Introduction
Isaak Linitsky is one of the greatest Ukrainian chess players in history. He was born in 1923 and died very young, when he was just 35. Despite that, his legacy is astounding. He isn’t a well known player, especially when compared to the stars of his era, like Botvinnik, but he should be! His highest achievement is second-equal in the 1950 Soviet Championship. Yes, you read that correctly! Keres finished first, and Lipnitsky finished in front of greats such as Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Geller and Petrosian. In fact, during the tournament, he defeated Smyslov, Petrosian, and Geller in their individual games.
According to chessmetrics, he was 12th strongest player in the world in 1950 with a peak rating of 2700!
His famous book, Questions of Modern Chess Theory, is considered a classic today. So why is it then, that so few people have heard of him? One could argue that, since Lipnitsky did so young, he never achieved his true potential. I think that may be true. He was also stricken by a (if I understood the author right) disease akin to leukemia during his final years, which were also his peak years, so measuring the success of a player who, shortly after performing remarkably well in one of his first major tournaments, developed a terminal illness, seems like a pointless task. What’s certainly true, is that Lipnitsky was a remarkably strong player who had a bright future in front of him.
Critical Theory was co-written by two authors, Mykola Fuzik and Alexei Radchenko, who passed before the book came to print. It features 63 annotated games, but it’s a biography and a historical overview of Lipnitsky’s life first. Most games were annotated by Lipnitsky himself, but some of his contemporaries’ annotations were added as well. All games were engine-checked. Both authors are Kyiv-based candidate masters and chess historians. They spent several years doing research on Lipnitsky’s life and career. Their book first came out in 2018 in Ukraine. This English edition, by Elk and Ruby, came out in 2024. It includes many photographs (I don’t know if those were available in the Ukrainian edition) which add value to the book. It’s always more pleasant to see what you’re reading about.
Isaac Lipnitsky had white against Evgeni Vasiukov in this game, played during the 4th Soviet Team-championship final in 1955. Lipnitsky played the move Ng5 on move 31. How would you evaluate the position?
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Lipnitsky’s Short Life
Lipnitsky was only 35 when he died. The book, divided into 5 parts chronologically, each with roughly 7 chapters, therefore, covers his short life in great detail. Lipnitsky was from Kiev. The authors describe his early days in the famous Kief chess school, his early coach, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, who also coached the famous David Bronstein, and paint a detailed image of Lipnitsky’s chess upbringing.
His life was marked by the second world war. He served in the Soviet army, and, along with his premature death, the absence of chess during the war must have been another major factor that determined Lipnitsky’s chess path.
His war-time years were my favorite part of the book.Lipnitsky served in SVAG (Soviet Military Administration in Germany) and was posted in Berlin. The authors describe many interesting events that took place during that time, such as the match between Soviet and American servicemen posted there.
After the war, Lipnitsky became strong. Or, his highest achievements came in that period. I found that strange considering the obvious lack of training and serious chess competitions during the 6-year break. He became a master in 1949 when he won the Ukrainian Championship in Odessa, scoring a crucial win against Geller in the last round. He took a year’s break after that and soon had his biggest success at the 18th Soviet Championship in 1950.
The championship is described in great detail and accompanied by a remarkable set of stills taken from a film recorded during play and during the ceremonies provided by the Estonian Film Institute. They include Lipnitsky playing Geller in the final round! I made a note to try and find that film. I have never seen those images before.
Lipnitsky’s career took a turn for the worse after that, and he never achieved a similar success. His late life was a sad affair, and it makes for a sad read. Still, Lipnitsky was a remarkable player and a remarkable person, and geniuses often have tragedies connected to their life stories.
The Annotations
This is a biography first, and a game collection second. It only features 63 games, mostly annotated by Lipnitsky himself. I have to say that Lipnitsky wasn’t a conscientious annotator. With some great exceptions, such as Furman – Lipnitsky from the 1951 USSR Championship semi-finals (game 34 in the book), which Lipnitsky had thoroughly annotated for Shakhmaty v SSSR and in his book, Questions of Modern Chess Theory, most games lack high-quality, descriptive annotations. Many games were annotated by Mikhail Yudovich, a Soviet master born in 1911. His annotations were denser, but they felt less “professional”, for a lack of a better word.
The annotations feel very inconsistent. Since this is a chess book, and the annotations are how I measure the instructive value, I have to say that they could have been presented better, and that the authors should have done more to supplement Lipnitsky’s original notes for many of the games.
Conclusion
This is an important biography that covers the life and chess of a great, relatively unknown player, Isaak Lipnitsky. Lipnitsky died young, when he was just 35, but despite that, his peak rating was 2700, and he matched the best Soviet players of his generation. Critical Theory is a biography first and a game collection second. It includes 63 games annotated mostly by Lipnitsky himself.
Other Chess Biographies You Might Like
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- The Wizard of Warsaw: A Chess Biography of Szymon Winawer
- Tomasz Lissowski, Grigory Bogdanovich
