Five volumes of My Great Predecessors were written:
- Part I starts with a chapter about some of the unofficial world champions (before 1886) in which Adolf Anderssen and Paul Morphy get the most coverage. Then it covers the first four official world champions: Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, and Alexander Alekhine.
- Part II covers the fifth through eighth world champions: Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Mikhail Tal. Euwe briefly interrupted the reign of Alekhine. Botvinnik had a long reign that was briefly interrupted by Smyslov and by Tal.
- Part III covers the ninth and tenth champions, Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky. Petrosian ended Botvinnik's reign in 1963. Spassky challenged Petrosian unsuccessfully in 1966 and successfully in 1969.
- Part IV starts by covering some strong Western players who were not world champions: Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, and Bent Larsen. The primary focus of this volume is the eleventh World Champion Bobby Fischer.
- Part V covers World Championship contender Victor Korchnoi and the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Korchnoi and Karpov played three matches in the World Championship, in 1974, 1978, and 1981. The first match was in the Candidates Tournament to determine who would challenge Fischer in 1975. Fischer refused to defend his title, making the 1974 Karpov versus Korchnoi match a de facto World Championship match.
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