The Russian grandmaster David Bronstein came breathtakingly close to becoming the World Champion and made vital contributions to the theory and literature of the game. Chess is rife with the word genius, but Bronstein’s games blazed with that elusive quality.

David Ionovich Bronstein was born near Kiev in 1924. He soon distinguished himself in junior and local competitions, and was one of the youngest Russian players to gain the national Master title. At his debut in the 1944 Soviet Union championship he came an inauspicious 15th, but his rise thereafter was spectacular.

Early successes included his first victory in the Moscow championship in 1946 and two shared first places in the Soviet championship (1948 and 1949). He was to win the Moscow championship (alone or tied) a further six times, and achieved podium position in the national championship a further four times to 1961. He represented the Soviet Union in four Olympiads, winning three individual gold medals for the best performance on his board.

The international chess federation, Fide, organised the world championship after Alexander Alekhine’s death in 1946, instituting worldwide qualifying tournaments. In 1948 Bronstein won the first and strongest such interzonal tournament, and tied with Isaac Boleslavsky for first place in the very strong Candidates Tournament held at Budapest in 1950.

The winner of this competiton would be the first Fide-sanctioned challenger to the new champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. Bronstein duly won the play-off match to break the tie with Boleslavsky, thus earning the right to challenge Botvinnik for the world championship.

In his games and and his writings Bronstein pursued the twin ideals of originality and beauty, qualities that emerged in abundance during his match against the methodical Botvinnik (who for many years had worked as an engineer). In the contest between these two supreme exponents of the game, the ultimate products of the Soviet system of nurturing chess, the world was to witness a thrilling clash of ideas.

In a nervy contest — it was the first world championship match since 1937 — Bronstein often outwitted his opponent in the middle game but showed a failure of concentration or technique in the endgame. After 24 games, the players had won five games each, and it was widely held that they might be regarded as co-champions. However, this had no official standing, and Botvinnik was declared to have drawn the match and thus, according to the rules in force, retained the title.

Bronstein remained a formidable player for some time but never again won through to become the challenger. In the next qualifying cycle in 1953, he came second to Vasily Smyslov. In the 1956 qualifier he shared third pace behind Smyslov and Paul Keres, while in 1958 he failed to reach the candidates stage of the title cycle. This effectively ended his dreams of world chess domination.

He continued to play at the highest levels, however, scoring victories (alone or tied) at Hastings (1953-54, 1975-76), Moscow (1959, 1968), Berlin (1968), Budapest (1977) and Jurmala, Latvia (1978).

As well as his legacy of beautiful and imaginative games, Bronstein will be remembered for his books and for his innovations in the opening. In the 1950s he and Boleslavsky infused the King’s Indian defence with a variety of dynamic, new ideas, and through their games and analysis forged it into a respected modern opening system.

There was much propaganda at the time about the rich dynamism and love of risk of Soviet chess, but it was in Bronstein’s games that the chess world saw those qualities in action.

The Neuhausen-Zurich Candidates Tournament of 1953 was a failure for Bronstein the player but a triumph for Bronstein the author. His book on the tournament is regarded worldwide as a classic; he eschewed detailed variations and opening analysis in favour of illuminating and personable observations on the turns of play. Other books followed, less ambitious and important perhaps, but all displaying their author’s engaging wit and warmth. His English was excellent, and he had a keen interest in literature, particularly Shakespeare.

A small, neat man with a ready smile, he was widely liked by players of all levels. He also distanced himself from the oppressive aspects of the Soviet Union; for example, when in 1976 Viktor Korchnoi defected to Switzerland, Bronstein refused to sign a letter of condemnation which was circulated among top Soviet players.

He took advantage of the greater liberalism under Gorbachev and the later demise of the Soviet Union to travel and publish more in the West.

He continued to charm by his games and personality. He would also display his pension book, bearing the notice “discounted by 10 per cent for disloyalty to the Soviet Union”, a consequence of his decision not to condemn Korchnoi in 1976.

David Bronstein, chess grandmaster and author, was born on February 19, 1924. He died on December 5, 2006, aged 82