Russian Silhouettes is a wistful and respectful book about masters now lost to us. Sosonko, born in Russia and personally acquainted with his subjects, conveys the greatness of various players from the erstwhile Soviet Union without showing us a single game or position. Each essay is a revelation and a gift, especially for the devotee of chess history but for the rest of us as well.

I had read most of these articles in New in Chess Magazine over the last couple of years (the recycled nature of the material is perhaps the only slight negative about this book). I receive so much chess material, however, that I don't always appreciate it at the time. So it was with fresh and surprised eyes that I became transfixed by Sosonko's reminiscences. The very variety of characters he discusses is itself revealing: Tal, Geller, Zak, Furman, Olga Capablanca, Botvinnik, Koblenz, Vitolins, Levenfish and Polugayevsky (or 'Polugaevsky', as the book has it). Many of these portraits are likely the only personal material about their subjects that fans have ever been exposed to. Sosonko is both affectionate and forgiving, but never fawning. This is not the only way to present historical figures, but it is a fully legitimate one and I think it succeeds. Naturally we see things from Sosonko's point of view, on occasion evidently skewed. Overall, he takes a positive and non-judgmental approach, one that allows us to appreciate all the more the personalities that arose from that strange and often oppressive environment. The book has great photographs, by the way, and is a great read.

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