What was perhaps Kotov's best result came at the 1952 Saltsjöbaden Interzonal, which he won with a score of 16½/20, three clear points ahead of Tigran Petrosian and Mark Taimanov in second place, and without losing a game.

At the time, statements such as this were so controversial that Western publishers felt compelled to include disclaimers in translations of his books for English-speaking markets.

Dover Publications' 1961 paperback version of The Soviet School of Chess was distributed primarily to Western countries, and included an introduction that read, in part:Literature of this type, though helpful in our ultimate understanding of the game, is very often riddled with distortion.

The publishers of this Dover edition are very much concerned that readers be aware of the propaganda techniques employed, even in the history of chess, by the Soviet Union.Kotov was even described as a KGB agent by Fedir Bohatyrchuk, in his 1978 book My Way to General Vlasov.

Think Like a Grandmaster illustrates several situations where his opponents got the better of him; in one case, his catastrophic blunder converted a certain win into an instant loss.

Such entertaining and enlightening personal accounts helped to ensure that his books remained popular among chess players of widely varying nationalities and playing strengths.

Kotov was a great admirer of World Champion Alexander Alekhine, and wrote a comprehensive two-volume biographical series of books on his life and career titled Shakhmatnoe Nasledie A.A. Alekhina, which were published between 1953 and 1958 and translated into Czech, German, Serbian and Spanish.

Kotov's advice to identify candidate moves and methodically examine them to build up an "analysis tree" remains well known today.