A Truly Extraordinary Tournament

One of the most remarkable and famous chess tournaments ever took place in New York City in March and April 1924. It had a narrative that is still striking today: Three world champions undisputed world champions, mind you fulfilling their destiny. The stunning performance of the 55-year-old former world champion Emanuel Lasker. The seemingly invincible reigning Jos Capablanca suffering his first loss in eight years. And all 110 tournament games deeply annotated by future world champion Alexander Alekhine.

The tournament book that Alekhine produced became the stuff of legend. He provides real analysis, and with words, not just moves. He imbues the book with personality, on the one hand ruthlessly objective, even with his own mistakes, on the other, candidly subjective.

This is a modern "21st Century Edition" of Alekhine's classic, using figurine algebraic notation, adding many more diagrams, but preserving the original, masterful text.

In chess literature, there have only been a few chess books that have immediately - and permanently - established themselves as classics, and this is one of them. The original English edition, published 75 years ago, used English descriptive notation, contained only one photograph, no crosstables and was in two volumes. This new 21st-century edition, presented with modern algebraic notation, has * combined both books into a single volume * added more than three dozen archival photographs * crosstables * Alekhine's complete match and tournament records * a Foreword by Russian grandmaster Igor Zaitsev * with many more diagrams * a comprehensive computer-assisted analytical supplement is also available for free download Whether you feel as if you are revisiting an old friend, or being introduced to this splendid game collection for the first time, you will marvel at how Alekhine's games and works remain extraordinarily consonant with the modern approach.

London 1932 is one of the lesser known books from the pen of the prolific Russian genius, Alekhine. In 1932 Alekhine was still revelling in the blinding nimbus of invincibility which had surrounded him ever since his match victory against Capablanca in 1927. The new champion duly won the London tournament and furnished some equally fine notes to explain his victory, which Hardinge Simpole are proud and privileged to revive here.

In these pages we see how Alekhine's preparation, both psychological and technical, bore brilliant fruit. Once he had pinpointed Euwe's weaknesses Alekhine struck with the force of a hurricane and regained the title by virtue of some of the most energetic, accurate and elegant play ever witnessed at world championship level.