Chess in the USSR

The history of chess in the USSR has more than 1000 years. This is evidenced by archaeological finds in Afrasiab (ancient settlement on the outskirts of Samarkand ; VII - VIII centuries ), Ferghana and other areas, the chess treatise Abul al-Fatah ( XI - XII centuries ), the names of shatranj masters, among which there were Tajiks , have come down to us , Khorezmians and other ancient peoples of Central Asia, who made a significant contribution to the development of medieval chess. The Russian tsars Ivan the Terrible (1533–1584) and Aleksei Mikhailovich (1645–1676) were known for their hobby for chess.

1920s

In October 1920, in conditions of post-war devastation and famine, Vsevobuch held the first championship of the country , in which almost all the leading masters participated. The largest chess centers remained Moscow and Petrograd, however, chess life revived in other cities - Kiev , Kharkov , Minsk , Odessa , Ivanovo , Novosibirsk , Omsk . A new galaxy of masters came forward: N. Grigoriev , M. Klyatskin , N. Zubarev , A. Sergeev (Moscow), P. Romanovsky , A. Ilyin-Geneva , S. Gotgilf , A. Model (Petrograd), J. Vilner , B Verlinsky (Odessa), V. Sozin (Novgorod) and others.

By mid-1923, the growth of the chess movement in the country required the unification of the country's chess forces and the strengthening of ties between circles. The Petrograd Chess Meeting (founded in 1921 ), which held a number of competitions (the Petrograd - Moscow match, 1922 ; the national championship in 1923 and others), was active in solving these problems, founded the Chess List magazine (1922), and initiated the restoration of the All-Russian Chess Union (1923). The number of chess circles at trade unions, workers and Red Army clubs, factories and factories increased. The All-Union Chess Congress (1924), held under the slogans “Chess is an instrument of intellectual culture” and “Road to chess to the working environment,” called for making chess art the property of the working people, outlined new ways and forms of chess activity in the country. The chess movement in Russia began to enjoy the support of the state, which considered chess as one of the important areas of culture. The congress dissolved the All-Russian Chess Union and established the All-Union Chess Section , whose chairman N. Krylenko was elected. The section from the beginning of its activity has taken a decisive course towards the development of mass production. The First Moscow International Tournament (1925), which was attended by a number of prominent foreign chess players led by Capablanca and Lasker, served as a powerful incentive to increase workers' interest in chess. The tournament caused a real “chess fever” in the country:

R. Reti :

I am happy to be in a country where chess is becoming a folk game. Masters, aware that they are creating for the widest masses, and not for vicious circles, will be able to prove themselves in all their splendor.

In 1927, the first USSR championship among women was held, in which O. Rubtsova won. The All-Union Chess Congress (1931) summed up the work of the Soviet chess organization and outlined measures for the further spread of chess among workers.

In the 30s. a group of talented young masters headed by M. Botvinnik came forward: V. Alatortsev , S. Belavenets , I. Kan , V. Makogonov , V. Rauzer , V. Ragozin , N. Ryumin , V. Chekhover , M. Yudovich and others. However, Soviet chess players almost did not participate in international competitions 1928-1932.

Systematic work on the development of chess in the country, constant state support contributed to the mass movement of the chess movement: the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (1936) covered 700 thousand chess players (the winners were G. Lisitsyn and Chekhover); 100 thousand people participated in the tournament of giant factories (1936). The first in the world chess and checker newspaper “64” began to be published in Moscow (1935). The first championship of collective farm chess players took place (Moscow, 1939 ), which was won by T. Tailiev ( Turkmen SSR ). Under the slogan “Chess - into a working family”, a match-tournament of families was organized ( Baku , 1935).

1930s

In the 1930s All-Union children's and youth competitions began to be regularly held, chess sections were created in the Palaces of the Pioneers of Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tbilisi, Tashkent, Kharkov, Odessa and others, which raised many future chess masters.

Chess life in the union republics has noticeably revived. In Ukraine (1931-1940) a group of talented masters advanced: I. Boleslavsky , D. Bronstein , A. Constantinople , I. Pogrebysky and others; in Kiev, the Shahist newspaper began to be published (since 1936). In Belarus (1929-1939) masters appeared - I. Mazel, G. Veresov (Minsk), A. Manevich (Gomel), V. Silich (Vitebsk). After the proclamation of Soviet power (1940), new opportunities for the development of chess opened up in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia . The first chess masters appeared in the republics of Transcaucasia - G. Kasparyan (Armenian SSR), V. Goglidze and A. Ebralidze (Georgian SSR). A large role in popularizing chess in the republics of Transcaucasia was played by the 10th USSR Championship in Tbilisi (1937). In the team championships of the republics of Central Asia (1934, 1939), the winner was the team of the Uzbek SSR , where Freiman (Tashkent) made a significant contribution to the development of chess. In the 1930s chess in the USSR became a folk game.

