Overview

Isaak Lipnitsky (1923-1959) was a leading Ukrainian chess player of the early 1950s as well as a celebrated chess theoretician and journalist, whose textbook Questions of Modern Chess Theory became an internationally recognized classic. Born in Kiev shortly after the establishment of Soviet control over Ukraine, he achieved a career-best result of second equal in the 1950 Soviet Championship, half a point behind the winner Paul Keres, during which he defeated Petrosian, Smyslov, and Geller. He also played in the finals of the 1951 and 1952 Soviet Championships, as well as winning the Ukrainian Championship in 1949 and 1956, and the Kiev Championship in 1956. According to the Chessmetrics website Lipnitsky was ranked no. 12 in the world between September and December 1950 with a peak rating of 2700 and a best TPR of 2729 recorded in the 1950 Soviet Championship. In the words of Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett: ""As a player Lipnitsky was well trained in strategy and tactics, capable of playing all types of positions equally well. However, what he really liked doing was playing complicated positions, a trait that many of the finest Ukraine masters seemed to have inherited."" Lipnitsky's fascinating biography with original research by the authors takes us from his childhood in a poor Jewish family, through to his membership of the Kiev children's chess club at the Pioneer Palace under the tutelage of the great coach Alexander Konstantinopolsky, who nurtured David Bronstein's talent at the same time. It introduces the reader to the origins of the Soviet Chess School in Kiev, which was one of the USSR's greatest talent mills. Lipnitsky's World War Two service as an intelligence officer is discussed, as is what is known of his wife and daughter and his eventual full-time chess career. Lipnitsky died at the tragically young age of 35 from a terminal disease that curtailed his tournament performances in his final years. His tragedy was not confined to that, however. His paternal grandparents and aunts were murdered by the Nazi occupiers during the War, and his daughter later died in a psychiatric hospital. Kyiv-based Candidate Masters and chess historians Mykola Fuzik (born in 1957) and Alexei Radchenko (1947-2013) spent several years researching Isaak Lipnitsky's biography, which was first published in Ukraine in 2018. This book provides instructional analysis of 63 of his best games, mostly annotated by Lipnitsky and his contemporaries, supported by computer corrections. Opponents include Tal, Petrosian, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Keres, Geller, Averbakh and Taimanov among other names. It also contains a highly original article he wrote on attack along the a1-h8 diagonal, as well as a number of interesting photographs of the protagonist and his family. Check out the Elk and Ruby website for special offers on this and other books!

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9781916839014

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Reviews

""Exceptionally well-researched biography."" - Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, New In Chess Magazine, January 2025 ""Elk and Ruby continue their sterling work in bringing chess history to life and shining the light on players and personalities who have been hitherto neglected by chess literature... Lipnitsky's own notes are utilised throughout the book and the games will be unfamiliar and fresh to most readers. Sparks fly throughout - Lipnitsky going toe-to-toe with the likes of Tal and Keres makes for excellent entertainment - and future world champions struggled to keep up with his relentless, combative style.. As is often the case, Elk and Ruby's historical works offer a decidedly bittersweet reading experience, but always one which is very rewarding. Don't miss out on these unique slices of chess history."" - Sean March, CHESS Magazine, January 2025 ""Like most readers, I came to the book primarily for the coverage of Lipnitsky's chess. There are 63 selected games or fragments, all annotated and of the highest quality, forming roughly the second half of the book. Game annotations in other books and sources, most notably Lipnitsky's own annotations in his classic, are reproduced here in full, resulting in a hodgepodge of annotation styles with only minimal intervention from Stockfish, but the authors have fortunately preserved in one place a record of Lipnitsky's most important games and all his personal game annotations. Readers will be highly entertained."" - Ex-World Correspondence Chess Champion Jon Edwards, The Chess Journalist, July 2025

""Elk and Ruby continue their sterling work in bringing chess history to life and shining the light on players and personalities who have been hitherto neglected by chess literature... Lipnitsky's own notes are utilised throughout the book and the games will be unfamiliar and fresh to most readers. Sparks fly throughout - Lipnitsky going toe-to-toe with the likes of Tal and Keres makes for excellent entertainment - and future world champions struggled to keep up with his relentless, combative style.. As is often the case, Elk and Ruby's historical works offer a decidedly bittersweet reading experience, but always one which is very rewarding. Don't miss out on these unique slices of chess history."" - Sean March, CHESS Magazine, January 2025

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