One of the most fascinating episodes in chess history is the rise and domination of Soviet chess. It would be hard to find a better qualified authority on this period than Yuri Averbakh, who was part of the successes in the international arena and witnessed the struggles for power behind the scenes.
Averbakh won the USSR championship in 1954 ahead of aces like Kortchnoi, Petrosian and Geller and was a successful grandmaster for several decades. In this personal memoir he looks back on his days as an active player, but also on his experiences as a quintessential insider when chess was considered a vital ingredient of life in the Soviet Union.
Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes describes the machinations of the notorious 'Sports Committee' and offers surprising personal views on Soviet players like Botvinnik, Smyslov, Kortchnoi, Petrosian, Tal and Spassky. Averbakh recalls his dealings with Max Euwe and Bobby Fischer, writes touching portraits of some almost-forgotten masters and offers sharp analyses of 20th century chess politics.
A unique, revealing and at times unsettling story - essential reading for anyone interested in the history of chess and the Soviet Union.
Content:
009 Foreword
011 The Beginning
012 A short biographical summary
013 A picture of my early years
015 The First Circle
016 The hero of my childhood
017 In the first class
019 At another school
021 Volleyball and other sports
024 At home, at the pioneer palace, and on the street
026 School
029 How the church of Christ the Saviour was blown up
030 'Moscow, scorched by fire...'
031 First steps in chess
036 In my native Kaluga
039 Not only chess
040 In the Pioneer Palace
041 At university
042 At the start of the war
045 How I became a master
047 A lifelong lesson
048 Up and down
050 First time abroad
050 Soviet sport after the war
053 How the general ran sport
057 Only Chess
058 The problem of choosing
060 At the Candidates' Tournament
062 How I became a journalist
063 The first stage
064 The old guard
070 Stage two
070 Remarkable results
071 The twist of fate
074 The target achieved
076 Last-round paradox
078 Among the Candidates
083 The return visit
084 Practice makes perfect
085 Vicissitudes of fate
085 How the spectators helped me
088 The death of my father
088 A split in the Sports Committee
089 Misfortune in New York
091 Conclusions are drawn
092 Failure in the Championship
093 In jacket and coat
094 How I replaced Tolush
095 Adventures on the train
096 What went on in Belgium
097 At the national championship
098 The 100 metres after the marathon
099 In the role of reserve
100 The world champion's sparring partner
102 Portrait of a champion
104 Botvinnik beats... Beria
105 First alone
108 Five is one too many
110 Adventures in the final round
114 Living questions
116 At home
118 A flu epidemic and the national question
119 A festival of Armenian music
119 An arbiter's mistake and its causes
120 Tal's trainer
123 Not part of the programme
125 The death of 'living chess'
127 In the Lenin goldfields
129 On Curacao
135 Returning home
136 How I became editor
143 Doing communal work
145 At East Station
147 At the Piatigorsky's
148 Garkavy's story
149 Memories of Volodya Simagin
151 My friend Nikolay Glazkov
152 Who informed on me?
155 A change of leadership at FIDE and the rise of Fischer
156 About a chess player's preparation
157 Baturinsky
159 The match Petrosian-Fischer
163 How I was elected in my absence!
166 Before the first victory
168 Drama in Odessa
169 Enemies
171 At the FIDE Congress
174 The battle over Fischer's proposals
175 The Karpov-Kortchnoi match
178 Kortchnoi's defection
179 Criticism by the world champion
180 Two Olympiads
181 The battle around South Africa
182 A conversation with Unzicker
183 Changes to the federation leadership
186 The new FIDE president and his mistakes
189 Campomanes' enterprise
189 My 'political' mistakes
191 Krogius replaces Baturinsky
192 The death of Max Euwe
194 Campomanes becomes FIDE President
195 The story of the 'dubious' names
197 Chess and draughts
199 Smyslov's trainer
200 How the match with Hübner was saved
204 The battle over the semi-final matches
206 The Manila Congress
209 The London matches
212 The final match in Vilnius
214 The first match between the two K's
217 Campomanes takes centre-stage
218 The view from the stage
220 The second K-K match
221 The battle over the return match dates
222 Kasparov tries to replace Sevastianov and Campomanes
223 The fourth K-K match
224 The K-K rivalry continues
224 The scandal over the Final
227 The story of the charity match
229 Krogius
231 Who judges the judges?
233 Campomanes
236 Chess psychology
239 Big changes
242 Kasparov and Short walk out on FIDE
244 Two matches and two champions
246 Changes in our federation
247 FIDE in crisis
247 Russia to the rescue
248 Records and innovations at the Olympiad
250 What happened at the FIDE Congress?
252 The Battle at Paris
253 Ilyumzhinov becomes the new President of FIDE
256 Conclusion
261 Index of Names | 
