Russian Silhouettes

With hindsight we can only marvel at the pivotal place chess occupied in the Soviet Union. Originally embraced by Lenin as 'gymnastics of the mind', chess developed into an ideological weapon during the Cold War. As a respected trainer who became a world-class grandmaster after leaving Leningrad and moving to Holland in 1972, Genna Sosonko observes Soviet chess from a privileged dual perspective. Combining an insider's nostalgia with the detachment of a critical observer, he has produced unforgettable portraits of the heroes of this vanished age.