The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. A groundbreaking work about the U.S. Women's Chess Championships and the 29 women who won the title between 1937 and 2020 has been published by McFarland. Johannes Fischer wanted to know more and interviewed Alexey Root, the author of the book.
In the 1970s Boris Gulko was one of the best players in the USSR and the world, and he is one of the few players who has a positive score against Kasparov. In 1976, after Kortschnoi had fled the USSR, Gulko refused to sign a critical statement against Kortschnoi, and as a result Gulko was targeted by the authorities. For seven years, Gulko fought to emigrate from the Soviet Union, and in 1986 he moved to the USA, where he continued his chess career. On 9 February 2022 Gulko celebrated his 75th birthday. | Photo: Les Glassman
What Russia Taught The World About Chess
Written by Alexey Zakharov
In the last hundred or so years, Russia became almost synonymous with chess. The country in its many incarnations Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and now “just” Russia produced more grandmasters and world champions than any other, and its players enriched the ancient game immensely.
So, let’s now delve (shallowly, and then, of course, more and more deeply) into what Russia and its predecessor states brought to the world of chess.
Long, Tongue-Twisting Names
It’s more of a joke entry, of course, but GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, the new challenger to GM Magnus Carlsen, is only the latest in the long, distinguished line of Russian and Soviet players who look like an absolutely insurmountable wall of letters when written in English, such as Roman Dzindzichashvili, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Elena Fatalibekova, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Olga Semenova-Tyan-Shanskaya, Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, and Fyodor Dus-Chotimir
€29.90
An accomplished GM
Boris Gulko is a grandmaster, author and certified FIDE Senior Trainer who, at 30 years of age, won the USSR Championship in 1977 ahead of three world champions. He lost seven years of what could have been his best years of chess for being a “refusenik” before emigrating with his family to the United States, where Boris twice won the U.S. Championship, in 1994 and 1999. He played in the candidates in 1995 and 2000 and qualified to play at the 2004 World Chess Championship in Libya, but withdrew because of antisemitic remarks made by the organizer.
Boris has an impressive three win, one loss, and four draw record against Garry Kasparov. His result in Niksic 1978, where he and Jan Timman shared first 1½ points ahead of a very strong field put him in the spotlight.