“Chess is a barometer of Russian cultural supremacy”

  Chess in Russia goes back more than a thousand years to the Byliny, the ancient heroic epic poem period. It seems to have been introduced from the East, as distinct from the Arabic influence in Western Europe, and was favored by all classes and was even played by Peter the Great who carried special soft-leather Chess-boards during military campaigns, one of which has survived and is on show at the Hermitage museum in Leningrad.

  Catherine the Great liked the game and one of the most beautiful Chess sets ever made, by the Tula arms factory, in burnished steel was a gift to her. Catherine the Great bought an automatic Chess machine from Wolfgang von Kempelen. I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his, (attributed to Catherine the Great).


  Ivan the Terrible died in the middle of a Chess game.  In Russia, Chess is regarded as a noble profession and many write short stories and poetry about the game. The Russian school of traditional Chess has been distinguished from other styles of play by its rigorous use of scientific methods of experimentation and systematic analysis.

  For those interested in developing artificial intelligence, Chess provides the raw material for serious scientific investigation into the nature of human intelligence. Since the 1920s, Chess has also been regarded as a training ground for Russian political life Presidents Gorbachov and Yelstin ruled as Tsars! When younger persons show talent they are cultivated by professional coaches so as to bring them up to a mature standard of play and eventually may become the creme de la creme of Russian society.

  Chess was played by Nikolai Lenin and due to state sponsorship has become a sport in which Russia dominated the entire world. The Soviet system of Chess was started by Lenin's colleague Nikolai Krylenko, who commandeered the trade union movement to spread traditional Chess throughout the new socialist state.

  Botvinnik introduced into Chess the total dedication which became characteristic of the Soviet players who developed a style of total warfare, deliberately dragging out games or manipulating results amongst themselves. The Russian school encouraged the aggressive stare at the board and Mikhail Tal was the most famous exponent of this practice, developing the intimidating stare into something approaching an art form.

  Even Benko took to wearing wraparound mirrored sunglasses in order to avert an opponents gaze - much like the pop stars Bono and Roy Orbinson even the Pope John Paul has been known to don a pair. Maybe they are trying to stop light escaping rather than entering!  In the former Soviet Union Chess was supported by the government. During Stalin's time victories were used in international Chess tournaments to propagandize the notion that the best minds flourish under the Communist system.

  Top players had the assistance of 40, sometimes 50 aides. They analyze positions, perform physical therapy and provide sophisticated psychological profiles of opponents. Chess was entirely political in Russia with many players being asked to draw and sometimes asked (kindly) to lose games. The world championships have stirred the passion and patriotic pride of millions of Russian Chess players and fans, and for forty years despite their disdain for royalty, their men/women have given us an outstanding intellectual performance in the game of Kings. 

  Chess Life magazine (USA) and the prestigious Russian magazine 64 are filled with profiles of GMs with pages of ratings in near-microscopic print, puzzles and the dense analysis of GM games. In the past the annotated games of traitors and non-persons (from the point of view of the Russian establishment), were also included. When such people played in competitions, their results were usually not included in accounts published in Russian newspapers and magazines (as if the native GMs had played ghosts).

  Russian Chess players of international strength were supported by the state and an instructors income from teaching was greater than that of a doctor or engineer. Enthusiasm for the game is also a reflection of social values - a socially useful cultural activity. Top players are national heroes/heroines and revered as stars. Chess is a barometer of Russian cultural supremacy and they have come to believe the game to be their permanent treasure.

  A national fear arises that something is rotten in the land when they are defeated - part of the national consciousness - like football in the west where the top players are frequently in the tabloids and even the broadsheets or seen signing autographs.  Chess can be played by any person of any race, colour or, creed, and if given the facility of equipment and instruction he/she can make a start.

  In some countries it has been put on the syllabus of a number of schools, the objective being to elicit creativity and intelligence in the general population. It has been found that the methodological teaching of Chess helps elevate the IQ and develops a new form of thinking and its practice creates a new form of abstract exercise which is self-motivating.

back      up      forward

Home  |  Chess Gallery  |  Chess Poster  |  Contact us  |  Español