Black Series

The Black Series

(Vydaiuschiesya shakhmatisty mira)

First published: June 11, 2003

Last Update: Sept 23, 2018

The series is published in Moscow by Fiskultura i sport (FiS) from 1969 through 1987. The title of the series means "Outstanding Chess Players of the World". Separate books are always devoted to one strong player each. The exceptions are: the book "Trud, talant, pobeda" (first book of the edition, on general history of chess in Russia) and books "Pervye russkie mastera" and "Nekoronovanye chempiony" (both of them dealing with more than one player). The series consists from 32 books, all hardcovers - books from 1969-1982 are cloth with a dust jacket, while those since 1983 are either cloth or leatherette with no dust jacket. Respectivelly, for some after-1982 books, there is a small part of the edition (1,000 copies) with dust jacket. There is several tens of annotated games in every book and usually also biographical data and indexes. Books in the list are ordered alphabetically by players. The reference "SA" in text below shows to the book: N. I. Sakharov: Shakhmatnaya literatura v Rossii (2nd edition, Moskva 2001).

  1. Yudovich / Kotov / Abramov: Trud, talant, pobeda. Moskva, FiS, 1969, 271 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 36,000 copies. (First book of the series, it is devoted to the general hisotry of chess in Russia, inclusive 135 annotated games. The title means "Work, Talent, Victory"). SA 648.

  2. Kotov: Alexandr Aljechin. Moskva, FiS, 1973, portrait, 255 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biography, 75 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 770. 

  3. Suetin: Grossmeister Boleslavsky. Moskva, FiS, 1981, portrait, 256 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 100,000 copies. (Biography, 139 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 775. 

  4. Botvinnik: Polveka v shakhmatakh. Moskva, FiS, 1978, portrait, 272 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 100,000 copies. (83 annotated games, 10 Botvinniks studies, several articles, career record. The title means "Half-century at Chess"). SA 782.

  5. Vainstein: Improvizatsia v shakhmatnom iskusstve (Bronstein). Moskva, FiS, 1976, portrait, 280 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biography, 52 annotated games, career record). SA 793.

  6. Panov: Capablanca. Moskva, FiS, 1970, portrait, 272 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (Biography, 75 annotated games). 3rd revised edition (previous edition - 1st was 1959, 2nd 1960 - were not part of the series). SA 821.

  7. Vasjukov and others: Mikhail Chigorin. Moskva, FiS, 1972, portrait, 312 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biography, 63 annotated games, index of players and openings). SA 951.

  8. Euwe: Max Euwe. Moskva, FiS, 1979, portrait, 248 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biography, 56 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 957.

  9. Fischer: Moi 60 pamyatnykh partiy. Moskva, FiS, 1972, portrait, 268, (4) pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (60 annotated games, articles, career record, index of players and openings. The books is a translation of My 60 Memorable Games). SA 933.

  10. Baturinsky: Grossmeister Flohr. Moskva, FiS, 1985, portrait, 256 pages. Leatherette. 100,000 copies, of which 1,000 with a dust jacket. (Biography, 116 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 935. 

  11. Damsky: Grossmeister Geller. Moskva, FiS, 1976, portrait, 288 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biography, 64 annotated games, several endgames, career record, index of players and openings). SA 799. 

  12. Gligoric: Igrayu protiv figur. Moskva, FiS, 1983, portrait, 240 pages. Cloth, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - with a dust jacket. (Biography, 105 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings. The title means "I Play against Pieces"). SA 802.

  13. Voronkov / Plisetsky: David Janowski. Moskva, FiS, 1987, portrait, 416 pages. Leatherette, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - with a dust jacket. (Biography, 175 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 958. 

  14. Karpov: Izbrannye partii 1969-1977. Moskva, FiS, 1978, portrait, 256 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. First edition. 100,000 copies. (Biography, 55 annotated games + 4 games from Bugojno 1978, career record, index of players and openings). SA 835. In the same year was the 2nd edition, also of 100,000 copies, containing on XXXIIp. an article on Karpov - Korchnoi match at Baguio and all 32 games of the match (Moskva, FiS, 1978, portrait, XXXII, 256 pages. SA 836).

  15. Karpov: Sto pobednykh partiy. Moskva, FiS, 1984, portrait, 320 pages. Leatherette, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - with a dust jacket. (Biography, 100 annotated games from 1969-1983 + 7 unannotated games from 1984, career record. The title means "100 Winning Games"). SA 845. 

