Alexander Petrov (1797 – 1867) explained how his grand father, the senator I. Sokolov from Saint Petersburg, was playing chess every day from 4 PM to 10 PM. But there weren’t many tournaments at the time and people from Saint Petersburg were studying the game through the book of the french player Philidor, L’Analyse des Échecs. The first Russian chess club was founded in Saint Petersburg March 27, 1853.
Even if players like Jaenisch (1813 – 1872) or Urussoff (1827 – 1897), through their work, helped chess to evolve in Russia, the greatest propagandist was Mikhaïl Chigorine (1850 – 1908). He wrote, already in 1885: “Chess, like any other arts, demands a public life and a stream of talents. No art can exist if it is closed to the people”.
Right after the revolution, an almost military organization took care of the teaching of chess, which was seen as an essential element of the “popular education”. Under the direction of Nikolaï Krylenko (a People’s Commissar for Justice who was close to Lenine), chess clubs were founded everywhere: in factories, in kolkhozy and, especially, in the “Young Pioneer Palaces”. The Young Pioneer Palaces were youth centres for the creative work and sport training of Young Pioneers and other schoolchildren. Trainers were designed to find and teach new talents. Ussr first championship was in 1920 and was won by Alexander Alekhine before he moved to the West. Before the war, there were already more than one million players registered in clubs.
In the 1930′s, Russian players were often coming to the West to participate in tournaments. Their leader was without a doubt Mikhaïl Botvinnik. He imposed himself as a great player, not only by his results, but by his methodic and scientific angle on the game. He was a communist, a worker, so he was a model to be followed. The FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation) organized a world’s championship in 1946 after the death of the champion of the time, Alexander Alekhine. Mikhaïl Botvinnik became the new champion. It was the beginning of a 24 year long reign.
The 24 following years, there was an ongoing fight for the title among Russians. Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrossian and then Spassky held the title in USSR. Then came September 4th, 1972. A black day for USSR when Spassky, in the middle of the cold war, lost his title to Bobby Fischer. The Russian was then disgraced and not authorized to travel out of the country. Only because he won the title back the year after, he was again authorized to participate to international tournaments.
In 1990, right before the USSR disappeared, there were more than five million registered players.
Aside from all these world champions, the result that illustrates the domination of the USSR best is the Chess Olympiad, that is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. Since the first time when they participated, in 1952, USSR won every time except twice: in 1976, because USSR didn’t want to go to Israel (Haifa), where the olympiad was held, and in 1978 where Hungary won the first place after a tie with USSR.
Soviet Norway: Lenin rocks the Arctic
