I was fairly sure that this would prove to be worthwhile. As it turns out, I think he put together his very best work here. In fact, there's nothing in the present literature that compares with Andy's presentation of this important subject.

Mixing character study (featuring many of our favorite chess idols), wonderful photos, insight into Soviet psychology, finely presented historical material, clear, easy to read crosstables of key events, annotated games (okay, the notes leave a lot to be desired, giving us the book's only black mark), and a near-perfect layout, we get the definitive book on the Soviet system's use of chess as sport, art, science, and propaganda machine.

At a more human level, Soltis' new book brings back the prime years of Botvinnik and Smyslov, Tal's step into the chess elite, the ascent of Stein, the fear of Fischer, the hatred between Petrosian and Korchnoi, the Karpov years, the Kasparov-Karpov feud and much, much more.

I can't recommend this book enough for people who like to read about the heart and guts of chess and the individuals who embraced it throughout their lives. It's well worth the $55.00 price tag, and it is another strong reminder that Soltis is, indeed, one of America's finest chess authors.

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