The rapid growth of the Soviet chess movement and the mastery of leading Soviet chess players in the 1930s. necessitated their meetings with the strongest foreign masters. The start of such meetings was laid by the match Botvinnik - Flor (1933) - its result (draw - 6: 6) showed that the Soviet champion was not inferior in strength to the leading chess players of the world. Successes in the Leningrad tournament with the participation of M. Euwe and X. Kmokh (1934), the 2nd and 3rd Moscow international tournaments (1935 and 1936), Nottingham (1936) and AVRO (1938) tournaments nominated Botvinnik among the main applicants for world championship.

1940s

By the beginning of World War II (1941-1945), the Soviet chess organization had become one of the largest in the world in the number of qualified chess players: in its ranks there were 7 grandmasters and 50 masters. The outstanding successes were achieved by Soviet chess players in the field of chess theory: the theoretical studies of V. Nenarokov , I. Rabinovich , Levenfish, Yudovich, Belavents, Rauzer (international debut) gained international recognition; Romanovsky (middlegame); Rabinovich, Sozin, Grigoriev (endgame).

During the war

During the war, Soviet chess players fought at the front or worked selflessly in the rear. In the battles with the Nazi invaders, the masters Belavenets, L. Kayev , M. Stolberg , Silich were killed. During the siege of Leningrad, the Soviet chess organization lost A. Ilyin-Geneva , I. Rabinovich , A. Troitsky , L. Kubbel , Rauzer and others. Leading chess players played in hospitals in front of the wounded Red Army men, gave lectures, organized tournaments, gave simultaneous game sessions. During the war years, a number of competitions took place: 1941/1942 - Moscow championship (winner - I. Mazel ), 1942 - two-round tournament in Moscow ( I. Bondarevsky ), tournaments in Sverdlovsk (Ragozin) and Kuibyshev (Boleslavsky); 1943 - tournaments in Sverdlovsk (Botvinnik), Moscow in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Red Army ( E. Zagoryansky and Ragozin) and 2 tournaments in Kuibyshev (the winner of the first - Constantinople; the second - Boleslavsky).

After the war

The first major international competition after the war was the radio match of the teams of the USSR and the USA (1945), which ended with the victory of the Soviet chess players - 15½: 4½. The match showed that the USSR became the strongest chess power in the world. The history of world chess in subsequent years testified to the strength of the Soviet chess school.

Since the late 40s, Soviet chess players have emerged as winners of many major international competitions. The 1948 World Championship match ended with the victory of Botvinnik , who became the first Soviet world champion.
After the death of Alekhine (1946), out of 8 world champions, 7 were representatives of the USSR: Botvinnik, Smyslov, M. Tal , T. Petrosyan , B. Spassky (now in France), A. Karpov , G. Kasparov . For women from 1950 to 1991, the title of world champion was invariably owned by Soviet chess players: L. Rudenko , E. Bykova , O. Rubtsova , N. Gaprindashvili , M. Chiburdanidze .

1950s

In 1952-1990 the men's team of the USSR at the World Chess Olympiads 18 times (out of 19; except 1978; did not participate in 1976) won 1st place; the women's team from 1957 to 1990 - the winner of 10 chess olympiads (except for 1988 and 1990; in 1976 did not participate). Since 1957, the title of the strongest team in Europe has invariably belonged to Soviet chess players. They are the repeated world and European champions among young men and students.

1970s

In the 1970s and 1980s, a new generation of talented chess players grew up in the USSR: A. Karpov , G. Kasparov , A. Belyavsky , R. Vaganyan , A. Yusupov , B. Salov , A. Sokolov , N. Alexandria , C. Matveeva , N. Ioseliani and others.

1980s

In 1985 and 1989 Soviet chess players are winners of the first two team world championships .

