Efim Geller (1925-1998) was one of the giants of Soviet chess. Over his lifetime he beat the World Champions more often than he lost, and had healthy plus scores over Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Botvinnik among others. So he deserves the nickname of The Nemesis.

Geller never became World Champion but he won everything else – two Soviet titles, seven Olympiad team gold medals and three Olympiad golds for individual performance are just a few of his accomplishments. Geller crowned his long career by becoming World Senior Champion in 1992. Geller was also noted for his ability to share his wisdom – he coached World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. In The Nemesis, Geller annotates over 130 of his greatest games with wit and insight.

480 pages

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-78483-061-8  Published (hardcover) 31 July 2019
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78483-060-1  Published (paperback) 15 July 2020

Reviews

"While Geller may have never climbed the final steps to the top of the chess kingdom he left behind a wealth of brilliant and instructive games. He was not only an excellent theoretician who was in demand as a coach (World Champions Spassky and Karpov sought his help), but also a first-rate annotator, skilled at explaining his games. This principled player (1.e4 as White and the Sicilian and King’s Indian as Black) best efforts still serve as models of middlegame strategy.

The Nemesis - Geller’s Greatest Games belongs in every chess player’s library."

IM John Donaldson

"[Geller] does a fine job explaining the key features of positions without droning on. The analysis is also well-tuned, with lines going deeply enough when it is necessary, but without overwhelming readers. The games themselves are fantastic...

Purdy once said that the best way to improve was to 'play against champions' by studying their games and testing our ideas against their moves and analysis... The Nemesis provides a model for how we might understand that dialogue today, including silicon-enhanced insights, without harming or undermining Geller’s particular genius."

John Hartmann, Chess Life