I have read a great deal about David Bronstein and met him several times, to my immense delight, and although I think he captured his subject I was not entirely happy. It is a paperback and very expensive. Bronstein became difficult to deal with spending valuable clock time away from the board chatting, getting very touchy with spectators, imagining himself attacked when someone pushed ahead of him in a queue and even, ridiculously, comparing FIDE with the Nazis! It is sad to reflect all of this should be contained in a life dedicated, with such genius, with such colour, to a mere board game.

He played once, in 1951, for the World Championship, seemingly spent the rest of his life coping with the aftermath.

Very sad really? Yes, Sosonko spares us nothing but little is new surely. An average offering, more of interest to medical minds than chess fans.

I hope others think better of it, ‘The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein’ by Genna Sosonko, with a foreword by Garry Kasparov.