  16. Malkin: Alexandr Kotov. Moskva, FiS, 1984, portrait, 304 pages. Leatherette, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - with a dust jacket. (Biography, 77 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 871.

  17. Larsen: 50 izbrannykh partij 1948-1969. Moskva, FiS, 1972, portrait, 223 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (50 annotated games, theme-index, indexes of players and openings. The title means "50 Selected Games 1948-1969"). SA 872. 

  18. Vainstein: Myslitel (Em. Lasker). Moskva, FiS, 1981, portrait, 287 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 100,000 copies. (Biography, 108 mostly annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 874.

  19. Zagoriansky / Maroczy: Paul Morphy. Moskva, FiS, 1980, portrait, 288 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (Morphys biography by Zagoriansky, the second part is reduced book by Maroczy "Shakhmatnye partii Paulja Morphy", by the Russian edition of 1929, with 68 annotated games). SA 887.

  20. Keene: Grossmeister Nimzowitsch. Moskva, FiS, 1986, portrait, 287 pages. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - with a dust jacket. (Biography, 55 numbered and a few unnumbered annotated games, game fragments, career record, index of players and openings). SA 894.

  21. Shekhtman: Strategia nadezhnosti. (T. Petrosjan). Moskva, FiS, 1985, portrait, 400 pages. Leatherette. 100,000 copies, of which 1,000 with a dust jacket. (Biography, 100 annotated + 31 unannotated games, career record, index of players and openings. Title means "The Strategy of Reliability"). SA 900.

  22. Linder: Pervye russkie mastera (Petrov, Jaenisch, D. Urusov, S. Urusov, Shumov, Schiffers, Solovtsov, Khadrin). Moskva, FiS, 1979, 255 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (On early Russian masters with ca 80 annotated games and game fragments. Indexes of players, openings and endgames. The title means "First Russian Masters"). SA 674.

  23. Neistadt: Nekoronovanye chempiony (Philidor, de Labourdonnais, Staunton, Anderssen, Morphy). Moskva, FiS, 1975, 302 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 50,000 copies. (Biographies of non-official world champions with ca 95 selected annotated games and game fragments. Indexes of players, openings and endgames. The title means "The Uncrowned Champions"). SA 660.

  24. Damsky: Grossmeister Polugaevsky. Moskva, FiS, 1982, portrait, 304 pages. Cloth, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - could have a dust jacket. (Biography, 60 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 904.

  25. Hajtun: Grossmeister Portisch. Moskva, FiS, 1977, portrait, 224 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (Biography, ca 60 annotated games, career record, index of openings). SA 905.

  26. Razuvaev / Murakhveri: Akiba Rubinstein. Moskva, FiS, 1980, portrait, 224 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (Biography, 60 annotated + other ca 60 unannotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 911.

  27. Verkhovsky: Karl Schlechter. Moskva, FiS, 1984, portrait, 240 pages. Leatherette, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - could have a dust jacket. (Biography, 202 mostly annotated games and game fragments, career record, index of players and openings). SA 953.

  28. Smyslov: V poiskakh garmonii. Moskva, FiS, 1979, portrait, 240 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 100,000 copies. (Biography, 103 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings. The title means "Searching for a Harmony"). SA 916.

  29. Neistadt: Pervyy chempion mira (Steinitz). Moskva, FiS, 1971, portrait, 288 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 40,000 copies. (Biography, ca 60 annotated games. The title means "First Champion of the World"). SA 920.

  30. Gufeld / Lazarev: Leonid Stein. Moskva, FiS, 1980, portrait, 240 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 75,000 copies. (Biography, 61 annotated games, career record, index of players and openings). SA 955.

  31. Tal / Damsky: V ogon ataki. Moskva, FiS, 1978, portrait, 304 pages. Cloth with dust jacket. 100,000 copies. (Biography, 63 annotated games, career record, index of players. The title means "To a Fire of Attack"). SA 926.

  32. Neistadt: Siegbert Tarrasch. Moskva, FiS, 1983, portrait, 272 pages. Cloth, dust jacket not issued. 100,000 copies, of which a small number - probably 1,000 copies - could have a dust jacket. (Biography, about 100 mostly annotated games, career record, index of players). SA 929.