130054340 175201634 Genna Remembers, Thinkers Publishing, is the latest effort by the Dutch Grandmaster to preserve the memory of the many different individuals who were part of the Soviet chess dynasty, the greatest the game has ever seen.    

In previous books Sosonko has primarily focused on the Soviet World Champions (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov). Some of them, principally Kasparov, get a mention here, but the emphasis is on others including Grandmasters Leonid Shamkovich (aka “The Prince”) and Igor Ivanov and the ill-fated International Master Sergey Nikolaev who was tragically murdered by a bunch of teenage neo-Nazis in Moscow.        

"Genna Remembers" will not improve your chess but it will improve your chess culture. Any chess player with an interest in the history of the game will find this book fascinating reading.   

IM John Donaldson, US Chess, 09.2021.