There is a legend that the Russian ruler, Ivan IV( The Terrible), died while playing Chess. On the other hand, Peter the Great carried his chessboard on his war campaigns; accompanying him was his fellow player. In 1796, Earl Stroganoff- Catherine II organized a human chess game between herself and Swedish King Gustav IV.
Russia is home to several world chess champions. So how did the game become so popular in the country?
How did Chess Arrive in Russia?
Contrary to popular belief, Arabs and the Middle East and not the Mongol Invasion brought the game of kings to the country. The Russian names given to chess pieces have Persian and Arabian roots. The Russian names of pieces are similar to what they are called in Arabic/ Persian/ Indian languages.
The popularity of Chess in Russia in 18th &19th Century
Pushkin loved to play Chess and had the book “The game of chess, put in a systematic order” by A Petrov, one of the leading chess players of the time, in his library. He was also a subscriber of “Le Palamede,” the world’s first periodically devoted to Chess, published in Paris from 1836 onwards.
William Cox, the famed English traveler, noted during one of his visits to Russia, “The game of chess was so popular in Russia that, during my stay in Moscow, I could hardly find a place where people were not playing chess.”
By the 19th Century, chess players flocked cafes and restaurants to play Chess. 1877 also saw the founding of the Moscow Chess Circle, and 20 years later, Moscow was the venue for the famed World Championship rematch between Wilhelm Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker(1896-97).
In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, Mikhail Chigorin, a leading chess player, worked immensely towards popularizing Chess in Russia. With the publication of periodicals- Chess Listok, Chess Vestnik, and Chess, Chigorin, who came very close to becoming a world chess champion against Steinitz on several occasions, was solely responsible for making chess information available to the general public.
In 1920, Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, a commissar of Soviet Chess, wrote that Chess, “in some ways even more than sport, develops in a man boldness, presence of mind, composure, a strong will, and, most important, a sense of strategy.’
From 1920 onwards, Chess was included in the military pre-draft preparation course. Because of this requirement, the Central Chess Club was founded. Moscow also hosted the first All-Union Chess Olympiad in 1920, the backdrop of World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine winning the tournament.
Moscow was also the venue for the first edition of the prestigious International Chess Tournament in 1925, where stars like Lasker, Capablanca, Tartakover, and others participated.
This tournament was the dawn of a new Soviet chess era. Every game with even the lesser-known player was a huge crowd puller, and the popularity of Chess spilled over into fashion and even movies! ( Soviet Film Director Pudovkin produced a film “Chess Fever” starring none other than Capablanca!)
1935 saw the rise of young Soviet Grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik. A true chess visionary, he wasn’t just a three-time world champion but also a champion of scientific methods and professionalism in Chess. He introduced the concept of players turning into chess coaches, and for over four decades, the soviet chess schools were producing a string of GMs and world champions.
This led Russia well into the late 60s with several front-running Russian chess champions and having a formidable army of seconds. Until the internet and globalization leveled the playing field, Russia cornered most chess clout and supremacy in the chess arena.
The chess fever never ebbed and continued through World War II. Even during the Battle of Moscow, chess players organized tournaments to support the wounded in the hospitals.
Moscow was the venue for the FIDE Congress and Chess Olympiad in 1956. The year also saw the setting up of the Central Chess Club at Gogolevsky Boulevard. This still famous chess landmark has been the favorite watering hole for numerous generations of chess players.
The chess museum housed in the club now has a stark reminder of the era gone by, a poster announcing the chess tournament of summer 1942. It was the time when the Crimea was lost, the Battle of Stalingrad was about to begin, and yet, chess lovers were seen organizing chess tournaments. Clearly, in Russia, time just stood still when it came to Chess.
Why are the Russians and their neighbors from the erstwhile USSR so good at Chess?
Even today, in Russia and other former Soviet republics, public places like parks, picnic and camping sites, and even the city sidewalks witness a daily influx of chess enthusiasts pitching themselves against each other.
For most Russians, Chess is a way of life, and they are as comfortable around this intellectual game as they would around any other form of leisure pastime or entertainment. They take their game seriously and have been doing so for over two centuries now!
Long after the Tsars lived and died playing Chess, the Bolsheviks who took power in 1917 made Chess the national pastime. Nikolay Krylenko, Lenin’s supreme commander of the Soviet Army, also laid the foundation for state-sponsored Chess. With chess schools, hosted tournaments, and subsidized institutions, Chess soon became a means to attain international intellectual supremacy for Russia.
We must finish once and for all with the neutrality of Chess. We must condemn once and for all the formula “chess for the sake of chess,“ like the formula “art for art’s sake.“ We must organize shock brigades of chess players and begin the immediate realization of a Five-Year Plan for Chess.” simple_quote_author=”Nikolai Krylenko – Wikipedia
Chess was a natural fit for a nation like the Soviet Union. The country was one of the largest in the world at the time. It was a nation trying to rebuild its ideologies and wanted a common string that bound its people together. Apart from the political agenda of socialism, Chess was a relatively neutral way of boosting unity and patriotism in the mindset of its citizens.
The thinkers and leaders were avid chess players, and Lenin, a serious player, used to get upset when he lost. Stalin was cautious about protecting his reputation as a chess master. The Soviets perceived Chess as an illustrative embodiment of their revolutionary ideology. A game of skill, it was relatively an inexpensive game to play, and everyone could play it irrespective of age, social and financial status.
Ironically, the play that featured kings and queens and was essentially a game of the nobility was endorsed as the game of collective thinking by the socialist leaders. Comrades would lose their games deliberately to let a better player gain advantage in tournaments. Russia was the only country in the world at the time that used team spirit in an intensely individualistic sport like Chess
At the famous match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972, dozens of Soviet grandmasters would huddle during breaks and debate Spassky’s next move. In contrast, Fischer brought just one assistant.
Mass-Production of Chess Excellence by Soviets
The Soviet Union was considered a factory of world-class chess players thanks to the tremendous institutional support. The state would sponsor clubs, trainers, chess coaches, and international level tournaments. Even trade unions, the military, and the constituent states supported chess infrastructure.
A young chess player showing promise would be on the fast-track immediately with state-funded coaching and financial support to improve their chess skills. Russians also came up with a systematic approach to training their people in playing Chess at the top level in the world. World Chess Champions are considered national heroes and celebrated and honored throughout the country.
War, peace, diplomacy, and every other aspect of Russian society have been deeply impacted and influenced by Chess and chess players. The Soviets saw the game as a potential psychological weapon to push the adversary to a lower pedestal regarding intellectual superiority.
Why is Chess so Popular in Russia?
Chess is popular in Russia because ever since the Soviet era, the game has been considered an intellectual pursuit of excellence. To excel and dominate in Chess meant to dominate in the matters of the mind. Thus, chess became a matter of national importance.
The Soviet Union was a comprehensive chess superpower. The game that simplifies leadership and exudes wisdom was widely accepted as the way forward to build Russian identity as an intellectual superpower in the world!
Back in the day, the Soviet Union was indeed a grandmaster when it came to chess champions. And now, If you look at the top chess players, many of them are Russian! This is no coincidence, I assure you. And if history is any indication, this country is likely to continue its reign as one the greatest chess ‘superpowers’ in the world!
