English Chess Forum

Richard James has reviewed:

"The Essential Sosonko: Collected Portraits and Tales of a Bygone Chess Era"

by GM Gennadi Borisovich Sosonko

from New in Chess

at

https://britishchessnews.com/2024/04/12 ... chess-era/

His books are enteraining yes but are uncritical and nothing more than his personal views on those he writes about, which occassionally he gets completely wrong factually without even realizing it, as he did when covering the life of Keres. His books are better understood as personal memoirs rather than historical accounts as they do not adhere to academic conventions whatsoever and never contain any evidence to support his narrative, it's just his account of what he remembers and nothing more really. Kasparov's comment that they are pen portraits is accurate enough since that's not exactly the most complimentary term offered, and not a term associated with professional history.

Does he claim his work to be "professional history" though?

And what exactly does he get wrong about Keres, am interested in this one as he has indeed been rather mythologised by some accounts.