Chess is not a parallel universe, nor is it enclosed in a bubble. The twentieth century is gone, never to return. But its great events on the chessboard deserve to be rescued and valued, in what was, in turn, the worst and the best of all time. Chess is one of the most beautiful manifestations of the game that gave us life, and in it, in the world, its work and its history are inscribed.
 The book is not just a report: it is also a tribute to the interpreters and protagonists of these events, the chess players, whose main seekers of chess gold and wizards of the damask board left their mark in fiery letters on the history of the king of games throughout the 20th century. Not all are heroes. As in life, there are also second-tier players and anti-heroes, some of whom have left us stellar and memorable creations. This is the world and this is human nature in its complexity and dialectical interaction.