World recognition was won by the Soviet masters of chess composition . Tasks and studies by A. Troitsky , L. Kubbel , brothers Vasily and Mikhail Platov , M. Liburkin , L. Loshinsky , V. Korolkov , G. Kasparyan , V. Bron , G. Nadareishvili , A. Gurvich , V. Rudenko and others entered the treasury of world chess art.

A characteristic feature of the development of chess in the USSR was also the constant work on the problems of theory, history and methods of teaching chess. Achievements in these areas have gained worldwide recognition.

The USSR Chess Federation united a multimillion-strong army of chess players, including about 100 international grandmasters (men and women), over 170 international masters (men and women), about 1000 USSR masters of sports, thousands of candidates for masters and first-class students (1987).

School of excellence and a review of the achievements of Soviet chess players were the championships of the USSR , which in the 1930s. Botvinnik won more often than others (1931, 1933, 1939). Major successes in the same years were achieved by Levenfish, who won victories in the national championships (1934/1935, 1937) and tied the match for the USSR champion title with Botvinnik in 1937.

In the USSR, tens of thousands of chess players participated in correspondence competitions; since 1956, the strongest of them played in the world championships, since 1964 - in the European championships. The world champion became Ragozin, V. Zagorovsky , Y. Estrin , T. Yim , Rubtsova, L. Yakovleva .

The organization was based on numerous chess clubs in Moscow (including the Central Chess Club of the USSR (? Central Chess Club), the All-Russian Chess Club, Central Chess Club of the USSR Armed Forces ), Leningrad, Vilnius, Kiev, Lviv, Minsk, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Riga, Tallinn, Baku, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk and other cities, as well as clubs DSS of trade unions , chess clubs at the pioneer palaces , factories; they held mass competitions, organized qualification tournaments (in-person and in-game by correspondence), reader conferences, meetings with leading chess players, simultaneous game sessions, problem solving contests and so on.

The chess movement encompassed thousands of people in all Union republics. The largest mass competitions - All-Union chess festivals, tournaments of giant factories, All-Union championships of rural chess players, trade union tournaments and so on attracted tens of thousands of chess fans. An important role in popularizing chess was played by the All-Union Competition of Pioneer Teams “ White Rook ”, tournaments of pioneer palace teams with the participation of leading chess players of the country, as well as teaching chess in a number of schools in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities, transferring the experience of leading youth grandmasters (Botvinnik chess school , Kasparov, Smyslov, L. Polugaevsky and others). The chess movement was provided by qualified coaching staff who were constantly trained by the chess departments of the institutes of physical education.

Chess was widely popularized by the Soviet press .

• Magazines: “ 64 - Chess Review ”, “ Chess in the USSR ”, “ Chess Bulletin ”, “ Bulletin of the Central Chess Club of the USSR ” (Moscow), “Chess” (Riga);
• Newspapers: Chess ( Baku ), Merani ( Tbilisi ), Shahmatyin Hayastan (Yerevan), special issues devoted to major Soviet and international competitions, as well as regular chess departments in magazines, central, republican and regional newspapers.

The weekly (since 1970) television program "Chess School" on the Central Television and chess broadcasts on the All-Union Radio .

• In Ilf and Petrov’s novel “ 12 Chairs ” (1927) - a simultaneous game in the “Cardboard” club in Vasyuki
• Daniel Tammet’s novel The Bear (2016) ^[1]

• Chess in Russia

• Gonyaev M. Chess in Russia, in the book: A. Gebeler, Rules of the chess game ..., translation from German, Elisavetgrad, 1875;
• Savenkov I. T. On the question of the evolution of a chess game, M., 1905;
• Smirnov A. Essay on the development of chess art in Russia (USSR), in the book: L. Bakhman, Chess game in its historical development, translation from German, L., 1925;
• Kogan M. Essays on the history of chess in the USSR, M. —L., 1938;
• Botvinnik M. M. Soviet chess school, M., 1951;
• Botvinnik M. M. Analytical and critical work, [ch. 1-4], M., 1984–87;
• Kotov A., Yudovich M. Soviet Chess School, 2nd ed., M., 1955;
• Bykova E. Soviet chess players, 2nd ed., M., 1957;
• Linder I. At the origins of chess culture, M., 1967;
• Linder I. Chess in Russia, 2nd ed., M., 1975;
• Linder I. First Russian Masters, M., 1979;
• Suetin A. Prominent Soviet chess players, Minsk, 1984.
• Chess: Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. A.E. Karpov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1990. - S. 374-376. - 624 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-85270-005-3 .